From packaging to lyrics to music, Thick as a Brick is perhaps the most fully realized concept album ever made. The front page of the full-length newspaper that serves as its sleeve depicts a fictional boy, Gerald Bostock, whose epic poem was disqualified from a competition for its extremely unwholesome attitude towards life, his God and Country. This poem, printed inside, makes up the lyrics to Thick as a Brick. Ian Anderson claims Thick as a Brick is a satire of the growing concept album trend. Its easy to see that, but if Anderson intended Thick as a Brick as pure farce, he failed it is possessed of an intricately woven philosophy all its own, best embodied by a lyric thats almost impossible to even hear: We will be geared toward the average rather than the exceptional. The album reached #1 in the US, an almost miraculous achievement for an art-rock release. While the music is gorgeous diverse, but cleverly connected through various reprisals its the lyrics of Little Milton that are the real star. They tell of the difficulty in meeting the demands of society, from school and youth groups to the need to pin down a career its all a reaction to a stodgy societys command for conformity and unwillingness to accept radical social ideas, told with angst, humor and affection. Its a concept as old as civilization, and with the stereo loud and the lyrics laid out in front of you, Thick as a Brick is still one of the richest, most rewarding experiences music let alone the concept album has to offer.
Kyle Schmidlin is a writer and musician living in Austin, TX. He manages the news blog at thirdrailnews.wordpress.com. Follow him at facebook.com/kyleschmidlin or twitter.com/kyleschmidlin1.
