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JETHRO TULL

Prog Folk • United Kingdom


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Jethro Tull biography
Founded in Blackpool, UK in 1967 - Hiatus from 2012-2016


"I didn`t have to play it all the time, I just had to wave it around and look good" - Ian Anderson 2003.

Eccentric on stage yet rather thoughtful, reserved and even sombre at times when not in the limelight, the Jethro Tull image was the brainchild of flute wielding frontman Ian ANDERSON. Clad in scruffy vagabond apparel, and looking more like an anachronism out of a Charles Dickens tale, Anderson conveyed an old English aura during the band`s formative years in the late 60`s and early 70`s which would persist throughout the band's 40 year career both visually and musically.

Born on August 10, 1947 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, Anderson was augmented by a revolving door of colourful musicians over the years which added to the flamboyance of the Jethro Tull phenomenon. Conceived as a psychedelic blues band in late 1967 the music of Jethro Tull has always been dauntingly intricate embracing many styles including blues, jazz, folk, medieval, classical, hard rock along with forays into electronic music, sometimes referred to as "space age prog". The lyrics were equally as sophisticated and sometimes reached new heights of grandiloquence commenting on depressing world events such as drug abuse, the oil crisis, modernisation, third world troubles and a deteriorating economy.. Other topics included fads, spy novels, environmental and social issues as well as metaphysical musings. With lyrics and music which ran deep Jethro Tull have often been over-analysed by both fans and critics alike and many of their albums have been erroneously interpreted as autobiographical due to the fact that many of their record covers featured artwork which seemed to depict Ian Anderson's likeness, something which he has vehemently denied in numerous interviews.

Jethro Tull can trace their origins back to 1963 when as a young art student in Blackpool, England Anderson formed a band called THE BLADES (after a club in a James Bond novel). By 1965 as a 7-piece they had changed their name to THE JOHN EVAN BAND and subsequently to THE JOHN EVAN SMASH (his mother supplied their tour van) Evan, whose real name was Evans, would eventually become the band's keyboard player for most of the seventies. The band relocated to London in`67, the centre of the British blues movement of the sixties in search of more lucrative gigs. However the band was gradually d...
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JETHRO TULL discography


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JETHRO TULL top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.30 | 964 ratings
This Was
1968
4.05 | 1441 ratings
Stand Up
1969
3.91 | 1211 ratings
Benefit
1970
4.37 | 2917 ratings
Aqualung
1971
4.64 | 3695 ratings
Thick as a Brick
1972
4.05 | 1653 ratings
A Passion Play
1973
3.34 | 955 ratings
War Child
1974
4.05 | 1404 ratings
Minstrel in the Gallery
1975
3.11 | 885 ratings
Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die!
1976
4.22 | 1626 ratings
Songs from the Wood
1977
4.04 | 1342 ratings
Heavy Horses
1978
3.49 | 881 ratings
Stormwatch
1979
3.24 | 734 ratings
A
1980
3.29 | 751 ratings
The Broadsword And The Beast
1982
2.23 | 599 ratings
Under Wraps
1984
3.01 | 185 ratings
A Classic Case
1985
3.23 | 677 ratings
Crest of a Knave
1987
2.70 | 532 ratings
Rock Island
1989
2.64 | 500 ratings
Catfish Rising
1991
3.60 | 592 ratings
Roots To Branches
1995
3.01 | 495 ratings
J-Tull Dot Com
1999
3.48 | 466 ratings
The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
2003
3.33 | 198 ratings
The Zealot Gene
2022
3.19 | 114 ratings
RökFlöte
2023

JETHRO TULL Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.20 | 466 ratings
Live - Bursting Out
1978
2.93 | 58 ratings
Live At Hammersmith '84
1990
3.65 | 195 ratings
A Little Light Music
1992
3.08 | 53 ratings
In Concert
1995
3.68 | 137 ratings
Living With The Past
2002
4.23 | 179 ratings
Nothing Is Easy: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970
2004
3.47 | 105 ratings
Aqualung Live
2005
3.50 | 95 ratings
Live At Montreux 2003
2007
4.25 | 24 ratings
Live at Madison Square Garden 1978
2009
4.24 | 36 ratings
Live At Carnegie Hall 1970
2015

