Thick as a Brick

Thick as a Brick is the fifth studio album by the British progressive band Jethro Tull. It was released on March 3, 1972, by Chrysalis  and Reprise. Containing two long pieces on each side, it tells the story of a young genius Gerald Bostock. The album was deliberately developed as the "mother of all concept albums".

Overview from the official website
Born from a desire to really produce a concept album after the rock critics so dubbed the previous year's Aqualung, with its music, and the lyrics, challenges to the listener and reflects complex influences of folk, jazz, and rock. With Thick, Anderson and company broaden rock beyond the limitations of the short song format.

Understanding Thick requires recognition of the popularity of Monty Python in the early 1970's. Anderson meant for the album to be a send up of rock pretentiousness, critics, and the band itself. The album cover claimed, outrageously enough, that the lyrics had been written by an eight year-old boy, Gerald Bostock, and set to music by the band. Even today, Anderson still gets the occasional person asking about Bostock or commenting about the prodigy's advancing age.

While the Aqualung lyrics are fairly straightforward, Thick's metaphorical tendencies are intentionally intricate, obscure, and bewildering as part of the running joke. If there is any true central theme, perhaps it is the sociological experiences of gifted youngsters in the modern world with a touch of paternal relations again. The lyrical incohesiveness, far greater than Aqualung leads Craig Thomas, who annotated Tull's 25th Anniversary Set booklet, to seriously question whether it is properly deemed a concept album. Rather, he views it more of an adaptation of the "kind of free-jazz...improvisations of the 1960." Indeed, several segments were recorded in just one improvisional take.

No discussion of Thick is complete without noting the 12-page newspaper, The St. Cleve Chronicle original cover packaging. Written by Ian, Jeffrey Hammond, and John Evan, the paper actually took longer to produce than the music. There are a lot of inside puns, cleverly hidden continuing jokes (such as the experimental non-rabbit), a surprisingly frank review of the album itself, and even a little naughty connect-the-dots children's activity.

The 1972 tour featured the entire album (with a brief break featuring comedy skits between sides). The tour established the band's reputation for often outlandish theatrical-type performances. By today's standards, the concerts were hardly major productions. But for the time, Tull was rather unique.

Thick hit #1 in the U.S. and arguably represented the band's height of popularity in America. Somewhat unfairly and commercially limiting as musical fashion changed, the album defined Tull as a progressive rock act.

Original release

 * Side one
 * 1) "Thick as a Brick, Part I" — 22:40
 * Side two
 * 1) "Thick as a Brick, Part II" — 21:06

25th Anniversary Edition bonus tracks

 * 1) "Thick as a Brick" (1978 live version at Madison Square Garden) — 11:50
 * 2) "Interview with Jethro Tull" (Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Jeffrey Hammond) — 16:30

2012 40th Anniversary Edition, CD1 — Steven Wilson stereo remix

 * 1) "Thick as a Brick, Part I" — 22:44
 * 2) "Thick as a Brick, Part II" — 20:54

2012 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition — DVD

 * 1) "Thick as a Brick, Part I" (5.1 Surround Mix) — 22:44
 * 2) "Thick as a Brick, Part II" (5.1 Surround Mix) — 20:54
 * 3) "Thick as a Brick, Part I" (2012 Stereo Mix) — 22:44
 * 4) "Thick as a Brick, Part II" (2012 Stereo Mix) — 20:54
 * 5) "Thick as a Brick, Part I" (Original Stereo Mix) — 22:44
 * 6) "Thick as a Brick, Part II" (Original Stereo Mix) — 20:54
 * 7) "1972 Radio Ad" — 1:02