Jethro Tull-Rock Island (1989)

In 1989, Jethro Tull had just won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Album for their brilliant "Crest of a Knave", an award that surprised everyone and sparked considerable controversy. The oddity of this award lay in the fact that it was given to a band primarily known for their progressive folk rock sound, and who, with the exception of a few specific moments in their career, had never ventured into the hard rock genre enough to be categorized as such. So, with their next album, released at the dawn of the 1990s, Jethro Tull ironically embraced hard rock with "Rock Island", abandoning the "technological 80s" and giving Martin Barre and his powerful hard rock guitar riffs center stage, partly setting aside their usual pastoral sounds and acoustic guitars of British folk. Lyrically, Ian Anderson continues with his metaphorical lyrics, this time addressing the loneliness of modern society, among other recurring themes such as home and family. Although his characteristic folk sensibility appears at various points, it is the vibrant and energetic sounds that permeate this eighteenth album from the British band, as evidenced in tracks like “Kissing Willie”, “The Rattlesnake Trail”, “Rock Island”, “Big Riff and Mando”, and “Heavy Water”, while in “Ears of Tin” and “Another Christmas Song”, they return to their peculiar and captivating style. On the other hand, “The Whaler’s Dues” and “Strange Avenues” are the most progressive tracks on the album.