AN INTRODUCTION TO JETHRO TULL

'An Introduction To Jethro Tull' is a compilation of Jethro Tull and was released in 2017. It's a compilation with tracks from eight original studio albums of Jethro Tull. This compilation covers the years between 1969 and 1978. So, here we have tracks from 'Stand Up', 'Aqualung', 'Living In The Past', 'War Child', 'Minstrel In The Gallery', 'Songs From The Wood' and 'Heavy Horses'. It has also a very small extract, of 'Thick As A Brick' from 'Thick As A Brick'. Besides that, it has also a track which was never released on any of their studio albums, 'Sweet Dream' from 1969.

The line up on this compilation is from different line ups of Jethro Tull. So we have Ian Anderson (vocals and flute), Martin Barre (electric guitar), John Evan (keyboards), David Palmer (keyboards), Glenn Cornick (bass), Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (bass), John Glascock (vocals and bass), Clive Bunker (drums) and Barriemore Barlow (drums).

'An Introduction To Jethro Tull' has ten tracks. The first track 'Living In The Past' is from 'Living In The Past'. It has a great bass line, haunting flute and cool lyrics. It's a hit song from a rock group led by a flute. This is one of the highlights of Jethro Tull's career. It was a bit revolutionary at the time, especially for a single, one of the best prog rock singles ever. The second track 'Nothing Is Easy' is from 'Stand Up'. It's another classic Jethro Tull's song. This is a fantastic rock track with several musical sections and with some incredible musical performance. It has fine drumming and the interaction between the flute and the guitar is perfect. The balance between the power and elegance is great. The third track 'Aqualung' is from 'Aqualung'. It's one of the most complex songs to be found here. This is one of the best Jethro Tull's songs. It's a very well known song, very heavy and dark with many acoustic elements. This is a great track that is almost plays out as a mini suite with several different parts. It's a timeless composition where changes in time and signature are great. Everything functions perfectly well here. The fourth track 'Locomotive Breath' is from 'Aqualung'. It has a beautiful jazz pianistic start, really remarkable, and then it develops too predictably and ends in a kind of a decline. It has dark guitar chords, slow soft acoustic parts alternated with heavy fast rock and great rhythms. It's a Jethro Tull's legendary track with great piano, guitar and excellent flute work. The fifth track 'Songs From The Wood' is from 'Songs From The Wood'. This is a great song to open that album. It's the song that introduces us to the calm and pastoral atmosphere of the countryside. It's the song that explains to us everything that will be brought all over that album. The constant changes in timing and the outstanding guitar work and the strong bass line are brilliant. The sixth track 'Sweet Dream' was never released on any of their studio albums. It was originally released as a single. It was originally recorded during the sessions of their second studio album 'Stand Up'. It later appeared on the 1972 compilation album 'Living In The Past'. 'Sweet Dream' is a heavy and somewhat experimental tune, a dizzying blend of a hard rock track, a bit pompous on the brass part, but I like it quite a lot. The seventh track 'Thick As A Brick Edit #1' is from 'Thick As A Brick'. The version on this compilation is a very short edited version of the theme. 'Thick As A Brick' is simply their greatest opus with more than 40 minutes. So, is absolutely ridiculous to reduce it to so shortly. The eighth track 'Bungle In The Jungle' is from 'War Child'. This is a melodious song well orchestrated composed in a pop commercial style. It's very simple, very humorous and nothing pretentious, a typical hit song made to sell an album. The orchestration is the key word here, since are David Palmer's arrangements that really make the song. The ninth track 'Minstrel In The Gallery' is from 'Minstrel In The Gallery'. It's a very beautiful composition which combines acoustic and hard rock music in a very balanced way. This is one of the two strongest and most energetic songs on 'Minstrel In The Gallery'. The tenth track 'Heavy Horses' is from 'Heavy Horses'. This is the lengthiest song on that album and is also one of its highest points. It's probably the best track on that album. It's very well orchestrated and has also a superb choral work. This is a fantastic progressive song with a perfect mix between the rock and folk styles.

Conclusion: This is an interesting and reasonable compilation album of Jethro Tull that covers works which were released between 1969 and 1978. The selection is predictable with some very good tracks, of which some of them were successful singles. So, we have two tracks from 'Aqualung' and one track from their albums 'Stand Up', 'Living In The Past', 'War Child', 'Minstrel In The Gallery', 'Songs From The Wood' and 'Heavy Horses', besides 'Sweet Dream'. But, there's a small problem here. We have only a very short extract of 'Thick As A Brick'. I can understand and appreciate the difficulty of including extracts from albums such as 'Thick As A Brick', which is effectively one 40 minute track. I can also see the problem of not include anything of their greatest masterpiece in a compilation album. Still, I continue thinking that it's a crime to reduce it to a small extract with about 3 minutes. I think simply is better not including it. So, I'm going to rate this compilation with only 2 stars. This is a compilation for collectors and fans only.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)