Jethro Tull: Ian Anderson (vocals, guitar, flute, keyboards, programming); Martin Barre (guitar); David Pegg (bass).

Additional personnel: Ric Sanders (violin); Doanne Perry, Gerry Conway (drums).

Engineers include: Martin Barre, David Pegg, Robin Black.

Ian Anderson and company seemed to make a conscious effort to update Jethro Tull's sound on this record. And, to the amazement (and distress) of many, it was voted the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Performance. Truth is, it isn't a bad album, with an opening track that qualifies as hard rock and pretty much shouts its credentials out in Martin Barre's screaming lead guitar line, present throughout. "Jump Start" and "Raising Steam" also rock hard, and no one can complain of too much on this record being soft, apart from the acoustic "The Waking Edge," along with "Budapest" and "Said She Was a Dancer," Anderson's two aging rock-star's-eye-view accounts of meeting women from around the world. The antiwar song "Mountain Men" is classic Tull-styled electric folk, all screaming electric guitars at a pretty high volume by its end. Overall, this is a fairly successful album and arguably their best since 1978, even if it does seem a little insignificant in relation to, say, Thick As a Brick. By this time Tull was effectively a core trio of Anderson, Barre, and bassist Dave Pegg, augmented by whatever musicians (drummers Gerry Conway and Doane Perry, Fairport Convention keyboard player Martin Allcock, and violinist Ric Sanders) that they needed to fill out their sound. The result is a very lean-sounding group and a record probably as deserving of a Grammy as any other album of its year -- in the cosmic scheme, it sort of made up for Tull's not winning one for Thick As a Brick or Aqualung, or for Dave Pegg's former band Fairport Convention never winning. ~ Bruce Eder

After steering Jethro Tull toward a sound that emphasized synthesizers over acoustic guitars and even his trademark flute, Ian Anderson and a stripped-down Tull pumped up the volume on 1987's CREST OF A KNAVE. The howling guitar of longtime axe-man Martin Barre is much more in evidence here than on previous releases from the decade. The band sounds energized, the performances heartfelt.

While the record is an undeniable high point of the band's 1980s work, many people were surprised that CREST won a Grammy in 1987 for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Performance. Despite its metal touches, the music is far too cerebral and its themes far too esoteric to qualify as either hard rock or heavy metal. On "Jump Start," Anderson hearkens back to his glory days with an intricate arrangement centered around furious flute and guitar explosions. "Said She Was a Dancer," built around a refreshingly simple chord sequence, showcases Anderson's expressive singing and Barre's eerie mimicry of Mark Knopfler's guitar sound.

Q (12/00, p.144) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Famously picked the heavy metal Grammy award from Metallica's pockets...this new, lower-pitched, more muscular version of band includes live favorites 'Farm On The Freeway' and 'Dogs In The Midwinter'..."