JETHRO TULL

It was good to identify here on this website a recent and positive review of this álbum. He has always been one of my favorites, also because he was one of the first ones I came to know in a distant time when access to a vast discography of our favorite bands was scarce, and it always seemed to me that he deserves a better evaluation than what is established by so many reviews. Let's understand the reasons for this:

"Too Old To Rock'n'Roll, Too Young To Die" is an album, let's say, more "simple" than the dense "Minstrel In The Gallery," which is a monster of an album, but I confess that this density makes it somewhat difficult to listen to. This means that it is necessary to stop everything to listen to it, to give it full attention in these moments. This is very positive from the perspective of a progressive rock fan, but I confess that TOTRRTYTD brings a desirable relaxation after the marathon that is appreciating MITG. Interestingly, the same reasoning applies to the intense A Passion Play, which was succeeded by the simpler Warchild. But I never managed to appreciate Warchild to the point I love TOTRRTYTD...

Too Old To Rock'n'Roll, Too Young To Die has in its content what I consider to be one of the best tracks recorded by the band, which is the title track. It enchanted me to the point that listening to the rest of the album becomes a fundamental complement to the listening experience. Without a doubt, it is necessary to listen to TOTRRTYTD in its entirety, as the conceptual album that it is. And in its concept, once again, Ian Anderson demonstrates his genius, ironically portraying his own condition as a rocker who sees youth beginning to fade just at the moment when societal behavioral changes make the loss of this tender youth undesirable.

I definitely go against the grain of so many negative reviews. There is a properly controlled weight in Martin Barre's guitars, which prevents the album from veering too close to hard rock, and the delicate moments of the orchestrations accompany the more intimate reflections of its lyrics. Final evaluation here is 0.12 points above three stars, and in my opinion, these 0.12 points would justify how far below four stars your evaluation is.

Four solid stars!

PS - First time using AI to correct my average knowledge of english grammar!

Since so few will, I'll "stand up" for this album as a personal favorite. And that's given that I absolutely hate the cover art... however, after the somewhat overly complex approaches on Minstrel or War Child, which made some great songs alongside some proggy work that I could take or leave, this album returns to the song concept of earlier album.

Loosely conceptual, I find this to be a great set of songs, some rockers balanced with some orchestral additions. It's Anderson's last album with his original vocal quality, and he's in fine form--one can hear the range of stylistic approaches he'd used over the years, and his flute playing is on point. Martin Barre turns in some excellent guitar work, and I find the often stripped-down approach to the arrangements more embraceable. The irony in the title is that this is a chapter end for the band, taking a new direction and new vocal style with "Songs from the Wood".

It's a pity that this album didn't have any hits, and the critics beat up the band so badly that change was inevitable. But I won't stop listening to this one, and I've found it rewarding over the almost 50 years I've enjoyed it.

One of the best known and top selling classic rock albums of all time, JETHRO TULL's fourth album AQUALUNG has also served as the perfect gateway drug to the world of progressive rock for several generations. Familiar to anybody even remotely interested in rock music, the opening title track's instantly recognizable guitar riff and matching opening lyrics "Sitting on the park bench, Eyeing little girls with bad intent. Snot is running down his nose, Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes" has left an indelible mark on classic rock lovers' psyche for the rest of their lives. The album was a huge transition between the band's folk rock origins and the full blown progressive rock albums that followed but most of all, AQUALUNG is JETHRO TULL's most popular release and best seller easily outselling any other release in their lengthy canon to the very modern day.

And what's not to love about AQUALUNG? It really is the perfect rock album to grace the early 1970s. After building a steady and incrementally improving momentum since the rather disorganized debut album "This Was," JETHRO TULL evolved leaps and bounds with AQUALUNG providing one of the greatest advances forward propelling the band to a mere opening act to one of the world's most popular arena rock headliners. The album saw quite a few changes but none more impactful than the addition of keyboardist John Evan to the band which added an entirely missing dimension to an already rich and developed band style. Likewise the album also welcomed Jeffrey Hammond as the new bassist replacing Glenn Connick who served the band well for three excellent albums. AQUALUNG also marked the time when the acoustic guitar was used exclusively in both segments of the songs themselves as well as serving as the sole instrument for the shorter bridge songs that were preludes to the ones that followed.

