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Jethro Tull


JethroTull

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  • 9 months later...

Has anyone here heard or got the Jethro Tull Xmas CD? I do like Tull but never thought about getting this CD, then I was in a shop the other day and I heard one of their Xmas songs and quite enjoyed it. Would like feedback before I go about buying it... Thanks!

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  • 1 month later...

I really love the song Aqualung, but don't really know any other songs. I heard one on the radio and thought it was pretty good. Anyone who can make a flute rock is good in my book. I've been wanting to get into them, but don't know where to start. Anyone have any suggestions?

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I really love the song Aqualung, but don't really know any other songs. I heard one on the radio and thought it was pretty good. Anyone who can make a flute rock is good in my book. I've been wanting to get into them, but don't know where to start. Anyone have any suggestions?

The Aqualung album is a good place to beggin your journey through Jethro Tull.

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I really love the song Aqualung, but don't really know any other songs. I heard one on the radio and thought it was pretty good. Anyone who can make a flute rock is good in my book. I've been wanting to get into them, but don't know where to start. Anyone have any suggestions?

Firstly, make sure you buy a remastered version of whatever you decide. The entire (substantial) collection has been remastered and they ALL contain bonus tracks.

For early Tull, try Stand Up or Benefit. Stand Up is a personal fav from 1969 and still receives considerable play in concert.

Songs From The Wood from 1977 may be the greatest folk-rock album EVER. The follow-up Heavy Horses is just as good IMHO.

For me Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play are quintessential Tull. Each contains a 45 minute song. If you want to venture into this territory, buy Thick as a Brick first. It's my favorite Tull recording. The remastered version may be difficult to find.

Lastly, Aqualung is an obvious good choice, but the remastered version has received some criticisms for its sound.

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By far the best sounding source of Aqualung is the Steve Hoffman remaster version on DCC. Here's an explanation from Steve himself.The deal with Aqualung is this:Great album, average recording.What I tried to do, was to give you the true sound of the master tapes with a bit of "Steve enhancemnt" thrown in for a more "Breath Of Life" sound.Now, I can't go back in time and tell the mixer of "Aqualung" to turn the bass guitar track up, but I would never EQ in a bunch of floppy rumble down there just to get some extra boom. I mean, *****, it took me years just to get the real tapes from Ian's house.MFSL used the American EQ copy (production master) to cut from. This version already was compressed compared to the master tape, and some primitive EQ added in. Now, it is a know fact that MOST (but not all) music fans LIKE compression. They respond well to it. It makes stuff louder and more "exciting". And of course, adding the MFSL "smile curve" helps, too. Just adds that oomph that doesn't exist in real life. Same reason most folks love new "remasters". Louder is everything...Sigh.For me, using all of the tone changing stuff that was added to the EQ dub, and then adding all of the MoFi EQ on top of it, with some wacky half speed mastering on top of it....Well, I just didn't want to distort the original sound of the hard-fought master tapes that way.I like the way the DCC version sounds. It has natural vocals, and a tonality that is missing from ALL other versions.The problem with Rock 'em - Sock 'em bass, is that it is like having a subwoofer turned on all of the time. After it's all over, you have a headache. Folks can dial in some thump down there if they want. The important thing, is that they can dial it OUT again when they grow weary of that sound!One other little point:People who listen to LP's (I'm one of them), have a really tough time describing what they are hearing, tone wise, because no one else's LP playback system will match theirs. MC Carts have their own wacky sound, as do phono preamps: How RIAA accurate are they? And the interconntects, etc. Are they tailoring the sound? Hard to say what is accurate, when the LP playback system isn't.The best way (if you care), to tell if your LP playback is "in the ballpark" tone wise, is to compare your DCC CD of "Aqualung" with the DCC LP of "Aqualung". After adjusting for the LEVEL difference, Do A sync-up and A/B them. The tone of the music should be darn close; they were when we cut them. If the sound is too far off from the CD to LP, then something is out of whack, probably with the phono gear.:)

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Firstly, make sure you buy a remastered version of whatever you decide. The entire (substantial) collection has been remastered and they ALL contain bonus tracks.

For early Tull, try Stand Up or Benefit. Stand Up is a personal fav from 1969 and still receives considerable play in concert.

Songs From The Wood from 1977 may be the greatest folk-rock album EVER. The follow-up Heavy Horses is just as good IMHO.

For me Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play are quintessential Tull. Each contains a 45 minute song. If you want to venture into this territory, buy Thick as a Brick first. It's my favorite Tull recording. The remastered version may be difficult to find.

Lastly, Aqualung is an obvious good choice, but the remastered version has received some criticisms for its sound.

