Jethro Tull is one of those weird bands that is simultaneously famous and almost completely unknown. They actually do get a fair amount of radio play, with Aqualung contributing its fair share of standards to a station's playlist, and it's not that unusual to hear a 5 minute, condensed version of Thick as a Brick. Plus, there quite a few people in this world who own the Original Masters compilation, and heck, I read somewhere that Ian Anderson is the richest rock musician in the world (though that might be more due to his catfish farms than to record sales). Despite this, however, there really aren't that many hardcore Tullers in the world (which may be for the better, judging from the demeanor of some of the fans I've come across on the net). And this is where things start to get complicated.

If one were to ask 100 Joe Schmo classic rock buffs what they thought of when they heard the name "Jethro Tull," virtually every single one would mention the menacing opening riff to the title track of Aqualung. The thing is, while "Aqualung" is a great song (as is most every song on the album), it is certainly not the group's finest moment. And this is where hardcore prog-rock fans come in with all their might. Perhaps as a retaliation to the popularity of "mainstream" and "mindless" rock songs such as "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath," many have taken the approach that the "true" Jethro Tull does not begin until Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play. They claim that the high-brow proggy albums of the remainder of the 70's are the band's most important legacy to the musical world and pretty much dismiss the group's early stuff as too simple. Well ... I'm a pretty big fan of prog rock myself, but I would have to say pretty definitively that this viewpoint is as far from the truth, if not further, as to merely associate Tull with Aqualung.

The main problem I have is that trying to pigeonhole Jethro Tull as prog rock only does a major disservice to the band, mainly becase they can't be pigeonholed as ANYTHING but simply 'Jethro Tull.' I mean, there's a reason you don't hear about too many Jethro Tull cover bands - the style they created is simply inimitable. Some folk, a smidge of classical, a touch of hard rock and a pinch of blues, all mixed just right with the unusual personality of frontman Ian Anderson. Besides being a songwriting genius (sometimes), his style of flute-playing, combined with his bouncing around the stage on one leg prattling on about goodness-knows-what, created an image that was always exciting to watch and often enjoyable to hear. For a little while, anyway, it was VERY enjoyable to hear, at least to my ears; I can honestly say without exaggeration that 1969 for Jethro Tull is one of my favorite years for any band ever, and a compilation I made for myself containing Stand Up and all the A and B-sides from that year is one of my most listened-to CD's. It's not as if Ian only had one year of glory in him, though; as he became more serious, he managed to create in Aqualung and Thick as a Brick (as well as the Chateau D'Isaster tapes) some of my favorite albums ever, especially TAAB, which is a worthy candidate for one of the five greatest achievements in the history of prog rock.

Unfortunately, around 1973, Anderson crossed the line he had successfully walked on TAAB, and the result is that, as far as I'm concerned, an alarming amount of the band's output for the rest of the decade is either tediously boring or unlistenably crappy (and that's made worse by the fact that he came out with a new album every year). He became much more concerned with flooding the world with poetic manifestations of his views on God, organized religion and how much critics hated him than with making the kind of entertaining music he had been able to do before ... no, wait, I need to take a step back on the "entertaining" statement. This era of the band certainly falls into the category of prog rock, which is more than willing to accept mystical lyrics and an overall bombastic nature than "regular" rock does, but it's certainly not the case that I dislike this era on an overall level because of the fact that it's prog rock (in case you didn't notice, this page is linked from John McFerrin's Rock and Prog Reviews). The problem I have is that he decided to do prog rock in exactly the way I don't like (but a way that apparently many fans prefer): consciously avoiding "conventional" song-writing approaches, i.e. memorability and cohesive melodies, and using complexity and atmosphere as a substitute. Thick as a Brick is as great as it is because, among other things, the raw materials (which are then pasted together using experimental structures and wildly entertaining instrumental breaks) are solid songs in their own right, with terrific hooks and solid riffs and the same kinds of gifts that Ian showed he had in spades in his heyday. From Passion Play onward, though, way too much of Tull's output gets away from those materials, instead leaning as much as possible on Ian's philosophical musings (which I don't have an opinion on either way), his "atmospherics" (which aren't his greatest gift) and complex (the trait always mentioned in defense of them) instrumental breaks that aren't really more complex than his best pre-'73 moments (though some of the textures are at least theoretically intriguing; theoretically, mind you) but that manage to strike me (on the whole) as dull and tedious. If you can get your rocks off with them, more power to you; as for me, no thanks.

There's also the unfortunate fact that (with a couple of exceptions, of course) his post-seventies work ranges from mediocre to outright garbage, as he dabbled first in electronics and then moved to generic heavy-metal, where he pretty much stayed ever since. BUT, the amazing quality of the band's output through '72, plus the fact that they were (and are, to an extent) an amazing live band and that Ian _did_ pull out a couple of very good albums after the band's peak guarantees the group a rating of four out of five on my scale. Just remember, though - BE CAREFUL when buying a Jethro Tull album. Just as many, if not more, of the group's albums are mediocre or bad as are very good or great.

But hey! That's why I'm here - to tell you which albums I think are the good ones.

What do you think about Jethro Tull?

Jamie Anthony (jaony.lineone.net)

Well, I'm a hardcore Jethro Tull fan, and you got my Tullian philosophy pretty right. The album-orientated Tull sound emerged around 1972, with Thick As A Brick. Before that, they released a bunch of fantastic, light-hearted pop singles which can mostly be found on Living In the Past (10/10 for that one).

It's true that Jethro Tull are also one of those bands which are massive in a way, and yet hardly anyone you meet on the street will even know who they are (like Yes, or Crimson, or, well, almost any Prog band) - I guess that's what's called a "cult" band - they have a limited following, but boy, that limited following is a devoted following.

It's also funny how many people I've met who have heard of Jethro Tull who seem to share your views on them - a good band who did too much. I don't think they did enough, personally.

Still, I've always thought that when it comes to art (or music), it's better for some people to love it rather than everyone to like it.

Jan Vooribj (jvoorbij.kabelfoon.nl)

My opinion? Tull rules!

Sam Thirouin (scthir.1st.net)

Probably one of the most eclectic rock (if you want to categorize it somewhere) groups in history, Jethro Tull have always been my favorite in all the years I have known of them (1971, with Aqualung). For one thing, there's always a Tull album that reflects the listening mood I'm in, thanx to the diversity of each album. I am one to listen to lyrics also, and Ian Anderson's lyrics are some of the most intelligent and thought-provoking I've heard.

I know quite a few people that either hate, or love, Jethro Tull. And only a handful that just like them. Tull are just one of those groups you have to love or hate. And No, they can't be loved by everyone. They don't do that MOR stuff everyone loves to hear. They won't do that Pop/Soft rock stuff that makes the girls swoon to the floor. The can't abide by everyone else's wishes and put out music every year like clockwork. They are Jethro Tull. And Jethro Tull do things in an out-of-the-ordinary way. Always have. Probably always will. We can only hope.

Becky Alex (balex1.tampabay.rr.com)

I agree with some of what you say in your review of the various Tull albums. However:

1. All of the songs on the Benefit album are outstanding. Teacher is your best song. You have been listening to too much classic rock & roll radio.

2. APP is a great album, period. You seem to be stuck on melody, try three blind mice. By the way The Lamb album, Genesis... now that's boring!! Where are they now, touring with Yes, making Disney songs, or propping up Donny Osmand's career?

3. SFTW, HH, and SW all excellent. Nothing bad here except a couple things off of SW. Although the I disagree with you on the best song on SW. I think it is Flying Dutchman, without doubt.

4. Crest, Nightcap, Roots, and .com are all good albums. Granted not as good as earlier material, but far better than the crap I here on radio in Tampa Florida, that I can guarantee you. Maybe you haven't gotten around to listening to them, but if you think that Tull's last good album is Broadsword... wow your missing some very good music.

Tull is a great band, somebody must like them there going on thirty-two years of music. Tull is in the middle of a US tour just after completing a European tour. I saw them for the first time and was impressed. One thing they are not a that is a band hanging on to the hits from the past like some many of the bands touring these days. I've got to give them credit for that! I enjoyed reading your reviews (your humor is pretty good too) and appreciate the work you put into your site.

RHennHouse.aol.com

Minstrel, Too Old to Rock n' Roll..., and Songs From the Wood. While I love all three, I find it hard to figure out why you rated Too Old highest. I would have ranked them completely opposite of you. I would imagine that you get some angry messages, being the way some Tull fans are very loyal, to say the least. I've come to the conclusion that you and I are going to disagree on almost everything Tull. Oh well. That's the way it goes. Locomotive Breath is your favorite song off three different albums?! They have so much more to offer.

(author's note): Well, I would first definitely agree that there is much more to Tull than Locomotive Breath. But I can't help it if, on both of the live albums I own of the group, LB kicks so much ass.

As for angry messages ... well, not really. All readers comments I've gotten on the site have been posted, and they're not that venomous.

And as for my thoughts on "classic" Tull albums like Minstrel or Songs ... well ... I think I've said everything that needs to be said.

And besides, don't forget that for all of the band's many, many flaws, I still love and respect them enough to grant them a rating of 4/5 stars, which is NOT bad at all.

David B (davbo6.hotmail.com)

Hi

Good site, and a pretty good assessment of Tull's career.

I tend to agree with a great deal of what you say.

1982 was a turning point for me as a fan of the band. Some of their albums up to then were absolutely fantastic. I agree that 'Stand Up' is a great album, and one which I listen to regularly.

Importantly, though, even the crappier Tull albums had some redeeming features on it. A decent couple of tracks, maybe. A nice lyric. Perhaps a good guitar solo. But from 'Under Wraps' onwards things were, simply, terrible. Imagine being a Tull fan, looking forward to the next release with great anticipation, hoping for a return to the better days. Instead, after buying each new release, there comes the realisation that Ian Anderson has served up yet another almighty pile of poo.

And I'm sorry, but I don't buy the theory that Tull has gone through some kind of musical renaissance that started with 'Roots to Branches' and has continued with 'J-Tull.com'. These albums are BAD. Their only positive point is that there are not as unremittingly dreadful as those that have come before -- and this is, I think, why they've been slightly more positively received.

All in all, though, I feel a great deal of affection for Tull. I love alot of their stuff up to and including Broadsword. I just wish Ian Anderson would recognise that many of his fans would prefer him to stick to the fish farming....you're never disappointed with a nice slice of smoked salmon, whereas you're always disappointed with a new Tull album.

Philip Maddox (slurmsmckenzie.hotmail.com)

Ahhh, good old Jethro Tull. I don't think that there's a band out there than splits critcal opinion quite like Tull. There are people who think that only their albums up through Aqualung are worthwhile, there are people who think they didn't hit their stride until Thick As A Brick, and people who like a few albums from each era of the band. I'm going to just type out my comments on each Tull era (or at least what I think the eras are):

The really early years (This Was) - They hardly even sounded like Tull here. Mick and Ian wanted the band to go in separate directions. The album they produced was good, but it certainly doesn't sound like Tull as everyone know them. Tull as everyone knows them doesn't really start until...

The early years (Stand Up - Aqualung + Living In The Past) - Ian started to flex his muscles here, getting Abrahams out and starting to write more unique music. These albums are all pretty distinct, and I like all of them a lot, especially Stand Up (which is one of my all time favorites, and I'd give it that 15 you almost gave it). This evolved right into...

The extremely progged out yeares (Brick - Play) - Brick, with it's beautiful melodies and great lyrics, is my favorite album, period. An easy 15. Play wasn't a bad follow up (I'd give it somewhere between an overall 10 or 11), but it certainly didn't hit the majesty of Brick. Side 2 pretty much rocked, though, and I ADORE the "I am the overseer over you" bit. Side one kinda lagged, though. They gave up on the long song format and moved on to...

The prog-pop years (Warchild - Too Old) - Good years for the band. Warchild, though my least favorite Tull album of the seventies (for the same reasons you gave for it), has some good tunes regardless, and I dig it. I really like Minstrel, too, WAY more than the overall 7 you gave it (it's a 13 from me). I think the melodies and lyrics on that one are tops. Too Old is a good rock album and a highly underrated one by most people and hardcore Tull fans. As much as I loathe "Bad Eyed 'n' Loveless", it's a really good album, probably worth an overall 10, maybe an 11. After that, it's...

The folk-prog years (Songs - Horses) - With the exception of Brick, this is the prettiest music the group ever produced, and I like both of them a whole lot. Very, very pretty music. Great discs to pop in any old time.

Stormwatch - Doesn't fit into any particular era, but I like it's dark atmosphere and dark atmosphere, and "Dun Ringill" and "Elegy" are among my favorite Tull tracks. Unfortunately, it was time for...

Electro-Tull (A - Under Wraps) - Broadsword and the Beast had some fantastic melodies on it, despite its electronic nature, and in my opinion, ranks among Tull's best. Though it isn't all that good, I still like Under Wraps more than you, something like an overall 8 - some of the melodies, like on the title tracks, are good, but the electronics smothered it. And as for A... "Black Sunday" might be my favorite Tull song, and a couple of others are listenable, but most of this is nearly unlistenably crappy. Electronics and Tull wasn't quite a match made in heaven. Then, after a break, you get...

Generic hard rockin' Tull (Crest - Catfish) - I've never heard Crest, but Rock Island was, with a couple of mild exceptions, never really awful, but almost unforgivably boring. Catfish, although it was better and actually has a few decent tracks, isn't THAT much better. C'mon, generic hard rock? From JETHRO TULL? Who needs it? Not me. Now, though, I think we've got...

Comeback Tull (Roots - Dot Com) - Roots was, in my opinion, the best Tull album since Broadsword. By losing the generic hard rock and twidlling around like they used to, they made what I consider to be a pretty decent album, with a few great tunes on it. Dot Com, though, is one helluva comeback, because I really like it, possibly enough to give it a 12. The return of the melodies, Ian's voice is getting better, and the filler is at a minimum.

Well, that's about it. I'd recommend the outtakes album Nightcap if you ever see it, because the original draft of Passion Play is WAY better than the final product, and most of the outtakes on the second disc are better than the albums they were supposed to be on (despite a couple of less than stellar Broadsword outtakes). I might get to commenting more on the individual albums later, but that's all I've got time for now.

venkatanarayan ramasubramanian (stambi.yahoo.com)

I just wanted to say that you were being a bit harsh with the later stuff of jethro tull. I agree a 100% that under wraps and A were terrible terrible albums but I personally liked the mid-late 70's stuff that they did. I dont understand how you dont like budapest...i thought it was a masterpiece especially the flute section. Also, in crest of a knave, the flute sound became more refined and sounded clearer than it had ever sounded before. That's one reason I liked the album so much... I also liked roots to branches...there were some good arrangements on it e.g. beside myself!!

Finally I liked j-tull dot com..glad we agree on that.

The thing about hard core fans is that there is always one band you hold dear...and even if some stuff is mediocre or down right bullshit, you force yourself to like it!!

I noticed you liked master of puppets....I am a big fan of metallica too!!

David Koukol (dops.mail.com) (8/15/01)

I've been a Tull fan for 21 years and am also a person who loves friendly debate and a variety of opinions on subjects such as this. I've read your website with interest and, while I disagree with much of the content, I found it all the more interesting because of it.

I may be unusual for a Tull fan as I tend to prefer their later work over the earlier material. Oh, I love Stand Up, Thick As A Brick, Songs From The Wood, Heavy Horses, etc...but the stuff I listen to the most often is from 1987-the present.

I was just a kid (ten years old) in 1979 when I first heard the Songs From The Wood album and asked for it for my birthday. I don't recall exactly what my contemporaries were listening to (Kiss, I think) but I was certainly the odd one out. As I grew up, I eagerly purchased each new Tull album and saw them on tour - and the same holds true to this day - in fact I'm going to see them in concert next week as I write this on August 8, 2001. And yet Tull are not like the stuffed toy from my youth that I could never bring myself to throw away; Ian Anderson's writing has grown up with me, and I'm constantly amazed by the depth of invention and creativity he can still, produce, play, and record (Roots To Branches and Ian's recent solo album, The Secret Language of Birds, are masterpieces in my mind).

I've read pop cultural studies which claim that, for many people, favorite songs are those that they grew up with and a certain level of nostalgia is associated with people's tastes in these matters. Well, I discovered Tull early and while they are still my favorite band, my appreciation for their fresh material outstrips that which I feel for the albums I "grew up with." For me, Tull is not a band that is "Living in the Past," but rather living WITH the past while living IN the present...and the future. Dare I say it, but I look forward to the next album!

I realize that my opinions might be untypical (but not unique, as I have discovered), but I feel they are worth adding to the sampling of opinions herein. Keep up the good work with your website.

Rex M Ramsay (quietlistener.lycos.com) (8/21/01)

My comments about Jethro Tull would start out first by saying that if you want to know the bands' music never listen to reviews of someone that would call any of the albums or music, "garbage". How amusing to read your words about the band and yet you seem to profess to be a 'casual listener'.

Since following the group since 1972 I have to state that yes, I am a true Tull follower. However, it is the attempt to personalize, reflect and paint a musical storytelling that makes the music interesting to me and hardly what I would call garbage. Each album is in fact (at least up to Crest') an attempt to come up with a new sound different to the ones before. Does this mean that I would call each album a success? Well no and yes.

Regardless of the style of any given album, it could be given a 3 of 5 rating merely on originality, musicianship, and lyrics. A 4 or 5 rating would then be reserved for the ones or songs that have a sort of majic that sets them apart from the others in a clearly distinct way. Each album has at least 3 or 4 songs that would fit into this quailfier. Then the invidual listener is bound to have or be able to find an album that fits into a style of music that would be considered a favorite. Which albums do I not like or like the least? Well that would be 'A'. This was an album that was never intended to be a Tull work anyway. The real treat of the album is having Eddie Jobson on keyboards and violin.

I have never found it necessary to give up on any of the albums. In fact, the album that is always fascinating to listen to now and again is 'Under Wraps'. To readily dismiss this album is to miss some very interesting layering of instrumentation not found on any Tull efforts since.

My problem with the band since Crest' is that they have or seem to have developed a safe marketing formula that supplies or responds to the diversity of Tull listeners musical ears. It is a fact that Ian Anderson did some serious marketing research before the release of Crest'. Sort of a 'as fans, what is it that you like or want to hear'?

The musicianship continues to satify, the lyrics, the songs, can't really be faulted. But having listened to every album being totally different in sound to the previous ones, at least through Wraps', it would seem that a certain level of comfort has befallen the efforts since. To understand this is not to leave out the reality of the music buis' and the costs involved throughout the total process of production, sales, touring, etc... Not to mention the fact that Ian's voice has been forced to adapt to it's injury in 84'.

Treat every album as a unique attempt to reinvent itself. How many bands have done this or have even tried? It is perhaps the best fact about J-TULL that they really have never have played crappy music that could be called similar to any other music. To be able to enjoy their music means you have to develop a musical ear to hear what they are trying to accomplish. It's funny, but the same ear I have also allows me to be able to hear the nuances of the various musical styles that have influenced them and thus allowed me to appreciate those influences even more. ANY music that successfully peaks or challenges you cannot be considered garbage.

So, 'prick up your ears' my friend, before you 'rehearse your loudest cry'.

Steven Knowlton (knowstev.med.umich.edu) (10/19/01)

I find it hard to believe that Ian Anderson is richer than Paul McCartney, who regularly gives million pound donations to his favorite charities.

Chris Federico (drummerboy_91.yahoo.com) (3/15/02)

In general, I agree with you that Jethro Tull was a better band in the past than during their latter years. However, my love for their music extends a bit further ahead in time than yours -- well into the Heavy Horses album, in fact. By the way -- just so you know -- "anyway" is not a word. Please don't take that remark too personally. I'm just a stickler for that sort of thing. Also, I think that rating an album with a number is ridiculous. Your text is detailed and opinionated enough to not require a general numeral rating, which is a futile, utterly subjective item.

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (gavemegasoline.earthlink.net) (3/25/03)

I find this band completely exasperating. I don't like Prog Rock, I wasn't alive when they were productive, but every once in a while I develop a fascination with them, in part because they were just so fucking weird, in part because, as you say, they started out SO great and then began to suck SO bad. One actually starts to feel a bit betrayed. Here's four random thoughts on this eternal puzzle.

1)Tull is an idiotic band. Has been since they started doing impersonations (Too Old to Rock and Roll, SONGS FROM the WOOD [which is fun, BUT...])

2) All the music produced up until, say, '73 is great. The band feels alive. LIVING IN THE PAST is tremendous, because you realize that before Ian tried to say so much, he actually had a lot to say (Alive and Well, Nursie, Singing all Day). The hooks are great, and they were generally an amazing singles band and an amazing blues/fusion band. And the production on their singles was much better than the production on those early albums, which is always either flat (Aqualung & the concept albums) or soupy (Stand up)

3) And then somehow Anderson just lost his way. Talent flared out, I don't know . The rot starts to set in around Aqualung, and everything's gone with TOO OLD, because this is where Ian's imagination just bottoms out altogether. From there on in, it's just impersonations of this style or that, observations on this trend or that (environmentalism, farm subsidies, .COM [please]), posture-striking of this sort or that (Country Squire, Rock Star, Gremlin, SPY for chrissake), all combined with that irritating willingess, visible from Aqualung on, to reduce ANYTHING (train rides, crossword puzzles, circuses, BLAH BLAH BLAH) to a facile metaphor for life itself. This is actually why I like Minstrel--it's just nakedly, honestly bitter. What a relief. A personal voice. Haven't heard that since the acoustic cuts on Aqualung.

