THROUGH THE YEARS

Ha! See the ratings of this compilation! I'm not breaking the (rare and precious?) chain of one- star ratings, because this really is a disgrace as a sampler of JETHRO TULL's music. Yesterday I read the review in allmusic.com and there it was said very well: if one played in hazard 13 tracks from Tull's catalogue between 1968 and 1995, it could sound like this. It's miles away from being a Best Of collection in any sense. First, songs leap from one era and style to another in a very haphazard way. The only even slightly logical thing about the selection is that it manages to pick tracks from numerous albums. But regarding that some of those albums are clearly among Tull's weaker output, while some classics (e.g. Minstrel In The Gallery, Thick As A Brick, Stormwatch) are excluded completely, that doesn't help anything at all. I'm sure any fan would have concentrated more in the halcyon days of the seventies and would have minimized the portion of the years '82-95.

What's more striking, the tracks here are hardly anyone's favourite songs of the albums. Well, not mine at least. Maybe the editor of the compilation has his own taste... Only 'We Used To Know' from Stand Up (1969) might be an exception. Also 'Wind Up' from Aqualung is great, but so is the album in general - I personally don't enjoy 'Locomotive Breath' which is also here (though I know it has a classic status).

Actually years ago, when my few Tull albums were on vinyls, I had a cheaper- looking CD with the same track list if I remember right. I removed it quite quickly from my shelf... JETHRO TULL is a fantastic band (I've grown to love their best albums more and more over the years!) but if you decide to start with a compilation, don't choose this one.

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