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Jethro Tull: The Zealot Gene

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: InsideOut Records
Released: 2022.01.28
Time:
 46:45
Category: Folk, Progressive Rock
Producer(s): Ian Anderson
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: jethrotull.com
Appears with: Ian Anderson
Purchase date: 2022
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Mrs. Tibbets (I.Anderson) - 5:53
[2] Jacob's Tales (I.Anderson) - 2:12
[3] Mine Is the Mountain (I.Anderson) - 5:40
[4] The Zealot Gene (I.Anderson) - 3:54
[5] Shoshana Sleeping (I.Anderson) - 3:40
[6] Sad City Sisters (I.Anderson) - 3:41
[7] Barren Beth, Wild Desert John (I.Anderson) - 3:38
[8] The Betrayal of Joshua Kynde (I.Anderson) - 4:05
[9] Where Did Saturday Go? (I.Anderson) - 3:52
[10] Three Loves, Three (I.Anderson) - 3:29
[11] In Brief Visitation (I.Anderson) - 3:01
[12] The Fisherman of Ephesus (I.Anderson) - 3:40

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Ian Anderson - Vocals, Flute, Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Whistle, Harmonica, Producer, Stereo Mixing, Photography, Artwork Concept
Florian Opahle - Electric Guitar
David Goodier - Bass Guitar
John O'hara - Piano, Keyboards, Accordion, Organ
Scott Hammond - Drums
Joe Parrish-James - Guitar on [11]

Michael Nyandoro - Engineer
Nick Watson - Mastering
Jakko Jakszyk - 5.1 Surround Sound Mixing
James Anderson - Photography
Thomas Ewerhard - Artwork Design
Tim Bowness - Liner Notes


 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded during March 2017-July 2021 at the Modern World Studios, Tetbury, Gloucestershire. Mastering at Fluid Mastering.



The Zealot Gene is Jethro Tull's first new studio album in over two decades. A record that began to take shape as early as 2017, ‘The Zealot Gene’, in many ways, seeks to defy convention during a time when the business of being a touring and recording artist has never faced more uncertainties.

Tull bandleader Ian Anderson holds no reservations about the role for which the mythos and themes of Biblical storytelling played in the lyrical content of the new album, saying:

"While I have a spot of genuine fondness for the pomp and fairytale story-telling of the Holy Book, I still feel the need to question and draw sometimes unholy parallels from the text. The good, the bad, and the downright ugly rear their heads throughout, but are punctuated with elements of love, respect, and tenderness.”

Looking back on the earth-shaking disruption of the Coronavirus pandemic, which ultimately ended the band’s touring plans and hopes of a 2020 release for ‘The Zealot Gene’, Anderson shares:

"It was so sudden. Amidst the concerns and warnings of the scientific community and a few more enlightened politicians, we all retreated in disbelief to our homes to wait out the storm."

jethrotull.com



This is the first Jethro Tull album of new material for 18 years – since 2003’s Christmas Album, to be precise. There have of course been plenty of Jethro Tull albums in the intervening years – live albums, anniversary reissues with copious bonus tracks, orchestral albums of Jethro Tull music frequently featuring Ian Anderson.

And then there have been Ian Anderson’s solo albums. Half a dozen of them. These include 2012’s Thick As A Brick 2 that expanded upon Tull’s 1972 classic, 2014’s Homo Erraticus that featured yet more adventures from Gerald Bostock, and Thick As A Brick: Live In Iceland.

Adding to the confusion is that most of the members of Jethro Tull also appear on Anderson’s solo records. All of which begs the question: what is the difference between a Jethro Tull album and an Ian Anderson solo album? The answer of course lies at the personal discretion of Ian Anderson.

The Zealot Gene is a collection of 12 songs covering various aspects of the human condition. So no surprises there. There is a theme that binds them together, however: the Holy Bible. Each song title is followed by a reference to specific verses from the Bible that have spurred Anderson into lyrical action.

The connection is not always easy to make, and sometimes you’re better off just going with his words, although they can take some unravelling at times. But that’s all part of the plan.

The title track takes on Donald Trump and his populist ilk with their ‘dark appeal’ and extremist views, while album opener Mrs Tibbets surveys a pattern of wanton destruction and puts 9/11 in uncomfortable context. Still not sure where the Eccles cakes fit in, though. Less catastrophic but almost as disillusioning is the sight of teenage girls lying drunk in a gutter in a town centre near you in Sad City Sisters.

But it’s not all grim. Anderson remains an incurable romantic, alert to the voyeuristic pleasures of love on Shoshana Sleeping and its varieties on Three Loves, Three. He wraps it up with a modern classical tale on The Fisherman Of Ephesus that will keep you cogitating.

