JETHRO TULL - "RÖKFLÖTE" Review


By ENRICO SPINELLI

Almost 10 years have passed since Ian Anderson, founder and main composer of Jethro Tull, had announced the end of the band (with regret  Martin Barre) and his decision to release the following albums with only his name on the cover; as often happens, of memories and in 2022 he resurrected the historical name, with a formation largely similar to that of 2011 (but without the historic Barre on guitar. .. here the tear seems to be definitive), for the album "The Zealote Gene". 

All legitimate on a legal level, a little less on an ethical one, a pity that speaking of music the aforementioned work had nothing, I repeat NOTHING, by Tull, closer to Anderson's last solo production (not even the best). Not even a year later and here's this "RÖKFLÖTE", with a good cover (the iconic flutist on one leg in a cave version) and a style that doesn't move one iota from its predecessor, reiterating its pros and cons
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The group's folk rock, mainly based on flute and electric guitar, is proposed to exhaustion, with static and monotonous compositions (it's almost hard to distinguish one track from another) without a single passage remaining imprinted, not counting the "priestly" singing by Anderson, tired and devoid of bite, with identical repeated vocal effects and weak and boring choruses, in short, the same flaws that I had found in "The Zealote Gene" and also in "Homo Erraticus".

Probably if the whole album (which at least lasts just under 45 minutes) had been instrumental it would have had its own reason, but only in an attempt to save what could be saved. I repeat a concept, these ARE NOT Jethro Tull, their latest album is "Christmas Album" which today would be pure gold, this is just the umpteenth delirium of an artist who is always impeccable on a technical level and to whom I will be eternally grateful for 21 wonderful albums but which should have - in my opinion - more respect than that name placed on the cover.

And so after Metallica here's the second heavy disappointment of this 2023, then one shouldn't be pissed off!

P.S. I apologize for the absence of references to individual tracks, but what I said applies to every piece of the album.

Giovanni Gagliano

Passionate about music I wrote my first article for "Given To Rock" in 2012, reaching now 30K global followers. I am also a musician, gigging around London.

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