JETHRO TULL Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

3.86 | 57 ratings
Slipstream (DVD)
1981
3.82 | 46 ratings
20 Years of Jethro Tull (VHS)
1988
3.48 | 91 ratings
Living With the Past
2002
3.04 | 55 ratings
A New Day Yesterday - The 25th Anniversary Collection
2003
3.87 | 100 ratings
Nothing Is Easy: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970
2005
2.99 | 71 ratings
Live At Montreux 2003
2007
4.04 | 24 ratings
Slipstream (9 song version)
2007
4.32 | 28 ratings
Classic Artists Series: Jethro Tull
2008
3.37 | 35 ratings
Jack In The Green - Live In Germany
2008
3.63 | 24 ratings
Songs From Bethlehem
2008
4.38 | 108 ratings
Live At Madison Square Garden 1978 (DVD + CD)
2009
3.77 | 35 ratings
Live at AVO Session Basel 2008
2009
4.56 | 39 ratings
Around the World Live (4DVD)
2013

JETHRO TULL Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.09 | 3 ratings
Jethro Tull
1970
3.09 | 3 ratings
Sunday Best
1971
4.12 | 355 ratings
Living In The Past
1972
3.04 | 89 ratings
M.U. - The Best of Jethro Tull
1976
2.98 | 59 ratings
Repeat - The Best Of Jethro Tull - Vol. II
1977
2.00 | 4 ratings
The Best Of Jethro Tull Vol. III
1981
3.18 | 86 ratings
Original Masters
1985
2.05 | 2 ratings
Masters of Rock
1986
3.65 | 89 ratings
20 Years Of Jethro Tull Box
1988
4.46 | 92 ratings
20 Years Of Jethro Tull (The Definitive Collection)
1988
3.77 | 59 ratings
20 Years Of Jethro Tull (USA release)
1989
3.67 | 176 ratings
Nightcap
1993
3.81 | 57 ratings
The Best Of Jethro Tull: The Anniversary Collection
1993
4.42 | 82 ratings
25th Anniversary Box Set
1993
2.58 | 27 ratings
A Jethro Tull Collection
1997
1.55 | 33 ratings
Through The Years
1997
3.00 | 79 ratings
The Very Best Of Jethro Tull
2001
2.26 | 16 ratings
Essential Jethro Tull
2007
3.46 | 55 ratings
The Best Of Acoustic Jethro Tull
2007
3.82 | 52 ratings
The Jethro Tull Christmas Album / Live - Christmas At St Bride's 2008
2009
4.67 | 57 ratings
Aqualung - 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition
2011
2.09 | 3 ratings
Essential
2011
4.85 | 98 ratings
Thick as a Brick - 40th Anniversary Special Edition
2012
4.87 | 86 ratings
A Passion Play: An Extended Perfomance
2014
4.68 | 57 ratings
War Child - The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition
2014
4.64 | 66 ratings
Minstrel In The Gallery - 40th Anniversary: La Grande Edition
2015
4.61 | 40 ratings
Too Old To Rock'n'Roll: Too Young To Die - The TV Special Edition
2015
4.77 | 31 ratings
Stand Up - The Elevated Edition
2016
4.92 | 30 ratings
Aqualung - 40th Anniversary Adapted Edition
2016
2.00 | 3 ratings
An Introduction to Jethro Tull
2017
4.87 | 53 ratings
Songs From The Wood - 40th Anniversary Edition - The Country Set
2017
4.59 | 42 ratings
Heavy Horses (New Shoes Edition)
2018
4.48 | 29 ratings
This Was (50 Anniversary Edition)
2018
3.04 | 8 ratings
50 for 50
2018
2.00 | 5 ratings
50th Anniversary Collection
2018
4.52 | 39 ratings
Stormwatch (The 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition)
2019
4.36 | 40 ratings
A (La Mode) - The 40th Anniversary Edition
2021
4.46 | 31 ratings
Benefit - 50th Anniversary Enhanced Edition
2021
4.39 | 16 ratings
The Broadsword And The Beast (The 40th Anniversary Monster Edition)
2023
0.00 | 0 ratings
The Chateau D'Herouville Sessions 1972
2024

