20 YEARS OF JETHRO TULL BOX

This is a boxset you have to see in its historical context. When it came out in the late 1980s, none of Jethro Tull's albums were available in remastered format, and most of the performances included here had never been freely available, although obsessive Tull collectors (which I am not!) may have been familiar with certain performances from old and obscure B-sides, E.P.s and the like.

For the enthusiastic (and not necessarily completist) Tull fan, 20 YEARS made the perfect Christmas present. It looked great (the box lid is adorned with ten irresistible black-and-white photographs of the band in various incarnations) and contained a well-written, informative booklet (LP-sized, as was then customary), chock-full of obscure pictures and featuring a Pete Frame-designed family tree.

The choice of material was idiosyncratic but fascinating, a fact that showed this was indeed a set for true fans, not for beginners. Only nine classic Tull tunes were simply lifted from their respective studio albums, especially acoustic ones such as 'Cheap Day Return', 'One White Duck' and 'Moths'. (For some obscure reason, the totally pointless 'Bungle in the Jungle' was included too.) Some of the band's best loved songs (e.g. 'Locomotive Breath', 'Songs from the Wood' and a shortened version of 'Thick as a Brick') were represented by unfamiliar, and indeed substandard, live performances. But most of the BBC radio recordings (e.g. 'A New Day Yesterday', 'Velvet Green' and the classic 'Stormy Monday Blues') sounded superb.

But the (to me, at least) unfamiliar material was the best of all. The band's first single, 'Aeroplane'/'Sunshine Day', (originally released under the name Jethro Toe!) simply sounded SHWEET. Other obscure tunes ( '17', 'One for John Gee' and 'Witch's Promise') were just as enchanting. And many previously unreleased tracks from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties immediately cast their spell, especially 'Summerday Sands', 'Strip Cartoon', 'King Henry's Madrigal', 'Motoreyes', 'Blues Instrumental', 'Part of the Machine' and the gorgeous 'Jack-a-Lynn'. Most, if not all, of these tracks are now available as bonus material on regular Jethro Tull albums.