One of few bands that managed their first fifteen years of existence not releasing one bad LP, moving through all contemporary popular genres - blues, psych, prog, hard rock and pop - without losing focus or identity. Even if I don't dig every second of every album, there's always enough well written melodies and shrewd lyrics to make me wanna come back and listen. This was their eighth studio album and still going very strong. It's rather uneven in style - lyrics going from cynical and ironic to downright beautiful and music moving between sparsly arranged folky ballads and raw hard rock. Superficially tied together by the "Minstrel" theme, even if that's rather weak. What do make it come out as an entity is Ian Anderson's melodic songwriting, his warm personal vocals and Martin Barre's expert guitar play. I just listened to the whole thing and can't pick any favorite. It's all so good and well put together it seems wrong to detach just one piece, but at the moment I prefer side two because it puts me in a serene and happy mood all through - big smile. First US with same number and similar package. Premiere UK had label as shown here, cover with matt front, glossy back and picture/lyric inner. (YÖHT*)
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