| This edition of the album is the remastered version. Though it's tempting, in hindsight, to view it as just another of Ian Anderson's legendary affectations--the runes adorning the cover, the overriding air of eldritch portent--for Tull fans, this 1982 album came as a welcome relief. After the spooked futurism of Stormwatch and A--a mode they would revisit, just two years later, with the Peter Vetesse-dominated Under Wraps--Broadsword marked a return to the band's pastoral, slightly archaic sound, the laconic strain of English gentility that had informed such classics as Songs from The Wood and Heavy Horses. What had changed, however, was the singer's outlook: the air of melancholy in "Slow Marching Band", while beguiling, sounded more resigned than romantic; while "Watching Me Watching You" anticipated the tech-driven paranoia of his solo debut, Into the Light. The sound was tougher--stalwart guitarist Martin Barre contributed some chunky riffs to "Beastie" and "Pussy Willow"--and the mood darker. But too old to rock and roll? Not quite. --Andrew McGuire |
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