JETHRO TULL Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

3.85 | 20 ratings
Love Story
1968
4.00 | 26 ratings
A Song For Jeffrey
1968
2.72 | 22 ratings
Sunshine Day
1968
4.05 | 33 ratings
Sweet Dream / 17
1969
4.00 | 24 ratings
The Witch's Promise
1969
4.50 | 34 ratings
Living In The Past
1969
3.85 | 20 ratings
Inside
1970
4.38 | 44 ratings
Life Is a Long Song
1971
4.14 | 22 ratings
Hymn 43
1971
4.42 | 33 ratings
Aqualung
1971
4.11 | 9 ratings
Locomotive Breath
1971
4.12 | 33 ratings
Living In The Past
1972
3.48 | 27 ratings
Bungle In The Jungle
1974
4.38 | 8 ratings
Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day
1974
4.00 | 7 ratings
Minstrel in the Gallery / Summerday Sands
1975
3.25 | 33 ratings
Ring Out, Solstice Bells
1976
3.10 | 10 ratings
Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll; Too Young To Die
1976
3.66 | 31 ratings
The Whistler
1977
3.73 | 11 ratings
A Stitch In Time
1978
4.04 | 29 ratings
Moths
1978
3.90 | 11 ratings
Warm Sporran
1979
2.86 | 23 ratings
North Sea Oil
1979
4.35 | 23 ratings
Home E.P.
1979
3.20 | 25 ratings
Working John, Working Joe
1980
3.31 | 26 ratings
Fallen On Hard Times
1982
3.44 | 27 ratings
Broadsword
1982
2.92 | 24 ratings
Lap Of Luxury
1984
3.29 | 7 ratings
Bourrée
1985
3.94 | 18 ratings
Coronach
1986
3.63 | 16 ratings
Said She Was A Dancer 12''
1987
3.67 | 21 ratings
Steel Monkey 12''
1987
4.00 | 8 ratings
Part Of The Machine
1988
3.71 | 22 ratings
Another Christmas Song
1989
3.48 | 20 ratings
This Is Not Love
1991
3.79 | 19 ratings
Rocks On The Road
1991
2.96 | 15 ratings
Living in the (Slightly More Recent) Past / Living in the Past
1993
2.84 | 22 ratings
Rare And Precious Chain
1995
3.35 | 20 ratings
Bends Like A Willow
1999
3.15 | 13 ratings
The Christmas EP
2004
3.40 | 5 ratings
Living in the Past
2013
3.67 | 6 ratings
The Navigators
2023

JETHRO TULL Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die! by JETHRO TULL album cover Studio Album, 1976
3.11 | 885 ratings

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Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die!
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Ian Anderson's desire to go beyond music and venture into other artistic territories had already manifested itself when a failed film project resulted in the 1974 album "War Child". Two years later, a new attempt, in this case to create a musical, also failed to flourish. And the end result was the conceptual "Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die", Jethro Tull's ninth album. The central theme of the work refers to the rocker Ray Lomas, a character who refuses to resign himself to the passage of time and by all possible means denies his ageing until his encounter with a contemporary of the beat wave in a bar brings him back to reality. The narrative of the story is supported by short pieces, which without losing the band's natural inclination for acoustic melodies and folk atmospheres, have a more urban connotation.