4) You can also track the band's decline via the thinning of IA's voice and IA's hair. And the decline of his visual invention. Teasing your hair and Wearing a plaid overcoat over tights and a codpiece is weird & cool and Rock & Roll: like some kind of homeless/Jesus/minstrel thing . Dressing yourself like you're out of a renaissance fair is just lame.

5) Preferred albums for me would be LIVING IN THE PAST, The Carnegie Hall concert, one particular bootleg from '68 with Martin's Tune on it, and --strangely--the Chateau D'Isaster recording, which would have sounded just as lousy as Passion Play if they'd actually finished it back then. It sounds vast and symphonic now because by the time he released it Anderson had discovered reverb. Also because he's not SINGING--and here's what you realize when you listen to it: the longer the band went on, the more Anderson started to write vocal lines in terms of his instrument; so what sounds magisterial when played on flute on NIGHTCAP just sounds crap when sung on Passion Play

there you go, for what it's worth. I'm going back to my White Stripes album now.

-Tom Wainewright.

Howard (benetth.telus.net) (5/20/04)

Best song writer is his time. His singing...well...I got used to it.

Howard Bennett
Vancouver

andreascg.aol.com (12/31/05)

I'm not knocking Ian Anderson AT ALL, let me clarify, but I would like to point out that, while Ian Anderson's flute playing is very innovative in the context of a rock band, the style and many of the "shtick", such as vocalizing thru the flute, are actually copying what was done earlier by the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk.  I'm sure Ian Anderson is a fan of Kirk's, especially since Tull covered "Serenade to a Cuckoo".  Anyone who appreciates Ian Anderson's flute playing should check out Rahsaan Roland Kirk.  On the album "I Talk to the Spirits" he plays only flute (he was also a great sax player) and you can compare his version of "Serenade".

rudge rodgers (rudgeraok.yahoo.com) (06/07/07)

jethro tull is one of the longest running rock'n'roll bands ever. I pass up Rolling Stones concerts right and left but rarely miss Jethro Tull when they come to town.  Long live Ian Anderson.

rosemary.ca.inter.net (09/13/2009)

I am 51 years old woman, have been a Tull fan since 1969-70. I grew up in Windsor, Ontario, heard Tull on a Detroit rock station , Wheels, I think, fell in love with the music 5 notes in. Favourite Song has to be "Warchild", but I also love "The Third Hurrah", "Beethoven's 9th" right through the current stuff. Bought Thick as a Brick and Passion Play even when I couldn't afford them. Fell in love with Ian Anderson's looks, voice and accent...no small wonder my current partner looks and sounds like him, too. Though Tull came to Detroit, my eastern European parents forbade me to go to any of his concerts. I locked myself in my bedroom one weekend and swore to my folks that I would see Tull perform live before I died. Meanwhile, moved to Toronto. My 50th birthday gift to myself was a ticket to see Tull perform at Massey Hall, Toronto, in November 2007. I got the second last ticket in the house! Tull performed to a full house, all ardent, even closet, fans. It was a night I never wanted to end. On the drive home to Newmarket, I popped in my Thick as a Brick CD in my car player, drove up Hwy 404 home to Newmarket. The last note faded just as I pulled into my driveway at midnight. "Now I can die happy," I said to no one in particular. My 3 teen sons bought me a Tull DVD for my 50th birthday -- the best present, EVER! "Warchild" is the first song I copy to every MP3 player I own, I play that song almost every day of my life. I will love Tull until the day I die.

"WaterTech" (steve.watertechcapital.com) (07/13/10)

I grew up on the rock and roll of the early 70's and Jethro Tull is one of the most underrated and potentially could have been one of the mega bands commercially if not for the 'different' sound which, in my opinion, was ahead of the time. Listen to the Benefit album start to finish. It is a remarkable piece of work.

iaincrinson (iaincrinson.btinternet.com) (03/13/12)

Thanks for the blog – it makes very interesting and informed reading. I am 54, went to a grammer school in leafy Surrey (England) in the early seventies so of course Prog rock was the only music I was aware of at the time (together with Biggles, Monopoly and all the other references on TAAB). Jethro Tull were always my favourite band in this period, with Benefit my favourite album.

I returned to listening JT after nearly 40 years purely by chance catching of recording of ‘living in the past’ at a 1979 concert video as my 12 year son was randomly scrollling through YouTube. It brought back that freshness and energy that I remember from when I was 14/15/16. I recalled getting the Thick as Brick L.P the week it came out, and the endless reading of the attached spoof newspaper while listening to the vinyl spinning. I then recalled how I became gradually turned off from J.T following a concert at the Wembley Arena in 1973 which was largely material from the then recently released ‘Passion Play’ album which I still remember a being facile and uninspiring. After that gradually got into Jazz-Rock (Return to forever, Weather Report) and then into the real thing (the eternal Miles Davis!). However, following the viewing of that Youtube video, ordered a vinyl copy (still very much into vinyl recording where I can get them) of ‘living in the past’ LP and it was even better than first time around! When I was a teenager of course I had missed all the blues and jazz references that abound in their music of that period (1968-72). Have re- purchased TAAB on CD (sadly my original vinyl disappeared many years ago), what a listening pleasure, but the band should have ended it there and then!

Mikhail Radyshevtsev mradysh.mail.ru (09/13/12)

Hello John,

While I couldn't agree with some of your statements on Jethro Tull (I think, for instance, The Minstrel deserves at least 7 for melodies mastery and Songs From The Wood should be ranked equally to Heavy Horses for having Velvet Green and not having No Lullaby :)) that's all a matter of personal taste. However, I think you could have paid some attention to Anderson's solo works, of which you have reviewed only the last one. Though they could hardly be named classics, it seems to me, all of them are above the average JT material of the time when they were written.

1. "Work Into Light" (1983) is an electronic album, recorded in collaboration with John Vettese. This album is not bombastic as "Broadsword" was in good way; it is a totally inoffensive and light venturing into synth-pop territory. There is nothing really original apart from flute in such a context, but it is mostly pleasant, especially the opener ("Flight By Night"). "Trains" is probably the only boring song there. I wish it had stayed in it's own right, out of shadow of the disastrous "Under Wraps". Among Tull's 80s it's definitely second to "Broadsword" (if we don't count "A Classic Case").

2. "Divinities: Twelve Dances Of God" (1995). Anderson goes instrumental. The result is an album of background music, but this is pleasant, highly artistic, though a bit monotonous background music with strong Oriental flavour. No electric guitar, thus even monotony can be enjoyable. Besides this, there is at least one brilliant tune (At There Father's Knee) which Tchaikovsky could have used for his Nutcracker.

3. "The Secret Language Of Birds" (2000). It is all acoustic, in the stile of "A Gift Of Roses", with world music influence. Just very pleasant, may be a bit too long, I never needed bonus tracks here.

4. "Rupi's Dance" (2003). Sorry, if I overrate this one, but I love it. I think, it's the best thing Ian did since, may be, Thick As A Brick. It is totally unpretentious, just a strain of songs with catchy melodies, beautiful instrumentations and sincere feelings.

5. "Ian Anderson Plays The Orchestral Jethro Tull" (2005). I can only assume it can be a pleasant addition to "A Classic Case", which I've never heard, as the track list of the former is mostly different from the later.

Alfred Zoppelt (alfred.zoppelt.aon.at) (10/13/14)

Hello John!

I live in Vienna (Austria) and I am fan of Jethro Tull since the Songs from the Woods album back in 1977.

I am sorry that Jethro Tull no longer exists. I miss Martin Barre.

Chuck Dade (cdade.chuckdade.com) (10/13/15)

minstrell in the gallery is very good, War Child is great and so is Songs of the Wood

But he lost me with too old to rock and roll.

Alan carpenter (mealanc1.gmail.com)

I assume this email is still "live" and you are still using it.

This email is just a "thank you" for your web site and album reviews, particularly for your Jethro Tull reviews.

I must be honest and admit I have only just discovered Jethro Tull after all these years and I am gradually going through their back catalogue.

I am not really sure why Jethro Tull passed me by. I am over 60 years old and live in the UK (home of Jethro Tull !). I "grew up" during the Beatles era and have wide ranging music taste (I was in to Cream, Hendrix, Dylan, Yes, Doors, Love, Pink Floyd, Steely Dan and many other 60s and 70s groups).

I like what I call "intelligent rock" (The Yes album "Close to the Edge" is one of my favourite albums) but for some reason I had a blind spot about Jethro Tull. Apart from the Living in the Past single (which was a hit single in the UK) I hardly knew another Tull song or album.

However a few months ago I was searching the web for new albums to listen to (going on to those "100 best rock albums" web sites) and "Thick as a brick" kept appearing.

I found it on YouTube and listened to it and I thought it was STUNNING (it has a similar feel to the "Close to the Edge" suite on that Yes album - I am not saying it sounds the same, but that it has that feel where everything was just RIGHT and the songs/movements just flow in to each other). I began to play "Thick as a brick" over and over and then decided to explore more Tull albums and I found your web site which was invaluable in guiding me to the best albums.

However being presented with a whole lifetime of Tull albums (from 1968 - when I was 19 - to albums from just a few years ago) has been hard to cope with - following all the ups and downs of the band, the comings and goings of members (I have put a spreadsheet together of who played on which album to help me), the change of style, the good albums and the bad albums and so on.

I have listened to all 21 studio albums (some more than others) and have to say "Thick as a brick" is still my favourite.

And I have to say "Stand Up" is probably my second favourite (I know you are a big fan). Stand Up is a "simpler" album than many of the others (more of a basic "rock" album). In that way it reminds me of Disraeli Gears by Cream (again, not the same sound but the same "feel" of an album that just "works" and flows).

And like you, I love the songs "Nothing is Easy" and "For a Thousand Mothers" on Stand Up. When they wanted to this band could really "rock".

However there were times when Anderson could become very pretentious and, for example, I have yet to listen to Passion Play all the way through. I start to listen to it, and after a while I decide I would actually rather listen to Thick as a Brick for the 30th time than "Passion Play" for the first time. As I type this email I am listening to Benefit, and like you, I find it a little bland (particularly after Stand Up). Anyway, back to my original point, a thank you for doing all your reviews and keeping the web site going. There may be times when you wonder if it is all worth it but I for one have found it very useful.

---

This Was - 1968 Chrysalis
8
(Good / Mediocre)

Best song: Beggar's Farm

Send me your thoughts

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (2/19/03)

An entertaining debut! None of these tracks sound bad at all, though one can immediately see that Jethro Tull couldn't just stay restrained to the blues forever. "My Sunday Feeling", "Beggar's Farm", and the very jazzy "A Seranade to a Cookoo" are my highlights from this album. 8(11)

German Gonzalez (ggonzalez6.austin.rr.com) (01/13/13)

Nobody is a Jethro Tull fan. I am though just because it played on our FM rock station in the early 80's in South Texas. I just got This Was on vinyl today and have to say: Godamn boy, it is a great album to just kick back and sip a few, smoke and just relax.

Roger Worton (rogerworton.btinternet.com) (12/13/15)

Re: Song for Jeffery

Love the driving rhythm and the 'lost' vocals. Great!

trfesok.aol.com (07/13/16)

I had resisted this one for a while because the old Rolling Stone Record Guide reviewed it as a blues album. They said it was the only good Tull album (!), so I thought it would be boring. But I remember hearing “A Song for Jeffrey”, “A Christmas Song” and “Love Story” a lot on the radio back in the day (although I suspect that’s because they’re on LiTP), plus I became acquainted with some of the others on via remixes and live versions, so I finally succumbed.

My opinion pretty much coincides with yours. I also find “It’s Breaking Me Up” to be rather dull. “Round” is a peculiar bit of noodling. “Move on Alone", of course, is really an Abrahams solo song. It sounds more like Blood, Sweat & Tears than Tull. “Dharma for One”, oddly enough, is the song from this album that generated the most cover versions! Probably because it provided a platform for early 70’s bands to take off on wanking guitar and/or drum solos. The original is tolerable because it’s short, but I don’t think I could bear listening to the LiTP version..

“Cat’s Squirrel” (originally recorded by a Delta/Detroit blues musician named Dr. Ross) is OK, but it doesn’t add a lot to Cream’s version. This one is totally Mick, since he redid it 1996 with the same rhythm section and doubled its length in 2003 with Blodwyn Pig. The first time that I heard "Serenade to a Cuckoo" was on the 1987 tour, believe it or not, and it still holds up. I really like the harmonizing between Ian and Mike on "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You". The 25th Anniversary box has a solo acoustic version which doesn’t work quite as well. I really wish that Ian hadn’t sent his voice through a megaphone (or whatever) on "A Song for Jeffrey" – I’d like to hear the words (the first of a set of naïve, childlike lyrics he’d write referring to Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond ) too! The 25th.. box has a live version from the Catfish Rising tour without any vocal processing -- but he should have used it in this case, because we get to hear it sung in a hideous late 80’s/early 90’s croak. That box also remixed the studio version, adding more drum reverb, which doesn’t help, either.

“My Sunday Feeling" is a loud blues with dark lyrics that stand in very interesting and powerful contrast to the music. (Also remixed for the 25th.. box, and also rerecorded there with the then-current version of the band, with more bad singing). I also really like “Beggar’s Farm”, with an ominous feel very much unlike the rest of the album – sort of a precursor to “Back to the Family” and “Son”.

I have the 2001 version, which adds three more singles, the last things recorded with Abrahams. The 1st is the British B-side of “.Jeffrey”, “One for John Gee” (also on the ..20 Years of.. box), a jazzy thing written by Abrahams, distinguished by Ian’s flute. The follow-up UK single was the great rocker “Love Story” and the “Christmas Song” B-side. Actually, is Mick actually on this one? It has mandolin and a very scary, string arrangement by D. Palmer that is most un-blues like. The ..20 Years of.. box also has three songs with Mick from the BBC – a cover of T-Bone Walker's “Stormy Monday Blues”, “A Song for Jeffrey and “Love Story”. The latter doesn’t sound like a new recording – it sounds like a mono remix, perhaps with a new lead vocal.

Ian’s instincts to move beyond this sounds, of course, turned out to be spot on. The British blues-soul-rock bands on the scene during this period either had to adapt and evolve (Tull, Cream, Fleetwood Mac) or fade away (Spencer Davis Group, Elton John’s Bluesology, Blodwyn Pig).

---

Stand Up - 1969 Chrysalis
E
(Great)

Best song: Bouree

Send me your thoughts

Thought09.aol.com

This album is vastly underrated, agreed. However, I got a copy of a '1969 - the greatest year in rock' guitar magazine from '99 and stand up was one of the 15 or so albums they praised. In fact, it tells this little story of how this guy came up to Ian at a tull concert freaking out about how he listens to stand up every night before he goes on stage and stuff....Ian at the time just thought he was some crazed freak, but it turned out to be Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam!! Quite entertaining that was. Anyway, Stand Up is definately my fav Tull album by far and is prob. in my top 20 albums of all time...

Daniel

Clmnts5.aol.com

It did my heart good to see somebody recognize the beautiful Stand Up. My favorite album of the late 60s - early 70s and one of the best ever, I think. Tull's best WITHOUT QUESTION, in my mind.

Kathy Fisher (klfisher.webtv.net) (9/10/01) Till this day I still keep a tape of Stand-Up in the car to put meself in the right frame of mind. I find the music keeps me from gettin out the car and clobberin someone! Know what I mean? Right,knew you would.

ALPH1217.aol.com (1/28/02)

John:

Couldn't agree with you more regarding this absolute gem of an album. Although the early seventies were the height of Tulls popularity with Aqualung and Thick As A Brick enormously well received, this record is the best work Ian has ever come up with in my opinion. I've spent endless hours all through the years listening to this band and can readily proclaim myself as a 'hard core fan'. This does not mean however that I've enjoyed everything I've heard. Like any other group they don't always get things right. Nevertheless Ian's song writing and durability all through the years never ceases to amaze me.

I enjoy reading your reviews . . agree with you on some things, disagree on others but what the hell!

Cheers,

ALPH

Chris Federico (drummerboy_91.yahoo.com) (3/15/02)

I completely agree with you. This is an underrated, absolutely gorgeous album. However, if you listened a little closer to "Reasons For Waiting," you wouldn't say it sounded nearly identical to ANY other tune (even its very tempo is unique on the album). How some people can listen (on purpose, even) to Bob Dylan and not consider this superior band's superior '69 album an absolute, definitive '60s classic is beyond me.

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/27/02)

Before I read yours and George's review for this album, all I knew is it won Best Album cover for some magazine that year. But, the album itself... is good! I knew I was in for a treat when I heard "A New Day Yesterday". The riff is killer, and the drums just bash away! Sometimes in the past, I'd hear "Bouree" here and there. But, hearing it here, it made me realize how much energy was in that track! I could comment on every song here, but for brevity, all the 'rockers' have something special to offer, and the acoustic ballads are actuall memorable to me. This is a surprise for me! 10(14) it is!!

NOTE: To sweaten the pill further, the newer edition contains four singles from that era, including "Sweet Dream" and "Living in the Past". Now, we're talking!

Greg.Goldman.ci.austin.tx.us (5/15/05)

Thank you John for turning me on to this album after years of writing off Tull. I know everyone loves 'Bouree' but my vote for best track is 'We Used to Know' while my favorite extra track is 'Sweet Dream.'

I have gotten used to Ian's voice now in the same way I got used to Hendrix's - it's a process of gradual accommodation. Now is sounds authoritative and commanding and makes the tracks sound more epic.

Jason Kuykendall (tullite.yahoo.com) (6/11/05)

Sorry man, but to a true enthusiast you come across as musically trite.  Had to stop reading at SU, because you praised the stale FM classics and failed to exalt the living beauty that is We Used To Know

Trfesok.aol.com (01/30/07)

Agreed, really, really good. Diverse, intelligent music. Actually, I think the least interesting ones are two that you think rule -- "A New Day Yesterday" and "Nothing is Easy." These two are pretty popular and turn up on a lot of anthologies, but while they're nice enough, I think they are less innovative and interesting than the other songs. "Bouree" is pretty fun and amusing, and "Fat Man" sounds Indian without actually using any Indian instruments. Bongos, mandolin and flute carry the song. The one that pushed me to get it was "Look into the Sun," which actually used to turn up on radio every once in a while around here. A totally gorgeous ballad that I have to play more than once whenever I play the album. The rest is all really nice, too. Not an unlistenable filler track in the bunch.

  I have the remaster with the four single sides, which is the only place that you can find all of these, now that the Living in the Past and 20 Years Of.. collections have disappeared. They don't really fit in, but no one can deny that "Living in the Past" and "Sweet Dream" are classic songs. "Driving Song" sounds like Ian was already sick of touring by that point. "17" seems to be a reminiscence of a teenage romance, but is far less melodic than all of the other songs on the CD.

---

Benefit - 1970 Chrysalis
9
(Good)

Best song: Teacher

Send me your thoughts

Chris Federico (drummerboy_91.yahoo.com) (3/15/02)

I agree that it's not as good as Stand Up!, and that the best song is "Teacher." That riff's a hell of a lot better than "Aqualung"'s Beethoven-like intro. I think "Inside" is terrific, however, and "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me" deserves your extra attention. Try listening to it ouside the context of the rest of the LP. Its verses are lovely -- poignant, even -- and its chorus is pretty damn catchy. It's about Ian wanting to be in the LEM spacecraft during the first moon landing (a staged event, if you ask me, but that's a different topic). Michael Collins is the astronaut who had to stay in the Module when the others were out jumping around. Jeffrey is Ian's old friend and Tull's future bass player (1971-75, I think).

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (2/19/03)

Apart from the excessive psychedelic noises in the middle of "Play in Time", nothing is particually bad here. BUT, that doesn't mean that everything else comes out smelling like roses. Enough cliches, much of this album I can't recall to save the life of me! From the proper album itself, only "With You There to Help Me" and "To Cry You a Song" I can remember, and both of these are quite good. The first song has a nice atmosphere about it (partly due to the way Ian Anderson plays the flute), though a tad long (like many songs on this album. That's what primarily mars "Nothing to Say". I'll avoid any obvious puns here.). "To Cry You a Song" has a good overall structure, nice riff based on what I think are triplets.The six minute running time doesn't bother me either this time.

Special mention should go to (three of the four) additional tracks. These are more memorable (and possibly better) than the entire album itself! I like the light-hearted way "Singing All Day" goes about. It's hummable, unlike some other stuff earlier. "Witche's Promise" is another nice folkish piece. Finally, there's "Teacher". Though it may be not my favorite Tull song, it's up there somewhere (too bad it's not on "Original Masters"!). With these tracks included, this is about a 7(10), maybe a low 11.

KiddAbout.aol.com (05/13/10)

This was the album that got me into Tull. Yeah, I heard Aqualung and Songs From The Wood before this, but it wasn't until hearing Benefit that I became a Tullhead. Looking back, I don't consider it as good as the aforementioned two albums or Thick As A Brick or even Stand Up, and the reasons were similar to the points you made. On my first go on the album, I almost fell asleep on the first track ("With You There To Help Me") for Gerald's sake! Eventually, the songs finally sank in (much faster than on Passion Play and Minstrel anyway) and now dukes it out with Warchild and Too Old To Rock And Roll: Too Young To Die! for a spot in my top 5 Tull.

