Jethro Tull: Ian Anderson (vocals, guitar, mandolin, flute); Martin Barre (guitar); John Evan (piano, organ); David Palmer (portative pipe organ, keyboards); John Glascock (bass); Barriemore Barlow (drums).

Additional personnel: Darryl Way (violin).

Recorded at Maison Rouge Studio, Fullham, London in January 1978.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Jethro Tull's 11th studio album, Heavy Horses, is one of their prettier records, a veritable celebration of English folk music chock-full of gorgeous melodies, briskly played acoustic guitars and mandolins, and Ian Anderson's flute lilting in the background, backed by the group in top form. This record is a fairly close cousin to 1977's Songs From the Wood, except that its songs are decidedly more passionate, sung with a rough, robust energy that much of Tull's work since Thick as a Brick had been missing, and surpassing even Aqualung in its lustiness. "No Lullaby" is the signature heavy riff song, a concert version of which opened Bursting Out: Jethro Tull Live. Anderson sings it -- and everything else here -- as though they might be the last lines he ever gets to voice, with tremendous intensity. The band plays hard behind him throughout, with lead guitarist Martin Barre (most notably on "Weathercock") and bassist John Glascock showing up very well throughout. Anderson's production and Robin Black's engineering catch their every nuance without sacrificing the delicacy of his acoustic guitar and mandolin playing. "Acres Wild," "Rover," "One Brown Mouse," "Weathercock," and "Moths," the latter featuring some of David Palmer's most tasteful orchestral arrangements, are among the loveliest songs in the group's entire repertory. Curved Air's Darryl Way plays violin solo on the title track -- a tribute to England's vanishing shire horses, which doesn't really take off until Way's instrument comes in on the break, with a marked tempo change -- and on "Acres Wild." ~ Bruce Eder

HEAVY HORSES brings together the best elements of Jethro Tull's sonic arsenal: heavy guitars, intricate, evolving song structures, folk tendencies, and Ian Anderson's inimitable growl. The album opens with the bouncy "And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps," a fairy tale-like song about the adventures of a group of forest animals. "Acres Wild" features a disco-esque groove held down by funky drums and bass.

The album's out-and-out highlight is the nearly eight-minute "No Lullaby," a song that undergoes the sort of musical metamorphoses present in Tull's best material. Another exceptional effort is the multi-textured title track, a song written as a tribute to the farm horses in England (which, at the time of the album's release, were declining in number). HEAVY HORSES is one of the band's most heartfelt efforts.

Q (11/99, p.163) - Included in Q Magazine's Best Folk Albums of All Time - "...this is Tull on top form. Never has folk rocked so hard."