AQUALUNG LIVE

Of limited interest for the newbie to prog, this live version of such a classic album as Aqualung is certainly quite a pleasure for confirmed Tullheads. One of the interesting thing is that those songs are recorded (at a radio's initiative) by the latest Tull line-up and some of those musos were not even born when the album got its release. One of my best joy has been to compare how those songs done live compare with the original studio version and I can say it is a great success: there were adaptations done here and there, but overall the song remain true to their original spirit. The songs are played in the original sequences of the album and only Cheap Day Return is coupled with my fave Mother Goose (there is a keyboard intervening imitating an accordion for an example of adaptation). Everyone of those songs gets a superb treatment and it is clear now for those that thought so, that there was not one single track weaker than the stronger and rockier ones. Actually this album tends to magnify the beauty of the shorter and more acoustic tracks that might have been over-looked at in the original album. It was a real curiosity to see how My God would translate on to stage, and they do not try to escape the choir parts, but clearly this might be the only slight weakness, but except for that, only good comes out of that radio broadcast. We are also treated to an extended intro of Locomotive Breath but more importantly an exquisite intro-ed Hymn 43 (I always that the track lacked it on the original album).

As bonus to the album, we get the interviews and in between songs banter with the typical Anderson humour. A treat, but like the remastered version of Aqualung or Thick As A Brick, those interviews are a bit of a pain with repeated listening, but nothing that a skip or eject button cannot fix quickly.