In 1993, Ian compared The Play to the Rolling Stones' 'Satanic Majesties':
"... it's just not really appreciated at the time, a bit too contrived, a little bit too heavy-handed, but looking back on it with the passing of the years, you can be a little bit more generous in the way that you view it and the way you listen to it, and I guess that's how I feel about Passion Play. There are two thirds of it which are actually okay. It's just heavy going to play, which is why, I think, we very rarely play any bits of it.

"I think for me the problem with it, if there was a problem, was that the humour that was there on Thick As A Brick was not there on Passion Play. I think because a lot of the humour had been knocked out of us after a year of being away, touring, living in Switzerland, rehearsing, then recording in France, then finally coming back to England and starting all over again to rehearse and record virtually all-new material. That kind of took a lot of the humour out of it. I think, for me, looking back on it, that's the thing that's missing from Passion Play. It's a little bit too deadpan. It doesn't have that kind of slightly irreverent and humorous kind of little interludes or moments of light relief that would make it more listenable."

From 'The 25th Anniversary Review' (1993)