I'd like to jump to the defense for "Sossity; You're A Woman"; that one registered in my head faster than about half of the other tracks on my first go. It's one of the most beautiful songs Ian penned and - along with a lot of the other tracks on here - sowed the seeds of Ian's talent as a lyricist, which fully blossomed on Aqualung and Thick As A Brick. I'd also like to defend "Play In Time"; in my opinion, I think the backwards guitar noises rule and the quote of the intro to Dvorak's "New World Symphony" (known for being the basis of the Jaws theme) adds to the weirdness.

I do admit that...

a) Anderson perfected the ideas on Benefit when he wrote the songs for Aqualung. And yes, there was a point where I though Benefit was the better album because Aqualung was more commercial....yeah, real smart thinking >_>...

b) The bonus tracks on the 2001 edition gives this album a much needed shot in the arm. While the previous two albums could hold out on their own, the presence of "Teacher", "Witches Promise" and "Just Trying To Be" gives the listener some much needed breathing room (assuming you assimilate them into the main album first).

So, here's my final ratings (based on your scale).....

Original: 7(10)
2001 Edition: 8(12)

Best Tracks: "With You There To Help Me", "Son", "To Cry You A Song", "A Time For Everything?", "Play In Time", "Sossity; You're A Woman", "Witches Promise", "Just Trying To Be", "Teacher".

"matt faris" (7headedchicken.gmail.com) (12/13/10)

Well, I have to "stand up" for this album, as all here seem to agree that it is kinda sub-par. I disagree. I think it's nearly as good as the album that came before it, just very different sounding. Some of my favorite lyrics from Ian Anderson are on this album and the two that bookend it. And I quite enjoy the heavy pychedelic sound myself, especially those flutes at the beginning on "With You There To Help Me." Aren't there two versions of this album with different songs? The one I'm familiar with is the vinyl that contained "Teacher." If I'm remembering correctly, I think that's the U.S. version. Of course, the CD does kind of a combine both versions type of thing, but I still recall fondly those days of making breakfast on the record, and letting the turntable get it's daily recommended value of intelligent hard rock.

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

I think some of the problem with this album is more than with the production, rather than the songs themselves. Three of the songs are on the Live at Carnegie Hall 1970 album, and they sound more powerful without all the studio trickery.

The songs are a rather strange combo of lighter and whimsical (“Inside”, “For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me”, "A Time for Everything?") and much heavier stuff. At the other extreme is the exceptionally bitter “Son”, the angriest, most vicious song Tull had ever recorded. I mean, wow – what was sort of obscured on “Thick as a Brick” is laid bare to hear here! “Inside” was the track I heard most on the radio (except for one), and it is a delightful song. “Alive and Well and Living In.." (removed from the US version) is a sort of jazzy thing, but not nearly as cool as “Bouree”. “To Cry Me a Song” has Martin and Ian playing that fun riff together. On the whole, though, I have to agree that the original album is not quite as strong as the two that bracket it.

My version came with four bonus tracks, which Ian says were recorded just a few weeks before the album – and they are mostly better. “Witch’s Promise” is indeed a classic single. That one got remixed for the 25th Anniversary Box Set with the flute and piano brought more forward in the mix (good) and the mellotron mixed back (bad, bad Ian!). “Singing All Day” is very silly, but too catchy. I drove my wife and son crazy singing the chorus around the house for a while. “Just Trying to Be” fits in with the more whimsical pieces on the album.

And then there’s “Teacher”, which has a bit of history behind it. It was first the UK B-side of “Witch’s Promise” – but in an entirely different version. (It was on the 20 Years of.. box)This version has no flute, Ian playing electric rhythm guitar and is a bit longer. This is because it degenerates into a rather half-assed jam at the end. Fortunately, they decided to rerecord it in the tighter, more rocking version that we all know. On the copy that I have, it’s labeled the UK mix”, but it doesn’t sound any different than the version that they put on the US album. This also got remixed for the 25th Anniversary Box Set. There is better stereo separation in this mix, but they also added echo to the vocal and obnoxious 90’s reverb to the drums. Nonetheless, I have to agree that it’s the best track Tull track form 1970.

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Nothing Is Easy - Live At The Isle Of WIght 1970 - 2004 Eagle
9
(Good)

Best song: My God

Send me your thoughts

Nick Pulliam (nickpulliam.resonetics.com) (03/12/06)

I think it was still Clive Bunker who inserted the offensive drum solo at this point in Tull's career. I agree with your review though on every other point.

trfesok.aol.com (10/13/13)

Although this is surprisingly listenable (and on the DVD you get to see what a maniac Ian used to be in live performance), I think a better bet is the Carnegie Hall show from November of that same year. Two pieces of it (the bad parts) were originally on Living in the Past, while the rest of the show was included as a disc in the 25th Anniversary boxset. Now, the whole show is is on a bonus disc reissue of Stand Up, although most of Ian's stage patter is cut out. The setlist is almost the same as IoW -- they dropped "Bouree" (bummer), but added "A Song for Jeffrey" and a medley of "Sossity, You're a Woman" and "Reasons for Waiting". The lyrics of "..Jeffrey" are actually comprehensible, while "Sossity".. is definitely better than the studio version, without that weird, dark production. The sound quality, not surprisingly, is stronger than IoW, and the band performance is just as fierce. Unfortunately, you still get the piano solo; the drum solo which wrecks the otherwise Santanaesque "Dharma for One"; and a somewhat unfocused eight minute guitar solo from Martin . Nonetheless, this is the best recording of the young, hot Tull that's available legally, so I say go for it (especially if you don't have Stand Up already!).

---

Aqualung - 1971 Chrysalis
D
(Great / Very Good)

Best song: Locomotive Breath

Send me your thoughts

RHennHouse.aol.com

Cheap Day Return, Wond'ring Aloud, and Slipstream space fillers?! Where I used to think Locomotive Breath and Aqualung and Hymn 43 were the best on this album, after listening to it for the last 29 years, I've learned that the acoustic songs are what really make Ian Anderson the best songwriter. That I know of, anyway. For someone to think that those songs are fillers is really missing out. I believe even Ian called them fillers when the album came out, but I think he knew better and is very proud of them.

(author's note): Well, I didn't call them 'filler', per se. But I don't think anybody would want to say that they are "primary" material on the album. They're quite pretty, and very well-written, but there is little question that they mostly serve as "plot-setters" for the "main" songs.

Chris Federico (drummerboy_91.yahoo.com) (3/15/02)

I agree that saying something is "too accessible" is pretentious, irrelevant, and in fact restrictive to the extent of being non-musical. However, your apparent dismissal of anything and everything that endeavors to be progressive or artistic beyond mere catchiness could be construed as equally limiting.

(author's note): This can only be a possible interpretation if this is the only one of my pages you read. Let it be yelled out loud and clear that I LOVE well-done progressive rock. It just so happens that, and I'm serious here, I consider most of Tull's progressive efforts to be mediocre at best and unlistenable at worst. Prog-rock can be incredibly good, but most of Tull's efforts in this department (aside from Brick) are not sufficiently engaging as to keep my attention.

The most moving songs on this album are "Mother Goose," "Up To Me" and "Wind-Up." If only the production (surprisingly not much improved in the '98 remaster) were decent. The material's consistently fantastic, but the sound quality's awful. Ian's dry, high-end vocal sound and the too-quiet level of the "Wind-Up" intro are just two instances of Island Studios' shortcomings. Could you imagine this album with the sound quality of (the Ian-produced) Benefit? WOWZERS! The three acoustic "links," as you call them, are lovely and shouldn't be discounted just because they're not super-long. I'd rather hear these short interludes than "Aqualung" or "Locomotive Breath" anytime. (Face it -- they're the closest we get to the Stand Up! motifs.)

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/27/02)

For some reason, I don't enjoy this album nearly as much as I should. Pretty much from start to finish, the songs are very solid. And, of course, the classics (Aqualung, Cross-Eyed Mary, and Locomotive Breath) are well deserved of their status. Perhaps, it's that none of the other songs blow me away as the aforementioned do (Wind-Up gets close, though). At any rate, this album gets a low to solid 9 out of 10.

Paige Anderson (paigea.silcom.com) (11/17/03)

In my humble opinion, Aqualung is not only the best effort put forth by Tull, it is one of the best rock albums of all time. For me, Aqualung represented a dramatic change in the bands direction. Stand Up, This Was and benefit are pretty much all alike. With the entry of Aqualung, we see Tull at it's very best. It was a brief moment of brilliance from the mind of Ian Anderson. Despite Ian's denial that it is a "concept" album, I am convinced that it turned out that way...even if by accident. There is not a single song on this album that is bad. I am in the habit of listening to it only in the order for which it was originally presented. As far as the acoustic songs go...they are critically important to the overall tone of the presentation. The juxtaposition of the lighter songs book-ended by the more popular "heavy" material is (in my opinion) a purposeful move on the part of Ian. By far, the most brilliant cut from the album is "My God." It is like a concerto of beautiful sounds and meaningful lyrics...it is a masterpiece of music. The flute section in the middle with the choir in the background is absolutely the high point of the offering. Listen to it on headphones and tell me that this is not a stroke of musical genius. The way this section moves back into the song never fails to move me. I do not consider Jethro Tull a true "progressive" rock band. In fact, I think that they defy definition. They were and still are one of the most original bands in rock history.

Trfesok.aol.com (09/29/07)

Certainly, Ian was starting to get darker on the last album, and now he goes full tilt. It's a good thing that he balanced it with the lighter acoustic stuff. Still, the sense of humor that showed up earlier ("Fat Man") and later (the next album) is pretty much absent. "Hymn 43" is the angriest one -- and they released it as a single! How could they think a song with lyrics like "If Jesus saves/then he better save Himself/from the gory glory-seekers/that use His name in death." would make the Top 40? But it's great. Nowadays, though, there are several Tull albums that  I'd rather listen to.

  I also have the remaster, and it does, unfortunately, emphasize the fact that the album wasn't really recorded well in the first place. As bonuses, there are three BBC tracks from the This Was and Stand Up periods; an OK album outtake called "Lick Your Fingers Clean" which I think is way overrated by fans; and an alternate version of "Wind Up" that was originally on the quadraphonic LP. It's not as good as the original, with a cruder production and Ian singing them in a register too high for himself.

A couple of remixes also have shown up elsewhere. The MU collection has a remix of the title track with the distortion removed from Ian's vocal on the acoustic bridge, which makes the track less annoying. The 25th Anniversary Box also has a mix of "Cross-Eyed Mary" was does the typically irritating 90's thing of adding reverb to the drums and bringing them forward. In this case, though, that's done at the expense of the very cool flute/piano/mellotron arrangement.

  Oh, and the remaster also has 13 minute interview with Ian about the making of the album. He doesn't discuss the lyrical content, though, which is a shame. He also says that he thinks that "Budapest" is a better example of Jethro Tull than anything on this album! Bet you like that!

  Bob 

dottony1.gmail.com (12/13/11)

Locomotive breath is one of my favorite rock songs for several reasons. I believe that the way Ian mixed the song to make the finished product is near genius. The melody, rhythm, piano intro, Ian’s flute playing and the unique sound of his voice make this a hauntingly engaging work. But, I have nearly driven myself crazy trying to figure out the meaning of the metaphorical lyrics of this song. What was Ian trying to say? All I know is that he, himself said in an interview that, the train represented life’s journey but what about the rest of the song? Any help on this?

timharrington12.gmail.com (10/13/13)

You were discussing the evolution of Ian Anderson s vocals. I always thought he was trying to sound like Jack Bruce.

---

*Thick as a Brick - 1972 Chrysalis*
E
(Great)

Best song: heh

Send me your thoughts

Robert Grazer (xeernoflax.jack-the-ripper.com)

Good. Flows perfectly from start to finish.

BEST TRACK: To my knowledge this is going to be the only album on here that defies my formula. On sing song forty-five minutes and thirty-six seconds long, and I love long songs. I don't really know how to comment on this, it's just so good. Even the fact that I don't much care for Jethro Tull can't stop the fact that this is an absolute masterpiece. My favorite part probably starts at the "Let me tell you the tale of your life," and ends with the song. It;s good throughout the entire thing, leaving little to be desired.

COMPLAINTS: None really....I wish the gap in the middle wasn't ther but I guess that was unavoidable.

RATING: My Scale: ****** John McFerrin's Scale *10(15)*

Thought09.aol.com

What a good example of intellect in rock. Wow. This album blows the mind. I don't especially like the turn Tull took here towards a more synthy sound, but somehow thoughout most of the album the music keeps you interested. There are parts (musically, mostly) I don't like as much, in fact that can get outright boring, but the great bits by far make up for it.....I especially the 'so where the hell was biggles' bit. There was this dude I met last year while on a travel study trip to Japan that was your typical 'gen-x culture is all that matters to me' type guy and he openly admitted to not liking most of the music of the baby boomers. To my amazement though he started humming part of TAAB!!!! I asked him about it and he said that some of his older coworkers would play TAAB on the job and he found that he actually really liked it. I'm sure it was Ian's great thought provoking lyrics that did the trick for him.

TheRubberCow.aol.com (1/01/02)

Yes, oh, yes.  I was blown away by this album when I got it when after hearing the 5 minute version on the radio I saw that it was all one song.  But when I got it home and listened to it, it surpassed my already high expectation.  I knew they were good, since my parents' had played their greatest hits (M.U. - The Best of Jethro Tull), but I had no idea they were so intelligent!  I know a lot of this was due to Anderson's writing, but you are right about the band sounding very tight.  Some sections remind me of Supper's Ready, like the electric piano part somewhere near the first stretches (can't remember exactly where), and,  that flute solo at the 37 minute mark is actually a lute.  How cool!

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/27/02)

Since last summer or so, I had essentially most of the essential (and well- reputed) prog albums from the 'principal' prog groups: Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson (plus "Aqualung" from Jethro Tull). But, the sheer length of this album scared the living daylights out of me. 20-minute epics are work enough! Oh well, fast forward to this last Spring. I FINALLY bought this 'bloated' behomath. It was intriguing from the start (I loved the first half almost immediately).

Now, with the exception of the notorious beginning of the second half, this piece rules! Let me explain. All the segments, save the 'Zappaesque' section, have some sort of catchiness going on, be it the meoldy, or the instrumentation which is often quite fast and furious, yet tight as a thistle. The "Poet and the Painter" and "Do You Believe" sections are especially beautiful. Jeffrey Hammonds' baselines are extraordinary throughout, especially in the "I've come down from the upper class" section.

Finally, the booklet itself is the other half of the fun. They spent more time on this than the music!? However, it very well adds cohesion to the entire 'concept'. And my edition of the CD has a live adbridged version of the (title) track which burns even more than the studio version, as well as an interview with the band on the making of this album, filled with hilarious stories.

Due to the one 'bad' section which still hurts my ears, I can't give this a ten, but a 9(14) it is! (Almost tied with "Stand Up" as my favorite/best Jethro Tull album.)

Ken D'Angelo (vze2m7hi.verizon.net) (10/08/02)

Making a song continuous like Jethro Tull did with Thick As A Brick is just amazing.  Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, and Jeffrey Hammond did a fantastic job.  I find some of the lyrics hard to understand, for example, your sperm's in the gutter, your love's in the sink.  However, the song sounds great since everyone gets their turn to play their instruments and no one can play a flute like Ian Anderson.

Trfesok.aol.com (03/17/07)

I guess that I have to concede that Tull reached its peak here. My latest listen was straight through, via headphones, and it's still amazing. I do think that you underrate Barlow on this album -- his "solo"in the second half actually had flute and chimes overdubbed on top, so it becomes more listenable. You can really appreciate his playing on this album.  Evans' playing on his Hammond organ is also underrated, I think.  Otherwise, no real disagreement -- an essential prog album.

  The remastered version also has a 12-minute live version from 1978 - sort of a "highlights" of TAAB.  Although you could argue which sections they should have left in (I miss the "Where the hell was Biggles.." part), it's still good. There's also an interview with Ian, Martin and Jeffrey, where the talk about the music and the album art. Very entertaining.

---

Living In The Past - 1972 Chrysalis
C
(Very Good / Great)

Best song: Witches Promise

Send me your thoughts

TheRubberCow.aol.com (1/01/02)

Wow.  I cannot believe no one has commented on this one yet.  A great album.  Kind of their Physical Graffiti, but almost have more respect for this one: although I do agree with you Side Three, there is almost no song on here that don't love immensely.  I think  my favorite is probably "Love Story", "A Christmas Song" and one that I have recently starting liking a lot more, "Life Is A Long Song".  I don't know if it's the melody or the way it builds or what (it seems to build differently than your average builind song, rather than going from very soft to very big, it starts at a moderately gentle level and just builds to a sort of comfortably strong mezzo-forte, and I think that's cool).....could just be the way it sounds in general.  And then there's so many other good songs on there like "Dr. Bogenbroom" and some others that you have mentioned......I could go on about them all.  A ! very impressive album; always stunning to listen to.

Chris Federico (drummerboy_91.yahoo.com) (3/15/02)

How you could fail to mention "Life Is a Long Song," one of Tull's greatest ever, is beyond me, but we agree on the merits of "Witch's Promise."

Michael Gray (michael.gray.gza.com) (04/29/08)

Although this song is not on every version of the album that was released, "Wondering Again" is both rare and as close to a signature Tull song as you get.  The acoustic arrangement, the very beautiful and introspective lyrics (which have also stood the test of time), and the Ian Anderson vocal that is melodically one of the band's best.  The only thing it lacks in connection to signature Tull is a flute part; however, the song is more spare and honest without.  This song stands out for them even on this greatest hits album.

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

I think that you way underrate the songs on the fourth side. I agree with Michael about “Wondering Again”, recorded during the early sessions for Aqualung. The music and very strange lyrics go through quite a few moods in only minutes. What’s interesting is that Ian lifted the prettier part of the song, lightened up the lyrics, and turned it into ”Wondering Again”.

The last five songs turned up on a UK EP that followed Aqualung, titled after “Life Is a Long Song". I think that’s a great song – cool melody, great orchestration - -which really contrasts with the morbid lyrics. “Well, don't you squeal as the heel grinds you under the wheels”? Some dark humor from Ian, indeed. As is “Dr. Bogenbroom”, the hardest rocking track of this bunch. The message on this one can be summed as as “Life sucks, then you die”. “ Up the 'Pool" seems to be a found tribute to Ian’s hometown, but (like the Beatles “Penny Lane”), I sense a sense of sarcasm underneath the happy surface. The instrumental “For Later” unintentionally lived up to its title – this very much points in the direction the band was heading for their next album. Finally, “Nursie” seems to be the song, along with the title track, that appears the most often on anthology or in concerts. My guess it that it was based on the same trip by Ian to see his dad in the hospital as “Cheap Day Return”.

---

A Passion Play - 1973 Chrysalis
7
(Mediocre / Good)

Best song: ...

Send me your thoughts

TheRubberCow.aol.com (1/01/02)

The Lamb is tough competition, and I don't think it comes very close, but I don't think this is that much worse than Thick As a Brick.  I'm not too picky about sounds in general when it comes to the 70's, so I don't have a problem with the synths, and I'm just happy to hear intelligent music with synths in it, or I guess I should say, more intelligent music with synths, just in case you were thinking of making better recommendations that I already have listened to a million times.  I actually like what they do to the sound in the part after the story, (and in the story after "....a bee...") when the acoustic guitar comes in and those soft pad/leads are playing and panning around it.....it makes me picture a sunny field of daisies from the 70's.  I don't really see what people are talking about with the last 15 minutes either.  I think it's the most boring part.  But possibly my favorit! e is the part that was extracted as a "single" for the M.U. comilation, the part that starts with "Colors I've none - dark or light, red, white or blue."  I'll tell you, getting that song stuck in my head from hearing my parents listen to that greatest hits and going through it in my head while cutting the grass must have done a lot for my comositional appreciation and writing influence....it was easily the first progressive thing I had been exposed to besides the jazz-fusion of Jeff Beck, and it is some very intelligent writing and arranging.

ALPH1217.aol.com (2/05/02)

Your rating for this album might actually be a bit too generous! I can remember purchasing the record in 1973 with eager anticipation only to be let down enormously. Although it indeed went to number one on the charts (on the coat tails of the previous albums) it did not capture the imagination of the buying public who were expecting so much more. Saxophones, synthesizers, weird lyrics, uncanny starts and stoppages  . . . phew!! Repeated listenings didn't help any and the music critics were unmerciful as I recall. It's worth mentioning that no part of this particular album has been played in the live set for many many years which speaks volumes. This was a clunker.

Chris Federico (drummerboy_91.yahoo.com) (3/15/02)

WHAT?!?? You people don't have very open ears. This is an adventurous drama of music that changes tempo and melody before you can really grab any "hooks," which strikes me as a brilliant way of pulling off a monstrous project like this. The story about how humans are not meant to be either purely good or purely evil is wonderful (your comment "or something" goes to show how little you really listened to this album); and this is one of those albums that, once you've listened to it maybe three times, hurdles past its "weird" effect and becomes incredibly addictive. "Progressive Rock" or any such label is immaterial to me; it's just good music. Granted, this one's not as immediately accessible as, say, "Teacher," but remember, you yourself said...ah, never mind. Now for something you won't like: Genesis has always been mind-bogglingly dull.

