STAND UP

This is the album where Jethro Tull really became the band that we knew for all those years. After the first album, This Was, guitarist Mick Abrahams left, and was replaced by Martin Barre, giving the group a much richer pallette, and Anderson more to work with. While the songs still mostly retain that blues base, there is much more folk influence, and much more of the prog that will define his music, and make this band a favorite to this day.

A New Day Yesterday and Nothing Is Easy are both explosive rock tunes with a hint of prog in their arrangements. Both of these became long time concert favorites. But the real gems are Bourée and For A Thousand Mothers, foreshadowing the greatness this band would soon discover.

4 stars, because of the historic aspect of the album, showing a band on the road to huge heights, and just because it's a damned fine album.