The beautiful acoustic chords and violins of the prelude to the dynamic "Quizz Kid" kick off the album, which unfolds between lively pieces such as the entertaining "Crazed Institution" where the bass of the recently incorporated John Glascock clearly marks the rhythm as in most of the album, the bluesy and raspy "Taxi Grab" with Anderson's harmonica and Martin Barre's guitar riffs as guides, or the rock 'n' roll "Big Dipper", intertwined with reflective moments such as the emotive and stupendous "From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser" with David (Dee) Palmer's brief and heartfelt saxophone simulated, or the acoustic nakedness of the aching "Bad-Eyed and Loveless", and which has its definitive point with the orchestrated piece "Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die", whose title has transcended the borders of the album to become a famous phrase of recurrent use. The vindicatory "The Chequered Flag (Dead or Alive)" closes the album with the delicate curtain of John Evans' keyboards, violins and the full band accompanying Anderson's peaceful and conciliatory singing.

"Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die" is an album that, despite having some outstanding moments, did not reach the brilliance that both the album that preceded it (Minstrel in the Gallery) and the one immediately following it (Songs from the Wood) achieved, eclipsing it even more.

3/3.5 stars

 Minstrel in the Gallery by JETHRO TULL album cover Studio Album, 1975
4.05 | 1404 ratings

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Minstrel in the Gallery
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

4 stars After the singular experience of "War Child", Jethro Tull returns to their acoustic orientation and adds substantial rock nuances in one of their most outstanding albums, "Minstrel in the Gallery", the eighth of their discography. From the descriptive cover art inspired by a work by the 19th century English painter Joseph Nash, setting the scene in a hall full of characters and animals in a delirious and bizarre image, the album travels through medieval settings of castles and troubadours, combined with Ian Anderson's experiential reflections.

Right from the start, the forceful "Minstrel in the Gallery" marks in Anderson's initial chords the path that the album will follow, confirmed by the beautiful melancholy of "Requiem" and the delicacy of "One White Duck / 0^10 = Nothing at All", both acoustic pieces enriched by the sensitive arrangements of a quartet of violins and cello skilfully conducted by David Palmer. Also on the extensive and heterogeneous suite "Baker St. Muse", the most progressive piece on the album, structuring its sections from Anderson's guitars as on "Pig-Me and the Whore", on the long-suffering "Crash- Barrier Waltzer", and on the complex and acidic "Mother England Reverie", accompanied by his flutes and the keyboards of an assertive John Evan.

But although the album is dominated by the folk contributions of its leader, it also features a more protagonist Martin Barre. Relegated to a secondary role in the predecessors "A Passion Play" and "War Child", Barre assumes a more active role with his riffs and solos in several passages of the work, as in the initially mentioned "Minstrel in the Gallery", whose last two thirds are largely sustained by the guitarist, in the extravagant journey through Norse mythology of "Cold Wind to Valhalla" and fundamentally in the second part of the anxious "Black Satin Dancer", under the solid percussion base of Barriemore Barlow, adding a greater sonic forcefulness to the album.

The frugal "Grace" closes the album delicately, and with it also ends bassist Jeffrey Hammond's time in the band, to devote himself to painting, his true passion.

Without a doubt, "Minstrel in the Gallery" is a great work, and part of Jethro Tull's essential discography.

4/4,5 stars

 War Child by JETHRO TULL album cover Studio Album, 1974
3.34 | 955 ratings

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War Child
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

3 stars After the enormous structures that distinguished the developments of "Thick as a Brick" and "A Passion Play", Jethro Tull redirected their efforts towards the creation of a work with the aim of being the musical backdrop for a film devised by the restless Ian Anderson. The project did not come to fruition and was shelved. However, the band had already begun to work on it, generating pieces for that purpose with orchestral elements guided by the solvent David Palmer. The result of that failed cinematic attempt ended up becoming "War Child", the band's seventh album.

And that approach somewhat defines the overall mood of the album. Beyond the interesting subject matter addressed from the opening "War Child" with its painful indifference, the acid criticism of "Queen and Country", the ruthless competitiveness of "Bungle in the Jungle", to the stark "The Third Hoorah" with Celtic reminiscences, the accompanying orchestrated instrumentation mixes keyboards, flutes, saxophones, accordions and diverse percussive elements that generate the sensation of being in front of something that differs from an expected work of the British, and overshadows it a little.