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (9/02/03)

This is a tough album to talk about. After my initial listen, I was left quite bored, having purchased this a few weeks after "Nightcap". The captivating jams in the "Chateau" tapes seemed absolutely devoid of fire when presented here. And, there was a sax (and synths!). But, I've listened to this enough times until I can see some sort of overall view of the entire work.

And, I must admit that though this is a drop from TAAB, it wasn't as much as I initially thought. The sax brought an interesting flavor to the proceedings. As for the occasional synths, they are a bit unnecessary (stick to the organ/piano!). Although perhaps unsatisfying as a whole, unlike TAAB, most of the music here is at least good. Most of the second side is very good, though not the best of Tull's history. And, I have grown to like some of side one, once the shock after listening to "Nightcap" wore off a bit (especially, the beginning jam, and "the lovers of the black and white" sections). Much of this probably has to do with Jeffrey Hammond's base playing (much more prevalent here than on "Nightcap"). Oh, and his "Hare" story is quite amusing!

As for the ending, it definitely does not tie things together after a few really good sections before hand. But, maybe it ends that way, as one doesn't know what the eventual fate of the character (with his new life, if I understand the 'story'...). That's my theory if there is any justifiable reason for the "puttering out" ending.

Rating: This is tough! In sections, much of this works, but many of the transitions are very rough or even a bit artificial to my ears. And there are melodies, though nowhere as striking as those on TAAB overall: 7(11).

Jack King (jack.cfl.rr.com) (1/08/04)

Hello,

I have been a Tull fan for the past 33 years.

It is my opinion, The Passion Concert was the best show they ever did. I can understand most folks being luke warm towards the recording. But many who saw the show can appreciate the record in a unique and wonderful way.

Jack

Langas de los Langas (putolangas.hotmail.com) (7/21/05)

Take my advice: keep listening to 'A Passion Play'. Give it a try, then another one, and yet another one. For a long time I HATED it (partly because I was expecting another 'Thick as a Brick', I guess), and now I consider it one of Tull's most brilliant and underrated works. It's extremely dark and hard to listen, but it deserves extra attention (the instrumental intro may be my favourite Tull moment, tied with another instrumental passage in 'Brick'). If you don't get to like it, then... I guess it's not suitable for everyone.

daniel moore (dan65536.hotmail.com) (02/13/14)

I was first exposed to APP 27 years ago, and I think it has taken all the intervening years to fully APPreciate this complex album. Forget for the moment that, at that time, I had limited funds and pretty much had to get all the meat out of every music purchase. Even so, despite the fact that liking "Thick As A Brick" had come without any effort, my first listen of Passion Play mostly just evoked a "WTF" response....

Likewise, I believe most critics of the time didn't give new records very much time to yield their rewards: A couple spins gave them all of the first impressions they needed, as well as the time to write a dismissive but entertaining review. But isn't it true that the best music (outside of bubble-gum pop) must somehow confuse our sensibilities in a way that provokes serious thought? Maybe critics' jobs are just to tell us what we can best expect from "first impressions"...

Be that as it may, once I recovered from my initial reeling confusion with what I'd heard, it didn't take too long to realize what Mr. Anderson was up to. It would have been the easiest thing possibly, after TAAB, for Tull to record more of the same likeable, riff-based folk rock, accompanied by a stage act that appealed just as well to an audience's yen for absurd Tullian/Pythonian humor. To his credit however, he didn't. He melted down a few of the nuggets from "Chateaux D'Isaster", forged them into a pithy little kernel of art-rock, and took it on the road.

Well done, I say, Mr. Anderson. And it is an album that rewards repeated listening, as long as you give yourself enough time and (cranial) space to absorb it. And as far as giving "Thick As A Brick" a true sequel, well he took himself a lot of time (decades in fact!) to follow through on that one, didn't he?

Reed Knight (reed.d.knight.comcast.net) (10/13/15)

Everyone declares that TAAB was the pinnacle, and APP was a weak also-ran. Back in the day, I listened to APP first and preferred it to TAAB, so I wondered if the order had made the difference. I actually put this to a test recently when I dug out the back catalog after about 20 years and slowly listened through. TAAB had always felt over-reliant on martial rhythms, which weakened the musicality (even if it strengthened the theme). I always thought of it as oversynthesized and tedious at parts, although quite awesome in others. After recent listens, I like it more but still find that it descends into drabness.

APP always felt like the brighter album, but my first couple of recent listens revealed it to be thin and jarring. I wondered why I had liked it so much in the past. But I kept listening, and fell in love with it all over again. I’m not fond of the noodly vocals at the beginning, but after that, there’s just… so much stuff. Surprises and change-ups throughout and a musicality to the lyrics that makes Anderson’s singing even more of a complement to the instrumentation than usual. The limited repetition is a strength to me, and while it’s sometimes frustrating to hear certain sublime passages cut off too soon, I’d rather have too little of a good thing, compared to TAAB’s too much. From the jolting sting of the guitar that starts Magus Perde to the end, it is indeed one of the best Tull passages I can think of. I’ll admit, I think the lyrics are a bit ‘teen poet’ but I’m mostly here for the music, so I don’t mind so much.

As for The Hare, I love the lush orchestration that illustrates the scene. I can hear what I’m supposed to be seeing, and it may be kind of obvious in that way, but it’s still wonderful.

Thanks for your site. I come here after working through every album to see what people think of it.

---

Warchild - 1974 Chrysalis
7
(Mediocre / Good)

Best song: Bungle in the Jungle

Send me your thoughts

Richard Savill (dreklind.btinternet.com)

Warchild is high point for Jethro Tull. The fact the CD is currently out-of print shows that I am clearly in the minority-that's okay. I still like it.

I believe you are far too critical towards this album; I agree it really is rebellious towards living in modern society. But isn't Tull always throwing dirt at this or that? Most of their songs seem to have been written from the point of view of what happens to people when they get stuck in grubby 'boys only' schools.

This album though has a great line/theme:

Warchild, dance the day and dance the night away.

If these words don't mean anything to you, then this album won't interest you.

My father was a child during the blitz of London. A warchild himself. Children who experience the war become outsiders and misfits when they grow to adulthood. They never escape the bonds of war throughout their life. Thus he consoles himself with every war movie that comes on television. The memories of war seem to fill his character. I think he's gone nuts in fact. He hates me because I've never condoned his nationalist, racist and other extreme right wing views. Most people would consider him a dinosaur. I would agree that he is.

He could never take the advice Jethro Tull seems to offer in these songs.

I am fascinated by the way this album seems to capture the day in the life of post-war people. The theme is certainly not tight and I don't think it was meant to be. The long guitar solos in Back Door Angels caused my younger brothers to turn their heads, refusing to believe that it was an old Jethro Tull album.

Oh well, I accept your taste and I do see where you are coming from, but sheesh to use the word 'crap' in your review is really inexcusable.

(author's note): Fine, it's been replaced with 'garbage'. The sentiment remains the same.

TheRubberCow.aol.com (1/01/02)

I like Richard Savill's review better.  The Third Horrah is a very joyous romp!   And you do like the classic, "Skating Away" but failed to mention that one it's best attributes is how it keeps adding instruments every other line until it is has I think 9,000 instruments in there, all played by Ian Anderson.  Though I might be somewhere in between you two on this one: I will admit that some of the songs are a little generic-tull sounding.  But there is some good stuff on here.

Nick Pulliam (nickpulliam.resonetics.com) (11/13/02)

Love your site,

  Your Warchildreview has one glaring inaccuracey that I thought I would mention before a real Tull nut sees it and goes ape. The song "Solitaire" was actually recorded before a Passion Play during the infamous Chateau Disaster sessions. Ian was still the critic's darling at that point and consequently left with no axe to grind. Your overall review for this album is on target except you short change the Third Hurrah, one of the best songs on the disk, IMHO.

Best Regards,

  Nick Pulliam

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (9/02/03)

I can definitely tell this was made after APP. But, the song topics are often more whimsical (thank goodness!) and the songs are shorter. The songs overall aren't as melodic as TAAB and back, but most still are enjoyable to listen to (after expecting the sax and accordion) though not quite as memorable overall. Only "Back Door Angels" strikes me as truly bad, with its very jarring (musically) lyric section and a rather pointless jam. I enjoy the 'hits' from this album, along with "Queen and Country" even! Rating: 7(10).

Notes: 1)Apparently even "Bungle in the Jungle" dates back from the "Chateau" sessions, according to Ian's liner notes.

2)Also, having obtained the remastered edition, this also has some bonus tracks including "Paradise Steakhouse", "Sealion 2", "Quartet" (these I've already commented on with "Nightcap"), "Warchild Waltz" (ok), "Rainbow Blues" (a pretty good track from the old "MU" compilation).

Trfesok.aol.com (04/29/08)

If APP wasn't enough to convince people that the crash and burn of Chateau D'isaster had discombobulated Ian's melodic sense, then just have them compare the 4 tracks here that predated APP ("Skating Away..", "Bungle..", "Two Fingers", "Only Solitaire") with the rest of this stuff.  The first five tracks mostly lack catchiness and fun, seeming like pointless rambling. Plus Ian continued to use his discordant, annoying sax in the arrangements. Yuck.   I do like  the Celtic-jig style "Third Hoorah", a lot more upbeat and interesting than the title track. "Two Fingers" is actually a rework of an Aqualung outtake called "Lick Your Fingers Clean". Although most people seem to think this version is inferior, I like it better. It's less jokey, flows better and rocks harder. And ("Skating Away..", "Bungle.." and "Only Solitaire" further prove that Ian made a serious mistake when scrapping Chateau D'isaster.  Still, having to dredge up old material  for half of the album indicates that Ian had a ways to go before he'd recover.

  With the exception of "Warchild Waltz", all of the bonus tracks had previously made it to various collections. "Quartet"  is sort of an interesting "variations on a theme" sort of instrumental. However, I can't stand the alternate version of "Sealion", another bit of stupidness along the lines of "The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles."  "Saturation" (from 20 Years of..) would have, unfortunately, fit right in the first half of the album, sharing the same lack of coherence.  On the other hand, "Rainbow Blues" and "Glory Row" (from the second Best of.., called Repeat), are strong mid-tempo rockers that would have been a lot better than "Back Door Angels" and the title song. The latter also has sax playing better than any of the album tracks. Excluding them from the album was yet more evidence that Ian's musical judgement was still impaired at the time.

Ross Dryer (dryerross.yahoo.com) (04/13/13)

I feel as though the only person who really appreciates this album, fully, in its entirety, is Richard Savill. But there aren't many reasons for that other than sentimental values.

I also feel that this album is definitely "decent". It has three great songs, two really good ones, and five that I don't hate. See, I have this thing where, if I like the SOUND a song has, I cannot hate it, no matter how primitive or badly written it is. (The inverse isn't true, though- even if I can't stand the sound of a certain song, I can still like it or even love it if it's really well-written.) That comes out to...well, probably an 8 or a 9 on the hexadecimal scale. The best songs are really awesome, truly, and so are the arrangements (love that David Palmer orchestration!).

"Warchild" is certainly one of the two really good ones, and the way it starts is fascinating- sirens, "Would you like a cup of tea, dear?", and random war noises, noting the intrusive-into-daily-life nature of war. Plus, the saxophone has gotten better since "A Passion Play". I also like the verse melody of the track quite a lot (although it did take quite a few listens), and the same for the confusing disco-martial-dissonance chorus, which I can finally sing along to.

Next up is "Queen and Country". I certainly don't hate this track like all of you people do. I love the accordeon, and I just think the whole thing sounds so dumb that it's wonderful. It may be the most primitive Jethro Tull song yet, and it bears some strong resemblance to some Uriah Heep track (Starostin), but it's fun. It's fun! It's really stupid! Even if it's lyrically quite intelligent.

"Ladies" may start with some REALLY unnecessary drinking noise, but the acoustic pattern at the beginning is really cool, and the melody, while not really memorable, is completely listenable. Plus, the sound is lovely. But one thing I don't like is the completely unnecessary "rocking" jam at the end. Why?

"Back Door Angels" is next. The vocal melody is not good at all (what is this?), but the jams are pretty neat. The stupid false endings, though. They're frustrating and I don't like them. I still like the sound of the track, though. Like I said, it's arranged well.

"Sealion"--Ah! FINALLY! The first great track of the album. Fantastic lyrics, a cool melody, some awesome riffs, a funny spoken chorus, some great arrangements (as usual), the works. What else could be asked for?

"Skating Away" is one of my favorite Tull songs, and the best on the album, and the way it starts is just wonderful, paralleling between sides with, "Would you like another cup of tea, dear?" But the song is just incredible. Everything about the song is just so CLEAR, from the melodies to the lyrics to the buildup to the sound (SERIOUS kudos to Ian for the production), and that's not even to say how well-written it is. I love the "Meanwhile back in the Year - One...", and the "real" verse melody, and especially the chorus! "Ska-ting away-e-ay..." I could sing that for hours. I consider it up there with "One White Duck" and "Look into the Sun" (nothing's gonna touch "Reasons for Waiting", IMHO), but much happier and cuter! And "Bungle"? I actually consider it infierior to "Skating Away", because I will almost always prefer beauty to rocking (i.e., "Julie with..." to "King's Leads Hat"), but that doesn't mean much. This is a great song, and though you said most of it already, I think that verse melody is much better than the chorus. The chorus, however great and catchy it is, is kinda primitive, but the verse melody is really something!

"Only Solitaire" is that fun jaunty funny biting acoustic tune, but isn't it fantastic how it suddenly gets a lot slower and louder at that one point in the middle?

"The Third Hoorah"? Well, I don't see the point of this track, or why it is the third-longest song on here. The new main riffs are really nice, but if we really just wanted to "reprise" "Warchild", couldn't we have had maybe one verse and one or two instances of the chorus? This is such obvious filler! It doesn't even sound militant and serious like the "original" did! Sounds really cool, though, if you just listen to it kinda skim-over-the-toply.

And finally, "Two Fingers". I have to admit I haven't heard the original "Lick Your Fingers Clean", but if it sounds like this, I don't think I really want to listen to it. This track is just a mid-tempo bore (the second-longest song on the album, too--isn't it weird how the three worst songs are the longest? Ugh!), though the riff is nice, I guess, and the accordeon is interesting. Sigh. Hey, wouldn't the album have been A LOT better if "Rainbow Blues" had been on it, instead of "Two Fingers" or "Back Door Angels"? It's a wonderfully catchy cross between blues and pop. But the problem is obviously that, though he was getting to be pretty fantastic producer/arranger, but a worse songwriter.

DISPROVEN BY THE NEXT ONE!

---

Minstrel in the Gallery - 1975 Chrysalis
6
(Mediocre)

Best song: Minstrel in the Gallery

Send me your thoughts

TheRubberCow.aol.com (1/01/02)

Well, I am not offended by your review in general; you are entitled to your own opinion, and it sounds like you will never like this album.  The only thing that is offensive is that you say one would only need this album if you judge off of complexity alone.  I think there is much more to this album than complexity.  I guess I hear melodies that you don't.  "One White Duck" and the main part of "Baker St. Muse" are stuck in my for the whole rest of the day any time I listen to this album.  Granted, I don't like it as much as Thick As a Brick, but I think it's a damn good album.

Chris Federico (drummerboy_91.yahoo.com) (3/15/02)

WHAT???!!!??? This album's beautiful, hard-rocking, poetic, fantastic...everything "Too Old..." is NOT. The "Little Light Music" rendition of "One White Duck" is better than this version with its strange vocal effects, but other than that, I just can't get enough of this masterpiece album. For you to suggest that "One White Duck" has "no semblance of melody" simply means that you've never given it a chance, or maybe, indeed, that you haven't listened to it more than once, so maybe I'm being too hard on you. But at least give "Cold Wind To Valhalla" two or three listens, forgetting for the moment about what might be, for you, the overwhelming musicality of the other stuff, like "Baker St. Muse" (maybe you have to be a composer to appreciate some of this stuff...not that I'm much for ego, but this is definitely Tull music for those who might've outgrown the ordinary).

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (9/02/03)

Prog. rock with Elizabethan overtones sure sounds intriguing, at least on paper. But, there are even fewer melodies on this album than the last two subtracted (instead of combined)! This includes the title track (which despite that, I still enjoy) and "Cold Wind to Valhalla" (still an okay song). After that things get more interesting. Other than "Black Satin Dancer" containing a nice Barre solo, there's not much more to say. Most of it is very unmemorable, though inoffensive when on. And, "Baker St. Muse" just goes on and on... . This is sad to say, especially since the group jams aren't too bad (very tight, but ultimately not really going anywhere). Rating: About 5(8), since nothing is truly offensive.

Trfesok.aol.com (01/30/07)

Well, I enjoy it a little bit more than you do. Martin's playing, I think, reaches a peak here. Tight, powerful, even if it does get to be a bit much. You call the late 80's Tull "heavy metal", but this, I think, is the hardest the group ever got. On the other hand, John Evan gets almost nothing to do, which is a minus. The weakest parts are some of the mix-and-match sections of "Black Satin Dancer" and "Baker Street Muse," which do sound quite discordant and disjointed in places. Still, I do enjoy these tracks more than big portions of the previous two albums. I really like the gorgeous, moving ballad "One White Duck/Nothing At All," too. I would say that the album is good for an occasional listen, but they did better, both earlier and later.

  The remastered version has some bonus stuff, too. The are versions of "Minstrel in the Gallery" and "Cold Wind to Valhalla" which are billed as live, but are really working versions of the acoustic intros that were broadcast on the BBC. But you also get a gorgeous instrumental called "Pan Dance" which was played on the tour, and eccentric ballad called "March, the Mad Scientist" and an even better ballad called "Summer Day Sands" which really should have been on the original album. If you hear the remaster, you might bump the rating a point or two because of these songs.

KiddAbout.aol.com (04/13/10)

This album isn’t as bad as you make it to be; there’s nothing on here that ’s the equivalent of farting on one’s face. The title track and “Cold Wind to Valhalla” rule and wouldn’t sound too out of place on Warchild. “One White Duck/Nothing At All” is an underrated gem, with a nice Dylanesque feel to it. And “Baker Street Muse” has some good parts when it gets going. “ Black Satin Dancer” is also good, I guess.

Still, as good as it is, I can’t help but feel if it’s missing that final spark that makes me consider it a masterpiece. Think of it like to the Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, where there’s some really cool parts, but compared to other games in the franchise, it goes through paths that were already done well by its predecessors and lacks the key components that make the game a true standout and therefore, falls short. Same with Minstrel. A good album, but compared to most of the other Tull albums or albums with Minstrel’s vibe such as Nico’s Chelsea Girls, Donovan’s For Little Ones, King Crimson’s Islands, or Tull’s own Benefit, it’s just there. Look at “Requiem”. It’s pretty, but “Wondering Aloud” and “The Chequered Flag” were more memorable. Same with “Black Satin Dancer” when compared to “New Day Yesterday” or “My God”. Still it’s worth your clams, but get it after the bulk of Tull’s other works.

My rating: 7(10)

Best Tracks: “Minstrel In The Gallery”, “Cold Wind To Vallhalla”, “One White Duck/Nothing At All”, “Baker Street Muse”

David Sheehan (davidasheehan.gmail.com) (07/13/11)

Well, I've listened to this album time and time again, and I still haven't ever heard what you seem to be hearing. I guess having read only your review and George's prior to listening to it caused me to set my expectations really low, because I was very pleasantly surprised the first time I heard it, and I still haven't lowered my opinion of it with subsequent listens. I give it an 8(11) with no hesitation at all. The only track that actually want to skip at times is 'Requiem', which is just flat-out boring. Not bad really, but it just seems so half-assed. Everything else, though, is pretty darn good, even 'Baker St Muse' which to me is more exciting than three quarters of Tales from Topographic Oceans ('The Revealing Science of God' excluded, of course), and honestly neither 'Baker St' nor the title track seem long to me while they're playing. I generally agree with your reviews of Tull to within a point or so, but with this one I really take exception. *shrugs*

Ross Dryer (dryerross.yahoo.com) (04/13/13)

I have spent long, long hours trying to figure out why you and Starostin don't like this album AT ALL. And I think I know the answer. You both just have busier lives than I do. You both have more to think about, like jobs and families and whatever else adults have to deal with. Y'all just have too much on your plates. THAT is the primary reason you say, for most of the melodies on here, "I can't remember this at all." Because I can remember a whole lot of them FINE! So, either I just have a better memory (or sense of hearing) than you guys and therefore am not really trustworthy in this situation, or you guys just have other things to worry about and other songs to listen to in your heads. Which is it?

