New Album Capsule Reviews - Early 2022 (Elvis Costello, Jethro Tull, Big Big Train, Jonas Lindberg)

New Album Capsule Reviews

OK, here’s a new feature for the site – capsule album reviews, where I will provide brief reviews of some recently released albums of interest. This is something I’ll try to do every few months or so as needed to cover relevant albums. So, first up are some notable albums from the first couple months of 2022. As always, these are just my own opinions, and since these are relatively new albums, are mostly based on relatively few listens (but at least 3 times per album).

Elvis Costello & The Imposters – The Boy Named If (2022)

Elvis is back with another new album, something like his 32^nd, and although I am an Elvis fan from his earliest days on, I have to admit that I haven’t really paid much attention to his last several albums. Sure, I listened to them when they first came out, but overall, his more recent output just hasn’t resonated enough to stick with me or go back for repeated listens. But that is not the case with this latest album, which is a real keeper. In fact, this is probably his best album in about the last 20 years. First off, it sounds great, and benefits greatly from a very dynamic Imposters band and wonderful arrangements (Pete Thomas’ drums are prominent here, backed by Davey Faragher’s bass, and Steve Nieve’s eclectic keyboards, and Elvis’ otherworldly guitar sounds) showing an energy, vitality, and presence not matched in decades. Elvis has generated a diverse collection of great songs here, from driving rockers to stirring ballads to quirky eccentricities. Elvis has pulled out the Wayback machine for this one, producing songs with the style and arrangements reminiscent of albums from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, and throughout his illustrious career, such as Armed Forces, Trust, Imperial Bedroom, Spike, and Brutal Youth. Elvis’s voice even sounds younger and more fluid here than on other recent albums. If you have ever been an Elvis fan at all, you must check out this album, as it is great, and could possibly rank among his top ten very best (but needs more time to resonate).  

Best tracks: ‘Farewell OK’, ‘What if I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’, ‘Paint the Red Rose Blue’, ‘My Most Beautiful Mistake’, ‘The Man You Love to Hate’, ‘Mr. Crescent’. Weakest track: ‘Mistook Me for a Friend’.  Rating: 4 stars (for now, but could move up to 4.5 with repeated listens, it’s that good).

Jethro Tull – The Zealot Gene (2022)

Ian Anderson is back with a new incarnation of Jethro Tull, and the first new Tull album in nearly 20 years. And Ian harkens back to sounds and styles reminiscent of some of their earlier albums. Overall, it’s great to hear Ian’s flute as a major component as well as some of Tull’s characteristic styles and strong songwriting throughout.  Although it is clear that Ian’s voice is not what it used to be, his talk-singing style works well enough here. Where the album falls flat, unfortunately, is with the backing band, which is just completely generic and lackluster. The album does seem to really be an Ian Anderson solo album, as the backing band contribute virtually nothing here (and the backing arrangements are also frustratingly repetitive), and weaken what could have been several very strong tracks. It just doesn’t sound like a band at all, just Ian with some generic backing musicians. Certainly not like Jethro Tull of the glory days, where stellar guitar work from Martin Barre, bassist Jeffrey Hammond, John Evans keyboards, and the dynamic drumming of Barriemore Barlow provided scintillating contributions to the Tull sound. I can understand why they wanted to call this a Jethro Tull album, due to the stylistic aspects being very much in line with what we know as Jethro Tull, but realistically, this is still an Ian Anderson solo album. Here, the musicians other than Anderson just don’t provide any spark at all. For this reason, the more acoustic tracks work the best here, highlighting Ian’s acoustic guitar, flute, harmonica, mandolin, vocals, and lyrics. Still, there are some very good tracks here, and the album is definitely worth checking out, just be aware that it is not classic Tull. 

Best Tracks: ‘Mrs. Tibbets’, ‘Sad City Sisters’, ‘Where Did Saturday Go?’, ‘Three Love Three’. Weakest tracks: ‘Mine is the Mountain’, ‘The Zealot Gene’. Rating: 3 stars.

