In 1972, Ian Anderson wrote and recorded the JETHRO TULL progressive rock classic album, Thick As A Brick. The lyrics were credited at the time to the fictitious child character, Gerald Bostock, whose parents supposedly lied about his age. The record instantly became a number one Billboard Chart album and enjoyed considerable success in many countries of the world.

So, forty years on, what would Gerald Bostock - aged fifty in 2012 - be doing today? What might have befallen him? The anniversary “part two” album will examine the possible different paths that the precocious young schoolboy, Gerald Bostock, might have taken later in life through alter-ego characters with song-section identities illustrating the hugely varied potential twists and turns of fate and opportunity. Not just for Gerald but to echo how our own lives develop, change direction and ultimately conclude through chance encounters and interventions, however tiny and insignificant they might seem at the time.

To coincide with this groundbreaking release, for the first time since 1972, Anderson and fellow musicians John O'Hara (keyboards), David Goodier (bass), Florian Opahle (guitar) and Scott Hammond (drums) - as well as some guest performers - will take to the road to perform the album in its entirety and, it can now exclusively be revealed that, in addition, there will be a second part to the show where Anderson and the band will also perform the sequel.

Following is a new interview with Anderson conducted by Pollstar.com, discussing the follow-up Thick As A Brick 2 and the upcoming tour:

Q: Is it accurate that the original Thick as a Brick has never been performed in its entirety?

Anderson: "Well, we did it in 1972. We played a UK tour, a couple of odd dates and then we went off to do two pretty long tours in the USA in 1972. But since then we’ve never played it, other than 12 minutes, 15 minutes of it regularly in the Jethro Tull repertoire. I played it with a symphony orchestra in Germany a week ago. But in terms of playing the whole thing, no. Never played in the last 39 and a half years."

Q: When it came time to revive it, was the whole album fresh in your brain or did you have to relearn any of it?

Anderson: "Well, it’s all very familiar, even though I’ve listened to the whole album probably only 20 handful of times in the last 40 years. I’ve been surprised at how quickly it comes back. The words tend to be on the tip of my tongue; that’s not a problem, even on the three-quarters of the album we haven’t played in 40 years. The performance of it, the notation, the execution, is not terribly difficult to play. It probably was at the time but we were pushing our limits as musicians. It’s actually just memorizing the nuances of certain phrases and trying to put it all back together.

For me, it’s not about playing the flute; it’s about the guitar parts. There is a lot of acoustic guitar on the album and a lot of it happens the same time the flute’s playing, and I’m singing – all three at the same time, which is a complete impossibility so I have to share some of those elements with others in the band.

We’ve run through it a couple of times but I’m not yet at the point where I want to play it every day. We have seven or eight days of rehearsal, a couple production rehearsal days – I don’t want to overcook it. I want it to still be a little nervy, a little bit testing when we start the tour. I don’t want to get too comfortable with it too early. And although it’s still fresh in my mind there are a few flute bits that I improved that I need to learn again. But that doesn’t pose difficult problems. Together it’s two hours on stage and most of the time I’ve got something to do. The other guys all have their little quiet moments where they can just pull off the freeway and take a breath and get back on it again, but it’s pretty much full-on for me all the way through. Even in the quiet places, I’m the guy doing the playing and the singing."

Click here for the complete interview.

Ian Anderson says of the album, “As we baby-boomers look back on our own lives, we must often feel an occasional 'what-if' moment. Might we, like Gerald, have become instead preacher, soldier, down-and-out, shopkeeper or finance tycoon?” Adding, “And those of more tender years - the social media and internet generation - may choose to ponder well the myriad of chance possibilities ahead of them at every turn.....”

Thick As A Brick 2 (TAAB2) tracklisting:

'From A Pebble Thrown'

'Pebbles' (Instrumental)

'Might-Have-Beens'

'Upper Sixth Loan Shark'

'Banker Bets, Banker Wins'

'Swing It Far'

'Adrift And Dumfounded'

'Old School Song'

'Wootton Bassett Town'

'Power And Spirit'

'Give Till It Hurts'

'Cosy Corner'

'Shunt And Shuffle'

'A Change Of Horses'

'Confessional'

'Kismet In Suburbia'

'What-Ifs, Maybes And Might-Have-Beens'

Thick As A Brick 2 will be released as a standard jewel case CD and digital download, and in a Special Edition 2-disc package with DVD featuring 5.1 stereo mixes, 24-bit stereo mix, video of the making of the album, interviews with the musicians and Ian Anderson reading the lyrics in various locations.

After 44 years of leading Tull to 54 countries worldwide and over 60 million albums sold, Ian Anderson celebrates a true progressive rock classic with old and new fans across the UK for a whole three weeks. Anderson is known as the flute and voice of the legendary Jethro Tull, formed in the North of England in 1968 from the amalgamation of blues-based John Evan Band and McGregor's Engine. Since their first performance at London's famous Marquee Club in 1968, the band has released 30 studio and live albums and earned a prominent place in rock history.

Check out a trailer below:

The itinerary for Ian Anderson's Thick As A Brick Tour 2012 can be found at this location.