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When is an Ian Anderson album not a Jethro Tull album? Apparently when it doesn't have Martin Barre on it. This album combines Ian Anderson's cleverly crafted songs with the bleeding edge synthesizers from 1983 and the virtuosic keyboard skills of the Peter-John Vetesse. The result is, unfortunately, rather lightweight. The most notable feature of the new wave of syunthesizers coming in at the time is their lack of warmth. Compare "Journeyman" on Tull's 1978 album Heavy Horses with "Trains" from this album and one will see the transformation from the diesel engine in the rustic setting to the sterile electric engine, populated with the rushing classes, but divorced from nature completely. There are moments though when the sound breaks out into something special. For me that moment comes in "Different Germany". The cold, austere sound is a perfect setting for the bleak, pessimistic lyrics. This album is clearly an attempt by Anderson to become more relevant to the concerns of the day, both lyrically and instrumentally. Lines such as "and QWERTY is the name of love printed on the VDU" bring a smile to my face even now, and there does seem to be some genuine innovation on the synths. In the end though, Ian Anderson has attempted to make a Fabergé egg out of fibreglass. The medium has proved to be inadequate despite the ability of the craftsman. It is however better than the similarly electronic Under Wraps which followed from Jethro Tull in the next year. This is not a bad album, but is best for Tull completists and those with a perverse like of early eighties synths. review by Conrad Leviston — 1-8-04 —

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After 15 years helming one of the most successful British groups of the 70s, Ian Anderson finally decided to release a solo album under his own name. This decision must have raised more than a few eyebrows, for excepting the band's debut album, Anderson pretty much was and is Jethro Tull, to the point that people even think that's his name. So why bother? Anderson explains this album as an attempt to step away from the organic aspects performed on the more traditional instruments that had defined Jethro Tull up to that point. From the liner notes of the CD, Anderson recognized that the 70s were closing fast, and wanted to do his best to remain relevant with the direction British pop music was moving in by embracing the new keyboard technology being utilized by new wave bands on the rise. Walk into Light actually represents a collaborative effort between Anderson and keyboardist Peter-John Vettese, who co-wrote half the songs here, something up to that point that would be unheard of for a typical Tull album. Indeed, a picture says a thousand words: compare the dapper Anderson in business-like attire amidst the grey monochrome here with the album cover of Songs from the Wood, six years previously. The sound is light years from the folky earthiness of late 70s Tull, and dominated by synthesizers that have long since passed into history: the Rhodes Chroma (released just the year before), the popular Yamaha CP80 electric piano, and a small company of Rolands: the Jupiter 8, Promars, and MC202. When backed by the Linn Drum machine and a pristine sound quality, you should get the picture. Finally, the lyrical imagery also falls lock-step into place. There's no way "Jack o' the Green" or "Hunter Girl" could survive in this synthetic environment, so instead we have songs about television, trains, computers, and other objects of modern industry. Yet, this isn't a bad album. Despite the de-emphasis of the flute and overemphasis of the synths and Linn, many of the songs still basically sound at heart like Jethro Tull tunes. The intricate counterplay, odd time signatures, richly descriptive lyrics, and Anderson's very particular phrasing of melody (even the verse of "Walk into Light" sounds in parts somewhat reminiscent of "Mother Goose" from Aqualung), combined with Vettese's virtuosity (check out that solo on "Different Germany")... these just wouldn't show up on a Depeche Mode album. This album has got some decent songs, my particular favorites being "Fly by Night," "Made in England," "Looking for Eden," and "User-Friendly." The very catchy "Trains" would have made a good single. Given the times and comparative primitiveness of the technology, Vettese must be given credit for drawing a wide variety of interesting sounds and effects out of these keys. In retrospect, one can get an understanding of why Walk into Light was a commercial and critical failure. The songs were still too much like Jethro Tull to reach a new audience, while at the same time not nearly Jethro Tull enough in instrumentation to be accepted by loyal fans. In short, an album that ended up on the fence, rather than on either side of it where it stood more of chance. A shame, since again it's not too bad an album, if you can get past the datedness. Anderson would give it one more shot, taking this sound as well as Vettese to the mother band for their next album, the similarly rejected Under Wraps. review by Joe McGlinchey — 12-28-03 —