Thematically AQUALUNG was basically the thinking man's rock album and has been considered a concept album by many with an extreme emphasis on the fallibilities of religious thinking and how it leads to distortions in society and humanity in general. Sure such themes in rock dated back to The Electric Prunes "Mass In D Minor" but all in all a pretty impressive feat for such a massively popular album that has been heard by so many millions. Band leader Ian Anderson's disdain towards organized religion permeates the majority of the album's subject matter and delivered in some of the most clever roundabout poetic ways that kept it a few steps away from any sort of direct accusations or uncontrolled rage. The album was thematically divided into two themes with the original vinyl A-side thematically called AQUALUNG, centered around the character AQUALUNG and his infatuation "Cross-Eyed Mary" with other tracks referring to various other misfits in society. "Mother Goose" for example highlights how the non-conformists in society often get cast into the role of circus freak show status. The second half utilized the them "My God."

Musically AQUALUNG was a powerhouse of musical motifs stitched together in a pastiche that mixed folk, blues, psychedelia, hard rock, progressive rock and even Elizabethan madrigals, the latter of which suited Anderson's quirky acoustic numbers to a T. Ironically the opening title track is one of the very few songs where Anderson plays no flute at all whereas the remainder of the album implements it as a key ingredient which has always been one of JETHRO TULL's signature features that set them apart early on from other progressive artists. The greatest triumph of AQUALUNG is how the band crafted absolutely perfect melodies seemingly beamed down from the heavens above and dressed them up in the perfect mix of changing musical motifs that included varying sections that alternated between electrified rock, unplugged acoustic guitar folk and more progressive moments that allowed unorthodox ideas to shine through without disrupting the classic rock flow of the album's momentum.

In short the album was divinely inspired with every track rising to true classic status and while its true the short acoustic bridge numbers aren't quite up to par with the rest of the album, they weren't designed to be anything more than little intros to the songs that followed. Almost every major song has been a staple on classic rock radio for over half a century now with perhaps the exception of "My God" which is the most progressive track on the album with its 7-minute plus playing time and most overtly critical of religion in general. The track features the perfect acoustic folk intro and followed by hard rock riffing and excellent flute delivery including the best solo on the album which culminates in a phenomenally brilliant flute segment with a religious choir chanting behind it thus establishing Ian Anderson's true musical genius to a much larger audience. I mean, wow! "Aqualung," "Cross-Eyed Mary," "Mother Goose," "Up To Me," "My God," "Hymn 43," "Locomotive Breath" and "Wind-Up" are all musical perfection under one roof! Even the shorter acoustic tracks are excellent and don't detract in any way. What can i say? AQUALUNG truly is one of the greatest rock masterpieces of the entire genre's existence.

Jethro Tull came out with their beloved second studio album 'Stand Up' in 1969, following up the bluesy and tight 'This Was' and preceding one of their heavier releases, the excellent 'Benefit', making this album simultaneously transitional yet pretty important for the development of the band's music, as it was the first album on which Ian Anderson was in full control of what was being produced, also resulting in an album full of very eclectic sounds, with the band trying out several different styles, ranging from their blues rock roots to more hard rock territory, also experimenting and introducing finally some folk rock affinities, mixed up with a bit of acoustic rock and even symphonic rock. The album was recorded over the course of one month, and features the drumming of Clive Bunker, Glenn Cornick's bass playing, and guitar player Martin Barre, who debuted right here and went on to become Tull's long-term guitarist.

Surely the period after the release of their debut album must have been rough, with some musical differences coming to the front, leading to the departure of Mick Abrahams, who played guitars in Tull originally and was more interested in developing their bluesy leanings, leading also to the famous trial with Tony Iommi, who felt he doesn't fit very well within the band, leading to the introduction of Barre, a guitarist seemingly much more open to experiment and to explore the possibilities of Tull's new direction. And, of course, 'Stand Up' is an album that spreads out to many different territories, in a way displaying snippets of everything that Tull were excited about musically, making it the very promising second album that does not, however, unfold the full potential of a band searching for its sound. The introduction of the folkier and acoustic songs on here is fantastic, the more hard rock-oriented numbers are also quite memorable, but of course, this is an album packed with classic Tull songs that have transcended the test of time. And while 'Stand Up' might be imperfect in several ways, it is also promising and unleashed, which is precisely what makes it so special, a necessary and crucial step towards the evolution of one of classic rock's most creative bands. Also, this is an album famously revered by many great musicians, including Joe Bonamassa and Joe Satriani, as well as being one of Ian Anderson's personal favorites, too, so it has to be needless to say anything else.

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

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

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

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

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

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