his is the very first Jethro Tull album released way back in 1968. This Was is an appropriate title for this album because not long after its release Tull was a very different band. It is an eccentric, jazzy blues album that still sounds fresh today. It just doesn't sound like what we've come to think of as "Tull Music". The most obvious reason for this-this is the only Jethro Tull album that doesn't feature the guitar work of Martin Barre. Mick Abrahams plays lead here and he shapes the sound of this album almost as much as Ian Anderson, even contributing vocals on a couple of tracks (Abrahams left later that year and went on to form Blodwyn Pig). Although this is a blues album it is a slightly peculiar one, the flute is not known as a blues instrument. The roots of Ian's flute style can be heard on Serenade To A Cuckoo, a tune written by jazz legend Roland Kirk (Ian borrowed Kirk's breathy, hum-as-you-blow flute technique). He also plays harmonica and adopts some rather odd vocal intonations throughout. Mick really shines on the traditional blues instrumental Cat's Squirrel. All in all a thoroughly entertaining relic from the '60s British blues scene, but as it says in the liner notes "This is how we were playing then - but things change. Don't they."

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o me, Stand Up is the first real Jethro Tull album. Ian Anderson is firmly in control of the proceedings with Martin Barre by his side on lead guitar. The "Tull Sound" (quirky rhythms, soft acoustic to near-metal dynamics and unique melodies) emerges here. The first three cuts indicate that this is a much more musically diverse outing than its predecessor. A New Day Yesterday is still rooted in the blues but it has a harder, more rock feel than anything on This Was. Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square switches gears with it's quieter, folky, melodic sound. Bourée heads in another direction-a sort of classical-jazz fusion. Before we've reached track 4 it is clear that Tull have made the transition from blues band to progressive rock band. The whole album is wonderful. The gentle Reasons For Waiting with its beautiful string arrangement, the offbeat Arabian blues of Fatman, Martin's intense guitar work on We Used To Know, Clive Bunker's ferocious drumming on For A Thousand Mothers, it all adds up to a classic.

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enefit is a very good album. Musically, its more sophisticated than Stand Up, but it doesn't seem as fresh or original as its predecessor. John Evan joins the band on piano and organ and helps flesh out Ian's increasingly complex musical ideas. Things start off strong with With You There To Help Me , one of the few tunes from this album that the band occasionally still play live. The backwards flute part on this song gives it a sort of psychedelic flavor. Psychedelic touches can be heard on a couple of other tracks on the album (A Time For Everything and Play In Time) and except for their unfortunate exploration of synth rock in the early eighties this is the only instance of Tull being overtly trendy. Other stand out tracks are To Cry You A Song a hard rock tune with a catchy riff and Sossity, You're A Women, one of Ian's most beautiful ballads. The U.S. version of the album includes Teacher, released only as a single in Britain. The British version includes the cut Alive And Well And Living In, a tune Americans can hear on Living In The Past.

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f you're familiar with Jethro Tull at all you're probably familiar with this album and you don't need me to tell you what it's about or how good it is. This was their breakthrough album and it is still a staple of classic rock radio stations. Long time fans may claim they're tired of this album but they will admit it's one of the group's best. The blend of hard rock and soft acoustic music works perfectly here. John Evan's keyboard work is outstanding, particularly on Locomotive Breath and Wind Up. Be very careful if you are buying a used copy of the CD. Early US releases of the album were terrible (tape hiss was nearly as loud as the music and the beginning of Aqualung and the end of Wind Up were cut). If you can afford it, the DCC gold disc is the best sounding version of the CD available. Whatever version you get the album is an essential part of anyone's collection.