Despite this, the band's inalienable folk vein is present, both in the first vindicatory phrases of the delicate and blushing "Ladies", in Anderson's beautiful acoustic arpeggios in "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day", and in the ephemeral beauty of "Only Solitaire"; and the rock energy, present in dribs and drabs throughout the album, is provided by "Back-Door Angels" with Anderson's flutes, John Evan's keyboards but, above all, Martin Barre's guitar riffs and solos, in the highlight of "War Child".

The excellence of the musicians brought the album forward, but starting from an initially different goal may have compromised the final product, preventing it from reaching the superlative level of its predecessors.

3/3,5 stars

 A Passion Play by JETHRO TULL album cover Studio Album, 1973
4.05 | 1653 ratings

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A Passion Play
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

4 stars The road ahead for Jethro Tull, after the consecutive releases of their major works "Aqualung" and, above all, "Thick as a Brick", was more than challenging. In this scenario, the release of "A Passion Play", the band's sixth album, generated controversy due to the theatrical approach of the proposal and the subject matter, dealing with sensitive themes such as life after death, and the eternal dichotomy between good and evil. And the sensation that haunts the album is that it tries to go further in the level of complexity with respect to "Thick as a Brick", resulting in a conceptual work of similar structure, but more intricate and at times of choppy fluidity.

The reflections of the troubled Ronnie Pilgrim, the main character, now out of the animated world and in a flashback of his life confronted with himself and his post-mortem destiny between heaven and hell going through the ordeal of purgatory, serve as an excuse to appreciate how consolidated the band was at that point in their career, separating the story of "A Passion Play" into two parts.

Part 1 describes Pilgrim's funeral and the review of his earthly years, highlighting Anderson's acoustic guitars accompanied by John Evan's classical piano and synthesizers in passages like "The Silver Cord" (including Anderson's sax) or in the brief "Re-Assuring Tune"; and standing out in between the demanding bent flutes of "Memory Bank", the intensity of the changing "Best Friend" and "Critique Oblique", and the closing with the crystalline magic of "Forest Dance #1".

And the amusing fable of the hare who lost his glasses narrated by Jeffrey Hammond's vocals and orchestrated by David Palmer, bridges Part 2 to pick up Pilgrim's story where it left off at the end of Part 1. Tempted into his final judgement by the demon Magus Perdé, Pilgrim begs and is given a new lease of life, with the powerful instrumental backing of the very progressive "The Foot of Our Stairs" featuring Evan in the lead, the melancholic beauty of the brief "10:08 to Paddington" and the distorted guitar riffs of "Magus Perdé", in one of Martin Barre's sporadic appearances on the album, before the work concludes with the circular "Epilogue".

Although its pieces have hardly been part of the band's live repertoire, "A Passion Play" is an excellent album and a must-have reference in Jethro Tull's discography.

4/4,5 stars

 Benefit by JETHRO TULL album cover Studio Album, 1970
3.91 | 1211 ratings

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Benefit
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

4 stars After the original and attractive "Stand Up", Jethro Tull releases "Benefit", their third album. Without leaving aside their successful troubadour vein and medieval reminiscences, the band led by Ian Anderson enriches their musical proposal by incorporating tonalities and structures that turn "Benefit" into one of the most hardened works of their discography.

From the initial and persistent "With You There to Help Me" with an acoustic melody that absorbs the guitar onslaught of the very active Martin Barre, engaged in a duel of sharp counterpoints with Anderson's delay flutes, "Benefit" shows the hardest rock side of the band, endorsed by the dense "To Cry You a Song", where the guitarist creates consistent riffs doubled by Glenn Cornick's bass and accompanied by Anderson's megaphonic vocals, and also by the agility of "Play in Time", where again guitar riffs and flutes play as a team and give space to a very interesting and challenging solo by Barre.

