Note... I mentioned *almost* flawless, but I do love all those albums...

Minstrel takes some time to warm up to, but I rank it as one of my favorite Tull albums. The title track is one of their best. I love how it switches back and forth between acoustic and electric doing the the same verses both ways. Then you have Ian's divorce songs that are just bursting with emotion. Plus, you have the the epic 16+ minute "Baker Street Muse," which is not only an underrated Tull epic, but an underrated Prog epic that is rarely mentioned anywhere.

Warchild is the most subtle of the Tull albums in that period, especially side-1, but I like all the songs.... "Sea Lion," "Skating away"... and all the songs eventually grow on you. Too Old is definitely the weakest of Tull's 70's output, but it is still great. For me, Ian's vocals are just so confident during this period that if you like his vocals, every song just sounds like a winner, and his stage presence during live shows is almost unmatched. I rank him as one of the all time best front men, along with Jagger and Freddie Mercury. Here's a clip from Minstrel, Warchild, and Too Old

The Crest of a Knave Dire Straits comparison always comes up. Ian had his throat surgery right before the album, and as a result he never sounded the same to me... but he did sound almost just like Mark Knopfler, which is where I think all the Dire Straits comparisons come from. Musically, I don't think Crest sounds that similar to Dire, but Anderson could certainly do voice overs for Knopfler at that time.

Crest is also commonly hailed as Tull's comeback album, but it never did much for me, and although I own the post 70's Tull albums, their peak really ended for me after 82's Broadsword and the Beast, which I think is a solid album.