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hick As A Brick is my favorite Tull album. This is the one that convinced me that something very special was happening here (part of this may be because I saw them live for the first time the year the album was released). Many people thought Aqualung was a concept album. Ian didn't think so but he thought "if they want a concept album I'll give them one". This album is one 45 minute song. With it's intentionally pompous and cryptic lyrics (supposedly written by a precocious seven year old) and it's very silly packaging, Thick As A Brick is sort of a parody of concept albums. It is also one of the most musically adventurous rock albums ever produced. It's intricate melodies weave through the album in a kind of theme and variations thing. But don't get the idea that this is a pretentious bore, Ian hasn't forgotten that rock music is supposed to be fun. Clever, funny and just plain brilliant this album belongs up there with Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde and the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, on the short list of the most important rock albums of all time. What?! You don't have this in your collection! Buy it now!

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his is Jethro Tull's first collection of miscellaneous rare tracks (two more were to follow in the years to come-the 20 Years Of Jethro Tull boxed set and Nightcap) and it's a very nice collection. I'm knocking off an Ian from the Gumby rating for including previously released album tracks and for the rather poor choice of live tracks. The live tracks come from a 1970 Carnegie Hall benefit concert, that, minus the two tracks included here, can be heard on the 25th Anniversary Boxed Set. The two tracks on this collection are basically a piano solo from John Evan and a drum solo from Clive Bunker. These long solos were hip in 1970 but today they are just plain boring. As for the previously released album tracks, there is one track from each of Tull's first four releases included, I guess, for chronological reference (Bourée and Teacher-an album track in the US -were omitted from the original US version of the CD, but are included on the Mobile Fidelity gold version along with Locomotive breath-the version to get if you've got the wonga!). Oh well, it's hard to be critical of the rest of the album. Love Story, A Christmas Song, the title track, Sweet Dream, Singing All Day, The Witch's Promise, Just Trying To Be, Wond'ring Again, Life's A Long Song, Up The Pool, Dr. Bogunbroom and Nursie are all classics and should be a part of anyone's Jethro Tull collection.

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Passion Play is the masterful follow up album to Thick As A Brick and it too is a concept album. Ian is taking things a little more seriously this time out. There is more of a coherent story than on Brick, telling the tale of one Ronnie Pilgrim's death and judgment, his visit to heaven and hell and his rebirth (ACT I Ronnie Pilgrim's Funeral: a winter's morning in the cemetery; ACT II The Memory Bank: a small but comfortable theatre with a cinema screen-the next morning; Interval; ACT III The business offices of G. Oddie and son-two days later; ACT IV Magus Perde's drawing room at midnight). Although presented as one long song, the album is really a series of loosely strung together set pieces. On Brick it was the music that made the album feel like a single work, on A Passion Play it's the story that ties things together. There are some interesting additions to the Tull sound here, John Evan plays synthesizer along with his piano and organ and Ian plays soprano sax. Ian's sax sound is completely unique and helps give A Passion Play it's distinctive sound. The instrument shows up on WarChild and, unfortunately, hasn't been heard again. This album also features Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond's finest moment, the interval between the second and third act of the "play" entitled The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles and it's a truly odd, satirical and whimsically British piece with a simple message: look to yourself for answers. I recommend getting the 25th Anniversary video to see the film version of the Hare that was played at the Passion Play shows way back in 1973. A Passion Play is another must-have. Get the Mobile Fidelity gold disc if you can afford it, it sounds sooo good.

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his album is better than it has any right to be. It was pieced together from an aborted film project, the abandoned double album that was going to be the follow up to Thick As A Brick and a rewritten Aqualung out take. Obviously this is not a concept album but rather a collection of songs, although it starts out like a concept album with two songs about war and patriotism (WarChild and For Queen And Country). The album then veers off onto another concept (ladies of questionable repute-Ladies and Back Door Angels) and then heads off in other directions. The sound is very similar to A Passion Play with Ian playing soprano sax. The highlights here are Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day and Only Solitaire both songs from the Chateau D'issaster Tapes. The worst song on the album, Bungle In The Jungle, was released as a single and actually got quite a bit of airplay on top-forty radio. Not bad, but a disappointment, when you consider it is the follow up album to three masterpieces.

