樂評：Jethro Tull《Thick As A Brick》
樂評來自：
http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=1445231試聽：
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick - 蝦米音樂
Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull - 專輯 - 網易雲音樂
My first contact with Thick As A Brick was in the middle of the 70s, in the school, where my friends lent me a recording of the album made on a cassette which was taken from the original vinyl disc. When I listen to the album for the first time I became truly amazed. This is a concept album with only one theme. Unfortunately it was interrupted in the middle, because as all we know in those times, the vinyl records were unable to store more information than 30 to 35 minutes, on each side of the disc. However, when we were listening to a copy of a recording on a cassette tape recorder with inferior quality, especially if it was a mono version, like mine, the sound quality was extremely poor. Although those were my conditions at the time and I had to live with them.
我第一次接觸《Thick As A Brick》是在70年代中期，在學校里我的朋友借給我一盒磁帶，那是從原來的黑膠CD上錄下來的。在我第一次聆聽這張專輯的時候，我為之感到震驚。這是一張只有一個主題的概念專輯。不幸的是，它在中間被打斷，因為眾所周知在那時黑膠唱片無法存儲比30到35分鐘更多內容的信息，所以只能分為兩面。甚至當我們在聆聽這個翻錄的磁帶的時候其錄音質量非常低劣，尤其是它是一個單聲道版本，聲音聽起來實在可憐。但這些是我當時的聽音條件，我別無選擇。
In my humble opinion, Thick As A Brick is the best and most progressive release by Jethro Tull and its the father of all concept albums. Probably, Thick As A Brick is with Selling England By The Pound of Genesis, Close To The Edge of Yes and Wish You Were Here of Pink Floyd, the four best progressive albums of the 70s. Its their fifth studio album and was released in 1972. It reached number 1 on the U.S.A. Billboard Pop Albums Chart. Even on Progarchives, these four albums are always in the top four of the site, as the best four prog albums ever made.
在我看來，《Thick As A Brick》是Jethro Tull最棒的也是最重要的前衛搖滾專輯，也是所有概念專輯的鼻祖。《Thick As A Brick》很可能與Genesis的《Selling England By The Pound》、Yes的《Close To The Edge》、Pink Floyd的《Wish You Were Here》一起成為70年代最棒的前衛搖滾專輯。這是他們的第五張錄音室專輯，發行於1972年。它曾到達過美國流行專輯榜的第一名。甚至在PA網站上，這四張專輯也總是佔據前四的位置，成為有史以來最好的四張前衛搖滾專輯。
The line up on Thick As A Brick is composed by a quintet and was the line up which lasted longer on Jethro Tulls life, remaining the same until 1975. It was formed by Ian Anderson (lead vocals, flute and acoustic guitar), Martin Barre (electric guitar and lute), John Evan (piano and organ), Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (vocals and bass guitar) and Barriemore Barlow (drums, percussion and timpani).
《Thick As A Brick》的製作成員是一個五重奏組合，並且這個組合在Jethro Tull樂隊中佔據很長的時間，持續到1975年。他們是：Ian Anderson (主唱，長笛，木吉他), Martin Barre (電吉他，琵琶), John Evan (鋼琴，風琴), Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (人聲和貝司) and Barriemore Barlow (鼓，打擊樂，定音鼓)。
The music on Thick As A Brick was all composed by Anderson. Its an album with a very complex musical structure and where many musical instruments were used. Besides the use of the usual classic rock instruments, already mentioned by me, many others were used, and some of them are very uncommon in rock music, such as harpsichord, xylophone, violin, trumpet and a string section.
《Thick As A Brick》的音樂都是由Anderson創作的。它具有很複雜的音樂結構，許多音樂被使用。除了通常被使用的經典的搖滾樂器外，我已經提到的是許多其他的樂器被使用，它們常常在搖滾音樂中是很少被使用的，比如羽管鍵琴、木琴、小提琴、小號和弦樂組合。
The concept of the album was a straight collaboration between the band and an eight years old child, who wrote a very complex poem, that talks about the challenges of to get old, for a contest. It was about a fictional kid (Gerard Little Milton Bostock). In those times, and even today, many believe that Gerald Bostock is a real person. The child was disqualified because the judges considered that his poem was a little bit immoral because it talks about the sexual life of a father and son, and the problems of their relationship. So, the judges preferred to give the prize to a twelve years girl, who wrote a simple essay about the Christian ethical values entitled, He Died To Save The Little Children.
