Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Jethro Tull - Benefit CD (album) cover

BENEFIT

Jethro Tull

 

Prog Folk

3.92 | 1214 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Salviaal
4 stars BENEFIT is an overlooked entry in the Jethro Tull canon, perhaps because it was a transitional album. The band was going in the hard rock direction, maybe because that was the general trend of blues rock bands by the early 70s. The album has no more straightforward blues numbers as the THIS WAS and STAND UP had. Instead the band has that early proto-prog sound, where some rather classical harmonic sequences occur.

The first two tunes are "soft" hard rock tunes. Maybe the band was not sure about what direction they should take, but this is the beauty of this album! Out came songs that were pretty meek and not as "assertive" as "Bouree" and "Aqualung" for example. That is why there are no real hits on this album, they were too personal and dark to appeal to the audience. "Alive and Well and Living In" is a slightly more confident tune, previewing the long lasting collaboration of pianist John Evan, who was only a guest on BENEFIT. This is the first tune that has that full Jethro Tull sound! "Son" is another hard rock number but this time a lot more confidence is heard in Ian Anderson voicing. Yes this is the direction he wanted to take in the future! "For Micheal Collins, Jeffrey and Me" closes the first side in a subdued way. It is my least favorite on the album.

"Inside" was probably the best known song, but I never really liked it much, too poppy maybe? This is fixed with "Play in Time", another rocker with Anderson playing a flute riff in unison with Martin Barre. The backwards tape effect sounds pretty damn dated, but hey it's in the name of fun. Sgt. Pepper was built on such tricks and it still has great reputation - go figure... "Sossity; You're a Woman" is an overlooked folky ballad.

BONUS TRACKS: All these tunes were released on LIVING IN THE PAST, so there is nothing new here. The songs are all very poppy singles that weren't as great as the album, unless you were a normal person. "Teacher" is a hot jam though, and "Singing All Day" is a farewell to that early jazzy sound, their last jazzy number ever, complete with with brushes instead of sticks! "Just Trying to Be" is a charming folk number, and was this the first time Tull used a marimba? I think so.

This is the album on which Anderson's writing style started becoming more individual, and this is the prototype of future albums. On the next album they would perfect what they started here!

Salviaal | 4/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this JETHRO TULL review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.