Putting Down Deep Roots, 4 out of 5 StarsIan Anderson has always seemed older than his years, from the Man V God introspection of Aqualung to being one of the first major bands to embrace folkier elements (even during the rise of punk-rock) with Songs from the Wood, so it is no surprise that their later music has aged as well as their earlier classics. "Roots To Branches," Tull's final album in their multi-decade tenure on Chrysalis records, is one of the band's best 90's albums, in a league with Catfish Rising and Crest of a Knave.
This was also an album where Jethro Tull stretched out musically. Anderson's new-found fascination with Middle Eastern music pushes some of these into sonically rich territory ("Rare and Precious Chain," "Dangerous Veils"), while some of the extended arrangements sound alot like old fashioned fusion music, especially the title track and "Veils." Martin Barre is still a guitar monster whose lead blasts show an artist that should get a lot more recognition that he does.
Anderson's turf is as defined as it has always been. He remains lyrically obtuse as ever ("Beside Myself") and delightfully cantankerous. His smirking "Wounded, Old and Treacherous" could easily have been a part of Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! II should such an album exist. And the thinly disguised parable of "Valley" (world conflict as a battle for water between mountain communities) is wonderful. The lost world of old haunts, "Another Harry's Bar," is a quintessential old man's lament from a man who's penned his share (with echoes of classic Dire Straits). Also, if you were wondering, Anderson's flute playing is a predominant as ever.
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