What I find interesting is that this is BOTH Tull's most rocking album ever ("Minstrel", "Valhalla", "Dancer", "Muse"), it's simultaneously Tull's most acoustic album ever ("Minstrel", "Valhalla", "Requiem", "Duck", "0^10", "Muse", "Grace"). The playing is just fantastic all throughout the album. And the lyrics rule, with one exception. And--and you won't agree with me about this--so do the songs. "Minstrel in the Gallery" is one fantastic eight-minute number. After the very funny intro, we have an awesome acoustic ditty with a memorable melody that transports us right back to the Renaissance. Perfect so far, right? Well, after that, we've got a REALLY cool transition, which is basically the acoustic guitar melting into the electric, the electric going for like ten seconds before it forms a cascading riff, then rocking out slowly and greatly for a minute or so before getting a bit faster, than going back, discovering all sorts of fantastic riffs on the way. And then, exactly four minutes into the track, we finally hit into the main martial groove of the song, and boy, isn't it wonderful! The riff is simply gorgeous! And when we have a verse, we just kinda do a slow punkish guitar-drums thing, with the other instruments coming in on their own times. The melody, too, is an extreme variation of the original, but not much less memorable and much more rockin'. "Cold Wind to Valhalla" might be even better, though. I just get chills when that guitar pattern starts in, and the riff is tons of fun! I really like the verse melody--what's wrong with it? If I had the lyrics sheet with me, I'd be able to sing it just fine! And the chorus is awesome-- "...cold wind to Val-halllll-LAAAAAAA!". And when the song starts to rock, it REALLY rocks. The drumming, especially, is fantastic. I have no idea how Barriemore Barlow didn't just drop dead after playing this song. (Wait, didn't somebody say that about Ian Paice on "Space Truckin'" on "Made in Japan"? Goshdangit, I wish for once that I had some of my own ideas!)

"Black Satin Dancer"? Okay, well, you got me there--the opening is kind of cool, but the song itself is not good at all and is as schlocky and draggy as you say the album is. The melody will eventually stick in your head if you let it (it'll be the last, though), but goshdangit if I'm going to listen to THOSE lyrics very often; it should be a federal crime to use the phrase "Tongue- nipple teasing" EVER, especially in a song. But the good thing is--the midsection rocks! It's based on a very very good riff, over which there's good soloing from everybody, and the quiet parts, which would normally bore the heck out of me, are often saved by Ian's flute playing and vocal noises. And then there's a twist--there's ANOTHER midsection which has a couple MORE great riffs and playing from everyone. And then the song just kinda ends and you realize that, even though the midsection was really cool, it's not going to lift the song out of the absolute doldrums. My least favorite song on the album, and look how I still raved about it!

"Requiem"...oh, "Requiem". I just love this song; it's so intimate and pretty, and the lyrics are gorgeous. Plus, I find bits like "Well, I saw a bi-i-i-i-rd today..." and "And taken in the mo-o-o-o-o-orning..." to be in my head quite often. And you can't remember a single thing about it? REALLY?

"One White Duck" is much better, though. I have adored this song since first listen. The simple acoustic guitar melody reminds me a bit of "Desolation Row" (which is obviously a compliment), and the melody... "There's a haaaze on the sky-y-line...to wish me on my way... And there's a nooote on the telepho-o-one...some roses on a tree... And the motorway stretchi-i-ing, right out to us all... As I pull on my old wi-i-ings, one white duck on your wall... Isn't it ju-u-ust too d*** re-e-eal?" It just breaks my heart and smashes it on the ground. The thing that really made me notice the song first, though, was the "One white duck on your wa-ha-ha- ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hall..." with the pizzicato strings in the background.

Attached to "One White Duck", like a conjoined twin, is "0^10=Nothing At All". What most people (including you) don't acknowledge is that these are two COMPLETELY different songs. That's why you think "One White Duck" "has virtually no semblance of melody"...because "0^10" is the one that's fresh in your mind (or, um, NOT fresh in your mind). And, indeed, it's A LOT closer to what you describe (especially if you just judge by the stupid ending), but again, the overcomplex melody will eventually shine through if you let it. I mean, I personally consider "So, fly away Peter, and fly away Paul..." and "'Cause I'm-up-to-my-deaf- ears..." to be major hooks after about a dozen listens. It's just an inaccessible/acquired taste number, whilst "One White Duck" is SUPER-accessible/commercial. I think they're conjoined for contrast. Also, the lyrics to "0^10" are quite funny.

"Baker Street Muse", though. The main song ("Baker Street Muse", of course) is built around one of the best "classic Tull" (i.e., containing lots of ascending/descending the scale by one whole tone at a time) melodies around ("Windy bus stop, click, shop- window, he-he-he-he-he-he-he-heel."), a HUGE hook in "You can call me on another line", a FANTASTIC chorus "Didn't make her... [dziiiiiiiiiiiiing]...with my Baker Street Ruse! [Bang bang bang! Bang bangbangbang! Bang bang...bang!]", a simply beautiful build throughout, a jam that predicts DISCO, a short bit that goes, "Walking down the gutter thinking, 'How the heck am I today?' Well, I didn't really ask, but thanks all the same.", and after that, we hit metal territory, with a guitar double-solo that will make you go YEAH! "Baker Street Muse", the song, therefore HAS to be considered its own song, and it HAS to be considered one of the best Tull songs ever.

Suddenly, this becomes "Pig-Me and the Whore", which has an interesting melody that is SLIGHTLY based on the "Muse" one, but that's much less memorable. And the lyrics of this section aren't that good. But then, we get "Nice Little Tune", which is basically an ADORABLE little melody ("Nice Little Tune" indeed) played on chimes over a martial rhythm. And after THAT, we get "Crash-Barrier Waltzer", which has another really good tune going on, and the most gorgeous Ian vocals since...um, since...since "Requiem". And after THAT, we have a watery flutter of flutes, until we go into a very, VERY classically influenced section, with a gorgeous "revelation" mood happening. And still after THAT, we have "Mother England Reverie", with yet another lovely melody, yet another lovely atmosphere, up until something different happens. The "There was a little boy stood on a burning log" part is much different, and you eventually realize that this is the "sum-up" part of the album, what with the "One day I'll be a minstrel in the gallery" and all that, which builds into a power ballad, until suddenly--"I'm just a Baker Street Muse!" Though the "Indian restaurants..." bit comes out of nowhere, we basically reprise the main theme, kinda stripping it down, kinda building up, and there's so much tension...

The ending is beautiful, with everyone building up the same F# Major chord, then dropping out, then just Anderson quickly strumming one F# Major, then quickly changing to minor, and bringing some others back in with him. WOW. And then, of course, Anderson can't get out of the recording studio. How beautifully symbolic!

"Grace"--"Hello, sun. Hello, bird. Hello, my lady. Hello, breakfast. May I buy you again tomorrow?" Need I say more? Like, dang. I wouldn't make you listen to this again if you don't want to (even I start kinda drooping in the classical bit of "Crash-Barrier Waltzer"), but work on memory skills! Why is it that I can remember so many of these wonderful melodies without having to listen to them again, but y'all are having issues remembering ANY of them? I don't understand!

Steven Highams (10/13/13)

I think the problem here is that it never lives up to the promise of the fabulous title track. I’ve always had this thing about anything mediaeval, so Jethro Tull always fascinated me even before I was a fan and I think Tull do that whole folk/hard rock hybrid thing better than Led Zeppelin (I suppose the flute helps: look how ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was enhanced by those woodwinds). Their tenuous link with Steeleye Span is not as incongruous as you might think: Steeleye could rock fairly hard for a band rooted in traditional folk and their Below the Salt album is rooted in fabulous mediaevalism. ‘Minstrel in the Gallery’, the song, has this wonderful folk thing going before it hits that fabulous groove. Never has a flute bedded in so well within a hard rock framework.

This is a whole different take on the ‘soul-searching’ album concept, like Ian has stepped outside himself to wander alongside his own form and play the minstrel, commenting on the proceedings, like an out-of-body experience. The melodies are never as strong after that superb opening, but I find that ‘One White Duck’ certainly stays in my head and I really like it. I love ‘Cold Wind to Valhalla’ too, from the acoustic guitar, through the flute to the eerie and evocative melody. ‘Black Satin Dancer’ opens beautifully, but I agree that it quickly loses its direction and it doesn't deserve to take up almost seven minutes of your time. Plenty of lovely touches here though; I am I alone in finding the occasional hint of Procol Harum in here? ‘Requiem’ and the brief closer, ‘Grace’, are really beautiful, both musically and lyrically.

I enjoy ‘Baker St Muse’, though it’s not up to the standard of ‘Thick as a Brick’, ‘Supper’s Ready’, ‘Close to the Edge’ or ‘Song of Scheherazade’, but what good are such comparisons? I agree that there does seem to be an element of complexity for complexity’s sake in places and I defend you, John, against any accusation that you, of all people, cannot handle complexity; anyone who reads this site ought to know better than that. But I think this is a better and more coherent album than War Child, even if it isn't quite as melodic. Good album – could be better – from a good year, 1975

Oh, yeah, “… up the wazoo”? Brilliant! Reminds me of Colonel Potter in the wonderful M*A*S*H. What a difference an Atlantic Ocean makes. Fabulous. I’ll have to put in a few Yorkshire words for you some time, though I can’t top wazoo or caboose. I do love those!

Stefan Banz (stefan.banz.tv) (06/13/14)

In 1974 I bought my first Jethro Tull record (I was 13 years old). Then for many years Thick as a Brick, Aqualung and Stand up were my favorite albums, then Heavy Horses and Songs from the Wood. Later I liked also The Broadsword and the Beast and Crest of a Knave. But sometimes in the 80ies I started to listen carefully to Minstrel in the Gallery, which I bought right after when it came out in the 70ies, but nearly never listened to it. And suddenly it took me completely. Since 30 years it’s the only Jehtro Tull record which I listen regularly, and it’s still becoming better and better. For me, it’s far the best record of this great band: It should become more than an E in your rating!

From the records of the 60ies and 70ies I never liked Stormwatch. And with Too old to Rock’n’Roll and Benefit I’m was never very enthusiastic either, but This Was I think is a very good album. It doesn’t matter that it is more bluesy and jazzy than rocky! And A Passion Play is much better than it’s critics.

I think, from the 80ies on they did less good albums in general. It’s still good music but does not have an inventive input anymore. Anderson has become very classical in a way, little bit conservative. A is not so bad, like you think, but I agree that Under Wraps maybe is Jethro Tull’s worst Album, mainly because of the lack of a drummer and because of too many synthesizers. All the others – Catfish Rising, Rock Island, A Little Light Music, The Secret Language of Birds, Thick as a Brick 2 or Homo Erraticus etc. – are quite okay. But since Heavy Horses we still wait for a new revelation of this master mind! I love Minstrel in the Gallery, I would fdefinitively take this record on a lonely island ...

Christophe Dony (christophe.dony.free.fr) (12/13/14)

First of all thanks for this interesting and well informed page.
Your comment on "Minstrell in the Galery" is the mistake in your gallery of evaluations.
I could understand it if you did not like Jethro Tull, but it clearly appears this is not the case :-)
Well, to make it short, I globally entirely agree with the positive comments already made on this blog about "Minstrell ..." and I add my "+1".
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature.
Cheers

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Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die - 1976 Chrysalis
9
(Good)

Best song: Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die

Send me your thoughts

baba dz (cirobl70.yahoo.se) (04/29/08)

I totaly agree with you. Too Old To Rock n Roll...is a very good and underrated album.

KiddAbout.aol.com (04/13/10)

Much better than Minstrel; the spark that was missing there is back here in full force, resulting in Tull's best album since Thick As A Brick. I find it funny that one of Tull's more overrated albums is sandwiched between two of it's more underrated. Dunno why this isn't up there with the fanbase. It's diverse, catchy, and fun. I guess the change of sound was too jarring for some; never mind that it paved the way for the next album, Songs From The Wood, which they like. Oh well.

My rating: 9(13)

Best Songs: "Quizz Kid", "Crazed Institution", "Taxi Grab", "From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser", "Big Dipper", "Too Old To Rock 'N Roll, Too Young To Die!", "Pied Piper", "The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive)".

BTW, Tull did a T.V. special for this album around the time of its release. It's a real gas.

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

Actually, this wasn’t intended to be a movie (that was War Child), but a stage musical. Unsurprisingly, Ian wasn’t able to find outside financial backing for either project. Such impresarios obviously would not find our British madman’s eccentric ideas exactly mainstream.

Of the group’s entire 70’s output, this is the one that seems to have fallen through the cracks, except for the mock-anthemic title track. I can guess why. Given its original intention, it’s the least heavy album, both musically and lyrically, that they had yet released. To the fans that had gotten into Tull because of prog and/or hard rock, this didn’t do at all.

I also agree with you that this is underrated , however. Given the subject matter, Ian had to get more accessible lyrically and catchy musically. Of the rockers, I also like the somewhat Who-like “Taxi Grab” and the hilarious lyrics of “Crazed Institution”, Ian’s not-so-veiled commentary on the industry that he works in. “Pied Piper” is very repetitive and seems to go on way too long, even if it’s only 4 minutes. I also find the lyrics (in which the hero picks up school girls for rides on his motorcycle) pretty creepy. I was familiar with a couple of the ballads before I acquired the album. “Salamander” is also on the 20 Years of.. box. I like it a lot, but who or what the salamander is supposed to be is beyond me. I first heard "From a Dead Beat to an Old Greaser” on ALLM. This original version sounds just as much like Pink Floyd, with the lyrics, sax solo and strings, but Ian also harmonizes very nicely with himself on the vocals. “Bad-Eyed and Loveless" is a return to bluesy acoustic Tull, but is also kind of swampy, which they hadn’t really done before.

The other tracks I can take or leave. While I don’t think this really works at all as a concept album, it’s a good collection of songs. I had heard before the two bonus outtake that are on the remaster . "Strip Cartoon" was also on the 20 Years.. box. It’s a very lighthearted, silly track (even by the standards of the album), but I can’t figure where (or even if) it fits in the album’s plot. On the other hand, “A Small Cigar” (from Nightcap) provides an amusing contrast between the acoustic music and yet more sarcastic lyrics about show business. It does have a touching ending, however. My guess that it fits in the storyline just before “Pied Piper”.

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Songs From the Wood - 1977 Chrysalis
8
(Good / Mediocre)

Best song: The Whistler

Send me your thoughts

NYGiants30.aol.com (9/03/01)

You know this is there best album. It is so versatile. Pibroch has some great folkish crap on it. this is there beast since........well,its just there best!!!!!!!!!!

TheRubberCow.aol.com (1/01/02)

Well, even though you dissed my baby, this review was more fair than than the previous one.  I do love this album, but I can kind of see what you're saying about "Pibroch" and I have always thought "Fires At Midnight" was a little dull.  But besides that, the songs that are on here are great, and the whole sound/cover art is nice.  Before I heard it, judging from the title and cover art, I was expecting a very folky, almost all acoustic album, which I would have enjoyed, but was pleasantly surprised to find a very warm blend of this outside, folky sound with a great deal of electric guitar and rockiness.  Kind of like you're out in the woods, but someone started a fire. Chris Federico (drummerboy_91.yahoo.com) (3/15/02)

Ian didn't go in this direction because of the lack of commercial success on the part of the largely awful "Too Old..." LP, as you imply. If you'll notice, EVERY Tull album is different than all the others (well, Warchild and Too Old... might be identically dull, but still...). Songs From the Wood is their last excellent studio album, I'm afraid. It's a breath of fresh air in ANY climate, and it really takes one away -- like "Mayhem, Maybe" on the 20-year collection -- if one allows it to. Unbelievably gorgeous. However, you don't have to say that you're "not a real Tull fan" (sarcasm acknowledged). You like what you like. It's all valid. That's the great thing about music -- everyone's taste is different. There's no right or wrong.

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (9/02/03)

This time, it sounds like Ian Anderson is trying to make some memorable music again! This is definitely more prog than folk overall (unlike "Heavy Horses"), but the prog jams are well crafted, and to the point! And, there are some synths, instead of orchestration (sigh...). Though these may not go into my all- time classic Tull bag, some come close, like the title track, "Cup of Wonder" (nice flow to this song!), and "Hunting Girl". Most of the ballads are quite nice too. Only "Pibroch" (intentionally?) sounds bad (mainly the bagpipe- imitating guitar lines). And, "Beltrane" (a bonus track) is quite good. Overall, an 8(11).

(watta502.yahoo.gr) (7/25/04)

Hey John, did you ever think that the intro from the Jethro Tull song "Songs From The Wood" sounds very similar to the intro of "The Advent Of Panurge"? Seems like Jethro Tull had listened to Gentle Giant before they recorded this song.

Trfesok.aol.com (10/13/07)

I am one of the fans that disagrees with you, yes -- this is a wonderful album. Although I'm not 100% familiar with all the mid 70's albums, I think that this is the best one since TAAB.  Melodic, lighthearted, playful and humorous, without the sarcasm  (TAAB) , (Aqualung) or childishness (APP) some of the other stuff. Played as well as usual. The title track is cool, with all those multitracked Ian harmonies.  "Pibroch" is the low point, but I don't hate it as much as you do -- it certainly lacks in melodicism when compared with the other songs, but I really like the varied instrumental sections. My only small nitpick is D. Palmer's overreliance on the ARP synth, which does give the album a bit of a dated 70's feel. Still, it's still in the top tier of Tull for me.

  The remaster contains two bonuses - -an outtake called "Beltane", a rocker that rocks a bit harder than the songs on the album proper. Ian sings it a rougher voice, too, closer to his style on the next album. There's also a BBC live version of "Velvet Green" which isn't all that different from the studio version. The 25th Anniversary box also contains a remix of the title track which puts the guitars in sharper relief, without overdoing it on the drums, unlike some of the other remixes.

KiddAbout.aol.com (09/13/10)

Oh, come on! This album is boring? Well okay, you said half of it, but still. I agree with your assessment that Passion Play is a mess and that Minstrel In The Gallery can be a snoozefest to some, but this? Yeesh.

The only track I agree on about the droning jams is "Pibroch". On paper, it could be a good song, but the riff just repeats itself over and over and OVER! Mr. Barre could've just done the riff once between the first and second verses instead of two, and could've done it twice instead of FOUR. FREAKING. TIMES! in between Evans, Palmer and Barlow's piano/synth/marimba section and Anderson's flute solo - in fact, they could've done away with it completely and just had Evans play some silly, five second piano piece to bridge the two together.

So there ya go. Good album. One of Tull's best, up there with Stand Up, Aqualung, and Thick As A Brick.

My rating: 9(12)

Best Tracks: Anything not titled "Pibroch"

P.S. Haven't heard much from Heavy Horses, but the stuff I did hear ("And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps", "Moths", title track), I liked a lot. So I'll take up your challenge on Heavy Horses being the better album. In fact, I just got it today. Whoopie! :D

Steven Highams (rawdon.lilly@gmail.com) (02/13/13)

I love prog rock and I love folk music, so I can never resist this concoction, though I think they do it more successfully on Heavy Horses.

There is some great stuff on here, like the title track, ‘The Whistler’, ‘Jack In The Green’ and ‘Ring Out Solstice Bells’. I can remember Tull appearing on Top Of The Pops at Christmas 1976 with ‘Solstice Bells’, which had been released as the lead track of an EP; it was a hit, but a very minor one. I was just a little too young to be a Tull fan at the time though. I think ‘Fire At Midnight’ is the perfect close to this rustic and mysterious album. The only jarring note as far as I'm concerned is ‘Pibroch’, simply because that guitar does go on a bit (sorry, Martin). Even I can see that.

Forgive me for sounding like an old hippie, but I love Songs From The Wood and I buy into all its patented mystery every time. What can I do? I’m under its spell, for better, for worse…

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Heavy Horses - 1978 Chrysalis
C
(Very Good / Great)

Best song: Heavy Horses

Send me your thoughts

AveryMBW2.aol.com

Hi there,

I'm a Canadian Tull fan of about 17 years, and I just wanted to mention that I have two original vinyl copies of Heavy Horses in my posession. And to think I took their worth for granted!

Jonathon Avery.

Joel Larsson (joel.larsson.privat.utfors.se)

Jethro Tull is is always placed in the 'prog' category. But not because of this one, and that's for sure. This is more "heavy folk." But it's good, VERY good. Whenever I starts to work with my own review site this will probably get a 10.

Chris Federico (drummerboy_91.yahoo.com) (3/15/02)

I love "One Brown Mouse" and "Rover." Two of their best. The rest of the album sounds -- like everything from Stormwatch all the way through to Tull.Com (with the exception of the wonderful "A Little Light Music") -- like a bunch of very mellow men trying in vain to play decent heavy rock music. This is also the first of their dated-sounding releases, a trend that fortunately stopped upon the release of the reasonably listenable Roots To Branches. Contrasting later Tull are the gorgeous Divinities album and the incredibly fantastic Secret Language of Birds collection. These solo Ian outings are vastly superior to most everything Tull released after Songs From the Wood.

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (8/27/02)

What a pleasant surprise! These songs have a very charming down-to-earth atmosphere. Who would of thought of 'folk-prog'? At least, it's not overdone here. None of the songs here really blow, though "No Lullaby" is a bit long (does anyone see any irony in the title?).

By far, the crowning track here is "Heavy Horses". Not because it seems to be everyone's favorite, or that I was born on the Year of the Horse on the chinese horoscope (ha-ha!), for being a 'prog'-styled track, it is so very well- written. Nothing is really unnecessary in the track. Even the solos (guitar, violin) have connections with the main melodies which pop up at the right moments. Plus, Ian Anderson is singing very passionately throughout.

In short, your score (again...) seems to be on target!