On the other hand, that thickened wall of sound that "Benefit" brought with it, is nuanced by the long-suffering "Nothing to Say" and its excellent chorus and acoustic development, but above all by the new textures that the keyboards of guest and later stable member John Evan bring, as in the reflective "Alive and Well and Living In". And both the recurring reference to the flautist's school friend and future band member Jeffrey Hammond on the descriptive and personal "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me", and the neat and beautiful "Sossity: You're a Woman" dominated by Anderson's vocals, flutes and arpeggiated acoustic guitars, drawn from the band's purest and most recognisable folk style, complete the album's instrumental mosaic.

"Benefit" got a little caught and partially overshadowed in the middle of the successful "Stand Up" and the transcendental "Aqualung" and "Thick as a Brick" that followed one after the other, taking the shine off it. Over the years, fortunately, the album has gained value in general consideration until it is recognised today as the very good album that it is.

4 stars

 Stand Up by JETHRO TULL album cover Studio Album, 1969
4.05 | 1441 ratings

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Stand Up
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Following the departure of Mick Abrahams after the release of "This Was", Ian Anderson took over the artistic and musical direction of Jethro Tull on "Stand Up", their second album. The Scotsman's intentions to expand the band's musical horizons, without abandoning their bluesy vein, lead them into folkloric experimentations with medieval reminiscences, which, combined with rock elements underpinned by the recently incorporated guitarist Martin Barre and the unmistakable sonority of Anderson's flute, delineate the beginning of the path that Jethro Tull would follow from then on.

Stand Up" develops with a more tight-knit band, starting with their original bluesy approach on the opening "A New Day Yesterday" and Barre's punchy guitar riff, and on the rhythmic "Nothing is Easy". But unlike "This Was", folk begins to occupy a preponderant place in the British proposal, as in the brief and cheerful "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square" and Clive Bunker's bongos, or in the beautiful acoustic ballad "Look into the Sun" or in the arpeggiated melancholy of "Reasons for Waiting". There is also room for the energy of the incipient prog rock of "Back to the Family" and the stupendous solo with which Barre adorns the confessional "We Used to Know"; and even for the adaptation of baroque music in the luminous "Bourée", taken from the German classical composer Johann S. Bach's "Suite in E Minor for Lute" with a great bass solo by Glenn Cornick and converted over the years into a fundamental piece of the band's live performances.

The bluesy "For a Thousand Mothers", with Anderson displaying his enormous talent and particular histrionic flute playing, omnipresent as it is throughout the album, marks the closing of "Stand Up" as much as the opening of the band's definitive stage among the greats of the progressive genre.

A couple of details of the defining "Stand Up": it was number one for over a month in the British charts in 1969, and won the award for best cover design of the year, from the renowned New Musical Express (NME).

Very good

4 stars

 This Was by JETHRO TULL album cover Studio Album, 1968
3.30 | 964 ratings

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This Was
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

3 stars With a meagre production budget (£1,200 at the time, which at today's values would be equivalent to £19,000 or US$ 25,000 approx), Jethro Tull began their musical adventure in October 1968 with Ian Anderson and Mick Abrahams as leading figures, with their seminal album "This Was". A work with a frugal aroma based on a combination of blues influences, with touches of jazz and folk elements, and incorporating the musical instrument that would be the band's characteristic and definitive hallmark from then on: Anderson's transverse flute.

"This Was" is made up of short and direct songs, whose pretensions seem to a large extent to pay homage to Jethro Tull's musical references rather than to define the path they would be taking, as with the blues roots pieces "My Sunday Feeling", Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You (with harmonica included) and "It's Breaking Me Up", where the band is very sober and compact in its posture, or with the instrumental "Serenade to a Cuckoo", an idea adapted from the blind American flautist and saxophonist of the second half of the last century Roland Kirk, from whom Anderson would take such a determined and leading way of playing the flute, or the instrumental version of "Cat's Squirrel", a 1961 composition by the Americans Doctor Ross and the Orbits, also played by Cream in 1966, and which serves to show off Abrahams' guitar playing, as well as that of drummer Clive Bunker in the jazzy "Dharma for One". And if there is one piece that stands out in particular, it is "A Song for Jeffrey", with a wonderful rhythm guitar and Glenn Cornick's bass setting the pace for Anderson's flutes and harmonica, one of the best on the album.

