Blank as a Flank

So you ride yourselves over the fields,
and you make your animal deals...
And your wise stallions don't know how it feels
To be blank as a flank.

Thick as a Brick was written by Ian Anderson as a response to critics' declaration of their last album, Aqualung, as a concept album. Anderson always felt that Aqualung was not a cohesive concept, just a normal song collection. Like most artists, when he was challenged he threw down the gauntlet, saying "If they want a concept album, by God we'll give them one." The result is one of the best sendups of the entire idea of progressive rock concept albums.

Thick as a Brick had two gimmicks - one, the whole album was one forty-four minute long song. Two, the cover kept in the spirit of a concept, putting forth the idea that a young boy wrote the lyrics to Thick as a Brick. While I'm not about to pull a Weird Al and do a complete parody of the song, I'm more than capable of doing a sendup of the album cover itself in the style of ponies.

The particular version I used is the version of the album I own, which is the first CD issuing. The Deluxe CD Remaster is slightly different, and the original LP is even more different, as it has a fold-out bottom to make the appearance of a broadsheet newspaper. Royston Eldrige put together most of the original album cover, though all the members of Tull provided content for the faux newspaper.