Trfesok.aol.com (04/29/08)

I remember hearing this back in the day and not liking it very much. What did I know? This is another really nice album.  I don't think it's all that better than the last one, but I liked that one more than you did, so it evens out! It fairly different in a number of ways. Musically, the keyboards seem to be less prominent, although D. Palmer gets some lovely string arrangements in on the title track and "Moths." More disconcerting is Ian's rougher singing tone -- were his infamous voice problems starting here? This becomes apparent, oddly enough, when comparing the original "Weathercock" with the ..Christmas Album version - Ian's actually sounds smoother in the newer recording.

   The lyrics are less whimsical and more down to earth than the last album, for the most. This actually results in some very touching songs like "Moths", the title song and "One Brown Mouse" (that last one comes off quite nicely on Bursting Out). Perhaps Ian's most mature effort up to this point, this album is more overlooked than it should be.

Two outtakes have been added to the remaster. "Living in these Hard Times"  (from 20 Years of.. ) is a fun rocker that may have been a little bit too cliched lyrically, but it's good. "Broadford Bazaar" (on Nightcap) is a more acoustic number about shopping (1) -- maybe too mundane a subject  for the album, but nice.

  A couple of remixes also were released at one point. For some reason, Ian remixed "Moths" for 20 Years of.., pushing both the lead vocals and strings farther back in the mix. The 25th Anniversary box had a remix of the title track with some drub reverb added (only slightly) annoying and seemingly more emphasis on the low frequency end of things. One wonders what Ian was thinking when he tried things like this.

KiddAbout.aol.com (09/13/10)

Just finished listening to this one. It's not significantly better than Songs From The Wood as you and Starostin claimed, but you've convinced me that this is the best album from Tull's late 70's period; at least none of the tracks have a "Pibroch".

A note about "No Lullaby" - cutting the track in half, wasn't the only way they improved the song; in the band's performance at Madison Square Garden during the tour for this album, they put in an instrumental rendition of the popular Christmas carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" where they would usually repeat the song. It's quite charming and recalls the violin jig from Thick As A Brick. Why Anderson didn't use a similar rendition for the album is beyond me. Maybe he couldn't get the rights. Maybe it would've detracted from the message - he's telling his son about the dangers of the world, instead of singing about some trite subject like mockingbirds or diamond rings. Maybe he thought he was beyond doing covers - if that's the case, I call B.S., since he was still capable of writing solid originals to the point that putting in a cover wouldn't have damaged his credibility as a songwriter. Oh well.

My rating: high 9(13) or low 9(14)

Best tracks: "And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps", "Acres Wild", "No Lullaby", "Moths", "Rover", "One Brown Mouse", "Heavy Horses"

David Sheehan (davidasheehan.gmail.com) (07/13/11)

Aw...I'd give this an easy 13. In fact, I think the only problem to speak of on the entire record is 'No Lullaby' being too long, and even that's easily overlooked since it's basically a good song. Otherwise, I like everything on here A LOT. 'Mouse Police...' , 'Acres Wild' and 'Rover' are all exciting and energetic (not to mention the great melodies in all of them), 'Moths', 'One Brown Mouse' and 'Weathercock' are all beautiful and rather sad even. 'Journeyman' has a solid groove and good guitar work, but admittedly it is probably the second weakest track here. The title track is indeed the best track from all of the albums around this one, and maybe even my favorite Tull song of all. It is one of the few moments for me that I can hear genuine emotion in Ian's delivery and the lyrics are really good too. I can't really add anything else, except that (maybe I'm imagining this) it seems like Ian is purposely imitating Roger Waters's "whooo" from Pink Floyd's 'Pigs' on 'Acres Wild', while Martin Barre is aping Gilmour's dirty riffing from 'Pigs' in 'Journeyman'. Weird, but it's extremely unlikely that this was intentional.

Steven Highams (rawdon.lilly@gmail.com) (02/13/13)

This is a wonderful album and my favourite Jethro Tull record. I can listen to this one in any frame of mind or mood. They had always been leading up to this record if you think about it, sonically at least: ‘Witch’s Promise’, ‘Life Is A Long Song’, the opening section of Thick As A Brick, parts of Aqualung, Minstrel In The Gallery and most of Songs From The Wood. That side of the band comes to its fruition here…

I don’t think there’s a weak link on this LP, though ‘No Lullaby’ comes close (not bad, but a little bit of a sore thumb in my opinion, be it ever so humble). ‘… And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps’, ‘Acres Wild’, ‘Rover’, ‘Weathercock’, the epic title track and the beautiful ‘Moths’ are all fabulous, with the remaining tracks not all that far behind.

Not much sounded like this in 1978, take it from me. It was actually a little dated for its time, but like all great music, it would come around again and it easily transcends time. It would be nice if they had continued in this style for a while longer, but maybe it was better to leave us wanting more…

Any fans of folk-rock should try the Albion Band's Rise Up Like The Sun, which was released around the same time as Heavy Horses.

---

Live: Bursting Out - 1978 Chrysalis
D
(Great / Very Good)

Best song: Flute Solo Improvisation or Locomotive Breath

Send me your thoughts

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (9/02/03)

What a live album!! Nothing but tight, energetic performances throughout. Sure, some of the songs were shortened, but that was a good idea overall (except TAAB, but who'd want to perform the entire thing by this point?). Concerning the flute improv., Ian Anderson even quotes a bit of "Quartet" (which was able to appreciate, due to "Nightcap" :) .) This is a nice summary of 'classic' Tull (too bad there was no "Heavy Horses", but then who'd play the fiddle/violin?).

I purchased off Amazon the 2-CD edition, and though a bit pricy, it was worth it! I was glad to hear "Sweet Dream", one of my favorite early Tull singles with Barre's riff in the front (yeh!!), and his two instrumentals were quite tight and enjoyable. And, the drum solo wasn't too bad! And, of course, Ian's often funny stage banter... . Overall, a 9(13), agreed!

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

The only advantage that Live at Carnegie Hall has over this is that you get more of the raw energy that is inherent to a young, raw band just starting out. However, here you get more professionalism and stronger musicianship. I can’t imagine the original rhythm section playing some of this material. As on the concurrent studio albums, it also seems that Evans’s parts get buried under those of the technically superior Palmer. Maybe that’s because of the sound mix. Barlow doesn’t sound as powerful as they reputation he had obtained by this point. Even the drum solo sounds a bit flat - - I think that he should have been more emphasized in the mix.

None of this, though, really detracts from the performances. I agree that the repertoire was really good on this tour. In the liner notes, Ian says that this was the complete setlist. If so, I find it odd that only two numbers from HH are here, considering that was the album they were promoting!

A few random thoughts:

I don’t get why you find “Hunting Girl” so dull! It’s fun! This isn’t the dud of the set. For me, that’s "A New Day Yesterday". But I do think this one is actually better than the studio version, because Ian’s lead vocal isn’t affected.

Speaking of vocals, Ian’s voice isn’t quite as good as it was 10 years earlier. I think his vocal problems were a gradual decline, not as sudden as they would appear 10 years later.

This was the first “Sweet Dream” that I ever heard. I drove myself at bit crazy at thev time, trying to figure what studio album it was on.

"Cross-Eyed Mary", I think, may have been dropped after this tour – at least, as a regular inclusion in concerts. *Sigh*. I never got to hear it live.

“Minstrel in the Gallery” is performed in an equivalent to the single edit. I like the crashing guitars of the album version, but there’s only so much room in a live show.

It looks like Tull reached some sort of peak with the release of the album. No one I know really talked much about them afterwards.

Oh, and I agree that the stage banter is hysterical. I’m glad that D. Palmer was able to “give it a good shake” at the time. That hasn’t been the case for quite a number of years now..

---

Stormwatch - 1979 Chrysalis
8
(Good / Mediocre)

Best song: Elegy

Send me your thoughts

Joel Larsson (joel.larsson.privat.utfors.se) (7/25/01)

Um, this album actually fits my tastes. It's of course heavier than ever before, but that only added something new to the classic Tull formula. The instrumentals are my favourites on this one, "Elegy" is a kind of chamber music, but I like it far more than the classical chambermusic, the sort Mozart and so many others often wrote.

"Warm sporran" is very moody, reminds me of a rogue caravan with that vocal harmony.

A 12 works well, I actually like this one as much as I lie Aqualung (read: quite a lot, though it's not their best).

BTW, cant you put an author's note on this comment? I hope there's nothing offensive with this comment, so it'd be fun to see what you can find to argue about...

(Author's note):*FART*

brian.math.ucsb.edu (5/12/04)

It is interesting that this album is sometimes mentioned as being part of a 'trilogy' of albums beginning with "Songs From the Wood". Perhaps this holds thematically, but music-wise much of the folk is gone.

Yes, the "Tull formula" is back, but this time there are actual melodies in all these songs (including the two long tracks, which are nowhere as aimless as "Baker Street Muse"). However, at the same time, they are not nearly as memorable as most of the songs from the previous two albums. To contribute something different here, it seems that although still mostly enjoyable, Martin Barre's guitar is losing some of its distinctive edge (maybe it is partially from switching guitars).

That said, I particularly enjoy "Something's On the Move" and "North Sea Oil" ("Dun Ringill" is pretty good as well). "Elegy" gets my vote for the best song on this album, hands down. Very pretty and bittersweet instrumental.

As I have the remastered edition of this album (released a few weeks ago), there are a few bonus tracks. Most noteworthy are "A Stitch in Time" and especially "King Henry's Madrigal". This may lend even more proof that Jethro Tull were very good at these "medieval" instrumentals!

Overall, I see this album being rated at about 7(10) [11, counting the bonus tracks above].

Pavel L. Urusov (red_cucumber.mail.ru) (8/11/05)

Hello, John. Well, I think that you extremely underrated this album, which is really good. I also didn't like it at first listen, but later it has grown on me. And I don't know who the man must be to say that 'North Sea Oil' is rocking, but unmelodic :) It obviously DOES have a decent melody. And 'Old Ghosts' is very good too, especially these violin passages in the beginning and in the middle. 'Elegy' is a very, very catchy instrumental (do you know that it was written by David Palmer, not by Ian?) and 'Dun Ringill' ranks among ten best ballads the band ever did. 'Home' is a little bit silly, and it's not like anything Tull did before and after that, but it is very pretty, I think. And even 'Orion', although I don`t feel wonderful about this song, is somewhat interesting.

As for 'Dark Ages' and 'Flying Dutchman', they are filler, of course, but even they are much better than 'Pibroch (Cap In Hand)' or, dare I say it, 'Baker St. Muse'.

The only thing that marres otherwise great album is sound production. It is ull beyond all words, and arrangements are not as good as they could be. That's why you need to listen to Stormwatch thoroughly at least three or four times to appreciate it.

(author's note): This comment was made when the rating was 5(8)

Nick Pulliam (nickpulliam.resonetics.com) (01/23/06)

I think your new score is probably about what I would give this, but I think you and others here don't give Flying Dutchman its fair due. The lyrics in this song alone make it far from filler, and the atmosphere this song creates is melancholy tinged with hope. It dosn't drag for me and works very well (I also like the "jig" bridge).

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

This one has been billed as “the third album in a folk rock trilogy”, but I’ve never really gotten behind that, either. It’s more of a return to the sound of TOtR&R (although much darker) than a continuation of the folky sounds of the previous two. The opening track, “North Sea Oil” is this folky/rocky/poppy thing that is very catchy and happy, making going to drill for oil sound fun. Pretty odd. “Flying Dutchman” sounds at first likes it’s going to be another “Pibroch”, but it isn’t quite as dull and overbearing. “Something on the Move” sounds very ominous and is the best of the rock songs. “Home”, “Warm Sporran” and “Elegy” show once again the positive influence D. Palmer had on the Tull sounds. Of course, that’s not too surprising, since “Elegy” is the first Tull studio track not written or co-written by Ian since the first album. The song I was most familiar with initially was “Dun Ringill”, since it’s on the 20 Years of... box. But it’s a live version from the Crest... tour, which means that it’s sung with that deteriorated late 80’s voice. I like hearing it with good vocals instead. The rest, like a lot of TOtR&R, is not particularly memorable, but listenable enough not to skip. I would rather it the same as that album, instead of raising it a notch like you did.

The four bonus tracks on the remaster were also on that same box. “A Stich in Time” was actually recorded and released as a UK single the year before. Like “Teacher”, this lighthearted tune plays with well-worn clichés quite sardonically. “Crossword” is a so-so rocker that doesn’t fit into the album at all lyrically. Neither does “Kelpie”, another song about a mythological creature like “Jack-in-the Green”. Finally, there’s a track from a UK EP led off by “Home”, "King Henry's Madrigal", Palmer’s delightful arrangement of the English traditional tune "Pastime with Good Company". On the whole, the bonus tracks are a lot more fun than the album itself, where humor (at least, intentional – I’m not sure “North Sea Oil” was supposed to be funny) was not allowed.

---

A - 1980 Chrysalis
4
(Bad / Mediocre)

Best song: Black Sunday

Send me your thoughts

Philip Maddox (slurmsmckenzie.hotmail.com)

"Black Sunday" is unbelievably fantastic, quite possibly my favorite Tull song. That creepy atmosphere, the breathy flute playing, the sad lyrics... it's nearly a perfect song, and probably in my very top songs ever recorded by anyone, ever. The rest of this one is extremely rocky going, though. A lot of it ("Uniform", "4WD", "Crossfire") is unbelievably awful, and most of the rest ("Protect And Survive", "And Further On", "Working John, Working Joe") is merely unremarkable, with no need to ever hear them again. "Fylingdale Flyer" is pretty damn cool, though. I'd give it a low 3 if not for "Black Sunday", but that pulls it up to a high 4(7). I hate when groups bury their best songs on crappy albums, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Kathy Fisher (klfisher.webtv.net) (9/10/01)

Why did I buy this album,oh I know Why so Can sell it on Ebay for 15.00$ if I' m lucky!

TheeRubberCow.aol.com (12/23/03)

WARNING: Long, review-like response ahead.    I read your review of this album before I heard it, and the first thing I thought after listening was, "wow, that John McFerrin guy really closes his ears when the keyboard alarm goes off."  I know it's all subjective, but if you wanna know what I think, there's nothing that bad wrong with the keyboard sounds in here, except for maybe that nagging solo in "Batteries Not Included" or the fake piano, which is a little iffy.  (I kinda like that piano sound if used in the right place, though......Genesis did sometimes)    But even the aforementioned song has an attention getting verse with an abrupt chord change by heralding organ, bass/drum/guitar crashes, and an urgent, if very simple melody.  Come to think of it, all of these songs get stuck in my head, except the instrumental, which I should like, but seems out of place.  I guess that's why I liked the album, initially.  It was finally something different.  I haven't heard Stormwatch yet, but I think they were starting to run over the same squirrel too many times with Heavy Horses.  Not to say it wasn't good, just kinda redundant.  No, this album sounds pretty good to me.  And the writing hasn't slipped an inch.  "Crossfire" is one of my favorite intro's to an album......As soon as the vocals come in, I want to pick up the tonearm and start it over again, but I never do 'cause everything that happens after it keeps me listening closely.  I think the vocal effects in Flyingdale Flyer could have been less obstructive to the quality of the song.  And this is also the track where the fake piano sounds weakest.  But I love that break close to the end with that smoothfunky bass and the sparkly keyboards.  Another thing I like about this album is that Ian is singing these songs with a lot of passion, most notably in "Working John - Working Joe" (great lyrics), Anderson sounds like he's genuinely disgusted at the situation.  What a wonderful job he did of squeezing his complaints about all parties invlolved into so few lines while making them flow not only effortlessly, but so entertainingly.  Black Sunday is good, too, but I don't see what's that much better about it than the rest.  Just another great song on a great album.  I like the keyboards and chord changes in "Protect and Survive", and the lyrics aren't that bad either when you consider the importance of the main line.  "Batteries Not Included" and "4.W.D." are headscratchers. (I'm hoping maybe the former's actually song about a demented 4 year old who kills himself after his parents give him a toy that doesn't work, but I'm pretty confident 4.W.D is just about buying a car and nothing else. HA!  He made the music catchy and well constructed anyway.)  So this turned out to be a really long response.  Oh well, in my opinion the album deserves it.  9(13)

Ross Dryer (dryerross.yahoo.com) (04/13/13)

I have to say, I don't feel anywhere NEAR the hatred that you feel for this record, but I can understand and agree with a lot of it. This record has problems all over the place. Firstly, what I've discovered is that keyboards/technocracy have the ability to make a good song great and a great song better, but if they're backing a BAD song, you get a pile of horse manure. And while there is some really good stuff on here, there are also some of the worst songs I can imagine. Another hindrance is that the bass is mixed WAY too loudly. It tries throughout the record to be funky and New Wavish, but mostly it fails and is just distracting.

Yet another detriment is that Ian sounds like an absolute wimp. I don't care what TheeRubberCow says; the only song on here where Ian has any power in his voice is "Working John, Working Joe". No others, not even "Batteries Not Included"! His voice is meant for FOLK-PROG, not this synthy New Wave crap.

Now, onto "main song impressions". See, for a long time, I was missing "Protect and Survive", "Batteries Not Included", "Uniform", and "4WD" from my collection, so I only had the other six, and those are great songs. So I thought, "How could the others really be so bad? So far, this is one of my favorites in the Tull canon!"

Well, I was wrong. I was wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. Those four songs are just AWFUL, and I knew that from the first time I was able to listen to the album straight through. Just ugly, pointless, electronic, chaotic idiocy that managed to be dissonant and stupid and embarrasing AND extremely dull at the same time. UGH!

Well, I did listen to them again a few times so I could find anything- ANYTHING- good about them. And I'm glad I did, because there ARE little things here and there, like the "lyrics" of "Batteries", or the abscence of keyboards and the good tritonic violin line in "Uniform". But the ATMOSPHERE, the FEELING I get, is just plain hideous.

Take "Protect and Survive", for example. While some might consider the opening riff catchy (played on flute, violin, cheesy synth, and everything else), I can never remember any of it. And what the HECK is this melody? "They-said-pro-tect-and-you-suuuuur- vive..." It's not good. That melody is openly BAD. I also utterly despise the awkward "funky" groove of every verse, and I don't know what the amelodic bridge is supposed to achieve. Okay, actually, the bridge ends well, with that super-cheap "go up the scale" thing, which somehow seems to add a bit of power to a track that had NEGATIVE power. It's still a bad song, because the feeling I get is, "UGH. POINTLESS. UGLY. STUPID. SKIP TRACK."

But that feeling only gets worse for the next track, "Batteries Not Included". This is quite possibly the worst Jethro Tull song ever. No other Tull song up to that point, not even "Pibroch", not even "Dark Ages", not even "Back-Door Angels", not even "Black Satin Dancer", not even ANYTHING reaches the depths this track reaches. Like I said, I like the disturbing lyrics (although I don't know why Ian chose this topic and title- everyone knows the best "Batteries Not Included" was the Sparks one), but EVERYTHING ELSE about the song SUCKS. The awkward "intense" synth opening with the awfully cheesy "spooky" synth riffs that pop up everywhere in the track SUCK. The sampling of a child's voice is not only incredibly tasteless, it also SUCKS. The parts where the "main" riff piles up against the rising synth voices SUCK. But worst of all, the lowest blow ever, is that the MELODY SUCKS. What the HECK is this "siren-imitating" melody? What the HECK is this "Six-o'-clock-in-the-mor-ning..." which is basically one note over and over blaring super-loudly? Are you joking me, Ian? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Good thing that track ends, and we have..."Uniform". Like I said, I like the tritonal violin line, and the fact that the only keyboards that happen in the song are the two or three notes at the very end, but the verse melody is incredibly uncomfortable and awful to me as well, especially when Ian does the super-cheap "go up the scale" thing and it doesn't work a second time. And the worst thing- THE WORST THING- is when Ian says the title in the blandest manner he possibly can. There are some good instrumental things going on, but Ian COMPLETELY ruins it for me.

Not as badly as he ruins the next one, though. "4WD (Low Ratio)". This is the OTHER worst track up to that point. First of all, what the HECK are these lyrics? WHO CARES THAT YOU BOUGHT A CAR, ANDERSON? There is not even a sci-fi twist, like on "Red Barchetta"! The CRAP! Second of all, what's this ULTRA-AWKWARD "funk-blues" groove going on? It's HORRIBLE! But not as horrible as the actual sung parts. Go listen to that verse melody and tell me it's well-structured and catchy. Actually, go tell me it's got a structure AT ALL. It's just an awful, disjointed thing. And the chorus is even WORSE- did Ian REALLY think it was a good idea to electronically encode LOW vocals to create a chorus that goes like, "Four- wheel- drive... (low ra-ti-o) Four- wheeeel- drive..."? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, IAN?

GOOD THING the other six songs are so AWESOME! First of all, there's "Crossfire", which is a great song. Yes, it has a Casio electronic piano, and it has a couple of other notes of some other unobtrusive synth, and it's technically disco, but that shouldn't be distracting. The keyboard opening riff is really cool (if a bit alarming in its leap from "Elegy"), but the chord change into the verse is so screwed-up it's PHENOMENAL. Love that first chord of the verse! And the way the verse ends is great too. But the vocal melodies aren't slouching either, especially that chorus. Great chorus! Great song!

