Ian Anderson's sarcastic, earthy lyrics can be a turn off to some. I for one have to admit that I'm not entirely sure what the concept of this album is. If the lyrics follow any theme it is a cynical observation of small minded simplistic approaches to life's problems. The album consists of one track split over two record sides. Ian Anderson himself admitted that this was not his original intention, and most of the album started off life as part of more conventional length tracks. The quality of these songs is so good though, that had they remained as individual entities this album would probably have produced four or five all time classic songs for Jethro Tull.

The style is predominantly accoustic, with flute playing a very strong role in the sound of the album, but Martin Barre's heavier guitar style also gets a bit of a workout. The songs have been lovingly fitted together. Although the result is not always seamless, the album rises, falls and climaxes in such a way that it the album is clearly constructed as a forty minute suite of music rather than a bunch of songs stuck mindlessly one after the other.

Perhaps it's synergy, perhaps the songs by themselves are unusually strong but whatever the case, this is undoubtedly one of Jethro Tull's finest efforts and the first Tull album I would recommend anyone to buy.