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ome Tull albums take a while to warm up to. I didn't like this album at all at first. It was too down beat, too introspective. After a few listens I loved it. I now consider it to be one of their best. Each Jethro Tull album has a distinct, individual personality and it is a good idea to give them a few listens and get to know them before deciding what you think about them. Minstrel is definitely worth getting to know. The album is quieter than most Tull albums, the dominant sounds here are Ian's acoustic guitar and David Palmer's beautiful string arrangements, but some of Martin Barre's finest work can be heard on the title tune and the erotically charged Black Satin Dancer. The highlight of the album is the song suite Baker Street Muse, which has Ian once again observing the seamy side of London (Ian cries "I can't get out" at the end of the piece), but there isn't a weak cut here. The album was produced at a very painful point in Ian's life (the breakup of his first marriage) and, like Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks - also from 1975, it proves ggrreat art can come from trying times.

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s I said, some albums take a while to warm up to and some never seem to get all that warm. This one remains pretty tepid. Like WarChild this music was originally intended for another medium-this time musical theater. Once again the original project never came together and Ian took what he had and turned it into an album. There is some sort of story here but you would never figure it out by just listening to the album, the packaging includes a comic strip (scaled down from LP size to fit in the CD sleeve, which means it's nearly impossible to read) that tells the story of Ray Lomas, the old rocker. It's not much of a story. The album starts off nicely with two strong cuts and one masterpiece (Salamander). Unfortunately it's all down hill from there. Taxi Grab is a fairly standard blues based rocker. This is followed by two songs that grind things to a halt. From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser and Badeyed And Loveless are unforgivably dull. Big Dipper is another standard rocker and the title track has never exactly been my favorite Tull tune. Things pick up a bit with the last two cuts but it's too little too late. If you are new to Tull this should not be one of your first purchases.

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ow this is more like it. Songs From The Wood is one of the very best Tull albums. The title tune is a sort of statement of intent-"Let me bring you songs from the wood...with kitchen prose and gutter rhymes", and that is what we are given, songs about the myths and earthly pleasures of the English woodlands. The Celtic imagery in the lyrics, Celtic musical touches and David Palmer's portative pipe organ give the album a timeless quality. The highlights (well, every cut is a highlight really) are Hunting Girl, a song about a close encounter of the slightly kinky kind with odd but still rocking rhythms, and the kinder, gentler erotic musings of Velvet Green. Martin Barre's guitar sounds like highland pipes on the hauntingly sad Pibroch (Cap In Hand) and Ian kicks out the jams on tin whistle on the Celtic rave up The Whistler. The album closes with one of Ian's most beautiful songs, a tune about domestic bliss, Fires At Midnight. A totally satisfying album. I recommend buying this right after (or at the same time) you buy Thick As A Brick and A Passion Play.

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his is another really good album. I've knocked off an Ian from the Gumby rating because this album is so similar in sound and feel to it's predecessor (OK, since Songs From The Wood is a bloody masterpiece this isn't exactly a bad thing, it's just that most Tull albums have a unique personality) and I just don't care much for Journeyman. These reservations aside, I have nothing but praise for this album. The title tune is an epic about large work horses that are no longer needed and it's a brilliant piece. ...And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps is a whimsical song about a cat on the hunt and is one of Ian's cleverest works. The albums highlights are two of it's quieter moments, the stunningly beautiful Moths and the touching One Brown Mouse. The lyrics of these two songs could stand alone as poetry, but we wouldn't want to be deprived of their lovely melodies. Great stuff.

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Bursting Out

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'll have to admit that I may dislike this album for reasons other than the music itself. This album was originally intended to be an Ian Anderson solo album (A for Anderson) but the record company decided it would probably sell better if it was a Jethro Tull release. Suddenly the musicians who played on the record became Jethro Tull and John Evans and David Palmer were out of the group (bassist John Glasscock had passed away the year before and Barrie Barlow had quit after the StormWatch tour). I was very upset that the band I had come to love had, almost overnight, became something very different. It's hard to ignore those feelings and be objective about A. It is not surprising that this album has a different sound than it's predecessors, it was virtually a whole new band. Eddie Jobson used synthesizers to a much greater degree than John Evans and David Palmer and his synths dominate the sound of this album. Mr. Jobson also plays violin on the album and I would have liked to hear more of the violin and less of the synths. My favorite track is an instrumental that reflects Dave Pegg's influence (Tull's new bass player was, and still is, a long time member of the British folk-rock group Fairport Convention) , a Celtic rock tune called The Pine Marten's Jig. There are some other good songs here, I'd single out Fylingdale Flyer and Black Sunday. Some Tull fans love this album, but I don't know how they can stomach 4.W.D. (Low Ratio)-a song that is definitely in the running for worst Tull song of all time.