The music is light, bright, tight and recognisably Tull, with plenty of room for his flute to fly. But there are times when you yearn for a heavy guitar riff from the long-departed Martin Barre to add some heavy rock dynamics. It could also serve to distract from Anderson’s increasingly frail voice.

6/10

Hugh Fielder - January 28, 2022
Classic Rock



Ian Anderson has released several solo albums in the past 19 years. However, with The Zealot Gene being the first album by Jethro Tull in almost two decades, expectations are high.

Ian Anderson has come up with a wonderful album, having written all the songs himself. This is a Jethro Tull release that not only meets expectations but surpasses them. It is a concept album, of sorts, and a return to form for the band. It is  twelve rock tracks that fit very nicely together. They do not sound dated, but rather current, yet would not have been out of place in the late 1970s.

The Zealot Gene  open with Anderson’s fantastic flute on “Mrs. Tibbets”. Next comes the voice, Ian Anderson in all of his glory. The flute gives way to power chords and it is on its way. There are some great surprises, such as Anderson’s harmonica on “Jacob’s Tales” , which is far too short, the moody background on “Shoshana Sleeping”, the English folk genre of “The Fisherman Of Ephesus” and the hard rock sounds in “Barren Beth, Wild Desert John”.

Florian Opahle is a fantastic guitarist. He provides strong guitar solos, especially in “Mrs. Tibbets”,  but more often provides a steady backing. The majority of the solos are from Anderson on his flute. Special mention should also be made regarding Anderson’s acoustic guitar performance.

The Zealot Gene just may be the album fans have been waiting for for a very long time. It is a classic Jethro Tull album. For the most part, the album was recorded with all the members being in the same room, and at times, live off the floor. This energy and band unity is felt throughout. This is also an album that Jethro Tull could tour and would sound fantastic live. Fans should enjoy The Zealot Gene. It is beyond words how good it is to have Jethro Tull back.

9/10

Aaron Badgley
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW



Es ist gut zwei Jahrzehnte her, seit Ian Anderson den Namen Jethro Tull auf einem Album verwendet hat. Tatsächlich ist „The Jethro Tull Christmas Album“ (2003) das letzte Studiowerk der Band, davor erschien 1999 „J-Tull Dot Com“. 2022 bringt Anderson mit „The Zealot Gene“ das 22. Studioalbum von Jethro Tull heraus, macht aber auf dem Cover gleich klar, wer der Bulle im Ring ist. Da starrt uns das von Wind, Wetter und 74 Jahren Rock ‚n‘ Roll gezeichnete Gesicht des britischen Musikers entgegen.

Schließlich spielt Anderson mit den Musikern dieser Band schon seit fast 17 Jahren. Somit stellen sie das längste Band-Line-up in der 55-jährigen Geschichte von Jethro Tull. „Sie verdienten es deswegen auch, ein echtes Jethro Tull Album einzuspielen“, sagt Anderson in Interviews. Mittlerweile denke er, dass er auch das Album „Homo Erraticus“, das er 2014 herausbrachte, unter dem Namen Jethro Tull veröffentlichen sollen. Der Mann, der mit seiner samtenen sonoren Stimme und der Querflöte Rockgeschichte geschrieben hat, hatte in den vergangenen zwei Dekaden überhaupt nicht nötig, unter dem legendären Bandnamen noch Platten herauszugeben oder auf Tour zu gehen. Letztlich war Jethro Tull doch Ian Anderson – auch wenn die Songwriterqualitäten und das virtuose Girarrenspiel seines langjährigen Mitstreiters Martin Barre fehlen – meinen jedenfalls die hartgesottenen Tull-Fans.

Und das neue Album ist tatsächlich ein hundertprozentiges Jethro Tull-Werk, das bisweilen sogar an den Klassiker „Aqualung“ erinnert. Vom ersten Song „Mrs. Tibbets“ bis zum Albumabschluss „The Fisherman of Ephesus“ beherrscht die für Tull bekannte Mischung aus Progressive-Rock mit komplexen Akkordwechseln, Jazz- und klassischen Elementen, ein wenig Folk, ein wenig Mittelalter-Anklänge, das alles kunstvoll in den klassischen Hard-Rock verflochten, in den Texten weichen die Mythen und Legenden schwindelerregenden Verweisen aus der Bibel und einer Abrechnung mit Verschwörungserzählungen. Überhaupt ist das Album sehr aktuell und politisch. Im Titelsong geht es um rechte Staatsmänner, um „Populisten mit dunklem Appeal“, es geht um die Anbiederung des Hasses, um fremdenfeindliche Angstmacher, Sklaven der Ideologie, um Intoleranz, das im Laufe der Jahrhunderte immer noch vorherrschende Virus. Wie alle frühen Alben von Jethro Tull verlangt auch „The Zealot Gene“ nach mehr als nur flüchtigem Hören.

