What Jethro Tull album do I need?

 

Tull's 90s are great. There is nothing hair metal about Tull. Andy Giddings was the keyboardist in the 90s and half the 00s and he was cool like John Evans. Played plenty of Hammond organ. But I'm not familiar with their new keyboardist. There's plenty of quality tracks from the 3 remasters + other outtake tracks mentioned below:

 

Dotcom + It all trickles down(outtake)

Roots to Branches

Catfish Rising + Night in the wilderness, Truck stop runner, Silver river turning(outtakes)

 

There's meant to be some Roots to branches outtakes which haven't been released yet. So each of those 3 albums sessions have 15 or more songs. There maye be 2 or 3 weaker tracks on each, but there's plenty of quality music which rivals Tull in the early 70s or late 70s. I'm also a big fan of A. It's a quality album. Broadsword sessions have 26 songs(at least half of those songs are quality too). Tull were only weaker from 1984-1989.

 

I have no problem with their 90s. Yeah there maybe a couple of cheesy tunes on Catfish but the rest is fine and some of the outtakes really make up for it. The band are pretty much awesome from 1968-1982 and 1990-2000. There are some mediocre tunes through the 1968-1982 period also. There's some weak tunes on Side 2 of Aqualung, plus a couple on Warchild, Too old, Benefit, Stand up, This was, Minstrel, Broadsword. But as usual there are bonus tracks which make up for that. I don't see any drop in quality in the 90s compared to the 1968-1982 period. Ian is a genius and is capable of writing classic tunes any time. Sometimes you'll find a song which you think Ian can do better, but I just assume it's Ians attempt at being commercial just to keep a few extra dollars coming in. As mentioned above you'll find some weak tracks on half their albums during the 1968-1982 period. I reckon I can find just as many quality tunes on Dotcom than on Aqualung. I believe the band could have been more consistent with their recording styles from 1981-1989. Some of the drum track recordings on the Broadsword remaster are fine, but some are disappointing. Some of the songs that were not included on the Broadsword remaster are fine too. eg Motoreyes and Jackalynn(unplugged version). Under wraps has alot of very silly drum samples. Ian was experimenting but went overboard. Crest and Rock Island could have had better sounding drum tracks too.

 

LITP is worth it just for the 8 or so songs which haven't been on any remasters. I also think Minstrel is pretty bland for Tull standards. The bonus tracks are the highlights imo