LIVING IN THE PAST

"Life's a long song, but the tune ends too soon for us all"

This superb collection of songs sees itself dimished in quality by someone's crazy idea of including some live material which spoilts the route taken from the early days to the glorious days of present in 1972 in which Jethro Tull offers us a panoply of their best weapons: unbeatable songwriting, excellent performance and rich sound. Only someone thought, why not include some live material? And what they gave us was two long boring pieces consisting in a unfinishable drum solo by Clive Bunker and John Evan's piano exercises, including quotations from Beethoven and some other classics. Absolutely dispensable.

And having a look at the recent remasters of the first albums you realize there was additional material they could have used to fill the third side of the album, whether live or studio, to complete an otherwise outstanding collection of songs.

I rated this albums 5 stars on first terms. Now I'm writing this review, I honestly believe four is its true rating according to the flaws previously listed.

Everyone has their favourite Tull's era and songs. I must confess I have a weakness for the fourth side of the album. "Life's a Long Song" seems the perfect three minutes Jethro Tull song: brilliant, witty, ironic and somewhat bittersweet. And so is "Wondering Again", a reprise on Aqualung's "Wondering Aloud" which is a turn of the screw. And I can't help imaging Ian Anderson recovering from an illness lying on a bed in hospital and being attended by a light feeted nurse every time I listen to "Nursie", a 1'30" little jewel.

Weaknesses appart, disc 1 could perfectly stand for The Best of Jethro Tull 1968-1970. so if you are considering the possibility of acquiring this album, don't hesitate for one minute, do buy it. And if you are considering the possibility of downloading it, spare the two long pieces, you are missing nothing really important and save for next buys.

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