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his is not a Jethro Tull album but rather an Ian Anderson solo album and it certainly isn't what most people would expect from such a project. One would expect Ian to go into a studio with his acoustic guitar and flute and record an album of tunes like Only Solitaire and Salamander. No such luck. This is actually a collaboration with then Tull keyboard kid Peter-John Vettese and features the synthesizers, drum machines and sparse repetitive melodies of early eighties synth-rock. For the most part I find this album mind numbingly boring. Three tracks do rise above the general tedium-Made in England, Looking For Eden and Different Germany actually have interesting melodies and lyrics.  Unfortunately Ian didn't get the synth-rock thing out of his system on this release. The next Tull album , generally considered to be their worst, is in the same style.

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n the next Tull project Ian Anderson decided to continue to experiment with the synth-rock sound he had been playing around with on his solo album. Under Wraps, as mentioned above, is generally considered to be the worst Tull album and I agree with that assessment. In the past, Tull's drummers (especially Clive Bunker and Barrie Barlowe) had given Tull a very creative, very human drum sound. Here that is replaced with a drum machine giving the proceedings a sterile, machine like feel. Add to that Peter Vettese's extremely annoying synthesizer sound and you have an album that is extremely hard to get into, which is a shame because there are some good songs here. Later that Same Evening, Heat and the title tune are quite good. The highlight of the album is the acoustic version of the title tune-it stands out like an island of wooden music in a sea of synths. The four bonus tracks added to the CD version are not only the worst songs on the album but perhaps the worst songs of Ian Anderson's career. The original LP version was a much better album.

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t the time of it's release Crest of a Knave was regarded as a welcome return to form for Tull. The album was quite popular, actually got played on  the radio and somehow managed to win a Grammy for best hard rock/heavy metal album. In retrospect, although it is a very good album, it does seem that Ian was playing it safe with radio friendly AOR rock and not really stretching too far creatively.  It was understandable under the circumstances. Ian suffered major throat problems during the Under Wraps tour and was forced to take some time off. It was three years after the poorly received Under Wraps and Ian felt pressured to come up with an album that, at least by the standards of Tull, was bit more commercial, and he succeeded. I don't mean to sound too negative, this is good, solid Tull music. Ian's newfound vocal limitations are in evidence here. He is singing in a lower register here but that is something I quickly got used too. There is one stand out track here and it really stands out. Budapest is a Tull classic. Ian takes a simple idea, lusting after a beautiful young woman in a foreign city, and turns it into a ten minute epic. Ric Sanders from Fairport Convention adds to the Hungarian flavor with his evocative violin. Farm on the Freeway, Jump Start, Said She was a Dancer and Mountain Men are good songs too. Even the CD bonus tracks are pretty good. Some Tull fans complain about the vocals on The Waking Edge but I think the sleepy quality in Ian's voice perfectly matches the mood of the song. The only really weak cut comes at the end. Raising Steam is a rather bland, generic rocker that Ian could write in his sleep. All in all a good album but I'm still bothered by something. It just seems that on this one Ian is trying too hard to please his audience rather than to please himself.

