Song of the Day 3/22: Jethro Tull, “Locomotive Breath”

The other day I saw a list of LPs released in 1971, and the phrase “embarrassment of riches” barely scratches the surface. None of them got spun as often among my high school friends as “Aqualung,” the album that ought to have made them a shoo-in for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which still hasn’t recognized them.

Perhaps the problem is that critics never knew how to categorize the band. When it was released, critics termed “Aqualung” a concept album and lumped in with the then-nascent prog rock movement, something that ticked off Jethro Tull leader Ian Anderson so much that he followed up the album with what he thought was an over-the-top lampooning of concept albums and prog in general. Instead, “Thick as a Brick” became a highlight of the entire prog rock oeuvre; a few years back fans voted it the second-best prog rock album ever.

“Locomotive Breath” isn’t prog, it’s straight-up riff-based rock. The subject is ostensibly over-population (this is among the reasons people considered this a concept album), but there’s a reason this has been the final song of the band’s encores ever since: It kicks ass.

The recording process was unusual for the day. Anderson laid down tracks for acoustic guitar, his vocals, flute, bass drum and hi-hat and some electric guitar. John Evan added the piano intro later, Clive Bunker and Martin Barre fleshed out the drum and electric guitar parts. It was released as a single but failed to chart in the U.S., though it did reach No. 59 when it was re-released in 1976.