In July of 1977 Jethro Tull was in the studio working on a new album, a followup to Songs From The Wood, which had been released earlier in the year. The band had just come off the road in support of that record, and leader Ian Anderson was already composing new songs in his head. He'd been living in the English countryside on a working farm for about a year by then and had become interested in old farming culture, the horse-hoeing husbandry and hard labour of the era of the original Jethro Tull - the English agriculturist and inventor whose ideas helped form the basis of modern agriculture and whom the band was named after.
Thinking back on the album decades later Anderson had this to say: “Heavy Horses is definitely a look into the past and singing rather sadly about the end of an era. I suppose the last evidence of heavy horses would’ve been pulling the carts laden with beer from breweries into towns. It’s a bit sentimental, but sometimes holding up examples gives you a new sense of appreciation. You realize times will change. They’ll be gone and won’t be coming back. So treasure them while they’re still here.”
Heavy Horses is often lumped in with Songs from the Wood, the album's predecessor. It is considered to be the second record in a trilogy (Stormwatch would follow a year later). I used to call this kind of music Robin Hood Music, and I think the name still fits. Just listen to the songs Rover, One Brown Mouse, Acres Wild, Moths and Weathercock. You'll see what I mean.
Heavy Horses is one of my favourite Jethro Tull albums, if not the favourite. Its acoustic melodies are intricate and the production is flawless. The songs’ subject matter leans toward the harsher side of rural life at a time when lifespans were short and the days long and brutally hard. The LPs opening salvo, …And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps, sets the tone for songs that follow. It's a simple song about the dangerous relationship between a barn cat and a mouse.
Acres Wild masterfully combines acoustic folk instruments with rock music. The violin part is curtesy of Darryl Way of the band Curved Air, who toured with Jethro Tull and opened for them previously.
No Lullaby - side one, track three - is the only track on the album lacking any historical folk or farm or animal references. It was written for Anderson's son, James, as a sort of anti-lullaby inviting the child to stand up and face the demons and the bogeymen and all the other scary things of the night, as so aptly put in the song's lyrics: Come out charging with rattle in hand.
The title song is perhaps one of Jethro Tull's most iconic songs. Heavy Horses, like many other of mankind's inventions, were war artifacts. When knights of the realm started wearing heavy armour bigger horses were needed to carry them. They then found a use pulling carts laden with goods along the terrible medieval roads and also on the farm, where new, heavy tools required the strength of a big horse. On the verge of extinction now, they have become a true artifact of an old way of life. They have become unnecessary, and this song is a reflection on something lost.
One of my favourite songs on this record is Rover, which opens side two. Written as a tribute to Anderson's dog, it's a beautiful song with lyrics that go straight to the heart of the relationship between dog and man. Great stuff, and laid over such a pretty yet energetic melody. Another standout track is One Brown Mouse …
Smile your little smile
Take some tea with me awhile
Brush away that black cloud from your shoulder
Twitch your whiskers
Feel that you're really real
Another tea-time, another day older
Something to ponder, something to be grateful for.
The record ends with Weathercock, about the break of dawn and the circular rhythm of nature. A simple musical arrangement, just acoustic guitar, mandolin, flute, organ and the occasional spanking of a drum. As a whole, the record is a wonderful document that calls to mind the past and honours it without dwelling too long on a sense of loss. We can learn from where we've been and what we've done, but the only way we can go is forward.
Jethro Tull recorded some shows on the Heavy Horses tour - which I saw in Toronto, in 1978 - and later released a live album called Bursting Out, which accurately resembles the shows on that tour.
A few years back I met Ian Anderson and got him to sign my copy of Heavy Horses.
This LP received the Steven Wilson remix treatment in 2018, which sounds really good. I'm not sure it was necessary, but Steven Wilson seems to be all the rage these days as he wanders around remixing everything from Jethro Tull to Yes and Chicago and beyond. Here he does a great job. The music is clearer and more forward and has more breadth. If you've never heard the album before this is the version you probably want to buy.
In July of 1977 Jethro Tull was in the studio working on a new album, a followup to Songs From The Wood, which had been released earlier in the year. The band had just come off the road in support of that record, and leader Ian Anderson was already composing new songs in his head. He'd been living in the English countryside on a working farm for about a year by then and had become interested in old farming culture, the horse-hoeing husbandry and hard labour of the era of the original Jethro Tull - the English agriculturist and inventor whose ideas helped form the basis of modern agriculture and whom the band was named after.
Thinking back on the album decades later Anderson had this to say: “Heavy Horses is definitely a look into the past and singing rather sadly about the end of an era. I suppose the last evidence of heavy horses would’ve been pulling the carts laden with beer from breweries into towns. It’s a bit sentimental, but sometimes holding up examples gives you a new sense of appreciation. You realize times will change. They’ll be gone and won’t be coming back. So treasure them while they’re still here.”