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20 years of Jethro Tull

alf of this album is great. Unfortunately, the other half consists of songs like Raising Steam from Crest of a Knave-rather bland generic rockers that Ian could write in his sleep. Actually the ratio of good to bad is 6 to 4. Not too bad I guess. The good songs here are very good indeed. Things get started with a fun rocker that has a rather naughty double meaning-Kissing Willie. I enjoy this song but some find it deeply offensive. This sort of bawdiness has always been a part of the Tull repertoire-Pig Me and the Whore, The Pied Piper, Hunting Girl etc. It's part of what makes Tull Tull. The next good track, Ears of Tin and the last cut on the album, Strange Avenues, are the album's masterpieces. Jethro Tull doesn't get much better than this. The title track is another good one. I like the way it's themes are carried on in Strange Avenues, giving the illusion that the album isn't as disjointed as it is. Another Christmas Song is a very nice tune about the importance of family. The Whaler's Dues is another pretty good song, if slightly heavy-handed. If the other four songs were as good as these six this could have been one of Tull's best. Oh well.

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A Little Light Music

his is almost, but not quite, Jethro Tull unplugged. A few of these tunes have the familiar decidedly electric, amped to the max sound, but most of the tunes on this live album show the quieter, more intimate side of Tull. The album was recorded in '92 in small venues at various locations in Europe and the Middle East with Tull as a stripped down four piece band (Ian, Martin, Dave Pegg on bass and Dave Mattacks on drums). Rarely played acoustic songs such as Life Is A Long Song, Nursie, One White Duck, A Christmas Song and From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser dominate the album. Some very familiar tunes appear here in unfamiliar arrangements. It's rather strange to hear Locomotive Breath without its piano intro. This version of Living In The Past is an instrumental that just cooks-amazing flute from Ian. Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll, Too Young To Die is presented in what Ian calls the reggae version (it's not exactly Bob Marley, but some sort of Carribean thing is happening). The highlight is perhaps the best version of Bourée ever recorded. It includes Martin and Peggy playing Bach's Double Violin Concerto and they kick Baroque butt! The album also includes the traditional tune John Barleycorn which cannot be heard anywhere else. If you like Jethro Tull because "they ROCK man", this album probably isn't for you, but if you like their softer side you should find it quite enjoyable.

25th Anniversary Boxed Set

he 25th Anniversary box is really four separate albums put together in a very nice package. The first CD is called Remixed Classic Songs and it is the least interesting of the four albums. Engineer Robin Black and producer Ian Taylor took sixteen classic Tull tracks and remixed them to give them a different sound. Some are very different (Songs From The Wood), a few are greatly improved (Cross=eyed Mary), but most of the songs just sound a bit different, making this only slightly more interesting than the average greatest hits collection. The second CD is the highlight of the set. Carnegie Hall, N.Y. Recorded Live New York City 1970 is almost an entire concert (the missing music can be heard on Living In The Past). The sound is quite good, much better than boots from the period, and the performance is wonderful. My favorite tracks are My God complete with Ian's weird and wacky flute solo, the beautiful Sossity/Reasons For Waiting medley and Martin's amazing, fiery guitar solo between We Used To Know and For A Thousand Mothers. The third disc is called The Beacons Bottom Tapes and consists of rerecorded versions of some classic songs as Ian says in the notes "...not to redefine, but merely to up-date the performances of some of our favorite pieces". I think it's nice to hear these newer versions of old tunes without the intrusion of an audience. The best tracks are Martin's instrumental versions of The Whistler and Protect And Survive, an epic arrangement of A New Day Yesterday and once again, My God, this time with a very jazzy God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen in the middle. The last disc is called Pot Pourri, Live Across The World & Through The Years and features, you guessed it, live tracks from 1969 to 1992. My only complaint is that 8 out of the 15 tracks are from the nineties. I like the nineties stuff but I would  like to hear more from earlier days. The Passion Play extract from '75 and Wind-Up/Locomotive Breath/Land Of Hope And Glory Medley from '77 are the definite highlights here and one has to ask if these concerts were recorded in their entirety when can we hear more? But anyway, a very nice box. The cigar box packaging is pretty cool and the booklet contains a well written history of the band with lots of nice pictures. Well worth getting for disc 2 alone.
 
