A Passion Play is probably the most bleak, dense, gloomy and dark musically and thematically out of the Jethro Tull catalog and it may come as something of an acquired taste. As with most prog or anything intricate, It took me at least 7-10 listens before this mammoth work really began to "take me".

The theme is centered around life after death, and probably about deciding whether or not the person wishes he could come back to life, or go to hell, or got to heaven, I'm not totally sure, but that's fine with me because more importantly, it's the music that takes center stage. It features english folk, classical, in-the-heat-of-the-night jazz, and rock, and features many twists and turns within it's 45 minutes. Ian Anderson should be very proud of this achievment as it is very complex lyrically and his ability to write thought-provoking lyrics and to be an extremely great musician and composer, if not somewhat underrated. Not only does he sing, he also plays the acoustic guitar, flute, and 2 different type of saxaphones. Also John Evan, his organ playing was top notch on here. The drumming is great, just the musicianship overall is very impressive. There's also The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles, which I don't pay much attention to, but once again the musicianship is top notch. This is supposed to split the 2 halves of the epic as it comes right after the first 20 minute half.

Overall, I thought this was a terrific effort by this band and my advice to some is don't give up after one listen. This work may take quite some time to click as it did with me.

I own this, Thick As A Brick and Aqualung. This may come as a bit of a suprise, Aqualung was good, but is my least favorite out of the three, even Ian Anderson has said that he does not think that Aqualung was the best Jethro Tull album. Anyway, to me this is one of those albums that stands the test of time and does not age at all. A Total Masterpiece.

Thanks.

A Passionate Play 10 stars
Wow, why did I wait so long for this one. Having most of the bands albums and cds in the 70's and the last remasters, somehow I skipped this one and passed it off. Well, without a doubt, the most progressive intense, emotional Jethro Tull album ever. I really enjoy Thick as a Brick but this one is just amazing, it has acoustic parts off and on, electric parts and flute spectacular!!!!! I really can't describe this in a good manner, just get it!!!!! For history's sake, the original Passion Play tapes were not considered good by the band, so they left France(i believe) and back to England and re-recorded it with all new parts. The original tapes of APP can be heard on the first cd of the Nightcap cd and that is another review!!! If you have passed on this one for some strange reason like I did, get it and get the new remaster, fantastic sounding!!!! Again, the most progressive and intense Jethro Tull album, I even like the 5 minute story, The Hare who lost his Spectacles!!!

Amazing!!!!!!!

progressive and great!
this record is probably the most progressive
than all of tulls music,next to thick as a brick
this music sounds great remastered,even though every
tull record is progressive,these two really stand out
for me as the greatest master pieces from tull,if you
are a tull freak like me,you will go out and buy these
cds,you will not go wrong.

Stands the Test of Time
Wow, how to begin. "A Passion Play" was one of the first four Tull albums I bought, which my family sarcastically calls "the four corners of Hell" (the other three being "Stand Up," "Aqualung," and "Heavy Horses"). All four have very different moods about them, and "Passion Play" is by far the strangest. When I first popped it in, I thought, "What the hell is this?!" especially the middle part featuring "The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles." Many have drawn similarities between "Passion Play" and their earlier concept album "Thick As A Brick," but let's be honest. Besides being two sprawling, challenging, 45 minute plus albums, the two have nothing in common. "Passion Play" is a lot darker and deals with issues such as life after death. The atmosphere of the reecord can sometimes seem tense and creepy, but there's also a calming quality about it that's hard to describe. It may be a hard pill to swallow at first, but "A Passion Play" really grows on you and you'll find yourself playin it again and again.

What happened to Mobile Fidelity's track listing?
I love it. I've loved this album since I was in middle school and began to add Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin LPs to my collection of Captain & Tennille and KC & The Sunshine Band 45s. I think it's a fantastic work and it's a perfect bridge between "Thick As A Brick" and "WarChild". The only reason that I'm not giving this reissue 5 stars is because of the tracking. When Mobile Fidelity put out a gold disc version in 1998, they seperated it into 16 individually named tracks to highlight different movements. Now we're back to the two track "side one" and "side two" mentality. That's a step backward and Chrysalis/Capitol should have known better. If someone is wanting to sample this music online before deciding whether or not to buy it, I would suggest looking at the gold disc listing which gives you samples of five seperate movements. On this listing, you get 30 seconds of the very soft "Lifebeats" opening, or 30 seconds of "The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles". Neither is a good representation of the music contain herein.
Having previously challenged their audience with the lengthy opus Thick as a Brick, Jethro Tull went back to the concept-album for the even more difficult A Passion Play. The sometimes impenetrable work is part biblical allegory, part postmodern epic poem, and part psychedelic fairy tale. Such were the machinations of 1970s prog rock. The music mixes rock, English folk, and neoclassical material, an amalgamation that somehow hangs together. Reviled by critics when it was first released, A Passion Play has been redeemed over time thanks to the devotion of Tull fans, for whom it has always been an essential work. --Daniel Durchholz
Digitally remastered reissue of 1973 album includes the enhanced bonus track 'The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles' & theatre programme (enhanced section taken from the album 25 Years Of Jethro Tull Longform VHS video release). Includes liner notes written by Ian Anderson. Chrysalis. 2003.
Remastered Reissue of their 1973 Classic. Includes Enhanced Bonus Video Track of "The Story of the Hare who Lost his Spectacles".