Aber die Band lebt nicht nur in ihrer Vergangenheit. „Mrs. Tibbets“ enthält eine Gitarre, die sehr an U2 erinnert, einige raumerschütternde Synthesizerklänge und jede Menge Querflöteneinsätze.  Sehr vertraut klingt „Shoshana Sleeping“ mit seinen stotternden Flötensoli oder der Minnesänger in Ian Anderson auf „Sad City Sisters“. Tulls Signatur tritt natürlich immer wieder in Form von Andersons frenetischer Flötenarbeit in den Vordergrund. Bemerkenswert ist übrigens, dass seine Stimme immer noch eindringlich und intensiv ist. Er ist vielleicht nicht mehr in der Lage, seine charakteristische einbeinige Pose wie früher einzunehmen, aber Anderson bleibt der Künstler mit Ecken, Kanten – und einer eindeutigen Haltung. Schon beeindruckend.

Dylan Cem Akalin - 3. März 2022
jazzandrock.com



Ian Scott Anderson MBE (born 10 August 1947) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who, in addition to flute and acoustic guitar, plays keyboards, electric guitar, bass guitar, bouzouki, balalaika, saxophone, harmonica and a variety of whistles. His solo work began with the 1983 album Walk into Light; since then he has released another five works, including the sequel to the Jethro Tull album Thick as a Brick (1972) in 2012, titled Thick as a Brick 2.

The album originated in January 2017, when vocalist and flautist Ian Anderson started to write new songs and arrange the shape of the album. Early into the process, he decided that it was to be a Jethro Tull album because the line-up of the group at that time had become the longest lasting in its history, but had not been involved on a studio recording under its name. It was a productive time, and seven tracks were recorded in March of that year. Further work on the album was put on hold in order for Anderson and the band to finish touring commitments in 2018 and 2019, and Anderson felt it would have been unfair to have the group back in the studio during the small amounts of down time. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, in early 2021 Anderson "gave up hope" and decided to put down his parts to the remaining five songs alone at his home studio. These last five songs are acoustic based and without drums, partly because Hammond was unable to record at home. The band recorded their individual parts in a similar manner, leaving Anderson to assemble the various tracks to form a complete song. By July 2021, the album was complete and delivered to Inside Out.

The Zealot Gene is the first Jethro Tull studio album to feature an entirely new lineup (other than Anderson), with guitarist Florian Opahle (who left the band between its recording and release), bassist David Goodier, keyboardist John O'Hara, and drummer Scott Hammond replacing four-fifths of The Jethro Tull Christmas Album lineup – Martin Barre, Jonathan Noyce, Andrew Giddings and Doane Perry respectively. The new lineup is the same that performed on Anderson's most recent solo album, Homo Erraticus (2014). The album is the first since This Was (1968) not to involve Barre in any capacity, as he was not asked to return when Anderson reformed Jethro Tull.

The Zealot Gene is not a concept album, but biblical references are made throughout and Anderson began writing each song with a passage from the Bible. "Mrs. Tibbets" references the mother of Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. The title track was inspired partly by the rise in right-wing populism "and how extremist views seem to spread more freely and everything gets more exaggerated – sometimes through news stories, and some from ferocious tweets." Anderson said that "Mine Is the Mountain" is not a reflection of his own view, but rather about seeing God as a victim and the "desperation of man to create this figurehead, and in human form, because that’s the only way we can understand it."

The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 9, becoming Jethro Tull's first UK top ten album since Thick as a Brick and the compilation Living in the Past, both from 1972.

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, The Zealot Gene received a mean score of 67 based on 4 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

Lee Zimmerman of American Songwriter described The Zealot Gene as a "concept album in the vintage manner of Thick as a Brick" with the "idyllic imagery of Songs From the Wood and Heavy Horses". The reviewer opined that the album is a "noteworthy effort and a well-executed return" for the band. Mojo writer John Bungey compared the album with Ian Anderson's latest solo album, Homo Erraticus, and praised that "here are 12 less erratic songs on diverse subjects". However, Bungey also pointed out that "the rockier tunes need louder guitars and it's the folkier moments with mandolin, Irish whistle and accordion that shine brightest". According to Hugh Fielder from Classic Rock, the music in the album is "light, bright, tight and recognisably Tull, with plenty of room for his flute to fly". Having said that, the reviewer also missed Martin Barre's "heavy rock dynamics" and mentioned "Anderson's increasingly frail voice".

wikipedia.org
 

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