專輯的概念是樂隊成員和一個八歲的孩子進行直接的互動，他寫了一首非常複雜的詩，是關於成長的挑戰和競爭的。他是一個虛構的孩子：Gerard Little Milton Bostock。但在那時，甚至直到如今，許多人相信Gerald Bostock是一個真實存在的人。這個孩子被取消資格（熊貓哥哥註：結合下文，是這個孩子參加一個詩歌比賽），因為法官認為他的詩是不道德的，而他的詩講述了父親和兒子的性生活以及他們關係的許多問題。所以，法官傾向於將獎項授予一個十二歲的女孩，她寫了一首簡單的關於基督教倫理價值的文章，名叫《He Died To Save The Little Children》（他為拯救孩子們而犧牲）。
Anderson picked up the childs poem and created a notable piece. The combination of both things is so original and perfect that Thick As A Brick became as one of the most beloved albums by most of the progressive rock fans.
Anderson拾起了這個孩子的詩歌，並創作了一個引人注目的作品。兩者的集合是如此的原始而完善，以至於《Thick As A Brick》成為了大部分前衛搖滾粉絲最喜愛的專輯。
Which is most interesting and surprising is that Thick As A Brick only saw the daylight, because Jethro Tulls previous studio album Aqualung, released in 1971. It all started with the controversy between Anderson and the critics. The Critics considered Aqualung a concept album, which was firmly rejected by Anderson. In response he said if they wanted to know what is a truly concept album, they would see on Jethro Tulls next studio album.
最尤其和最令人驚訝的事情是《Thick As A Brick》是在Jethro Tull之前的一張專輯《Aqualung》（1971）年之後發行的。而那時Anderson和評論家之間有爭議。評論家們認為《Aqualung》是一張概念專輯，而Anderson卻堅決地反對。在回應中，他說如果你們想要見識一張真正的概念專輯的話，可以等著去聽Jethro Tull的下一張錄音室專輯。
The original LP cover was a spoof of a local newspaper with news, stories, competitions, adverts, etc. It was a mock newspaper that satirised the British society of those times and its hypocrisy. The false newspaper, with twelve pages, also included the entire lyrics of the song. References to the lyrics are scattered throughout the articles. Unfortunately, and in many cases, this cover had to be reduced or even completely suppressed because of the printing costs. Fortunately, Im lucky to have one copy of one of those LPs versions on my vinyl disc collection.
原始的黑膠封面是一張惡搞的當地報紙，內容包括新聞、故事、比賽、廣告等。這是一張模擬報紙，諷刺當時的英國社會和它的虛偽。假報紙有十二頁，也包括了歌曲的全部歌詞。歌詞被分散地引用於這些文章里。不幸的是，在許多情況下，這張封面必須被縮減或被完全禁止，因為印刷成本的關係。幸運的是，在我的黑膠收藏中正有一張它的副本。
Conclusion: Thick As A Brick is an extremely ambitious and brilliant album. It combines successfully and perfectly well, hard rock, jazz, and folk with great melodies which turn the album into a truly progressive rock opus. The music on this concept album is absolutely brilliant from the first to the last minute. Every single note sounds beautifully. Ive always considered it a truly masterpiece, and even now when more than forty years passed, it still sounds great and better than ever. If there are perfect works, this is one of them. If you havent got it yet, youre losing one of the jewels of the progressive rock music. Its very easy to get into its music, and is much easier to listen to than many other progressive albums. This is an essential album for any progressive fan, and definitely, it crowns the genre of the progressive folk music.
結論：《Thick As A Brick》是一張雄心勃勃而才華橫溢的專輯。它成功而完美地用偉大美妙的旋律的結合了硬搖滾、爵士、民謠，這使得專輯成為了一個真正的前衛搖滾作品。從開始到結束，這張概念專輯中的音樂當然是絕對燦爛的，每一個音符聽起來都非常美麗。我一直認為這是一個真正的傑作，甚至到現在，當超過了四十年的時間過去了，它依然聽起來很偉大，甚至比以往任何時候都好。如果這世上有完美的作品，它便是其中之一。如果你還沒有得到它，你會失去一顆前衛搖滾的珍寶。進入它的音樂是很容易的，遠比去聆聽其他前衛專輯更簡單。對於任何前衛迷來說這都是至關重要的專輯，它絕對是前衛民謠領域的王冠。
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