AQUALUNG LIVE

"Aqualung Live" is a live album by UK progressive/folk rock act Jethro Tull. The album was released through RandM Records/Fuel 2000 Records in the UK in September 2005 and in the US in March 2006. "Aqualung Live" was recorded for a radio broadcast show in front of a select crowd of about 40 fans who had won the tickets for the show on Jethro Tull´s homepage. As the name says it is a live recording of the full "Aqualung (1971)" album. An album that´s widely considered a classic in the band´s discography (and probably in rock music in general). When I purchased the album I initially thought it was a forgotten live recording from 1971, but that is certainly not the case. As bandleader Ian Anderson says in the booklet, most of the 2005 band, who recorded "Aqualung Live", were in their infancy or not even born yet when Aqualung was released.

While I consider the original album one of the greatest albums in Jethro Tull´s discography, these live version sound a bit tired and uninspired to me. It´s a well played, pretty well produced and well performed (Ian´s vocals are not as strong as they used to be though) album, but the issue is probably that these live versions of the tracks don´t add much to the originals and I suspect that live shows from back in the day were more energetic and featured an edge that is completely lacking here. This is not a bad album by any means it just doesn´t impress me as much as I had hoped it would. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.