Jethro Tull - Aqualung - Review

Songs: Aqualung, Cross Eyed Mary, Cheap Day Return, Mother Goose, Wond'ring Aloud, Up To Me, My God, Hymn 43, Slipstream, Locomotive Breath, Wind Up.

Type of Music: (Hard) Rock with bits and pieces of Folk.

Comments:

There is no Classic Rock Fan that can´t hum the opening riff from Aqualung´s title track! The Album became Jethro Tull´s biggest commercial success and most acknowledged effort. This despite the controversial theme and lyrics of the album that deal with the distinction between religion and God. Ian Anderson is quite clear in stating that organised religion interferes with the divine relationship between God and men. Ian uses the figure of Aqualung ( a beggar with a bad cough – hence the name) to tell us his story.

I´m not sure if Aqualung is the Tull´s best Album but it is certainly one of their best efforts. And that´s because most of the songs here are excellent. They have even survived years and years of daily air-play on Classic Rock Stations all over the world. And that says something about the timeless quality. Many people thought at the time that it was a Concept Album but Ian has stated quite clearly that it's "just" a bunch of good songs. There is however an acoustic touch to the Album that the band would investigate more further on down the road.

The best song on the album must be Locomotive Breath, the perfect Rock Song about bad luck. The piano and the guitar get the train moving and once on its way, it won´t stop going, no way it would slow down! Many artists have recorded songs that seek to imitate the movement of trains but Ian beats them all.

Also excellent is the title track. Actually there are three different moods in this song reflecting our friend Aqualung´s state of mind. And both Cross Eyed Mary and Mother Goose display that near perfect inter-play between guitar and flute that is so characteristic for the best of Jethro Tull´s work.

Up to Me, My God and Hymn 43 have strong and recognisable riffs as well but the songs themselves are less memorable. And there are three short acoustic interludes (Cheap Day Return, Wond´ring Aloud, Slipstream) that are nice but quite uneventful actually,maybe with the exception of Wond'ring. Ian knows how to play the acoustic guitar although he would abuse it sometimes later in the Tull´s career.

The only slight let-down is the album closer Wind Up. Here Ian gets a bit too preachy for my taste. That´s also the case in My God but there the instrumental parts of guitar and flute provide a necessary counter balance.

And there´s one other flaw. The sound quality of the re-mastered album is still relatively poor and lifeless. It misses the warmth of the original vinyl record. In the interview that is added as one of the bonus tracks, Ian explains that the band was never happy with the sound of the Island studios. Apparently Jethro Tull was the first band to record an important Album there, together with Led Zeppelin.  

The other bonus tracks include alternate versions of Song for Jeffrey, Fat Man and Bouree as well as a slightly better version of Wind Up and, finally,  Lick Your Fingers Clean that would later be released on the Warchild album, be it in a somewhat different version.

Conclusion:

Despite some small flaws, Aqualung is one of the great Jethro Tull Albums and should be part of every Classic Rock Collection.

Who should buy this Record: Everybody.

Bonus Tracks: Lick Your Fingers Clean, Wind Up (Quad Version), Excerpts from the Ian Anderson Interview (1996), Song for Jeffrey, Fat Man, Bouree.

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better