Judging by the cover, one would think the album was the group's anti-war commentary piece, or something along those lines. In reality, it was a mish-mash of a few things - 1) the group's desire to make a surreal documentary about a kid who wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world, and this is the soundtrack for that film, 2) a few of the songs had already been recorded before the previous album, A Passion Play, and 3) yet another old track was re-worked to fit this album. The documentary was never made, even though actors were actually hired (John Cleese had a part, or so it says in the liner notes), and instead we get this album along with a bunch of bonus tracks for the remaster since the original vinyl couldn't hold them.
The title track opens the deal on quite the sentimental tone, with David Palmer's orchestra given more emphasis. Then we get into more of Tull's wheelhouse, on tracks like "Queen and Country", "Ladies", and the entertaining "Sealion". The second side kicks off with the radio hits from the record - "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day", and "Bungle in the Jungle". Both were seen as departures for the band at the time. "Two Fingers" is another matter - I have heard the original "Lick Your Fingers Clean", which I have always thought was far more direct - and to listen to this rambling, romanticized take on it just doesn't jibe in my head, for some reason. On the remaster there are a whopping seven bonus tracks - including a "Sealion 2" with bassist Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond on lead vocals - which gives you some indication of just how big this project was really meant to be. Overall, this is a fairly entertaining experience, but indicative of Tull's biggest ongoing issue - lack of quality control.
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