Next is "Fylingdale Flyer", which is even better. Firstly, that opening keyboard riff that everyone seems to hate is one that I just LOVE. I think it works extremely well as a riff, and I really like the part where the two main riffs of the song are superimposed onto each other. By the way, the more folkish riff that pops up is really really nice, especially during that part of the song that TheeRubberCow was talking about, with the super-sparkly Casio and whatnot. And the melodies- oh, the melodies! If only I had the guts, I could EASILY sing this at a karaoke bar or something, because it's WONDERFULLY catchy. I also love the syncopated "hitting" rhythm in the second verse. Basically, everything about the song is extremely attractive to me. I fail to see how it isn't (completely) to you.

"Working John, Working Joe" is another really good song. It has some sort of acoustic guitar effect that sounds like it's a cross between a sitar and a mandolin playing (which is good), and though the synths may be considered annoying, they're offering a fantastic catchy riff every few seconds and even get quite a good solo. And, once again, the verse is good, and that chorus- be still my heart! The way it ends is just BEAUTIFUL! Wonderful song!

And then there's "Black Sunday". I don't think there's much I need to say about this song, but I'll say it anyway. This is one of the best Tull songs, and it really hearkens back to "Stormwatch", if only you replaced all of the synths with guitars. Pretty much everything about the track is great (especially the Casio solo near the middle of the song, and the various riffs Ian comes up with), and it ends one of my favorite Tull sides.

After the stupid, faith-ruining next four tracks, we get a breath of the freshest air ever with "The Pine Marten's Jig". One of exactly two songs not to feature keyboards at all (the other is "Uniform", but it's not like that really makes the song any better), it's a lovely catchy folksy jig with a lot of violin and mandolin and flute (HEY! Just what we needed!) and a random violent guitar solo and a really catchy bassline at one point. Not a fantastic song, but it's really really nice, and if it weren't right after those four streaks of hideousness, my mood after listening to the album would be A LOT worse.

Finally, there's "And Further On". I know the song is cheesy (and way overlong), but it's got an excellent verse melody; plus, I can stomach this kind of thing because I've always been a fan of corny power ballads. Even though this song would be beaten MERCILESSLY by "Slow Marching Band", it's still a nice closer.

So, yes. It seems to me that there's no middle ground on these songs, that you either have to love them or hate them. The bass is too loud. The keyboards control the universe now, and NOT the guitar. And four of the songs are worse than the dickens. But two of the songs are decent, and four are flat-out amazing. So I think this gets a 7 on the hexadecimal scale. Decent?

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

I’m rather baffled over why this album turned out the way it did. The band encountered Jobson when his prog band UK (also including John Wetton and Terry Bozzio) opened for them the previous year. UK was supporting their second release Danger Money. It’s a very solid album. The sound can be summarized as “ELP circa 72-73 with an electric violin”. Big, powerful keyboard sounds from Hammond organ, synths and piano.

So, here, why do we get these, thin wimpy new wave synths and an overly noodly, Tony Banks type Yamaha synth piano instead? Ian obviously wanted to experiment on what was going to be his first solo album. Of course, bringing Martin Barre along didn’t exactly make his case for not marketing it as a Tull album, even if the guitar is undermixed on a lot of it.

Of course, even if the keyboard choices weren’t question able, Jobson needed good songs to work with, and Ian didn’t always come through here, to say the least. For, instance "Working John, Working Joe”, which was inexplicably chosen as the single. I actually did hear it on the radio, but I wasn’t impressed then and am not now. What a klutzy song.

Then there’s that three song stretch on the second side which hits the pits like nothing since the worst on War Child or Minstrel.. : “Batteries Not Included", "Uniform", and "4WD" The first has a the cheesiest synths and the most embarrassing silliness on the album; the second has an annoying violin solo that makes it sound like a latter day Kansas song ; and the third, despite some guitar that you can actually hear, is totally unmelodic and forgettable.

Some other songs worked have worked better if they had been recorded for a different album. “Crossfire” is a good rocking opener, but again, that piano is unnecessarily busy. “Fylingdale Flyer" tries the opening a-capella multitracked harmonies thing like “Songs from the Wood”, but they also throw an irritating vocoder into the mix. The closer “And Further On” is a nice ballad, but the synth orchestration takes the power away from it. D. Palmer could have really done something with it.

Of course, the two tracks which are pretty much as fine as they are throwbacks. "The Pine Marten's Jig" could use a better mix, but stands out like a sore thumb among all this. And I have to be predictable and also choose “Black Sunday” as the best song. The synths are pushed way low in the mix, the guitar and the rhythm section rock hard, and we get some disturbing, apocalyptic lyrics, too. The proggiest track on the album, no doubt. This is one of the few songs that actually improved by being remixed for 25th Anniversary Box Set. Everything except the keyboards is toughened up even more.

You might think that "Protect and Survive" is totally unsalvageable, but that isn’t quite true. Also on the box is a solo remake as an instrumental by Martin Barre, with nothing but overdubbed acoustic and electric guitars. And, Mr. Meyer, you discover that this song does have a melody! More proof that the arrangement and production of the album is more of a problem than the songwriting.

One would also think that Ian would have been done with synths after the relative failure of this album, but noooooo…

---

Broadsword and the Beast - 1982 Chrysalis
B
(Very Good)

Best song: Broadsword

Send me your thoughts

Philip Maddox (slurmsmckenzie.hotmail.com)

Like you said, this is an EXTREMELY underrated album, and is, in my opinion, amog the most unfairly overlooked albums of all time. There are tons of classic tunes on here, especially the first 2 tracks on each side - they really get things going in a major way. "Flying Colours", as the All Music Guide was kind to point out, almost sounds like latter day Moody Blues, though it's much better than anything on, say, The Other Side Of Life. "Slow Marching Band" is absolutely gorgeous. The only tracks that are less than great are the still decent "Watching Me Watching You", which sounds like it was straight off of Under Wraps, and the too long "Seal Driver". Despite the keyboards (which actually don't hurt this much), I couldn't give this any less than a 9(13). I've heard all of the outtakes from this album, and if they had replaced "Seal Driver" with "Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow" and "Watching Me Watching You" with "The Curse" (which is equally dorky and electronic, but with a stronger melody), this would be a 14. I actually think this could have been a strong double album. There's at least an album's worth of dumb dumb dumb tunes, but there's another album of tunes of the quality that actually made this album.

"matt faris" (7headedchicken.gmail.com) (01/13/11)

HA! If there ever was a video game called Broadsword and the Beast that had the music from this album as the soundtrack, I would probably play it all the time! You do intelligence well by picking "Broadsword" as the best song, but I think I would go with "Flying Colours", myself. The lyrics on that one are very strong, and the instrumental break is all it's own. The music for that track in general is also very exciting, as with "The Clasp." "Slow Marching Band" is also another standout for me. The CD contains many, many bonus tracks; some of them are not as good as those that made the original album, and some of them are. All, though, should be of interest to serious Tull fans.

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

Actually, I think the story behind the album is a bit different. Eddie Jobson wasn’t about to stay subservient to Ian forever, so he and Mark Craney split after the 1980 tour. The remaining three recruited drummer Gerry Conway, and, in March and April 1981, recorded nine tracks with Ian on the synths as well as his usual instruments. Then, they brought Peter-John Vettese aboard and recorded the album and six more outtakes. The pre- Vettese tracks weren’t used at all, although they eventually surfaced on Nightcap, as bonus tracks on the remaster and/or the 20 Years of.. box. Only a few of them – “I’m Your Gun”, "Mayhem, Maybe”, “Overhang" – could have fit into the album’s concept.

Despite the cover art, I never thought the album’s original concept was meant to be taken literally. I may have even read something at the time about this. I thought that the “Beastie” was evil corporate capitalism or society trying to keep down the little guy who’s “Fallen on Hard Times”. His only hope is to “Clasp” together with his brethren who use their collective power (“Broadsword”) to fight the “beastie” and keep hope alive, despite their world slipping away (“Slow Marching Band”). Then again, like all of those Aqualung freaks, I may be reading into something that was never there in the first place!

I get the impression that, of all the people that were ever in the group, the name of Peter-John Vettese is cursed the most. This is primarily because he was the primary collaborator on Ian’s next two disasters, I would imagine. However, he’s kept in check here. There are a couple of reasons for this. For the most part, it seems that Ian put the songs first, rather than the instrumentation. So, the synths are not the main focus, but used as just another element to color the sound. The other instruments are once again on an equal footing – especially the drums. Conway was a very nimble player who really toughened up the sound – and why Ian replacing him with drum machines was one of the many reasons his next two albums would be so inferior.

Secondly, this is the only Tull album not produced by Ian. For some reason, he decided to hire Paul Samwell-Smith, the Yardbirds’ founding bassist who went on to production fame, his most famous client being Cat Stevens. It’s clear that he kept Ian from going too far overboard.

So, yes, it’s the last Tull where all of the elements of the sound (including vocals) are still intact. I find a couple of the songs weak. "Flying Colours” doesn’t leave much of an impression at all. “Seal Driver” (which Ian would introduce as a song about a relationship with a ship being like one with a woman – oh, really?) is a bit of a dull retread of stuff from 74-75.

On the whole, though, the album is full of great traditional Tull songs - the great rock ballads “Slow Marching Band” and “Pussy Willow”; rockers that combine synths and guitar effectively ("Clasp", “Fallen on Hard Times”). “Broadsword” uses the synths to create the doom-and-gloom atmosphere perfectly. This was another one that got remixed for the 25th Anniversary Box. There, some echo was added, which enhances the atmosphere even more. "Watching Me, Watching You" succeeds where “Batteries Not Included" totally failed – using a cyclic synth pattern to successfully invoke images – in this case, running trains.

I first heard “Cheerio” as the final song of a Tull concert. I don’t recall it having a hokey vocoder there. On that same box, Dave Pegg does a solo instrumental version where he plays all of the instruments – bass, drums, a very low key synth and some sort of Hawaiian sounding guitar. Very nice!

However, out of all the things that came out of these sessions, my absolute favorite is the outtake "Jack-A-Lynn", an epic love song. I would guess it was originally left off because it sounds somewhat similar to “Pussy Willow”, but I think it’s even better. Since it was originally on the 20 Years of.. box, Ian did it live on the RI tour, where I fell instantly in love with it. Ian evidently agreed, because he remade it twice – a totally acoustic version on a 1991 EP, and a new band version on the 25th box. Unfortunately, Ian voice had significantly deteriorated by then. The expanded remaster is worth picking up just for the original version of this song.

---

Under Wraps - 1984 Chrysalis
3
(Bad)

Best song: Under Wraps #2

Send me your thoughts

Barry Schnorr (jpmorgan.imsa.edu)

I'd just like to comment on the non-availability of Under Wraps...I haven't actually heard it, probably fortunately, but I can say that out of 3 music stores (all in the Rockford, Illinois area) all 3 had Under Wraps, out of print or not, and none had Stand Up (which I was looking for.) If somebody who's barely heard of Jethro Tull and wants to try them out wanders in and picks up a CD at random...needless to say, this is grim news.

Philip Maddox (slurmsmckenzie.hotmail.com)

This album actually grew on me somewhat, though I certainly understand why more than a few people would loathe it. Those keyboards are a bit difficult to escape. After quite a few listens to it, though, I actually like a few songs on here, and the only one that really strikes me as awful is "Paparazzi", which is one of the absolute worst songs Tull ever wrote. Still, I think both of the title tracks are great. The electronics can't really hide the great melody there. "Astronomy" has a cathy chorus, and I like the uneasy feeling throughout the song. I like "Tundra" a whole lot, too. Very weird. "Nobody's Car" has a very creepy melody, and I actually like it quite a bit (though it pales next to the excellent live version on the 25th Anniversary Box Set). "Heat" is a bit too long, and a couple of the others are kinda annoying, but this really isn't as bad as it's made out to be. If these songs were recorded sans keys, it might even be great. As it is, I'd give it a 6(9) because, even though it proves what horrid taste I really have, this isn't bad. It's better than A, at least.

Joel Larsson (joel.larsson.privat.utfors.se) (7/25/01)

I though Calling all stations also is among your worst records... heh heh, I yet haven't had the misfortune to buy one of your worst ones, though I gotta check out this and a couple of others in a distant future - I'm always interested in extremely bad records by fabulous artists...

Trfesok.aol.com (10/27/06)

Ooh boy, I'm glad my copy was free! It's pretty bad, but I don't think it's quite as bad as you do. For one thing, I do think that the lyrics are very interesting. The problem, I think, is more with the arrangements and production. The title track proves that if a some these songs were recut with more traditional Tull production -- acoustic guitar, flutes, piano, REAL drums -- they could work. "European Legacy", for example, is an acoustic guitar song smothered by electronics. But Vettese's tacky synths, those even tackier drum machines and annoying effects make this a rough listen. The low point for me is the stuttering delay thing  on "Apogee". (I HATE stuttering in rock songs! "Gemini Dream", anyone?). As it is, it sounds like a demo to a Jethro Tull album instead of the real thing. And if you hate this, don't even think of getting what came out the year before -- Walk Into Light, Ian's first solo album, with more of the same, but without Martin Barre's guitars.

Mikhail Radyshevtsev (mradysh.mail.ru) (07/13/14)

This is the period the band reaches the lowest point. While "A" has some decent material, I totally agree with the view that this is rather Ian's first solo effort sold under Tull's name. I also agree that the "Broadsword…" is a solid Jethro Tull album, only done in a different style. It suffers a bit from the inconsequential closer and, being a good one, is not an album for frequent listening, but it deserves attention. "Under Wraps" is simply unlistenable to me (apart from the acoustic "Under Wraps 2") and the two others are plagued with filler. I would be glad if the band had published just one studio album instead of three, including the next songs: 1. Farm On The Free Way ; 2. The Whaler's Dues; 3. Rock Island; 4. Under Wraps-2; 5. She Said She Was A Dancer; 6. Budapest; 7. Another Christmas Song; 8. Strange Avenues.

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Crest of a Knave - 1987 Chrysalis
5
(Mediocre / Bad)

Best song: Jump Start

Send me your thoughts

Autull.aol.com

Whew! You really butchered one of my favorite Tull albums!!! Everyone has his own opinion, which should be respected, and I have mine.First of all I think "Budapest" is one of Tull's absolute best. It is a brilliantly structured/layered and complex piece of music without losing the average listener like myself. "Steel Monkey" is one of the hottest songs I've EVER heard Tull do in the studio or onstage, simply put....IT ROCKS!!! Also "Farm on the Freeway" has great lyrics and a good message to boot and the progressions/time changes, et al, are classic Tull and hard to beat. "Jump Start" is another solid piece and a "torcher". At any rate, I don't think this is the best representative of Tull's work to win a Grammy but it surely did beat the other nominations that year. Even when Tull is not at the very top of the game they are much better than ANYTHING on the radio and they still put the great majority of rock bands, pat or present, to shame.

Philip Maddox (slurmsmckenzie.hotmail.com)

Most fans think this is a big step up from Wraps. I don't. I think it's worse. Under Wraps wasn't exactly great, but at least it had some ideas and some memorable song structures (though whether or not they're GOOD ideas and song structures is a matter of opinion). Not here. This is a retreat to genericness, and though it isn't as bad as Rock Island, it isn't much more interesting. 3 songs are "pretty good" ("Jump Start", "Farm On The Freeway", and yes, even "Budapest" are all decent, slightly memorable listening experiences with some cool bit buried within; "Jump Start" is actually close to being very good), and everything else is OK. Not good. Not bad. Just OK. While that doesn't make for a PAINFUL listening experience, it makes for a dull one. I'd give this a 4. Electronic Tull was more interesting - I'd rather hear a refinement of Under Wraps than a totally generic rock record. And, as much as I love Tull, this beating ...And Justice For All for the hard rock Grammy was a joke. C'mon, does anything on this record come CLOSE to "One", "Blackened", "...And Justice For All", "Harvester Of Sorrow", or, well, anything else? I'd say my favorite song here ("Jump Start" is still inferior to the worst song there ("The Shortest Straw").

rick (rick.jps.net)

I think you've fallen into a trap allot of Tull listeners do ................. expecting to hear a "particular" sound. If you go into each new album with an open mind, you'll come away with allot more.

The other mistake that listeners make is trying to decide if they like a song or album after hearing it once or twice.

Most of the Tull songs I like best, are not the ones that immediately "jump" out at you. Tull songs aren't the Top 40, and contain allot more complexity than a typical song.

That's why each album of theirs can delight many listeners, yet dissapoint just as many.

The emotional, strong music, and lyrics of Crest of a Knave (particularly Budapest and Farm on the Freeway), are exceptional for those who can feel and hear the passion

..... for others it's too much rock (maybe that's you, since your favorite is album "Too Old To Rock and Roll, Too Young To Die"

........ maybe your "Rock" days are truely behind you ............... and maybe you should sit in front of the fire with cookies, milk, and a John Denver CD ............ and leave the Tull concerts and reviews to us ...................

Kathy Fisher (klfisher.webtv.net) (9/10/01)

I tried so hard to love this Album ! I really did . That was the year I finally got to meet Ian.but I did not bring Crest with me to be signed,I did bring HEAVY HORSES,STAND UP AND MINSTREL, I did however, leave AQUALUNG home because I was ashamed of the covers condition! these were albums worthy of getting grammys,not Crest!

ALPH1217.aol.com (2/09/02)

Well, I don't agree at all with your assessment of this album but everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion. This is actually a firm favorite of mine and it was good to see it make a respectable climb up the charts. There's a 'bluesy feel' throughout much of the record which I really like but it's actually Martin who delivers big time. With Ian being the main focal point of the band since its inception it was great to see one of the most underrated guitar players in rock music come up with the goods. I saw Tull in November of 1987 just after the release of this record in a packed Byrne Arena in New Jersey. It really was a terrific show all the way around with the new songs from 'Crest' played to perfection.

Lars Tängmark (lars.tangmark.swipnet.se) (7/23/02)

Crest of a Knave is great! I must admit it's the only Tull album I've listened to a lot. It just happened to be lying around when I was 14 (around the time of its release I guess) and I played it to death. Older Tull records haven't impressed me much (and later LPs have too much "roots"). Steel Monkey sounds like and artschool version of ZZtop. I find that concept attractive, but I guess it's not everyone's cup of tea.

trfesok.aol.com (02/13/09)

I also have to disagree with you on this one. This is a huge step up from the last one in terms of melodies and arrangements, for the most part. The lyrics are never less than interesting, although Ian's understading of the concept of evident domain in "Farm on the Freeway" is about 40 years out of date. "Jump Start" and "Steel Monkey" are at least clever and fun, lyrically, although I also have to agree that "Said She Was a Dancer" and "Budapest" are quite redundant.   Musically, the techie opening (much as the Moody Blues opening Strange Times with "English Sunset" was) of "Steel Monkey" was quite jarring. Ian admits in the liner notes to the remaster that he modeled it on what ZZTop was doing at the time. "Dogs in the Midwinter" is probably the weakest song melodically, but "The Waking Edge" is actually quite moving. The long instrumental section of "Budapest" probably qualifies as filler, but it's at least listenable.

I also think your labeling of this phase of Tull as "heavy metal" is unfair. They won that Grammy, but they were hardly comparable to Metallica here. Hard rock, certainly. What you overlook is what many others have pointed out -- that most of the songs strongly resemble Dire Straits' work at this time, in the melodies, guitar sounds, even lyrics and vocals. Intentionally or not, Dire Straits was hardly a metal band.

Where I really agree with you is on the issue of the vocals. Ian's deteriorated, croaking voice here is hard to listen to.  He would eventually adjust his songwriting to accommodate his lessened vocal range, but this hadn't happened yet. I first saw the group on this tour, and while the band's performance  and Ian's stage presence were great, the singing was pathetic on the classic material. You can hear examples from the tour on the 20 Years of.. boxset, four songs from a London show (the show opener, "Songs from the Wood"; "Wondering Aloud"; "Dun Ringill"; and six minutes of "Thick as a Brick") and two songs from Philadelphia ("Living in the Past" and "Farm on the Freeway"). I wouldn't search out the box just for these, though.

After Ian got back from the tour (in March, 1988), a couple of new songs were recorded. "Part of the Machine" is a terrific number along the lines of the album' sound, with great lyrics that evidently refer to American politics. This first got to that boxset, but it's also been added to the album remaster. I'm pretty sure that "Man of Principle" (from Nightcap) was also recorded in that session, although that one has a bit too much of a thudding 80's sound to me.

In the liner notes to the remaster, Ian reiterates his opinion that "Budapest" is "the ultimate Jethro Tull song." Bet that sticks in your craw!

---

Rock Island - 1989 Chrysalis
3
(Bad)

Best song: Another Christmas Song

Send me your thoughts

Philip Maddox (slurmsmckenzie.hotmail.com)

Oh so boring. I finally heard Crest, and actually liked it, but this just sounds like a generic rip off of that album, with less new ideas, worse lyrics and vocals, and no worthwhile melodic ideas. "Another Christmas Song" is at least pleasant, and "Ears Of Tin" has a very pretty verse melody before the chorus turns generic, and the fast parts rips off "Kissing Willie", which wasn't that good to begin with. Nothing here is really horrible (except "Big Riff" and "Rattlesnake"), and it's occasionally pleasant, but why would I ever want to listen to it? Maybe a high 3(6), a REALLY low 4(7) on a good day.

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

Despite the problem with Ian’s vocals, I did enjoy Crest.. and the tour, so I was looking forward to this one. But then they released "Kissing Willie" as the lead single. This was the STUPIDEST single they ever released. Not clever and bawdy, just juvenile and dumb, dumb, dumb. The music is the hack hard rock that you accused Crest.. of being. That song and the tour (which I’ll get to) actually turned me off Tull for several years!

