Starting in 1968 with their debut This Was, British prog-rock legends Jethro Tull released album after album concluding with the bummer of an album J-Tull Dot Com (a terrible title). Twenty-three years later, Jethro Tull, whose sole remaining original member is founder/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ian Anderson, has returned with the Zealot Gene, which I consider to be their finest work since 1978’s Heavy Horses.
Throughout the ‘80s and into the ‘90s, instead of sticking to the folk, woodsy fueled progressive rock that Tull was known for and did best, Anderson attempted to capture some relevancy in the “modern” times bringing in the ‘80s sound of synthesizers and even dabbled into a more distorted hard rock sound that at times balanced the beam nearly tipping into the metal genre. Unfortunately, this was not a good move, and my interest in Jethro Tull was gone until now with the release of The Zealot Gene.
“Mrs. Tibbets” and “Jacob’s Tales” brought a huge smile upon my face, “Mine is the Mountain” had the hair on the back of my neck standing at full attention, and “Where Did Saturday Go” had me daydreaming of sitting in the woods, smoking my mind out, and made time stand still just long enough for me to take in the moment to be more present than I’d been that whole day.
The feeling I got from listening to the Zealot Gene was a feeling of escapism. Just for a moment, I did just what I needed to do: leave it all behind for 46 minutes, breathe, and take a journey to someplace on another plane. I say this a lot, but I believe that a genuinely great album does just that. A truly great album takes you someplace. The Zealot Gene took me to a place of nature and a place where I could dance as if nobody was looking.
The Zealot Gene is a return to form for Jethro Tull, but it’s far from a “throwback” album. Instead, Anderson has delivered a collection of songs that evoke the old spirit of the Jethro Tull that delivered what I consider to be one of the greatest folk/prog albums of all time, Songs From the Wood. The Zealot Gene is a classic-sounding Jethro Tull album that will sound fresh and accessible to a new, younger generation of progressive rock fans.
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