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

Jethro Tull - Inside - Review

Jethro Tull - Inside - 1970

Songs: With You There to Help Me, Nothing to Say, Alive and Well and Living In, Son, For Michael Collins Jeffrey and Me, To Cry You a Song, A Time for Everything, Inside, Play in Time, Sossity You´re a Woman.  

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

Comments:

What a different record when compared to Stand Up. The atmosphere is dark and sometimes somewhat depressing but at the same time very coherent. Part of this surely stems from the fact that John Evan joined the Tull on keyboards. This gave Martin Barre more confidence and Artistic Freedom and he used it to our Benefit. 

Ian Anderson clearly did not like the Commercial Pressure put on the band after the success of Stand Up and reacted by delivering Benefit, a non-conformist Hard Rock Album. Yes, you heard me quite right. It´s mainly Hard Rock and quite good as well. The Tull is vastly underrated as a Hard Rock Band as most of the attention tends to go to Ian and his Flute. Not that Ian minds that by the way. He must be one of the Biggest Egos in Musical History.

His flute of course does make the difference between the Tull and your common Hard Rock Band. A good example is the very strong Album opener With You There to Help Me, a duel between Ian´s Flute and Martin´s Guitar that ends in a draw after a very exciting match.

Benefit suffers a bit from the lack of recognisable Riffs. As a result the songs tend to leave your brains just as quick as they enter. But they also grow on you with time and that’s the main reason that this Album gets regular spins in my CD Player. Other great songs include Play in Time and the single Inside, the only somewhat lighter composition on the album with Ian´s Flute seemingly floating through the song. Great bass from Glenn Cornick as well. 

Inside is mostly forgotten, released as it was between the giants Stand Up and Aqualung. And although it´s gloomy and dark and maybe sometimes a bit pretentious, it contains some great music and certainly deserves more attention than it usually gets. People who enjoy Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath will not be disappointed by this Album.  

At the end of the Sixties and begin Seventies , JT also released many good singles. Two of them, Witch´s Promise and Teacher are included in the Remastered version released in 2001, together with Singing All Day and Just Trying to Be.

The two singles are extremely catchy Prog-Rock songs and those two songs alone already justify buying the Remastered Version of Benefit.

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  This is not the place to start your Tull collection. However if you prefer Tull´s Hard Rock side above the Prog-Rock and/or Folk side, Inside is for you.

Bonus Tracks: Singing All Day, Witch´s Promise, Just Trying To Be, Teacher.

Stand Up - Jethro Tull - Review

Songs:  A New Day Yesterday, Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square, Bourée, Back To The Family, Look Into The Sun, Nothing Is Easy, Fat Man, We Used To Know, Reasons For Waiting, For A Thousand Mothers. 

Type of Music: Mixture of Blues and (Hard) Rock with touches of Jazz, Folk and Classical Music.

Comments:

Guitarist Mick Abrahams left JT after This Was and was replaced by Martin Barre. This immediately resulted in a more Hard Rock orientated sound as opposed to the Bluesy atmosphere on the debut album. And that´s not at all bad.

In fact the combination of Martin´s guitar, Ian´s Flute and, not in the least, Ian's excellent songs make Stand Up one of the great Classic Rock Albums of all time. The whole album sounds very rough, sincere and to the point.

The instrumental Bourée is a good example. It´s the perfect mix between Classical Music and Rock. It’s stunningly beautiful. This is Classic Rock!

Stand Up is a great mix of (hard) rockers (A New Day Yesterday, Back To The Family, Nothing Is Easy, For A Thousand Mothers), ballads (Look into The Sun, Reasons For Waiting) and Folk (Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square). This last song will serve as a reference for many of the Tull’s later Minstrel Songs.

The opener A New Day Yesterday is a great Blues Track transformed into Hard Rock with fine drumming and a perfect interplay between Martin’s Guitar and Ian’s Flute.

Quite different is the funny Fat Man, an Indian sounding George Harrison type of song. In fact, Ian managed to stay thin for a long time. And if you ever wondered where the Eagles found their inspiration for Hotel California, listen  to We Used To Know. Both the melody and guitar solo were “used” by Don Henley & Company.

At the end of the sixties, JT also released many great singles. Two of them, Living In The Past and Sweet Dream are included in this Remastered version released in 2001, together with Driving Song and 17.   

Jethro Tull would make other great records in the coming years. But few were as consistently good as this, their second Album. And Stand Up was a good title for the music still stands up after all these years!

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

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  This is both an Essential Tull as well as an Essential Rock Album. Therefore it should be part of your Rock Album Collection.

Bonus Tracks: Living in the Past, Driving Song, Sweet Dreams, 17 

This Was - Jethro Tull - Review

Songs:  My Sunday Feeling, Some Day the Sun won’t Shine for You, Beggar’s Farm, Move on Alone, Serenade to a Cuckoo, Dharma for One, It’s Breaking me Up, Cat’s Squirrel, A Song for Jeffrey, Round.

Type of Music: Late Sixties Blues Rock

Comments:

Jethro Tull is a Progressive Rock group formed in 1967 in Luton in the United Kingdom. Key Figures are band leader Ian Anderson and guitarist Martin Barre who joined the band in 1969. First some general remarks about Ian Anderson. If you can’t get used to Ian´s voice, it’s difficult to like Tull´s Music. Secondly, Ian is not the most modest guy on this earth. Many times that makes his songs and texts extraordinary, sometimes it makes them almost unbearable. You will encounter all of these when we follow Ian’s career throughout the years. Jethro Tull is still very active by the way and tours the world on a regular base.   

Now let’s return to This Was, Tull´s First album. Tull was not yet the successful Prog-Rock Band of the early/middle-seventies but just one of the many Blues Bands that were active in England in the late sixties. Guitarist Mick Abraham (blues back-ground) played an important part in the making of this album.

The Album is unknown to most Rock fans and that’s a pity because it deserves our attention.

It’s mostly right out Blues like in Someday The Sun Won’t Shine For You and It’s Breaking Me Up. On various occasions the songs are jazz-flavoured like Move On Alone, written by Mick Abrahams, and Serenade To A Cuckoo, written by Jazz Flutist Roland Kirk, where Ian starts to show us his magical flute playing abilities. There is some instrumental filler here as well such as the traditional Cat’s Squirrel and Round. And Dharma For One is more of a showcase for the individual players than an actual song.  

All throughout his career, Ian sometimes found it necessary to “ robotize” his voice in the way Moby does it today. I think that’s a pity and it downgrades the otherwise good A Song for Jeffrey. Although in 1968 many people probably loved these experiments as they were quite new in those days.

On the plus side we begin to discover the wonderful and unique combination of Blues and Rock and Ian’s Flute. This would produce great results in the future but it also works very well here in My Sunday Feeling and Beggar’s Farm, the best song on the album. This last song shows the difference of having Ian and his flute in your band. Great Lyrics as well.    

The Album was digitally re-mastered in 2001 and contains three bonus tracks, the instrumental One for John Gee, written for the owner of the Marquee Club in London where the Tull started playing live, the Indian flavoured Love Song and the somewhat unusual Christmas Song. They aren’t bad songs but I can perfectly live without them.

This Album is different from all other Tull Albums but certainly worth listening to.

Bonus Tracks: One for John Gee, Love Story, Christmas Song.

Rating: ******* (7 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record:  If you like late Sixties Blues Bands like Cream, John Mayall or Ten Years After this album is certainly well worth its money. Real Prog-Rock Tull adepts should start their collection elsewhere.