Thick as a Brick 2

Thick as a Brick 2, abbreviated TAAB 2 (pronounced /tæb tuː/ by Anderson) and subtitled Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock?, is the fifth studio album by Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson, released in 2012 as a follow-up of Thick as a Brick, Jethro Tull's 1972 parody concept album. It entered the Billboard chart at No. 55.

Thick as a Brick 2
Studio album by
Ian Anderson
Released2 April 2012[1]
RecordedMarch 2011, November 2011
GenreProgressive rock
Length53:45
LabelChrysalis/EMI Records
50999 6 38726 2 0
F2-38726
ProducerIan Anderson
Ian Anderson chronology
Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull
(2005)		 Thick as a Brick 2
(2012)		 Homo Erraticus
(2014)

Concept overview

According to Anderson, TAAB 2 (which he pronounces /tæb tuː/) focuses on Gerald Bostock, the fictional boy genius author of the original album, forty years later. "I wonder what the eight-year-old Gerald Bostock would be doing today. Would the fabled newspaper still exist?"[2] The follow-up album presents five divergent, hypothetical life stories for Gerald Bostock, including a greedy investment banker, a homosexual homeless man, a soldier in the Afghan War, a sanctimonious evangelist preacher, and a most ordinary man who (married and childless) runs a corner store; by the end of the album, however, all five possibilities seem to converge in a similar concluding moment of gloomy or pitiful solitude.[3] In March 2012, to follow the style of the mock-newspaper cover (The St Cleve Chronicle and Linwell Advertiser) of the original Thick as a Brick album, an online newspaper was set up, simply titled StCleve.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
PopMatters5/10[1]
Sputnik Music4.0/5[5]

AllMusic gave three stars to the album, calling it: "cleaner and streamlined, not as indulgent or idealistic as [Anderson's] younger work, boasting a more sensible structure, yet it still bears all of his signatures from the flute to rambling folk-rock".[6]

The album debuted at No. 55 on the Billboard chart, at No. 13 in the German Albums Chart,[7] at No. 12 in the Finnish Album Chart,[8] at No. 19 in the Austrian Album Charts,[9] at No. 30 in the Norwegian Album Charts,[10] at No. 31 in the Swiss Album Charts,[11] at number No. 74 on the Canadian Albums Chart,[12] at No. 35 on the UK charts,[13] at No. 76 in the Dutch Album Chart[14] and at No. 99 on the Spanish charts.[15]

Live performances
Main article: Thick as a Brick - Live in Iceland

Anderson performed the entire album live on tour in 2012.[16] In August 2014, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson released CD/DVD/Blu-ray Thick as a Brick - Live in Iceland. The concert was recorded in Reykjavík, Iceland on 22 June 2012 and featured complete Thick as a Brick and Thick as a Brick 2 performances by the Ian Anderson Touring Band.[17]

Track listing

The original Thick as a Brick consists of only two long tracks comprising a single song, while the TAAB 2 lists 17 separate songs merged into 13 distinct tracks (some labelled as medleys), although also all flowing together much like a single song.

All tracks are written by Ian Anderson

No.TitleLength
1."From a Pebble Thrown"3:05
2."Medley: Pebbles Instrumental / Might-Have-Beens"4:21
3."Medley: Upper Sixth Loan Shark / Banker Bets, Banker Wins"5:41
4."Swing It Far"3:28
5."Adrift and Dumfounded"4:25
6."Old School Song"3:07
7."Wootton Bassett Town"3:44
8."Medley: Power and Spirit / Give Till It Hurts"3:11
9."Medley: Cosy Corner / Shunt and Shuffle"3:37
10."A Change of Horses"8:04
11."Confessional"3:09
12."Kismet in Suburbia"4:17
13."What-ifs, Maybes and Might-Have-Beens"3:36
Total length:53:45

DVD

The 2-disc edition includes a DVD-9 with the following contents:

  • Audio:
    • 5.1 Surround Mix
    • Super Quality 24-bit Stereo Mix
  • Video:
    • TAAB2 "The making of" Video
    • Studio recording sessions, interviews and more
    • The Lyric Reading Video (Anderson)
  • DVD-ROM:
    • Multilingual Lyric Translations (pdf files)
    • www.StCleve.com Web Pages (pdf)

Personnel
Musicians
Production
  • Steven Wilson – mixing engineer
  • Mike Downs – recording engineer
  • Ian Anderson – liner notes
  • Peter Mew – mastering engineer

Charts
Chart (2012) Peak
position
Billboard Top 200[18] 55
Top Rock Albums[18] 18
UK Albums Chart[19] 35
Hungarian Albums Chart[20] 2

See also

References
  1. Murphy, Sean (14 May 2012). "Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson: Thick As a Brick 2 < PopMatters". popmatters.com. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  2. "Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson On Thick as a Brick 2, the Grammys And More". American Songwriter. 2 February 2012.
  3. "New CD Release by Ian Anderson Revives the Prog Genre". 11 April 2012.
  4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "IAN ANDERSON Thick As A Brick 2: Whatever Happened To Gerald Bostock?". Allmusic.
  5. "Ian Anderson - Thick as a Brick 2 (album review )". Sputnikmusic. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  6. Stephen Thomas Erlewine (10 April 2012). "Thick as a Brick 2 - Ian Anderson | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  7. "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche – musicline.de". musicline.de. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  8. "finnishcharts.com – Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson – TAAB2 – Thick As A Brick 2". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  9. "Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson – TAAB2 – Thick As A Brick 2 – austriancharts.at". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  10. "norwegiancharts.com – Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson – TAAB2 – Thick As A Brick 2". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  11. "Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson – TAAB2 – Thick As A Brick 2 – hitparade.ch". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  12. "CANOE - JAM! Music - SoundScan Charts". Jam.canoe.ca. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  13. "The Official Charts Company – Thick As A Brick 2 by Ian Anderson Search". The Official Charts Company. 6 May 2013.
  14. "dutchcharts.nl – Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson – TAAB2 – Thick As A Brick 2". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  15. "spanishcharts.com – Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson – TAAB2 – Thick As A Brick 2". spanishcharts.com. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  16. ""Thick as a Brick" Played in Special 2012 Tour". Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  17. "Jethro Tull". Burningshed.com. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  18. "Thick as a Brick 2 - Ian Anderson | Awards". AllMusic. 10 April 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  19. MAHASZ – Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. mahasz.hu. 2013. ISBN 9781291292961. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  20. "UK Chart Yearbook 2012". Mahasz.hu. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
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