Where to start, Jethro Tull formed in the late sixties, as a heavy blues-rock band. The story behind their name is a simple one, early on they had trouble getting return engagements so when their booking agent who was a history buff got them a return gig under the name Jethro Tull they kept it, and have used it ever since.
Ian Anderson and Martin Barre have been part of the band since 1969, while the surrounding cast changed numerous times. They started out as a blues/rock band, then had a progressive rock phase followed by a folk rock period, moved on to an electronic interval, then hard rock and now world music, one thing is certain the band is adaptable and never gets stuck in a musical rut.
Jethro Tull has been a very successful band, selling over 60,000,000 albums worldwide. I have seen Tull live three times over 25 years, although Ian Anderson's voice has seen better days they still put on a good show.
1968 This Was
1969 Stand Up
1970 Benefit
1971 Aqualung
1972 Thick as a Brick
1973 A Passion Play
1974 War Child
1975 Minstrel in the Gallery
1976 Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!
1977 Songs from the Wood
1978 Heavy Horses
1979 Stormwatch
1980 A
1982 The Broadsword and the Beast
1984 Under Wraps
1987 Crest of a Knave
1989 Rock Island
1991 Catfish Rising
1995 Roots to Branches
1999 J-Tull Dot Com
2003 The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
My Jethro Tull CD Collection:
1. This Was
2. Stand Up
3. Benefit
4. Aqualung
5. Thick As A Brick
6. Living In The Past(2 CD's)
7. A Passion Play
8. Warchild
9. Minstrel In The Gallery
10. Too Old Too Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To DIe
11. Songs From The Wood
12. Heavy Horses
13. Bursting Out (2 CD Lve Album)
13. Stormwatch
14. A
15. Broadsword And The Beast
16. Crest Of A Knave
17. Catfish Rising
*18. M.U. Best Of Jethro Tull Volume I (Compilation Album)
**19. Live At The Isle Of Wight (MP3 version.)
Dharma for One.
Their Debut Album, This Was.
M
Last edited by Lord Grendel; 11-17-2009 at 07:55 PM.
Where indeed for one of my favourite bands of all time - but right from the beginning! It was 1968. I listened to a a thirty minute progressive rock show hosted by a fellow calling himself Thomas Aquinas evenings on CFPL in London. His show left a lasting impact on my musical tastes.
One evening his opening preamble concerned a couple of exciting new groups from England - Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin. He recommended choosing either "This Was" by Jethro Tull or "Led Zeppelin" as your album purchase of the week or month or whatever if you had to ration yourself in that fashion. He then played "Communication Breakdown" by Led Zeppelin, which left me awed, and then "A Song for Jeffrey" by Jethro Tull, which impressed me even more! A flute! Too cool! I bought "This Was" first, and I've never looked back.
Always liked JT, but was one band I found myself surprised to hear when he was played on the radio, w/ the exception of aqualung,,,, wish they played the guitar a little more
Aqualung is a great album Hep, one of his best beyond doubt. I bought 2 vinyl editions, the original, and the MFSL Original Master as well. I will never forget the sound of Martin Barre's guitar on Locomotive Breath, it was just stunning on the MFSL version. Sadly it was lost in a fire years ago, along with most of my vinyl records.
Now I have a Remastered CD, with an interview with Ian Anderson as a bonus, and the sound is very good.
I know you don't approve but I also have a FLAC download from a friend in England of the re-release of the Original mastertape version that Ian Anderson had kept himself, it has been released on a new vinyl edition, and I have the CD equivalent of that one. According to Ian it represents the closest they've come yet to recreating the version the band wanted. Kind of interesting in this day and age, to sit in my room here and listen to a new vinyl recording converted to CD that was sent by a friend in England...I love the technology we have at our disposal.
Last edited by Lord Grendel; 11-18-2009 at 11:52 AM.
Free Lossless Audio Codec,,,invented by a very talented American who hated what MP3's and other compression software did to his music.
When used properly, with all the other great software available for free as well, you can re-create an Exact copy perfect in every way to the original. In this instance I have paid for Aqualung 3 times, the MFSL album cost me $30.00 in 1980, so I really don't feel too bad about having the latest version for free.
That is my Favorite Tull album Hep, I have the CD but I wished I still had my old vinyl copy. I went through two of them, I wore the first one out and the second one is gone in the fire. The album cover is a painting for those of you who will never get to see the anything but the CD version. If you put the old record a couple of feet away you swear it's a photograph, but as you move closer you can see the brush strokes.
I couldn't get into their concept albums Thick as a Brick or A Passion Play, but I absolutely love Stand Up, Benefit, Aqualung and Songs From The Wood. Heavy Horses and Stormwatch only offered a few decent cuts, and my interest in the band waned after that.
As with most bands from the 70's, I made a killer 18 song "best of" cd that usually gets played a few times a year, which then leads me to playing the rest of the Tull cds I have.
1 - Reasons For Waiting
2 - Look Into The Sun
3 - Christmas Song
4 - Life's A Long Song
5 - Wiches Promise
6 - Living in the Past
7 - Rainbow Blues
8 - Sweet Dream
9 - Minstral in the Gallery
10- To Cry You a Song
11- With You There to Help Me
12- Nothing To Say
13- Teacher
14- Nothing is Easy
15- Cross-Eyed Mary
16- Hymm 43
17- Aqualung
18- Wind Up
I've been putting off burning a "Best Of - Vol. II" of material from Too Old To Rock & Roll: Too Young To Die, Warchild, Songs From The Wood, Heavy Horses and Stormwatch.
Finally saw them in '79 for the Stormwatch tour. They didn't play too much from their early works, but still a great show.
Has anyone else noticed that some of the songs listed on the back of Living in the Past don't match the label on the record itself? Weird, huh? Then it gets even weirder on the CD.
^^Come to think of it you are right KMET, must have been a glitch or someone was trying to have some fun with us.
Nice list as well, although I love all of Tull's stuff, some albums more than others and the very latest "World Music" he has dabbled in I have not checked out yet. Roots & Branches I believe was one of his last recordings.
Time for some order in here...temporarily at least...
After This Was came "Stand Up", released in 1969. You can still feel the blues on this record, but not nearly as much as the debut. Already the folk influences are starting to show up, which is one of the things that I always loved about JT, the wide range of their songs is amazing and a tribute to the creativity that was a trademark of the band. This album was the debut of Martin Barre on lead guitar, and he became the one constant besides Ian Anderson in the band over their long and distinguished career.
Fatman.
Last edited by Lord Grendel; 12-03-2009 at 11:09 AM.
Jethro Tull (Official Thread) 
Re: Jethro Tull 
You took your time.. You sent me all I have on tull aside from a best-off.. 
Linear Mode
