The Broadsword and The Beast is the 14th studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull (band)

Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...

, released on April 10, 1982 (see 1982 in music

1982 in music

This is a list of notable events in music from 1982. 1982 was a big year in music with Madonna making her debut as well as the year that Michael Jackson released Thriller which became the world's best selling album and it still holds that title today....

) and according to Ian Anderson

Ian Anderson (musician)

Ian Scott Anderson, MBE is a Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as the leader and flautist of British rock band Jethro Tull.-Early life:...

 in the liner notes of the remastered CD, contains some of Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull (band)

Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...

's best music. It mixes electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 sound with acoustic instruments and is a cross between the synthesizer sound of the 1980s and the folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

-influenced style that Tull had in the previous decade.

The tour for Broadsword was the last one for Tull to be exceedingly theatrical. It included the entire stage being decorated to look like a pirate ship, which Ian Anderson, as he said in the liner notes for the remastered CD, thought was very silly. Extensive notes on the production of the album and subsequent tour can be found at the official Jethro Tull website. http://www.j-tull.com/news/bbliner.cfm

The cover art is by renowned artist Iain McCaig

Iain McCaig

Iain McCaig is an illustrator and conceptual designer. He was involved in the Star Wars and Harry Potter film projects as well as John Carter of Mars.-Biography:...

.

The runic symbols around the edge of the cover are from the Cirth

Cirth

The Cirth are the letters of an semi-artificial script which was invented by J. R. R. Tolkien for the constructed languages he devised and used in his works. The initial C in Cirth is pronounced as a K, never as an S....

 rune system used by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

. The words are, however, English: the opening lyrics to Broadsword:

I see a dark sail on the horizon,
set under a black cloud that hides the sun.
Bring me my broadsword and clear understanding.
Bring me my cross of gold as a talisman.

Cheerio, the final track of the original release, was for some years played as the final encore at Jethro Tull concerts. http://www.ministry-of-information.co.uk/setlist/index.htm

The 2005 CD reissue of the album was heavily expanded to include eight bonus tracks recorded during the Broadsword sessions, but not included in the original 1982 album.

Personnel

• Ian Anderson - vocals, flute, Fairlight CMI, acoustic guitar
• Martin Barre
  Martin Barre
  Martin Lancelot Barre is an English rock musician.Barre has been the guitarist for rock band Jethro Tull since 1969. He has appeared on every Jethro Tull album except their debut This Was...
  
   - electric & acoustic guitars
• Dave Pegg
  Dave Pegg
  Dave Pegg is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, arguably most visible as a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the pre-eminent electric folk band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of important folk and rock groups including The Ian Campbell...
  
   - bass guitar, mandolin, vocals
• Peter Vettese
  Peter-John Vettese
  Peter-John Vettese , also known as Peter Vettese, is a British keyboardist, songwriter, arranger and record producer....
  
   - piano, synthesizer
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , vocals
• Gerry Conway
  Gerry Conway (musician)
  Gerald Conway is an English folk and rock drummer/percussionist, best known for having performed with the backing band for Cat Stevens in the 1970s, Jethro Tull during the 1980s, and currently a member of Fairport Convention as well as his side projects...
  
   - drums and percussion

Track listing

(All songs written by Ian Anderson with additional material Peter-John Vettese)

Side one - Beastie

1. "Beastie" – 3:58
2. "Clasp" – 4:18
3. "Fallen On Hard Times" – 3:13
4. "Flying Colours" – 4:39
5. "Slow Marching Band" – 3:40

Side two - Broadsword

1. "Broadsword" – 5:03
2. "Pussy Willow" – 3:55
3. "Watching Me Watching You" – 3:41
4. "Seal Driver" – 5:10
5. "Cheerio" – 1:09

Bonus tracks

The remastered CD added bonus tracks (which had been on the 20 Years of Jethro Tull

20 Years of Jethro Tull

-Disc two:Flawed Gems and Other Sides Of Tull-Disc three:The Essential Tull-LP Track listing:The track numbers shown below are for the five LP set...

box-set) and extensive liner notes:

11. "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow" – 3:22
    
12. "Jack A Lynn" – 4:40
    
13. "Mayhem Maybe" – 3:06 (with vocals recorded circa 1988)
    
14. "Too Many Too" - 3:28
    
15. "Overhang" – 4:29
    
16. "Rhythm in Gold" – 3:08
    
17. "I Am Your Gun" – 3:19
    
18. "Down At the End of Your Road" – 3:31
    

Further tracks from the same sessions (and not included on the remastered CD) are "Motoreyes" (from the 20 Years box) and "Crew Nights", "The Curse", "Commons Brawl", "No Step", "Drive On The Young Side Of Life" and "Lights Out" from the outtakes album Nightcap.

Ian Anderson's introductions

Ian Anderson wrote a short introduction for each song:

• Beastie: "All of us have some kind of private fear that we don't like to talk about, and this song is about those fears. When I was a boy growing up in Scotland, we called anything that was particularly nasty that we didn't like a beastie."
• The Clasp: "A song about people who shy away from physical contact. The word 'clasp' is used in the sense of a handshake, and the song is just exploring some of the ideas and attitudes behind the embrace of shaking hands, and saying wouldn't it be amusing and perhaps a little profitable to go up to a complete stranger and shake hands with him and say, "Hello, how are you, pleased to meet you." Ironically the handshake, when it is offered, is very often a forced gesture, far removed from its origin which was a way of demonstrating that you had no weapon in your hand and that you were offering your open hand to someone in peace."
• Fallen On Hard Times: "This song is not meant to be a political statement, but merely expresses the disillusionment that most people feel at some time or other with our political masters. The tune is a Scottish folk melody in essence, but it is given a slightly funky rock 'n' roll treatment which gives it a light-hearted feel."
• Flying Colours: "This song came about after witnessing several couples who were going through a bad patch with their relationships, taking delight in showing each other up in public. I'm sure we've all come across them in some sort of social gathering; they revel in digging up the dirt in front of an audience."
• Slow Marching Band: "I don't write many songs about human relationships in the boy-girl context, but this is one that deals with the sadness of parting. But I hope it contains a hint of optimism!"
• Broadsword: "Set in historical times, lyrically as well as musically, this song is about a man's responsibility to protect the family unit."
• Pussy Willow: "A song about a girl in an unrewarding job who fantasises about a more romantic, ideal sort of existence, but she still has to face the reality of catching the train to work in the morning."
• Watching Me Watching You: "The dilemma of people in the public eye! A song about the claustrophobic feeling of being watched all the time."
• Seal Driver: "This song is deliberately ambiguous. It could be about a boat, or it could be about a girl, but since ships and boats are always female, it seems quite a nice fitting sort of analogy."
• Cheerio: "A closing song - perhaps 'au revoir' or 'auf wiedersehen' would be appropriate!"