New edition presented on half-speed master in newspaper packaging
Rhino Records is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Jethro Tull classic, Thick As A Brick, with new deluxe editions. The album has been reproduced in its original format, the legendary 12-page newspaper, along with a vinyl pressed at half-speed featuring the 2012 Steven Wilson remix on July 29th. In addition, the rare and coveted 40th anniversary CD/DVD special collector’s edition will also be available for a limited time starting October 7th after being out of print for nearly ten years.
Unlike any other records on the market, the album is set inside a broadsheet newspaper, “The St. Cleve Chronicle & Linwell Advertiser.” The newspaper includes many news articles packed full of continuing jokes, a crossword, connect-the-dots and much more. It was originally written by Ian Anderson, Jeffrey Hammond and John Evan, with the newspaper taking longer to put together compared to the music. As reported in the paper, the lyrics were credited at the time to the fictitious child character, Gerald Bostock, whose parents supposedly lied about his age. Amongst the many articles is a frank review of the album itself. Thick As A Brick was the first album to feature drummer Barrie Barlow, who featured alongside Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, John Evan and Jeffrey Hammond.
The book contains the original newspaper rebuilt for the 12×12 format on 16 pages of newspaper-style paper, but more durable. The 2012 newspaper printed on gloss paper contains an article by Classic Rocks’ Dom Lawson about Thick As A Brick; an Ian Anderson interview conducted by The Reverend George Pitcher, many rare 1972/1973 photos from photographers Didi Zill and Robert Ellis covering “street” and live situations and 2012 tour photos by Martin Webb; memories of the recording from engineer Robin Black; recording and touring memories from Martin Barre, Ian Anderson and Jeffrey Hammond; and a Q&A with tour manager Eric Brooks with tour memorabilia and the full 1972 itinerary.
The CD/DVD set contains the 2012 remix album on two CDs, original album in 5.1 DTS Mix and 5.1 AC3 Dolby Surround Sound Mix, 2012 remix in Stereo Mix at 96/24 PCM, 1972 Stereo Mix Flat Transfer at 96/24 PCM, and a 1972 radio ad.
A must for any record collection, the album has been half-speed mastered from the original tapes for the very first time, providing the ultimate audio experience of the progressive rock classic. By cutting at half speed you give the cutting stylus as well as the whole system twice as long to record the mechanical groove, which hugely improves the quality.
In 1972, Jethro Tull released the instant classic, Thick As A Brick. Fifty years later and the album is still revered as one of rock’s and progressive rock’s most definitive and pioneering albums. It featured a rock first, one continuous song on both sides. Thick As A Brick came about following the release of Jethro Tull’s immensely successful previous album Aqualung. Upon its release, Aqualung was regarded as a concept album in the music press, and in response the band set about to respond to rock critics with the ultimate concept album, culminating in Thick As A Brick.
