Artist: JETHRO TULL
Album: CREST OF A KNAVE REMASTERED (CD)

Release date: 1987/ 2005
Media type: CD

Crest of a Knave is an album by the British progressive rock group Jethro Tull, released in 1987.

The album relied more heavily on Martin Barre's electric guitar than the band had since the 1970s which made the album the more popular among Tull fans as many of them disapproved of the electronic/ synthesizer direction followed by Jethro Tull in the early and mid-1980's. However, several tracks still featured drum machine instead of a live drummer. Keyboardist Peter-John Vettese was now absent and it was Ian Anderson who contributed the synth programming. Album sleeve only listed Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Dave Pegg as official band members.

The album was a critical and commercial success. Jethro Tull went on to win a 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, beating odds-on favorites Metallica with their album ... And Justice for All. Under advisement from their manager, no one from the band turned up to the award ceremony, as they were told that they had no chance of winning. In response to the criticism they received over the award, the band took out an advert in a British music periodical with the line, "The flute is a (heavy) metal instrument!" In 2007, the win was named one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history by Entertainment Weekly.

The style of Crest has been compared to that of Dire Straits, in part because Anderson no longer had the vocal range he once possessed (the result of then-recent throat surgery). Tull's frank treatment of sexuality was unabated, however. The album contains the popular live song "Budapest", which depicts a backstage scene with a shy local female stagehand.

TRACKLIST :

"Steel Monkey" - 3:39
"Farm On The Freeway" - 6:31
"Jump Start" - 4:55
"Said She Was A Dancer" - 3:43
"Dogs In The Midwinter" - 3:28
"Budapest" - 10:05
"Mountain Men" - 6:20
"The Waking Edge" - 4:49
"Raising Steam" - 4:05

The original vinyl edition didn't feature songs "Dogs In The Midwinter" and "The Waking Edge". Otherwise the song order was the same.

Bonus tracks
The 2005 remastered CD added a bonus track and extensive liner notes:

"Part of the Machine"

LINE-UP :

Ian Anderson - vocals, flute, acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, keyboards, drum programming on tracks 1, 5, 9
Martin Barre - electric and acoustic guitars
Dave Pegg - bass guitar, acoustic bass on track 4
Doane Perry - drums on tracks 2, 7
Gerry Conway - drums on tracks 3, 4, 6, 8

Guest Musician:

Ric Sanders - violin on track 6