Big Big Train – Welcome to the Planet (2022)

Big Big Train’s follow-up to their stellar 2021 album, Common Ground, is Welcome to the Planet, which continues their run of wonderful albums, with another collection of great songs. Although it can’t quite match the heights of the previous album (which was my pick for best album of 2021), it is still a great album. The band continues growing and developing during a period of transition and changeover in personnel, exploring and moving in some new directions, and getting contributions from various band members. Both of the songs written by drummer Nick D’Virgiolio (‘Connection Plan’ and the dynamic instrumental ‘Bats in the Belfry’) are excellent and quite different from previous Big Big Train songs (including an extended drum solo). The first half of the album shines the brightest, with ‘Connection Plan’, the grand and sumptuous ‘Lanterna’, the sparse and beautiful ballad ‘Capitoline Venus’ (featuring perhaps the best vocal performance from David Longdon), and the atmospheric instrumental ‘A Room with No Ceiling’. The conclusion of the album is weakened a bit by the final two songs, as ‘Oak and Stone’ languishes some with an odd unsettled melody, and the final title track may be the strangest in the band’s history, starting with disturbing lyrics and then perhaps the least inviting ‘Welcome’ ever with beautiful harmonies but a dark and twisted melody. Then, towards the end of the song it transitions into a New Orleans-style Dixieland jam before ending with the opening disturbing mood and lyrics. Certainly an intriguing track from newcomer pianist Carly Bryant, but ends the album with more of a WTF? than the grandness of previous releases. Despite that questionable ending, still a great album overall. However, it is also bittersweet hearing the wonderful vocals of David Longdon on this album. Great that we get these new songs from him, after his tragic death late last year, but sad that we will not hear his voice or his other contributions on future albums.

Best Tracks: ‘Connection Plan’, ‘Lanterna’, ‘Capitoline Venus’, ‘A Room with No Ceiling’,’ Bats in the Belfry’. Weakest track: ‘Oak and Stone’. Rating: 4 stars.

Jonas Lindberg and the Other Side – Miles From Nowhere (2022)

Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side are a Swedish progressive rock band, and Miles From Nowhere is their 2^nd full-length album. I was not aware of this band until a couple months ago when a couple of pre-album singles were released promoting the band and new album, and they sounded really good. When I first heard the full album, I thought, yes, this is very good. They have a delightful mix of catchy pop melodies and vocal harmonies interspersed with extended progressive passages and intriguing instrumental sections. Jonas plays many of the instruments himself, from bass, guitar, keyboards, and vocals, but with able assistance from the rest of the band, especially the impeccable lead and backing vocals shared by Jonas Sundqvist and Jenny Storm. The expansive album provides over 75 minutes of music, with several extended length tracks, capped off with the epic multi-part album-closing title track (over 25 min. long). Upon repeated listenings of the album, I loved it more and more, and upgraded my ranking from very good to great! The band’s influences are clear and present throughout, emulating the style and structure of music provided by Neal Morse and his various bands (Spock’s Beard, Transatlantic, Neal Morse Band) and The Flower Kings, among others, and the only criticism I might have is that it may stay a bit too close to those influences, but with music this good it’s hard to complain, and it is done with such great style, finesse, and originality that the music itself it transcends those comparisons (Neal himself would be proud to have created such a great album). So, if you are at all a fan of the kind of music played by Neal Morse and his various projects, or just strong melodic progressive rock, you should really like this album. And this is certainly an up and coming band to keep an eye out for what they do next.

Best Tracks: 'Miles From Nowhere', 'Summer Queen', 'Astral Journey', 'Why I’m Here'. Weak tracks: None. Rating: 4 stars (upgraded from 3.5 after repeated listenings).   

So, overall, a great set of albums to start the year. Although it is early, most of these (Elvis Costello, Big Big Train, and Jonas Lindberg) will undoubtedly at least be in consideration for end of year honors and best of lists. And there are more big name releases that have already come out this month (such as the new albums from The Flower Kings and Marillion) that I need more time to get to know, as well as others known and unknown that are on the way that I will include in the next roundup soon. Until then, stay tuned for more music and commentary right here. So, what did you think about these albums, or perhaps some other recent albums of interest you may be listening to these days?

BB’s Rating scale:

1 star – Terrible, torturous to have to listen to

1.5 stars - Poor, not worth your time

2 stars – Fair, maybe a couple half-way decent songs, but sub-par overall

2.5 stars – Average, OK, meh, not bad but not that good either

3 stars – Good, solid album, several good songs, but not spectacular. Certainly worthy, but may not be something you come back to very often

3.5 stars – Very good album. Some stellar tracks, very enjoyable overall

4 stars – Great album, filled with great songs, one that you will want to come back to over and over again

4.5 stars – Excellent album, beyond great, superb in every way, just short of a masterpiece 

5 stars – A Masterpiece, among the greatest albums of its type, and has stood the test of time