Artist: JETHRO TULL
Album: MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY REMASTERED (CD)

Year: 1975/ 2003
Media type: CD

Minstrel in the Gallery (1975) is an album by British band Jethro Tull. It is the ninth album by the band, released in September 1975.

Ian Anderson's lyrics and subject matter show an introspective and cynical air, possibly the byproduct of Anderson's recent divorce from first wife Jennie Franks and the pressures of touring, coupled with the frustrations of writing for and recording the album in Monte Carlo. The title refers to the use of a minstrel's gallery in the great hall of castles or manor houses. Stylistically the album is varied. The songs "Minstrel In The Gallery", "Black Satin Dancer" are hard-rock. The track "One White Duck/ 010 = Nothing At All" contains two acoustic songs, the first of which also features string quartet; the second is stripped-down, with just vocals and acoustic guitar. In the songs "Cold Wind to Valhalla", "Requiem" and "Baker St. Muse" the string quartet is featured prominently alongside the rock band.

Five of the seven songs on the album feature intros, consisting of either speech or count-offs (the exceptions being "Black Satin Dancer" and "Grace").

This album was remastered with five additional bonus tracks in November 2002, including incomplete live-in-the-studio renditions of "Minstrel In The Gallery" and "Cold Wind to Valhalla", some tracks that appeared only on maxi-singles ("Pan Dance", "March The Mad Scientist") and "Summerday Sands" which was the B-side of the "Minstrel In The Gallery" single

TRACKLIST:

1."Minstrel in the Gallery" – 8:13
2."Cold Wind to Valhalla" – 4:19
3."Black Satin Dancer" – 6:52
4."Requiem" – 3:45

1."One White Duck/ 010 = Nothing At All" – 4:37
2."Baker St. Muse" – 16:39
- 1."Baker St. Muse"
- 2."The Pig-Me and the Whore"
- 3."Nice Little Tune"
- 4."Crash-Barrier Waltzer"
- 5."Mother England Reverie"
3."Grace" – 0:37

BONUS TRACKS:

8."Summerday Sands" – 3:44
9."March the Mad Scientist" – 1:48
10."Pan Dance" – 3:25
11."Minstrel in the Gallery — Live" – 2:11
12."Cold Wind to Valhalla — Live" – 1:32

LINE-UP:

Ian Anderson - flute, acoustic guitar, vocals
Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion
Martin Barre - electric guitars
John Evan - keyboards
Jeffrey Hammond - bass guitar
David Palmer - orchestral arrangements