Artist: JETHRO TULL
Album: A PASSION PLAY REMASTERED (CD)

Release date: 1973/ 2003
EAN/UPS: 0724358156904
Media type: CD

A Passion Play is a concept album released by Jethro Tull. Apparently concerning the spiritual journey of one man in the afterlife, it is similar to Thick as a Brick in that it is one long track split across both sides of the LP vinyl record (actually a medley of segued shorter songs,) save for the interruption of the oddly whimsical spoken-word piece "The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles". The dense lyrics, filled with wordplay and allegory, along with music that some found lacking in creativity compared to earlier work, have made A Passion Play one of the most disputed albums in Tull's catalog. On its release in 1973, it received generally negative reviews; nevertheless, it sold well enough to reach #1 on the charts in the U.S (in the U.K however, it did not do as well, reaching #13).

Script of the concept:

Act 1: Ronnie Pilgrim's Funeral: a winter's morning in the cemetery.
Act 2: The Memory Bank: a small but comfortable theatre with a cinema-screen (the next morning).
Act 3: The business office of G. Oddie & Son (two days later).
Act 4: Magus Perde's drawing room at midnight.

Subsequent to the original 1973 release, the album was released on CD. Later, in March 1998 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a CD, which indexed tracks as per the radio-station promo (see below) and in 2003 a remastered CD version with an additional video track was released.

All songs written by Anderson unless stated otherwise.

TRACKLIST:

A."A Passion Play, Part 1"

1."Lifebeats"
2."Prelude"
3."The Silver Cord"
4."Re-Assuring Tune"
5."Memory Bank"
6."Best Friends"
7."Critique Oblique"
8."Forest Dance #1"
9."The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" (Anderson / Hammond / Evan)

B."A Passion Play, Part 2"

1."Forest Dance #2"
2."The Foot of Our Stairs"
3."Overseer Overture"
4."Flight from Lucifer"
5."10.08 to Paddington"
6."Magus Perde"
7."Epilogue"

Bonus Tracks:
"The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" - Video
APP programme

LINE-UP:

Ian Anderson - flute, acoustic guitar, saxophones, Vocals
Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion
Martin Barre - electric guitar
John Evan - piano, organ, synthesizers, speech
Jeffrey Hammond - bass guitar, vocals