TO celebrate this milestone, the band’s leader and songwriter Ian Anderson is taking his own band on the road to play the album in its entirety – and that’s not all.

EMI have also released Thick as a Brick 2 – Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock, and this album too will be performed during the shows.

“For many years, Thick as a Brick was a no-go area and we only performed it in its entirety for a few months after its release,” says Ian from his home near Bristol.

The album’s premise was that of an epic poem written by a ten-year-old schoolboy called Gerald Bostock.

It was one long track, split to encompass the vinyl format, and became Tull’s fifth consecutive top ten album, peaking at number five in the UK and topping the American charts.

He said it was a dig at bands like Yes, “a satirical look – Monty- Pythonesque if you like – at the overindulgence that was prevalent at the time.”

But the joke back-fired slightly.

“Some people took it seriously and didn’t get the joke. When we took it on the road, it was not a good experience, and when we went to America with it, people were just whistling and shouting and just wanted rock and roll.”

“I vowed I would never do it again, although I play a short excerpt at concerts.

But, times have changed.”

It seems strange that he’s touring with his own band, featuring Tull stalwarts John O’Hara on keyboards and David Goodier on bass, along with guitarist Florian Opthale and Scott Hammond on drums, rather than with Jethro Tull.

“When I tour solo or with my band, the rowdy faction seem to stay at home, except in Southampton where they are welcome! Actually, I find that British audiences are more accepting of the different kinds of music I produce,” he says.

“It also happens in a few countries abroad, especially Italy.”

He appears quite proud of the original album and has an idea why it was so successful.

“I think it was partly because of the gentle ascendency of Jethro Tull in the previous three years. We were continuing to improve and I feel that the album is the zenith of early Tull.”

The new album revisits the child prodigy today. Gerald is now 50 years old and has just moved back to St Cleve, the village where he lived back in 1972.

“As the 40th anniversary approached, the record companies wanted a followup, then I got to wondering what Gerald Bostock would be doing now.

“This new look at his life is all about making choices in life and I examined my own childhood.”

“I was thinking about things like ‘where did my friends go?’”

“I could have been lots of things and I asked myself where I would be today if I’d made different decisions.

“The new album has some of the same sonic values as the first and lyrically it’s pretty serious in parts. Some of it is pretty dark stuff; something serious for people to get their teeth into.”

After the tour, the man who introduced the flute to rock and roll will be undertaking a number of other projects, he explains.

“Well, I’ve just done a track with The Darkness – you see, I have friends in low places; then I’m doing a string quartet album of mainstream Jethro Tull tracks, which will be perfect for the weddings, christenings and funerals of Tull fans.”

“And then I hope to do an album of lots of little songs, just me and an acoustic guitar – real singer/songwriter songs. I sometimes get carried away when recording and keep adding layers, but these will be relatively unadorned.”

“It has the advantage of being cheap to make and is a labour of love – in these days of downloading, it costs more to make a record than you’d get back in physical record sales.”

p Ian Anderson and his band will be performing Thick as a Brick and Thick as a Brick 2 at Southampton Guildhall on Sunday.