 

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Nightcap

n the back of the booklet that came with the 25th Anniversary box is an ad concerning the release of "JT's Other Boxed Set". This collection lost it's live material and was released as the two CD set Nightcap, a collection of out takes, B-sides and rarities in the tradition of Living in the Past and 20 Years of Jethro Tull. The first disc is The Chateau D'Isaster Tapes, most of the music recorded for the unfinished double album that was intended to be the follow up to Thick as a Brick (there is still 8 minutes of material, including a version of Skating Away, that Ian won't let us hear). Recorded at the Chateau D'Herouville near Paris, the project was scrapped due to illness, technical problems and the desire to return to Britain. This is fascinating stuff. The best tracks are the last three, Scenario, Audition and No Rehearsal, that were first released on the 20 Years of Jethro Tull box. This song cycle holds its own next to Tull's classic progressive music (Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play). Look at the Animals and Law of the Bungle are two of the weirdest and silliest songs Ian has ever written but Martin Barre's spoken intro to Law of the Bungle II beats them on the weirdness scale. It's hard to understand how such fun music emerged from sessions that were supposed to be so dismal. Quite a few of the tunes on the Tapes should sound familiar to those who have heard A Passion Play and for people who love that album The Chateau D'Isaster Tapes is a must-have. The second disc is called Unreleased and Rare Tracks and consists of outtakes from 1974 through  1991 and it's a mixed bag. A large chunk of these tunes come from the prolific Broadsword sessions but there is nothing that measures up to Jack-A-Lynn or Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow here. Apart from the catchy Commons Brawl the '81 outs are all pretty forgettable. The Catfish Rising outtakes fare much better. These six tracks were originally released on the Living in the (Slightly More Recent) Past double CD single and they are all very good songs-especially Truck Stop Runner and Rosa on the Factory Floor (which should have been on Catfish Rising instead of Doctor to my Disease and White Innocence).  The Too old to Rock 'N' Roll, Too Young to Die out take, A Small Cigar, is unlike anything else Tull has done. It suggests that in a parallel universe Ian is a musical comedy star. This track wouldn't have improved Too Old... one bit but you're glad to have been given the opportunity to hear it. The Warchild out takes are very odd tunes. In Paradise Steakhouse Ian tells his lover that he wants to roast her on the spit of love and divide her into tender pieces (say what?).  Sealion II is a vehicle for Jeffrey Hammond's surreal weirdness and Quartet is a strange, jazzy, almost comic instrumental which probably would have fit on WarChild nicely (a bit of this tune can be heard in Ian's flute solo on Bursting Out). The best thing on this disc is a cut from 1978 called Broadford Bazaar, a beautiful, haunting tune with a strong Celtic flavor about a flea market on the Isle of Skye. It's almost worth buying the set to get this lost classic. Newbies should probably hold off on this collection, but it's an essential acquisition for the true believers.

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Roots To Branches

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j-tull.com

ood albums can disappoint initially with the long wait between albums these days. I didn't care much for this one when it first came out but I now I think it's a very nice effort. Not a classic, like Roots To Branches, but a pretty good album. Things get started with a nice rocker called Spiral, about waking up in the morning. It has touches of psychedelia, something that hasn't been heard on a Tull album since 1970.  There are several well done heavier tunes on this album. Hunt By Numbers, another tune about one of Ian's favorite things-cats, has become a live standard. The title cut, sort of, Dot Com, has a mellow and exotic Eastern feel, thanks partially to Indian singer Najma Akhtar who provides atmospheric background vocals. Martin Barre wrote the music to the strangest track on the album. The jazzy, Caribbean flavoered beat poetry reading, Hot Mango Flush. It's a cut you will either love or hate. I love it, along with it's short reprise Mango Surprise. They add a needed touch of humor to the album. Another humorous track, The Dog-Ear Years, is about dealing with growing older. "Vintage and classic or just plain Jurassic", this one has some great lyrics. The two best songs on the album are absolute jems, just plain classic Tull. Bends Like A Willow has Ian admiring Shona's (Mrs. Anderson's) abilities to deal with changes and troubles. It's very personal and beautiful love song. The other great song is A Gift Of Roses. It has a timeless quality with its Passion Play reference and music that wouldn't have been out of place on Songs From The Wood. All in all quite an enjoyable effort. Now, if we only didn't have to wait so long between releases.

