Capitol
1974
War Child
About This Album
As a return to standard-length songs following two epic-length pieces (Thick As a Brick and A Passion Play), it was inevitable that the material on War Child would lack power. The music was no longer quite able to cover for the obscurity of Tull's lyrics: The title track is reasonably successful, but "Queen and Country" seems repetitive and pointless. "Ladies," by contrast, is one of Tull's folk-based pieces, and one of the prettiest songs on the record, beautifully sung and benefiting from some of Anderson's best flute playing to date. The band is very tight but doesn't get to really show its stuff until "Back-Door Angels," after which the album picks up: "Sealion" is one of Anderson's pseudo-philosophical musings on life, mixing full-out electric playing and restrained orchestral backing, while "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day" is a beautiful, largely acoustic number that was popular in concert. "Bungle in the Jungle," with a title that went over well, got most of the radio play. [War Child was reissued in an upgraded, remastered edition during November of 2002, with improved sound and seven bonus tracks recorded during the sessions for the album that add 27 minutes to the original running time.
Track List (try tracks 1,4,6,7 and 8)

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