Whatever happened to Gerald Bostock? That's the question Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson looks to answer on April 2 with the release of 'Thick as a Brick 2,' the follow-up to Tull's landmark 1972 album. Bostock was the fictional child author of the lyrics and now, 40 years later, a grown up Bostock returns as the lyricist on the new album. As a post on the Tull website reads: "Boy to man and beyond, it looks at what might have befallen the child poet Gerald Bostock in later life. Or, perhaps, any of us."

Anderson himself sees 'Brick 2' as a way to lyrically explore themes that impacted his entire generation.  “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 a preacher, soldier, down-and-out, shopkeeper or finance tycoon?” he said in a press release. “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' will be available in two formats: the standard jewel case CD with an eight-page booklet, and a special edition collection with the CD, an audio-visual DVD and 16-page booklet. The DVD will be a dream come true for audiophile, offering 5.1 surround mixes, a 24-bit stereo mix, a video making-of documentary, interviews with the musicians, translations of the lyrics in six different languages and video featuring Anderson reading the lyrics in various locales.

Also included on the DVD will be the pages of StCleve.com, an online update of the imaginary St Cleve Chronicle newsletter that was packaged with the original album.

Meanwhile, Anderson -- who has been working more and more on solo projects under his own name in recent years -- has more solo material expected to drop this year. "New [solo] recordings are scheduled for release in 2012," reads a post on his website.

Tull also has a busy year of live solo appearances confirmed for 2012, including a Feb. 24 show in Potsdam/Berlin, Germany, titled Ian Anderson Plays Orchestral Tull, and recently confirmed dates for a spring European tour that kicks off April 14 in Perth, U.K., and is scheduled through a May 28 gig in Dresden, Germany.

That trek, dubbed the Ian Anderson 'Thick as a Brick' Tour, will feature Anderson performing the original 'Brick' album in its entirety for the first time since the year it was released (and perhaps 'Brick 2' as well). Anderson also previously announced plans to bring the 'Brick' tour to the United States later this year for two legs that will run from September through early-November.

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