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The Various Hits Collections

ike most bands that have been around for decades, Jethro Tull have released a number of greatest hits compilations ("best of" compilations would be a better term, Tull have only had two or three actual hit singles). The hits compilations are a good place for "newbies" to Jethro Tull to begin their collections. There have been dozens of different hits collections released around the world but here we will concentrate on the UK/US releases:

M.U. - The Best of Jethro Tull 1976
Repeat - The Best of Jethro Tull Vol. II 1977
Original Masters 1985
The Best Of Jethro Tull: The Anniversary Collection 1993
Through the Years 1997
36 Greatest Hits 1998

Taken together, M.U. and Repeat are a pretty good overview of the early days of Tull. There are some strange omissions (nothing from This Was) but the tunes that are included belong here. To get fans to buy these albums, Chrysalis threw in a couple of tunes that until recently have not been available anywhere else, Rainbow Blues on M.U. and Glory Row on Repeat.  Both are good songs that all Tull fans will want to get eventually.  In 1985 Chrysalis released Original Masters. It was one of the first Tull releases on compact disc and at the time, that was the only reason to buy this thing. Eight of the twelve songs were already released on M.U. and Repeat and the years '78-84 were totally ignored. If you must buy this album get the DCC gold disc which definitely has the best sound of any of the hits collections (the only reason to buy this thing today). The DCC disc has the complete version of Minstrel in the Gallery and the entire first half of Thick as a Brick (both are edited on the original Original Masters). I993 was Jethro Tull's 25th Anniversary and some great stuff was released: The 25th Anniversary boxed set, Nightcap and the 2 CD best of collection called The Best Of Jethro Tull: The Anniversary Collection. If only Original Masters had been more like this. A comprehensive look back at the band from'68 (This Was is represented here by Song for Jeffrey and Beggar's Farm) to '91 (Catfish Rising's This is Not Love). The sound quality is much better than the old Chrysalis releases, though not quite as good as the gold stuff.  All the obvious tracks are here, such as Living in the Past, Teacher, Aqualung, Bungle in the Jungle etc., plus some less obvious tracks that round things out nicely (Mother Goose, Jack in the Green, Dun Ringell, Jack-A-Lynn). The only thing really wrong with it is that it doesn't include Rainbow Blues or Glory Row. The 3 disc collection 36 Greatest Hits however does include them.  36 Greatest Hits is an eccentric mix of the obvious and the obscure (how can they call Saboteur, Roll Your Own or I'm Your Gun "hits"?). There are some omissions-again, nothing from This Was and where is Bourée? The strange track selection though is one of this collections strong suits. It gives a fuller picture of what Jethro Tull are all about than the other collections. So I am recommending this set to newcomers. If you fall under their spell and decide you must have everything, this set will give you Rainbow Blues and Glory Row in much better sound than M.U. and Repeat. At 158 minutes it's a bit short for a 3 CD set but with its $20 price tag to complain about that would be quibbling. It can be hard to find. Follow the link to Dag's Sandbu's site above. That leaves the 1997 release Through the Years which breaks all the rules for such collections. Only two of these songs are from the obvious list, Living in the Past and Locomotive Breath, and the versions here are live recordings. The 13 tracks range from Dharma for One ('68) to Rare and Precious Chain ('95). The sound quality is quite nice. Even if you have all these tracks on other CDs you will find yourself playing this one because it's just a nice set of Tull tunes.

M.U. Tracks and lyrics.
Repeat Tracks and lyrics.
(for both M.U. and Repeat together)
Original Masters Tracks and lyrics.

The Best Of Jethro Tull: The Anniversary Collection Tracks and lyrics.

Through the Years

36 Greatest Hits 1998