Jethro Tull
Stand Up
Reprise 1969
Jethro Tull
Benefit
Reprise 1970
Jethro Tull
Aqualung
Reprise 1971
front cover
rear cover
gatefold opened with pop up
pop up detail
gatefold
Review
For those unfamiliar with, or ambivalent about Jethro Tull,
or are unsure about progressive rock, here's a great place to start.
Martin Barre joins Ian Anderson, Glen Cornick, and Clive Bunker
on ten great very accessible songs.
There's no noodling around, it's
just a wonderful record.
The Reprise albums have the group standing up
inside the gate fold cover. Reissues don't have this feature.
front cover
rear cover
Review
More of Anderson's' flute work and English folk side emergence's here, but the band rocks hard enough to piece together an impressive album.
Anderson continues to hone the band's
sound to razor sharpness The songwriting is top notch. "With You there, To Help Me"
is both sad and inspiring and "Nothing to Say" is instantly memorable.
There are no misfires on Benefit, and this set contains the hit "Teacher".
The record goes to #11 in the U.S as the group becomes a major
attraction in the states.
Although not a gate fold, the Reprise release
features another appealing album jacket.
front cover
gatefold open
rear cover
Review
This is the record that catapulted Jethro
Tull from a popular, idiosyncratic band into international rock
Stars.
At this point JethroTull has become a vehicle for the flute
wielding Ian Anderson, but he could't make this quality of music without
a stable band of such high style and ability.
This is supposedly a concept album.
It seems that Anderson is pretty annoyed at the state of mankind in general,
and the omnipresent whipping boys God and Religion.
Anderson is not your garden
variety misanthrope. All of this is seen through the insightful eyes and
eloquent rhetoric of an unfortunate street tramp.
If you're not buying into
all of this, [and I'm not sure I am] Aqualung is a collection of
masterful songs weaving rock and folk together
in a seamless way.
Nice cover art in the original vinyl releases
Note:
Man, rare 45 Girl from the North Country