Jethro Tull - Stand Up: Steven Wilson

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Being the ever obsessed Jethro Tull fan, I picked up the latest remix of a classic album that Ian Anderson and Steven Wilson have plopped on to the shops. Not surprisingly, I'm not too fond of this one. To me, the 2001 edition of Stand Up sounds like the band is right in front of me performing, while SW's take sounds kind of muffled. Not horrible, but kind of pointless, outside of "Driving Song" making Martin Barre's guitar sound clearer and maybe "Bouree" being slightly better recorded. Slightly. 

On the bright side, the package comes with:

A. a trivia booklet that has a replica of the Stand Up pop up.

B. the entirety of the June 16, 1969 BBC recording. Two of the songs - "Fat Man" and "Bouree" - were included in the 25th Anniversary of Aqualung, but the sound here is significantly better. 

c. a live recording of the band preforming in Stockholm on January 9, 1969, making this the earliest recorded instance of Martin Barre performing with the group. From what I've listened to so far, "Back To The Family" sounds unpolished, however, "My Sunday Feeling" is good as usual, and, "Dharma For One" is okay. Not as good as the version in Living In The Past, but still nice. "Martin's Tune" is a nice, jazzy jem. Martin may have written it, but Ian steals the show with some excellent flute playing. Not that the others are slouches ,as Martin, Clive and Glenn go nuts around the half way point. And the part where they go folk is just lovely. Along with "Love Story", it's a wonderful bridge between This Was and Stand Up.

So there you go. Could have been better, but could have been worse.

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KingCrInuYasha Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 26 2010 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 1281	Topic: Jethro Tull - Stand Up: Steven Wilson Posted: November 22 2016 at 21:14
	Being the ever obsessed Jethro Tull fan, I picked up the latest remix of a classic album that Ian Anderson and Steven Wilson have plopped on to the shops. Not surprisingly, I'm not too fond of this one. To me, the 2001 edition of Stand Up sounds like the band is right in front of me performing, while SW's take sounds kind of muffled. Not horrible, but kind of pointless, outside of "Driving Song" making Martin Barre's guitar sound clearer and maybe "Bouree" being slightly better recorded. Slightly. On the bright side, the package comes with: A. a trivia booklet that has a replica of the Stand Up pop up. B. the entirety of the June 16, 1969 BBC recording. Two of the songs - "Fat Man" and "Bouree" - were included in the 25th Anniversary of Aqualung, but the sound here is significantly better. c. a live recording of the band preforming in Stockholm on January 9, 1969, making this the earliest recorded instance of Martin Barre performing with the group. From what I've listened to so far, "Back To The Family" sounds unpolished, however, "My Sunday Feeling" is good as usual, and, "Dharma For One" is okay. Not as good as the version in Living In The Past, but still nice. "Martin's Tune" is a nice, jazzy jem. Martin may have written it, but Ian steals the show with some excellent flute playing. Not that the others are slouches ,as Martin, Clive and Glenn go nuts around the half way point. And the part where they go folk is just lovely. Along with "Love Story", it's a wonderful bridge between This Was and Stand Up. So there you go. Could have been better, but could have been worse.
	He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball!

dr wu23 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: August 22 2010 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 20468	Posted: November 23 2016 at 10:37
	I have the re-mastered one from earlier also and it sounds fine.....to be honest even though many here rave about all these re-masters I don't think that many albums from the past actually need to be redone.
	One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin

KingCrInuYasha Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 26 2010 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 1281	Posted: November 23 2016 at 11:16
	It doesn't help that a lot of Wilson' remasters, at least when it comes to Jethro Tull, don't really improve the recording significantly. IMO, the closest he came to actually improving an album was Aqualung and the Chateau tapes from the A Passion Play set. In everything else, there's like only one or two tracks that actually sound better than Anderson's early 2000s remasterings (e.g "Alive And Well And Living In" from Benefit, "Requiem" from Minstrel In The Gallery), while the rest are either pointless (Thick As A Brick being the biggest offender) or Wilson does some interesting, only to do something else and leave me asking "Why did he do that?". Edited by KingCrInuYasha - November 23 2016 at 11:16
	He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball!

uduwudu Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: July 17 2007 Status: Offline Points: 2601	Posted: November 26 2016 at 03:10
	Aqualung really needed time in someone's oxygen tent. The original CD of Songs From The Wood sounded dreadful, the remaster (I've the Jap LP replica) is the business. I think the point is that these archive versions have hi res hard copies, excellent annotated history and context. The DVDs have all the material and often include the original masters for those who prefer those and can compare. Yes' Relayer I have on HDCD which sounds like my old LP. The Wilson master sounds quieter, more detailed and there is music in the original that was not audible to me anyway. It may be what we're used to versus someone coming along and saying what you've been mainlining all these years is not as good as what I think you should be using. So long as he has the artist's approval then that should be a good indication. You can get odd things like the Roxy Music box set which is a flat transfer; they still sound good. Whereas the 5 Originals little box has slightly different and actual remasters by Bob Ludwig which to me sound slightly fuller on the two albums they have in common. The point of going slightly on a tangent here is that mastering and production values allow for varying listening experiences and something we're going to have to become accustommed. Which in the case of Foxtrot and Animals is well worth that.

KingCrInuYasha Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 26 2010 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 1281	Posted: November 26 2016 at 11:22
	Oh yeah, I forgot the DVDs had the original album mixes. Stupid me.
	He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball!