War Child is the seventh
studio albumA studio album is an original collection of new tracks by a recording artist.It usually does not contain live recordings and/or remixes, and if it does, those tracks do not make up majority of the album and are often "bonus tracks"...
by
Jethro TullJethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the songs, vocals and flute work of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and guitarist Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969....
, released in October 1974.
Originally meant to accompany a film project (the album was planned as a double-album set), it was reinstated as a ten-song, single-length rock album after failed attempts to find a major movie studio to finance the film.
The "War Child" movie was written as a metaphysical
black comedyBlack comedy is a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo are treated in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining their seriousness...
concerning a teenage girl in the afterlife, meeting characters based on
GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
, St.
War Child is the seventh
studio albumA studio album is an original collection of new tracks by a recording artist.It usually does not contain live recordings and/or remixes, and if it does, those tracks do not make up majority of the album and are often "bonus tracks"...
by
Jethro TullJethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the songs, vocals and flute work of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and guitarist Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969....
, released in October 1974.
Originally meant to accompany a film project (the album was planned as a double-album set), it was reinstated as a ten-song, single-length rock album after failed attempts to find a major movie studio to finance the film.
The "War Child" movie was written as a metaphysical
black comedyBlack comedy is a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo are treated in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining their seriousness...
concerning a teenage girl in the afterlife, meeting characters based on
GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
, St. Peter and
LuciferLucifer is a Latin word, literally meaning "light-bearer", that was used as a name for the "day star" or "Morning Star" that precedes the rising of the sun. The name is frequently given to the Devil in Christian convention...
portrayed as if shrewd businessmen. Notable British actor
Leonard RossiterLeonard Rossiter was an English actor with careers in film, television and theatre. He is best known for his roles as Rupert Rigsby, in the British comedy television series Rising Damp, and Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin , as well as for a series of Cinzano...
was to have been featured,
Margot FonteynDame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE , was a British ballerina of the 20th Century, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time...
was to have choreographed, while
Monty PythonMonty Python were a British comedy group that created the influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
veteran
John CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an Academy Award-nominated English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer who is known for being a member of the group of comedians responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different,...
was pencilled in as a "humor consultant".
Tracks slated to accompany the film such as "Quartet" and "WarChild Waltz" were unearthed and released in Tull's
20 Years of Jethro Tull20 Years of Jethro Tull is a boxed set which spans the first twenty years of Jethro Tull. It was issued as five LPs: Radio Archives, Rare Tracks, Flawed Gems, Other Sides of Tull, and The Essential Tull...
boxed set in 1988, in several Tull compilations since, and finally on the 2002 CD reissue.
Three of the songs, "Only Solitaire", "Bungle in the Jungle" and "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day", were left over from the 1972-1973 writing sessions for what was to have been the follow-up to
Thick as a BrickThick as a Brick is a concept album by English progressive rock band Jethro Tull released in 1972. This was their fifth release and first LP to feature new drummer Barriemore Barlow. Its lyrics are built around a poem written by a fictitious boy, "Gerald Bostock" a.k.a. "Little Milton" . The album...
. Ian Anderson told
SongfactsSongfacts is a website devoted to song information compiled by music enthusiasts, radio professionals and songwriters, who are often interviewed to determine the stories behind their songs....
: "It was actually late '72 or early '73 when I was in Paris recording an album that never got released, although one or two of the tracks made it out in 1974, but that was at a time when I was writing an album that was exploring people, the human condition, through analogies with the animal kingdom." "Two Fingers" is a rearrangement of "Lick Your Fingers Clean", a track from the
Aqualung recording sessions that was not included on that album's original release.
The back side of the album contains images of people, including the five members of the band, friends, wives, girlfriends, Chrysalis Records staff, and manager Terry Ellis, all related to the song titles. Anderson's personal touring assistant (and future wife) Shona Learoyd appears as a
ringmasterThe term ringmaster may refer to numerous things:*Ringmaster , the leader of a circus* Ringmaster , the manager of a horse show ring*Ringmaster , a film starring Jerry Springer and Jaime Pressly...
, while Terry Ellis appears as a leopard skin-clad, umbrella-waving aggressive businessman.
The front cover is a picture of
MelbourneMelbourne is the capital city and most populous city of the State of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne city centre is the anchor of the larger geographical area and statistical division known as the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area – of which Melbourne is...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
Side one
- "War Child" – 4:35
- "Queen And Country" – 3:00
- "Ladies" – 3:17
- "Back-Door Angels" – 5:30
- "Sealion" – 3:37
Side two
- "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day" – 4:09
- "Bungle in the Jungle" – 3:35
- "Only Solitaire" – 1:28
- "The Third Hoorah" – 4:49
- "Two Fingers" – 5:11
Bonus tracks
The 2002 remastered CD added bonus tracks and extensive liner notes:
- "Warchild Waltz" – 4:21
- "Quartet" – 2:44
- "Paradise Steakhouse" – 4:03
- "Sealion 2" – 3:20
- "Rainbow Blues" – 3:40
- "Glory Row" – 3:35
- "Saturation" – 4:21
Personnel
- Ian Anderson - flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, acoustic guitar, saxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
s, vocals
- Barriemore Barlow
Barriemore Barlow is best known as the drummer and percussionist for the rock band, Jethro Tull, from May 1971 to June 1980....
- drumsA drum set is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person . The term "drum kit" first became used in the 1700s in Britain...
, percussionA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration...
- Martin Barre
Martin Lancelot Barre is an English rock musician.Barre has been the guitarist for rock band Jethro Tull since 1969. He has appeared on every Jethro Tull album except This Was...
- electric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current, which is made louder with an instrument amplifier and a speaker. The signal that comes from the guitar is sometimes electronically altered with guitar effects such as...
, Spanish guitarThe classical guitar is a plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones. It traditionally has 3 plain gut bass strings and 3 gut wound silk core treble strings and the modern adaption typically has 6 nylon strings .The basic characteristics of the shape of the...
- John Evan
John Evan played keyboards for Jethro Tull from April 1970, to June 1980. He was educated at King's College London....
- pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, organThe organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet...
, synthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies...
s
- Jeffrey Hammond
Jeffrey Hammond was a bass guitar player for the progressive rock band Jethro Tull....
- bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
, string bass
- David Palmer
Dee Palmer is a English arranger and keyboardist best known for having been a member of the rock group Jethro Tull. Palmer is a transsexual woman who was known as David Palmer for many years, including her stint with Jethro Tull...
- orchestral arrangements
External links
(bonus tracks)