The direction Anderson wanted the band to take differed from the expectations of Abrahams, who hoped to stay in the blues backwater, parting ways once "This Was" was released. As a curiosity, it is worth mentioning that Tony Iommi (yes, the future member of Black Sabbath) appears as guitarist playing (in playback apparently) with Jethro Tull the piece "A Song for Jeffrey" in the event "The Rolling Stones Rock 'n' Roll Circus" recorded in December 1968 (released only in 1996), before finally Martin Barré is the definitive replacement of Abrahams.

3/3,5 stars

 Live At Carnegie Hall 1970 by JETHRO TULL album cover Live, 2015
4.24 | 36 ratings

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Live At Carnegie Hall 1970
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Once upon a time, this live recording from Jethro Tull was put out as a bonus for the 2010 reissue of Stand Up. This was an incongruous matchup, truth told - it was captured late in the Benefit tour, just as the group was about to enter the studio and bring forth Aqualung, and given how rapidly Tull's musical style was developing at the time this means that it would make an incongruous pairing with Stand Up.

The more recent deluxe rereleases of Stand Up has resorted to a different live recording to spruce up its offer (a 1969 performance), leaving this orphaned - but never fear, the band put it out as a standalone release for Record Store Day. It's a solid performance from a year when Tull were absolutely on fire onstage - the Nothing Is Easy live release of their Isle of Wight Festival appearance, or the two live appearances from Chicago and Tanglewood which made their way onto the recent deluxe release of Benefit, are proof positive of that. This has some moments of weak sound, but otherwise further documents a rich era for the group. Worth it if you can't get enough of 1970-vintage Tull, and given how fine that year was for them there's probably a good many people that description applies to.

 Live at Madison Square Garden 1978 by JETHRO TULL album cover Live, 2009
4.25 | 24 ratings

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Live at Madison Square Garden 1978
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars A show from late in the American leg of the Heavy Horses tour in 1978. Tony Williams fills in for John Glascock on bass, Glascock battling the health issues which would become fatal in 1979, and the setlist is adjusted to account for part of the show being broadcast live via satellite. Despite this, the band are in fine form, with an intriguing extended instrumental break between Locomotive Breath and Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll adding spice even for seasoned Tull fanatics (of which I absolutely am one). Most Tull fans will already have Bursting Out, from around the same time period, but if you want even more live fun from this era of the band then this will do wonderfully.
 Nothing Is Easy: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970 by JETHRO TULL album cover Live, 2004
4.23 | 179 ratings

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Nothing Is Easy: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970
Jethro Tull Prog Folk

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

5 stars Kicking off with a powerful take on My Sunday Feeling to remind everyone of Jethro Tull's bluesier earliest days before launching into more progressive material (including, in the form of My God, a teaser of Aqualung), this live set is derived from the legendary 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, where Tull shared the stage with the likes of the Moody Blues and Jimi Hendrix. In the early 1970s we'd lose Jimi and the Moody Blues, whilst they'd keep going, would cease to be at the spearhead of progressive rock - it would be the likes of Tull who'd end up on the front line there, and with this set they proved their ability both to be progressive AND to rock - a balance which few bands of the era would strike as effectively as Ian Anderson and company. If some of the lead progressive acts of the 1960s were laying down their crowns around 1970, Tull were in the process of forging their own.

If you have the recent expansive Benefit boxed set with the live sets from Tanglewood and Chicago, you already know how hot the band were live at this point in time - but if that set is too pricey for your pockets, or you already have it but can't get enough of the sound Tull had in 1970, you'll likely want this. And if, for whatever reason, you've been snoozing on live Jethro Tull... wake up! Tull were one of the greatest live acts of the prog age and the only disadvantage this set has over the likes of, say, Bursting Out, is that Bursting Out came later, so the band had a much larger repertoire of absolutely top-notch songs to choose from than when they put this out.

Thanks to ProgLucky for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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