As for the rest of the album, I didn’t miss much at the time. None of the other songs are as outright bad as “KW”, fortunately. But where the last album has some variety, they are surprisingly uncreative here. The next four songs have the SAME arrangement, with almost inaudible synths and the SAME dull, generic Martin guitar sound. I hadn’t really noticed the drums until you mentioned them, but yes – Doane Perry doesn’t do anything. The vocals are even worse than those on Crest..; and the lyrics aren’t nearly good enough to compensate for the weak music.

The title track is trying to be another “Budapest”, but becomes even duller when they extend that generic arrangement out to seven minutes. The second side improves a bit, but that’s only because most of the lyrics are better. “Heavy Water” has a repetitive sequencer pattern like “Steel Monkey”, but sounds flatter. I don’t remember “The Whaler’s Dues” sounding this boring at the concert, but it must have been. "Big Riff and Mando" has a very interesting storyline and somewhat better music, but ”Strange Avenues" doesn’t register at all. The sessions also produced one outtake, “Hard Liner” (on Nightcap), another utterly generic rocker. So, in the end the album is a huge disappointment and undid Tull’s comeback permanently.

The three live bonus tracks (also on LwtP) were recorded as a three piece backstage in Zurich on the tour. They sound like rehearsals for ALLM, even though that was three years away!

As for the concert – well, I’m convinced that, except for “KW”, the band was miming to all of the new songs! Suspicions things were happening: the lack of ambient arena echo when they were being performed; endings that were way too clean and abrupt; Ian playing the flute and “singing” into a mike attached to the flute without taking a breath (“The Whaler’s Dues”). This seems to be corroborated by the fact the “KW” is the only song from the album and tour to be included on the 25th Anniversary box. This felt like a real rip-off, although the setlist was pretty good, otherwise (“My God”, “Mother Goose”, “Steel Monkey”, “Bouree”, “Cheap Day Return” , your favorite, “Budapest”, and the marvelous “Jack-a-Lynn”). However, like I said, after this, I thought I was pretty much done with Tull.

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Catfish Rising - 1991 Chrysalis
6
(Mediocre)

Best song: Rocks on the Road or This is Not Love

Send me your thoughts

trfesok.aol.com (10/13/13)

Seeing a show on the RI tour sort of left a bad taste in my mouth, so I pretty much ignored this album when it came out. But, listening now, it's it isn't bad at all. There isn't a bad song here as far as songwriting and performance goes. There is nothing as stupid as "Kissing Willie" here, that's for sure.

The most interesting thing about the sound is that this is the most guitar centered album since MitG (with a lot of mandolin thrown in for good measure, too). There still was no full time keyboardist, which turns out to be a good thing. The extended jams on songs like "Budapest" were also made tedious by the over use of ordinary synths. Here, there's only the barest of keyboard presence.

I agree that "This is Not Love" and "Doctor to my Disease" are fun hard rockers (I still wouldn't call this stuff heavy metal). "Rocks on the Road" and "When Jesus Came to Play" have intriguing, rather strange storylines. "Roll Yer Own" and "A Tall Thin Girl" are nice mid tempo songs with rather naughty lyrics (especially the former). And they venture back into the blues and jazz with "Sleeping with the Dog" and "Sparrow on the Schoolyard Wall", respectively, which they hadn't done in a long time. And I happen to like "Still Loving You Tonight" (which I first heard live on the 25th Anniversary box) , although it seems to get a lot of abuse from the fans. It's a straightforward love song, but Ian has done this sort of thing so rarely ("Wondering Aloud", "Fire at Midnight", "Summerday Sands" and "At Last, Forever" are the only others that come to mind) that it sounds really sincere when he does do it, like here.

A couple of the songs don't do much for me. "White Innocence" drags on in the sort of way the stuff on RI did. And while Ian's vocals still sound hideous, the only place where they absolutely ruin a song is 'Thinking Round Corners", which is demolished by the singing, despite being an OK song.

Two outtakes have surfaced. "Truck Stop Runner" is a a minor rocker with more naughty lyrics which ended up on Nightcap. A B-side, "Night in the Wilderness" (now on the remaster) is not about camping - - rather it's about having dinner was a most tedious companion. Hilarious lyrics. Another B-side was a terrific live version of "Jump Start", from a 1987 Philadelphia show (which also produced versions of "Living in the Past" and "Farm on the Freeway" for the 20 Years of.. box). It's nice to have this, since this was a big highlight of the Crest.. tour.

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A Little Light Music - 1992 Chrysalis
A
(Very Good / Good)

Best song: Locomotive Breath

Send me your thoughts

Trfesok.aol.com (07/13/12)

This album could have only been recorded in Europe. Americans wouldn't have put up with a lot of instrumentals, particularly of old standards such as "Living in the Past". That one, in particular, is a good performance -- that's the one song where they change quite a bit from tour to tour. Even on "Locomotive Breath", they have to be a bit creative with the arrangement, since there's no keyboardist on deck. The only tune they totally demolish is what they call "Look into the Sun" here. This one really annoys me. They take one my favorite ballads and wreck it by using only a couple of tiny riffs from the actual song and then stick a stupid, out of place blues jam in the middle. Bleah! "John Barleycorn" is a bit of a surprise. It doesn't beat Traffic's version by any means, but it is interesting, sounding like yet another Dire Straits-with-flute number.

On another level, it's a good thing that there are a lot of instrumentals, because Ian's voice is still off in that throaty/nasal croak with almost zero range. It's a shame, because, especially, it would be nice to hear "Rocks on the Road" and "Rocks on the Road" with good vocals. On the lower key numbers it works a bit better. By far, the most obscure selection hear is "From a Dead Beat to an Old Greaser". I don't know the original version, but here, the limited vocals are somehow effective. The number almost sounds like Roger Waters, when you add in the nostalgic, yet melancholy, lyrics.

Despite the vocals, the album is an interesting one for Tullheads, both in setlist and peformances which depart from standard Tull live.

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Nightcap - 1993 Chrysalis
B
(Very Good)

Best song: Critique Oblique

Send me your thoughts

bsitting.mail.math.ucsb.edu (9/02/03)

It's interestng that I bought this about a week before you put up your review on this. And, your review more or less summarizes my thoughts on this album: The "Chateau CD" is really good, while the second CD isn't so hot, though most of the stuff from the 70's is at least alright.

The "Chateau D'isaster Tapes", to me, are a projection of the early 'raw' bluesy Tull sound onto the progressively-oriented Tull (up through TAAB). This means that I enjoy practically every track on here. The 'animal'-themed tracks are hilarious. Perhaps after TAAB and Aqualung, these lyrics wouldn't hold up to public expectations, but it shows the very whimsical side of Jethro Tull. [It probably would've been something to see the live TAAB shows from this era. But, I would not be born for at least another five years...] Back to the music. The two instrumentals, starting with "Animalee" would be perfect "medieval" rock, especially with the harpsicord (in the first of these), and of course the flute, as they flow at a nice laid-back speed. "Law of the Bungle 2" has that hilariously strange intro. from Barre, but with another solid jam following. Then, comes the more overtly "A Passion Play" stuff. Even this is good! It more or less follows from my claim at the beginning of this paragraph. Too bad the last two tracks are not part of the actual APP, since they're really good (even if these are not exactly "polished"). And, Martin Barre gets some nice riffing and a solo in "No Rehearsal". (I read somewhere that this latter song even made it into the live set at the time!)

Perhaps it was unwise of me to get this before APP, as the vibrant jams on this CD sounded a bit limp and at places made a bit overly complicated in APPitself! The cruel fates...

As for the second album, "Paradise Steakhouse", "Sealion 2" (Jeffrey Hammond makes this version a classic!), and "Quartet" are amongst the obvious highlights. And, for some reason, most of the '80+ stuff doesn't really do much for me at all. So, your overall rating seems reasonable. BUT, for just the first CD alone, I'd give it a 13 ( a 14 would not be out of the question were this material polished (just a wee bit) as a followup to TAAB), as my #3 favorite Tull album, just barely ahead of "Aqualung" (not counting "Live: Bursting Out").

Trfesok.aol.com (03/17/07)

Yes, Ian did make a fatal mistake in discarding the "Chateau" material.  He certainly would have stayed in everyone's good graces a bit longer. Melodicism and musicianship both still intact. While I recall "Crtique Oblique" being as intolerable as the rest of APP, here, it's surprisingly enjoyable. (And a live version of that chunk is also on the 25th Anniversary Boxed Set, so Ian evidently figured out it was the best section). A lot of the other music, supposedly, had lyrics written for it, but Ian was smart enough to realize that trying to overdub his croaking 90's voice onto it would be totally incompatible. So, he and Martin put in new flute and guitar lines instead. The lyrics of the first half are lighthearted and fun, revealing Ian's penchant for scatology, and the drama of the concluding stretch, "Scenario/Audition/No Rehearsal" (which also appeared on the 20 Years Of.. box), is frightening. Again, this could have been another TAAB, but its failure most have put Ian in a darker mood...

  The second disc is all over the place, but I like it well enough, except for the dumb "Sealion 2." Hearing Ian sing the 70's stuff and comparing his 80's-90's vocals is pretty depressing, but the songs and lyrics themselves are OK, if more interestingly straightforward on the later songs. Tull fans should definitely find it if they liked TAAB, APP, Stand Up and/or Aqualung.

(majordivit.comcast.net) (04/29/08)

I think the song 'Left Right' is one of the greatestt unknown Tull songs.   How that song never made it onto Passion Play or one of the many Tull box sets is beyond me.  The song features one of, if the not best, Martin Barre head splitting riffs that rocks like there is no tomorrow.  The middle 8 portion is catchy too, considering this song is pure prog rock mixed with heavy rock.

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Roots to Branches - 1994 Chrysalis
6
(Mediocre)

Best song: Roots to Branches

Send me your thoughts

Autull.aol.com

I feel that this is one of Tull's most underrated efforts. You almost gave the title cut its due & did not mention the beautiful and poignant "Beside Myself" which is undeniably great music as is "Rare and Precious Chain". "Dangerous Veils" is also excellent musicianship and "This Free Will" is equally popignant as "Beside Myself". Ian is very interested in Indian culture, food, etc., and the impact of this interest is reflected in this work.

David Koukol (dops.mail.com)

I've been a Tull fan for 21 years and feel that the "Roots To Branches" album is the culmination of the Tull experience. Ian Anderson's writing and musicianship are at their peak and the band's contributions are fully-integrated and inspired. If I had to choose only one album to take with me to the proverbial desert island, it would be "Roots To Branches."

trfesok.aol.com (02/13/09)

Hearing "Beside Myself" -- which I also think is a fantastic song -- convinced me to purchase the album. The rest of it doesn't live up to the song, but I don't regret it. The songs don't instantly grab you at first, but most of them really grow on you over time. The playing is terrific, particularly Andrew Gibbings' command of keyboard textures. Ian's flute solos lift up the songs also, even a so-so number like "Wounded, Old and Treacherous".  I do concede that some of the tracks -- particularly "Wounded.." and "At Last Forever" -- could have been edited down considerably without missing much. "Another Harry's Bar" is another nice number which, once again, sounds like Dire Straits hired a flautist. Ian has gotten better at writing songs that now fit his limited vocal range, but he still sounded hopelessly croaky singing old stuff on the tour.  The lyrics are really good, also, with actual emotional resonance showing up in "At Last, Forever" and "Bes ide Myself."  A 4 is way too low, overall.

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J-Tull Dot Com - 1999 Fuel 2000
8
(Good / Mediocre)

Best song: Hard to say, but for once that's a good thing!

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Autull.aol.com

One thing I truly love about the CD format is MORE music. If it's good, which "J-Tull.Com" is, then I simply cannot get enough of it.

TheRubberCow.aol.com (5/24/02)

This is one catchy-ass album.  I don't think there's anything I don't like about it, except "Mango Surprise."  I could kind of put up with the vocal part on "Hot Mango Flush" since the music itself is so good, but the reprise was completely unneccessary.  There are some standouts on here to me, "El Nino", "Dot Com", "Awol", and "Bends Like a Willow."  I do really like the fulte playing here.  But you know, I can't understand why this is considered heavy metal.  I haven't heard any of their other "metal" albums, but if the qualities that make this metal are the same ones that make those other ones metal, I'd have to disagree.  I would say some of the songs are metal-influenced, but as a whole sound more like some older Jethro Tull.

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

This one does continue with the Indian sounds (“Dot Com” and “El Nino”, for instance) that Ian brought back on the last album, but also rocks harder. So, it strikes me as being somewhere between CR and RTB.

We also get more Dire Straits type guitar (title track, again; “AWOL”), but also some really heavy, but non-generic playing from Martin, as well ("Hunt by Numbers", “Black Mamba”). “Bends Like a Willow” has a U2 sort of rhythm and echo effect, which he hadn’t really tried before. There are, as on the last album, more great keyboards from Andy Giddings throughout the whole thing. Ian singing, as you said, had actually improved noticeably. It’s also important to know that, for the first time since at least War Child, Ian hasn’t extended the songs beyond unnecessary lengths. No song is over five minutes long! In the past, songs like “El Nino” or “Wicked Windows” would have probably gone on at least two or three more minutes to show the band’s “prowess”. You might think that the album’s too long, but I’d rather have a dozen good three-to-five minute actual songs than 7 or 8 that include a bunch of tedious jamming.

The main thing that’s missing from the usual Tull mixture of sounds is Ian’s folky acoustic style. He must have gotten that out his system with his third solo album “The Secret Language of Birds”, which was recorded the year before, but wouldn’t come out until the year after (my copy has the title track appended as a bonus track )

As for the lyrics, I have to agree that the title track and “Black Mambo” are pretty goofy. And I do have to go with the consensus of choosing “Hot Mango Flush/Mango Surprise” as the lowlights on the album. The phrase – especially repeated over and over like that – is very annoying, and I don’t really care what Ian did on his island vacation. Those of us who are in the baby boomer age range will find "Wicked Windows" (which makes having to wear glasses sound ominous) and “The Dog-Ear Years” quite funny. It’s too bad the latter has Ian’s weakest vocals on the album.

So, yes, we’ve got great melodies and playing, very good lyrics and decent vocals resulting in the album as a whole to have been his most solid overall in a long time. However, I think other albums have a few peaks that outreach any song here. There isn’t a knock-one-out of-the-park track like latter day highlights “Jack-a-Lynn”, “Jump Start” or “Beside Myself” on the album.

The album sessions produced a UK EP B-side called "It All Trickles Down" that hasn’t ever resurfaced. It combines all of the best elements of the album.

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Living With The Past - 2002 Fuel
A
(Very Good / Good)

Best song: Nothing Is Easy

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David Koukol (dops.mail.com) (5/29/02)

I always find your comments on Jethro Tull intriguing (particularly when I disagree with them, which is often, and I'm all in favor of constructive debate), and was very surprised to read your generally positive remarks concerning their new live album. I agree that "Nothing Is Easy" is a great track, but have to differ with you as regards its "rawness as a source of its "power." I have never listened to Tull for "rawness" (and have been a fan for 23 years now), though I acknowledge that their 1960s material was rough-hewn. I prefer the more refined Tull of today, with more accomplished musicianship (listen to Ian Anderson's superlative flute playing on the live version of "In The Grip Of Stronger Stuff," with he originally wrote and recorded for his solo instrumental album, "Divinities"). It goes back to what I wrote in an earlier Email to your site: Ian and they guys have matured as musicians, not having stood still and rested on their laurels. I'd be very worried if the! y still sounded as "raw" as they did when they were twenty years old! The refined Tull of today can still pack a punch, though, as this CD's version of "Living In The Past" ably demonstrates; it has vast amounts of infectious energy to spare.

Trfesok.aol.com (07/13/12)

Yes, it's a pretty good selection of material, overall. Some is predictable, of course -- they just can't get away without including "Aqualung", "LB", and "Living With the Past". The first two get their typical outings (no reinventions like those on ALLM here). But "Living.." gets yet another delightful rearrangement. I have live versions from 1987; another from October, 1992 that's different from ALLM (plus a remix of the original and a totally acoustic remake, also from '92), and this one is just as good.

(An aside: when I saw the band for the first time in 1987, Ian introduced this song by saying, "This is from a long time ago, when we were pop stars in England" -- and then proceeded to scamper away from the mike in a most fey manner. This looked especially funny, as he was dressed in his country squire outfit).

Ian's voice is still pretty hopeless on the rocking stuff from the first five albums. But on the lower key stuff, as on the Christmas Album, he has improved a lot over ALLM. I really like the 1999 stuff, "Jack in the Green" and "Life is Long Song". Andrew Giddings' work in reproducing the orchestration on synths on that one and "Sweet Dream" is quite impressive. By the way, there is nothing that was unreleased at the time. As David already stated, "In the Grip.." is from Ian's second solo, Divinities, and "The Habanero Reel" (more good vocals) is from the third, The Secret Language of Birds. I think these (as well as the fourth, Rupi's Dance) are well worth your time if you like these two selections.

So, most of songs make the album very worthwhile, if you can accept that Ian's voice will never sound good again on stuff like "Nothing is Easy".

By the way, the 1989 version of "A Christmas Song", recorded backstage in Zurich, was originally issued as a B-side, if I'm not mistaken. Since then, it, along with quick, ALLM type runthroughs of "Cheap Day Return", "Mother Goose" and "LB" recorded at the same time are now bonus tracks on the remastered Rock Island. I bet this little tidbit of info will make run right out and get it so you can reassess the album.

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Live At Montreux 2003 - 2007 Eagle
9
(Good)

Best song: who knows

Send me your thoughts

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The Jethro Tull Christmas Album - 2003 Fuel
A
(Very Good / Good)

Best song: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

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Langas de los Langas (putolangas.hotmail.com) (03/26/06)

I was wondering when would you review this album, which I listened to a year and a half ago, just a week before my first Tull concert (an amazing show, by the way; it was performed in an old Arab castle in Murcia - 250 miles away from my home in Madrid - and I don't mean in a hall inside the castle, no , I mean an open air stage arranged at the top of the castle, with Ian and his pals performing like a band of medieval minstrels)... and I must say I agree with your rating, and even with the choice for best song! (which is very strange indeed, since you almost never pick my favorite one) I absolutely ADORE "Last man at the party", but "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is just gorgeous... I would especially remark Jonathan Noyce's terrific work at bass in that one. I think the fact that there is so much old material is actually a positive aspect of the album, since it provides a full view of Tull's career, like a 'Greatest Hits', only better. And in some cases the new recordings overcome the originals: I had never paid much attention to 'Weathercock' in its original form - now it's one of my favorites!

Trfesok.aol.com (12/16/06)

I don't think we're in Aqualung land anymore, Toto. Not only is the concept a big surprise, but so is the quality. A side by side comparison of the original versions with the remakes don't necessarily show improvements -- "A Christmas Song" isn't nearly as menacing without the strings, and there's no way that Ian could replicate the original backing harmonies on "Jack Frost.." It doesn't matter, though, because the material, both old and new, fits together perfectly with these low key, mostly acoustic arrangements. The instrumentals are a lot of fun, if a bit irreverent, especially "We Five Kings."  The lyrics, of course, tend towards the sentimental (especially for Ian), but it is Christmas. One of the best rock Christmas albums ever.

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Thick As A Brick 2 (Ian Anderson) - 2012 Chrysalis
8

Best song: I guess the Old School Song / Wootton Bassett pairing

Send me your thoughts

trfesok.aol.com (09/13/16)

I think Derek Shulman might have been an executive in Ian’s record company at the time, so he had a vested interest in making this happen. (Of course, this ended up being Ian’s best-selling solo album by a huge margin). Pay no mind if this actually made any artistic sense at all.

What really bugs me if a sequel is made to something, the original is assumed to have some sort of plot. The first TaaB never struck me has having an actual storyline. It seems to me to be more of a series of observations, couched in surrealism, of course. (Of course, the next album did have a plot, but no one was looking for a sequel to that!).

A good idea might have been for Ian to take off from the spoof cover story on the original, with poor little Gerald having to deal with the consequences of composing the “epic poem”. Instead of something like that, we get these parallel life stories, which are interesting in and of themselves. But the ending is confusing. Which one is supposed to have actually happened? Any of them? Or are they all figments of Gerald’s imagination? The only conclusion one might draw is that poor Gerald is suffering from multiple personality disorder in his middle age.

All that aside, it’s an OK album, if you can ignore what’s it’s supposed to be and take it on its own. Although this is Ian fifth (studio) solo album, it’s the first to reembrace Tull’s rock sound. Of course, given the subject matter, there wasn’t really any choice. Ian’s band inevitably doesn’t have the power of Tull in its prime, and Ian’s voice is showing signs of failing once again.(On the tour, he added another vocalist to help). But all of the music is pretty good, and the only cornball moment I can’t stand is the endless chanting of “thick as a brick” during “Pebbles Instrumental”. If only it really was – we know what you want us to think this is, Ian, so shut up, please

. Otherwise, it’s certainly listenable, but there aren’t any powerhouse moments that blow the listener away like the original still can. I actually prefer to listen to the whole thing at once, because I don’t think any part of it works outside the context of the complete album.

As you may already know, Gerald returned in a bigger (and IMHO, much better) way on Ian’s next album..

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