A Passion Play

Untitled

A Passion Play is a concept album, and the sixth studio album, released by Jethro Tull. Apparently concerning the spiritual journey of one man in the afterlife, it is similar to Thick as a Brick in that it is one long track split across both sides of the LP vinyl record (actually a medley of segued shorter songs,) save for the interruption of the oddly whimsical spoken-word piece "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" (a section that is very similar to, and probably parodies, Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf). The dense lyrics, filled with wordplay and allegory, along with music that some found lacking in creativity compared to earlier work, have made A Passion Play one of the most disputed albums in Tull's catalog. On its release in 1973, it received generally negative reviews; nevertheless, it sold well enough to reach #1 on the charts in the US. In the UK however, it did not do as well, reaching #13.

Script of the concept:

• Act 1: Ronnie Pilgrim's Funeral: a winter's morning in the cemetery.
• Act 2: The Memory Bank: a small but comfortable theatre with a cinema-screen (the next morning).
• Act 3: The business office of G. Oddie & Son (two days later).
• Act 4: Magus Perdē's drawing room at midnight.

Releases

Subsequent to the original 1973 release, the album was released on CD. Later, in March 1998 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a CD, which indexed tracks as per the radio-station promo (see below) and in 2003 a remastered CD version with an additional video track was released.

• On the original release of this album, as well as the original CD release, side one of the album ends in the middle of "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles", and side two begins where it left off. However, on the 2003 remastered CD, the second part begins with the full story so that it doesn't get cut off in the middle.

Track listing

These titles were provided by Anderson for the 1973 DJ pressing of the LP, though they were not included for the standard pressing. The gold Ultradisc Original Master Recording cd contains cueable tracks for each title, but the standard CD releases contain only one or two tracks, depending on the version.

All songs written by Anderson unless stated otherwise.

Side one

1. "A Passion Play, Part 1" (21:35)
   1. "Lifebeats"
   2. "Prelude"
   3. "The Silver Cord"
   4. "Re-Assuring Tune"
   5. "Memory Bank"
   6. "Best Friends"
   7. "Critique Oblique"
   8. "Forest Dance #1"

Side two

1. "A Passion Play, Part 2" (23:30)
   1. "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" (Anderson / Hammond / Evan)
   2. "Forest Dance #2"
   3. "The Foot of Our Stairs"
   4. "Overseer Overture"
   5. "Flight from Lucifer"
   6. "10.08 to Paddington"
   7. "Magus Perdē"
   8. "Epilogue"

Bonus tracks

1. "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles"
   • The 2003 release includes this additional 7-minute QuickTime video, which was used in the original APP concerts.

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1973	Billboard Pop Albums	1

Personnel

• Ian Anderson - flute, acoustic guitar, saxophones, Vocals
• Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion
• Martin Barre - electric guitar
• John Evan - piano, organ, synthesizers, vocals
• Jeffrey Hammond - bass guitar, vocals, narrator on "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles"

External links

• An excellent line-by-line annotated interpretation of the lyrics can be found at The Ministry of Information.
• A Passion Play (1973) at AllMusic
• A Passion Play (2003) at AllMusic (bonus tracks)
• A Passion Play at Ground and Sky.
• A Passion Play at Progressive World.