what's so special about...

Stool Man wrote: what's so special about The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage?

The guy who made it.

Definitely one of his best.

What's so special about Aqualung?

Aqualung is the one Tull album that is defined (or "made special", if you like) by its kickin' hard rock passages.  That isn't to say that's all it has to offer, but it seems to me to have the most great-riffs-per-minute ratio of all the Tull albums.  Aqualung, Cross Eyed, My God, Hymn 43, and Locomotive Breath all have loud electric riffs that stick in your head.  The folky acoustic bits seem to play a secondary role, but given the other material recorded at the time (Up the 'Pool, Dr Bogenbroom, Wond'ring Again, pretty much all of side 4 of Living in the Past), the album could easily have gone in the opposite direction and been equally good.  They were definitely on a roll.

Hearing Aqualung the first week it was released...I was impressed with the uniqueness of the writing and on a mission as a teenager to completely understand the lyrics. It affected everyone around me in that sense. It was a new form of Progressive music and writing. People sat in rooms with candles lit, passing the album cover around..as everyone took a turn reading the lyrics. What the recording has developed into over the years..seems a bit questionable. I get the direct impression that Aqualung is over-rated and Ian Anderson has stated several times that he always considered the album to be simply a collection of songs. "My God" is an outstanding piece of work. The overdubbed vocal sections in the center of the piece during the flute solo and the chord changes from the very start of the piece are hauntingly beautiful.

What's so special about Darwin! ?

KingCrimson250 wrote: What's so special about Darwin! ?

HolyMoly wrote: I've never been able to get into "Wind Up", come to think of it. I can't even remember how it goes, but I can sing almost every other song by heart

Never cared for it.

HolyMoly wrote: I've never been able to get into "Wind Up", come to think of it. I can't even remember how it goes, but I can sing almost every other song by heart

It's just a mediocre hard rock song. The quad version is good though. Less guitar and more piano and bass and different vocals. Wish the band used the quad versions on side 2. Hymn 43, wind up, my god and loco breath all sound better as quads

Billy Pilgrim wrote: Not the biggest fan, I've always thought that Minstrel was the best from Jethro, I love that album. Agualung is alright, the title track is classic, Locomotive Breath hits hard, and Up To Me and Hymn 43 are good songs. Little bit too much filler in my opinion though.

Cross eyed Mary and mother goose classic too

I think Aqualung is a great album, but as far as I'm concerned, it's got a small flaw. For some reason, I like just about every song from the album better on other alternate versions. The songs "Aqualung", "My God", and "Locomotive Breath" I like much better on "Live at Montreux", much more powerful and heavier. "Cross Eyed Mary" I like better on the "Live, burstin Out" version, just for the same reason. And in general, the shorter less stand-out tracks ("Cheap Day Return", "Mother Goose", "Hymn 43", and "Wind-up") I like more on the semi-live re-recording from the 90's... the original ones sound kind of incomplete and are not so satisfying for me, while the new ones are either longer and feel more complete, or have their folk feel in a more rewarding way, or rock harder in the right moments, or replace either flute with guitar, or guitar with flute in places that I like them better, etc. And last, I found "Wond'ring Aloud" a very nice little acoustic song, but much too short, so the extended version presented on the anniversary collection (Wond'ring Aloud, again) is just perfect.