Forty years after Jethro Tull's landmark Thick as a Brick concept album, Tull leader Ian Anderson writes what he imagines would be the sequel. It's what he imagines, since the original album—a playful mocking of the concept album format—was supposed to be the work of child prodigy Gerald Bostock, age 10. Now Gerald is 50, and the featured newspaper (the St. Cleve Chronicle) is a website. The times have changed, but the music hasn't. Anderson remains true to Tull's original vision, basing the music on acoustic and electric guitars, flute, and organ. Tunes such as "Old School Song" and "Wootton Basset Town" sound like lost tracks from the original album's sessions. Unlike the original, 2 isn't one long song; it's a series of tunes that share musical motifs. Longtime Tull collaborator/guitarist Martin Barre is missed, but overall, Tull fans (who've held on through the group's recent works) will recognize the writing here as sharp and worth spending extensive time poring over. The original album is the sentimental favorite, but there are nicely detailed moments here to thrill Tull fanatics.