The heavy, hard-riffing title track with a big chorus opens Martin Barre’s 2015 release Back To Steel. The longtime Jethro Tull ax man has released five previous solo albums but this one, which he says in the liner notes is his favorite release, also celebrates the guitarist’s 50th anniversary in the music business.
“It’s Getting Better’ shows off Barre’s picking as much as in the lilting slow and sweet chorus and verses of stop-and-go riffing, part and parcel of Barre’s particular arsenal. Singer Dan Crisp’s raspy voice rides the waves of all the subtle changes and when Barre’s lead comes, it is as complex as it is accessible within the space of one short solo.
“Bad Man” is a simple, dark blues featuring George Lindsay’s heavy bass drum and Barre’s banjo and slide. There’s a modified, countrified send up of Jethro Tull’s “Skating Away,” while the instrumental “Hammer” is a blistering display of Barre’s exemplary guitar work. Meanwhile, singers Alex Hart and Elani Andrew lend their strong vocals over Barre’s acoustic on “You and I.”
The guitarist is positively smoking on the fusion rocker “Moment Of Madness,” offering up slicing power chords, quick runs and throw down double-handed hammers on the chorus. With his all-out wailing lead, this is the heaviest things get on Back To Steel, and it’s a glorious reminder that Barre rocks with the best of them.
“Calafel” is a much more realized acoustic number with the addition of the bouzouki to get things positively blazing. Like those old-time Jethro Tull stage breaks when Barre would lead the band through an instrumental, we get solid guitar riffing into a stomping cover of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” with the chorus filled with light picking. There’s a bluesy rock and roll melody line of “Peace and Quiet” sees Alan Thomson’s on heavy organ and Dan Crisp sounding like a rich David Coverdale.
As a finale, “Slow Marching Band” is a master stroke. I have always felt this ballad, which originally appeared on Jethro Tull’s 1982 album The Broadsword And The Beast, revealed some of Barre’s most expressive playing (which is saying a lot considering what he did with Jethro Tull). In this version, we get Barre on mandolin with acoustic layering on the verses, and hard-strummed electric and light pulls off on the bridge and chorus. Basically, there is much more guitar than on the original, with a good concentration on the acoustic edges of the song.
I can’t say enough good things about Martin Barre and Back To Steel. I have always been a big fan and truly believe he was as much a part of the Jethro Tull sound as Ian Anderson. To hear a solid solo record from this consummate guitar player underscores the fact that the man still has the expert touch when it comes to making music.
~ Ralph Greco