I've seen a lot of their albums at half priced books, so next time I go I'll remember your advice.

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  • 8 months later...

During a recent episode of Tom Petty's Buried Treasure show on XM, he made a comment about playing all the best in Rock, Rhythm & Blues but promised no Jethro Tull tunes. What's Tom have against the Tull?

Tom wouldn't be the first to make a comment of that nature. Maybe he was trying to be controversial? I've been a fan of his from the early days, enjoy his XM show and like the guy. He seems more of a early Rolling Stones, Eddie Cochran type fan. Prior to the Aqualung LP, Tull's blues influence and hard rock were more obvious. With Aqualung, Ian wanted his fans to start thinking and maybe that's where the likes of Tom Petty got lost. Ian started writing about his views on organized religion and the Catholic church. The Catholic church didn't really get it, but Ian has had various clegy contact him through the years praising him for his perception.

"If Jesus saves well, He'd better save Himself

from the gory glory seekers who use His name in death.

Oh Jesus save me!"

This all being said, comparing Tull during their heyday (1971 through around 1978) to Petty during his heyday, Tull caused riots, sold out multiple shows at arenas and stadiums. I'm not even sure what you would consider Petty's heyday, granted Petty has aged much better. And hey Petty was a Wilbury.

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Tom wouldn't be the first to make a comment of that nature. Maybe he was trying to be controversial? I've been a fan of his from the early days, enjoy his XM show and like the guy. He seems more of a early Rolling Stones, Eddie Cochran type fan. Prior to the Aqualung LP, Tull's blues influence and hard rock were more obvious. With Aqualung, Ian wanted his fans to start thinking and maybe that's where the likes of Tom Petty got lost. Ian started writing about his views on organized religion and the Catholic church. The Catholic church didn't really get it, but Ian has had various clegy contact him through the years praising him for his perception.

"If Jesus saves well, He'd better save Himself

from the gory glory seekers who use His name in death.

Oh Jesus save me!"

This all being said, comparing Tull during their heyday (1971 through around 1978) to Petty during his heyday, Tull caused riots, sold out multiple shows at arenas and stadiums. I'm not even sure what you would consider Petty's heyday, granted Petty has aged much better. And hey Petty was a Wilbury.

Well said. I figured it's just because Jethro Tull doesn't really fit into the overall theme of his show. I'm not even a big fan of Petty's music (nor do I hate it) but I enjoy his program on XM. Some of the celebrity DJ shows that dominate the XM/Sirius lineup just aren't all that great but you can tell that Petty puts a lot of time and effort into his, making it an even more enjoyable listening experience.

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ln just over a week on the air, Tull radio is smashing the charts. Tull radio is #9 (Top 2%) in classic, #7 in prog, and #57 (Top 7%) among all Live365® rock stations. Better yet, Tull radio is tops among both official and single rock band stations beating Santana, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and others. Tull radio has also been awarded a coveted "Editor's Pick" choice for its quality.

Tull Radio

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  • 6 months later...

I am a major Jethro Tull fan- I like every era and have everything they have released- all the remastered cd's with bonus tracks and the box sets etc. I am partial to Heavy Horses and I even like Under Wraps which a lot of people don't because of the computers and keyboards.

Here are a couple lil trivia things. When Martin Barre was cutting the solo to the song-Aqualung Jimmy Page walked into the control room and Martin said he got nervous as he could see him thru the glass behind the mixing board and continued doing the solo and what you hear is that fantastic solo.

Led Zeppelin were mixing their untitled fourth album at Island studios while Jethro Tull were recording Aqualung there. Also if you have a chance pick up the new Prog rock-sister magazine put out by Classic rock as it has a awesome write up on the anniversary of Aqualung.

Barriemore Barlow is one of my fav drummers and Robert Plant and Jimmy Page liked him enough to use him on their solo albums. He plays 2 tracks on Robert's The Principle of Moments and he plays on 2 tracks of Jimmy's Outrider album.

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Just as I was leaving to meet a friend for a boat trip last weekend "Thick As A Brick" started on XM's Deep Tracks channel. They didn't just play the edited version of the title song either, they played all of side one. That's one of the many very cool things about XM. Album radio used to play it a lot back in the day too but very rarely did you hear entire album sides unless it was late at night. The even cooler thing was, it was part of a theme set they were doing on concept albums. It was preceded by "S.F. Sorrow" by the Pretty Things which I had never heard before.

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  • 7 months later...

aqualung.png

For anyone that may be interested, here's a review of the 40th anniversary edition of Aqualung from Pop Matters. Believe it or not, my collection of Jethro Tull on CD is scant at best so I look very forward to adding this edition of Aqualung to my collection in the not too distant future.

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