Crest of a Knave

Crest of a Knave
Studio album by Jethro Tull
Released	September 11, 1987
Recorded	Early 1987
Genre	Hard rock Progressive rock Heavy Metal
Length	48:50
Label	Chrysalis
Producer	Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull chronology
Original Masters (1985) Crest of a Knave (1987) 20 Years of Jethro Tull (1988)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
George Starostin	[2]

Crest of a Knave is the sixteenth studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1987.

The album relied more heavily on Martin Barre's electric guitar than the band had since the 1970s. However, several tracks still featured drum machine instead of a live drummer. Keyboardist Peter-John Vettese was now absent and it was Ian Anderson who contributed the synth programming. The album sleeve only lists Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Dave Pegg as official band members. The cover was designed by heraldic artist Andrew Stewart Jamieson.

The album was a critical and commercial success. It went on to win the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental, beating the heavily favoured ...And Justice for All) and critics' choice Nothing's Shocking. The award was highly controversial as many did not consider the album or even the band to be hard rock or heavy metal. Under advisement from their manager, no one from the band turned up to the award ceremony, as they were told that they had no chance of winning. In response to the controversy, the band's record label Chrysalis took out an advert in a British music periodical with the line, "The flute is a heavy, metal instrument!" In 2007, the win was named one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history by Entertainment Weekly.^[3]

The style of Crest has been compared to that of Dire Straits, in part because Anderson no longer had the vocal range he once possessed (the result of recent throat surgery). Tull's frank treatment of sexuality was unabated, however. The album contains the popular live song "Budapest", which depicts a backstage scene with a shy local female stagehand.

Track listing

All tracks by Ian Anderson

1. "Steel Monkey" - 3:39
2. "Farm On The Freeway" - 6:31
3. "Jump Start" - 4:55
4. "Said She Was A Dancer" - 3:43
5. "Dogs In The Midwinter" - 4:29 ^
6. "Budapest" - 10:05
7. "Mountain Men" - 6:20
8. "The Waking Edge" - 4:49 ^
9. "Raising Steam" - 4:05

^ The original vinyl edition didn't feature songs "Dogs In The Midwinter" and "The Waking Edge". Otherwise the song order was the same.

Bonus track

The 2005 remastered CD added a bonus track and extensive liner notes:

10. "Part of the Machine" - 6:54

Personnel

• Ian Anderson - vocals, flute, acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, keyboards, drum programming on tracks 1, 5, 9. Synclavier
• Martin Barre - electric and acoustic guitars
• Dave Pegg - bass guitar, acoustic bass on track 4
• Doane Perry - drums on tracks 2, 7
• Gerry Conway - drums on tracks 3, 4, 6, 8

Guest Musician:

• Ric Sanders - violin on track 6

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ George Starostin review
3. ^ "Grammy's 10 Biggest Upsets" (http). EW.com. 2007. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,1567466_20010834_20010795_0,00.html. Retrieved February 13, 2007. 

External links

• Crest of a Knave (1987) at Allmusic
• Crest of a Knave (2005) at Allmusic (bonus tracks)