Heavy Horses is often lumped in with Songs from the Wood, the album's predecessor. It is considered to be the second record in a trilogy (Stormwatch would follow a year later). I used to call this kind of music Robin Hood Music, and I think the name still fits. Just listen to the songs Rover, One Brown Mouse, Acres Wild, Moths and Weathercock. You'll see what I mean.
Heavy Horses is one of my favourite Jethro Tull albums, if not the favourite. Its acoustic melodies are intricate and the production is flawless. The songs’ subject matter leans toward the harsher side of rural life at a time when lifespans were short and the days long and brutally hard. The LPs opening salvo, …And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps, sets the tone for songs that follow. It's a simple song about the dangerous relationship between a barn cat and a mouse.
Acres Wild masterfully combines acoustic folk instruments with rock music. The violin part is curtesy of Darryl Way of the band Curved Air, who toured with Jethro Tull and opened for them previously.
No Lullaby - side one, track three - is the only track on the album lacking any historical folk or farm or animal references. It was written for Anderson's son, James, as a sort of anti-lullaby inviting the child to stand up and face the demons and the bogeymen and all the other scary things of the night, as so aptly put in the song's lyrics: Come out charging with rattle in hand.
The title song is perhaps one of Jethro Tull's most iconic songs. Heavy Horses, like many other of mankind's inventions, were war artifacts. When knights of the realm started wearing heavy armour bigger horses were needed to carry them. They then found a use pulling carts laden with goods along the terrible medieval roads and also on the farm, where new, heavy tools required the strength of a big horse. On the verge of extinction now, they have become a true artifact of an old way of life. They have become unnecessary, and this song is a reflection on something lost.
One of my favourite songs on this record is Rover, which opens side two. Written as a tribute to Anderson's dog, it's a beautiful song with lyrics that go straight to the heart of the relationship between dog and man. Great stuff, and laid over such a pretty yet energetic melody. Another standout track is One Brown Mouse …
Smile your little smile
Take some tea with me awhile
Brush away that black cloud from your shoulder
Twitch your whiskers
Feel that you're really real
Another tea-time, another day older
Something to ponder, something to be grateful for.
The record ends with Weathercock, about the break of dawn and the circular rhythm of nature. A simple musical arrangement, just acoustic guitar, mandolin, flute, organ and the occasional spanking of a drum. As a whole, the record is a wonderful document that calls to mind the past and honours it without dwelling too long on a sense of loss. We can learn from where we've been and what we've done, but the only way we can go is forward.
Jethro Tull recorded some shows on the Heavy Horses tour - which I saw in Toronto, in 1978 - and later released a live album called Bursting Out, which accurately resembles the shows on that tour.
A few years back I met Ian Anderson and got him to sign my copy of Heavy Horses.
This LP received the Steven Wilson remix treatment in 2018, which sounds really good. I'm not sure it was necessary, but Steven Wilson seems to be all the rage these days as he wanders around remixing everything from Jethro Tull to Yes and Chicago and beyond. Here he does a great job. The music is clearer and more forward and has more breadth. If you've never heard the album before this is the version you probably want to buy.
Jethro Tull, born in 1674, was an English agricultural pioneer from Berkshire who helped bring about the agricultural revolution. He invented a horse-drawn seed drill in 1700, a mechanical seeder that sowed seeds to the correct depth and spaced and covered them. Later, he also developed a horse-drawn hoe. Tull's methods helped provide the basis for modern agriculture.
Tull trained for the legal profession and was called to the bar in December, 1693. He married Susanna Smith, of Warwickshire, and they settled on his father's farm where they had three children - one son and two daughters.
Soon after his call to the bar, Tull became ill with a pulmonary disorder and travelled to Europe in search of a cure, visiting France and Italy. While there he began to compare the agriculture practices of the two countries to that of his own, finding that neither the French or Italians approved of "dunging" their vineyards. Tull concluded that manuring soil was an unnecessary operation.
Tull died on February 21, 1741 and is buried in the churchyard of St Bartholomew's, in Berkshire. His gravestone bears a burial date of March 9, 1740 - almost a year before he died! - but that's because it is based on the Old Style calendar. The equivalent modern date is March 20, 1741.
After his death, Tull's holdings - about 70 acres of freehold land - were sold to a Mr Blandy, in 1784. Today the house still stands, although it has been modernised. The granary and stables are still in existence, too, and when the property's well was cleared out several years ago a three-pronged hoe that likely belonged to Tull was found buried in the centuries-old mud. It is now in the museum of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.
