Jethro Tull: Classic or Dud?

if they even have box sets in 2025, instead of just hugs

At this point I’ll take hugs.

So I got the Stormwatch book edition, and the weather is right, so it's time to dim the lights, have a Guinness, and listen to this Steven Wilson remix of my favorite Jethro Tull album (Living in the Past is a comp so it doesn't count)...

Ooh do report back
What’s the bonus material? Live show?

November 15th release, will be getting this.

A live show and quite a lot of bonus tracks.

Live show is Den Haag 1980 AKA Watchers on the Storm... almost a two-hour set.

My favorite of the new-to-me bonus tracks is a 9-minute version of Orion, a song called Man of God, and an instrumental called Lyricon Blues. Tullheads seem to know about all this stuff already though? They clearly picked the strongest stuff for the first reissue's bonus tracks (Kelpie, Broadford Bazaar, King Henry's Madrigal) which are all here too. Broadford Bazaar remains a top ten Tull song for me.

Wilson remix of the album sounds great, some of the instrumental cues being a different levels in the new mix throw me just from hearing the original so many times over the years, but it definitely sparkles.

Still waiting on mine but I've always loved Orion and am jazzed about the long version.

Here's all the info -

https://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/jethro-tull-stormwatch-40th-anniversary-force-10-deluxe-edition/

The limited runs of these stress me out. I’m not a massive Stormwatch fan but few like I blew the boxes up to Songs from the Wood. I really wished they’d reissue a few of these.

A list of Ian's favorite folk albums and how much he actually contributed to producing Steeleye Span. Second link has the bare list if you cant be bothered clicking through pages.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ian-andersons-10-essential-folk-rock-albums-622920
https://www.loudersound.com/news/ian-anderson-reveals-folk-rock-heroes

I need to get around to Stormwatch, haven't yet listened as I'm still unpacking and the house is in flux but I listened to 'Isle Of Wight '70' while unpacking yesterday and it rules so hard, then I did Space Ritual, live records are good for menial labour.

Still digesting Stormwatch and half of it is very good. But I hadn't seen this album collection before
https://www.discogs.com/Jethro-Tull-Original-Album-Series-Volume-Two/release/8691477
Might be a good option when I've caught up with all the preceding albums and see how far the reissues go.

it would be, I can't see the reissues program extending that far for a number of years, I only have a couple of those records and I never listen to them, maybe I should revisit.

I'd be interested to see how Tull themselves think of the albums, because in the reissues so far they aren't always enthusiastic about the albums.

Still cant get over how negatively Passion Play was received, critic Chris Welch hated it and others thought of it as a massive fuckup, I think I said upthread that Martin Barre wasn't that into it. I have been a bit wary of Welch because he seemed entirely negative about punk music (while making an angry face) but I've only seen him talking/writing on several things.

Roots to Branches is great, there are a few good moments on Crest of a Knave, Under Wraps I’ve still never heard and I don’t like Catfish Rising and Rock Island at all

Stormwatch deluxe.

"Home" and "Dun Ringill" are fantastic. "Dark Ages" could have been the absolute standout but I'm not a big fan of the middle section, the first few minutes are amazing though (even spookier in the live version). "Orion" is good but the extended version is much better, with all these lovely dark instrumental passages not in the final version. "Elegy" is nice too.

I really wish they had made a whole album with the atmosphere of "Dun Ringill" and the spooky elements of some of the other tracks I mentioned. Too many so-so rock tracks.

I understand Anderson's reservations about "A Stitch In Time" (he thought using stock phrases was naff) and "Urban Apocalypse" (he felt self-conscious about the grandeur of the lyrics) but they're both spectacular to me, especially the latter, which I'm stunned was just sitting on a shelf for four decades. It's a Dee Palmer tune, only appeared on a solo album from 2018 (I'll need to get it someday).

The live intros (also written by Dee Palmer) "Sweet Dream" and "Prelude To A Storm" are brilliant. Also a bit spooky.

I assumed that Dee was a nickname for David but I'm only just discovering on Discogs that Palmer is transgender. I didn't read all the notes in these books, so if that has been mentioned, I missed it.

Did Anderson always ham up his Englishness on stage?

hahaha, yes, he does.

Meantime, Ian made an unexpected appearance on an album recently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTVrBN7JvPQ

Marc's always said he was a heavy prog fan right before glam kicked in, so not too surprising, especially since this happened a few years back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nN4d9E0AuY

And earlier this month, Marc put on a solo show for the new album, and this happened!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxP15kQEQFQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNbQY-MfwhE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlPlNpPFKes

I saw an interview several years ago in which Almond listed several things about himself, then concluded by saying "one of these is true". On the list was being a huge Jethro Tull fan.

hahaha, I would not have guessed that! but it makes sense, since I like Marc Almond and Jethro Tull

I picked up Stormwatch Deluxe recently but haven’t dug into it yet. I don’t know it as well as the other two in the folk/ecology trilogy but “Dun Ringall” has always been my favorite track.

Flying Dutchman rolls up all my favorite things about a good Jethro Tull track, and is the middle of great album close: Dun Ringill/Flying Dutchman/Elegy.

Agreed – there’s a real emotional hitch to when Ian sings “You better be there when the Dutchman comes.”

FWIW, some of Wilson’s best surround mixes of this series have been the small acoustic tracks. “Dun Ringill” sounds absolutely incredible in 5.1.

Is Living in the Past one of the top 50 best rock comps of all time? I’d argue yes.

What’s not in doubt is that “Inside” is an absolute jam.

So I finally got around to picking up the A remaster with the bonus Slipstream DVD, and my word, this video is amazing. Amazing! It's like a classic Doctor Who episode.

Ian Anderson could absolutely have been the Doctor from, say, 1979-1980 for a couple seasons and crushed it. Crushed it!

A is a fantastic album. Tull goes Boingo. But are you telling me they have gotten to A in the new remaster program or is this a previous remaster?

hahaha, sorry that IS misleading... no, this is the remaster from 2003, not one of the newer book-format ones... the live version of Black Sunday on Slipstream is definitely amazing. haven't spent a ton of time with A yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E_ZftZkGJs

the Slipstream intro and Black Sunday, so you can see how fractally bonkers this video is and how great the rendition of Black Sunday is

Funny how the sound of the A era predicted the second wave prog bands like Twelfth Night, IQ, Pendragon all that lot.

for awhile I was hoovering up any live boots I could download from the A tour, that lineup was really REALLY good live

XXXXP - The next remaster is supposedly Benefit because it hasn't gotten the book format yet, plus the 5.1 mix is already done.

I legit feel like petitioning Parlophone to reissue these fucking things.

I just shelled out for a used copy of the Benefit 2CD/1DVD edition, so that should speed things along.

I’m still so sad that I missed the boat on the SftW remaster book, the first favorite album I ever had

I know the guy who works the back catalogue nowadays, I will ask him if they're ever going to be reprinted.

Thank u

Here's the reply.

"At the moment no plans to re-issue, the problem being the cost. Obviously numbers would be a lot less than the original run and therefore unit cost would escalate considerably pushing the sales price up too high. That said it is something we could look at down the line maybe as a D2C option in a quiet JT period."

D2C = direct to consumer?

Yeah, I think so.

Check out the first comment on this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1yLI4kQobE

A really nice recording from 1982 has just gone up on D1m3ad0z3n, cool set list too.

Disc One:
01. Something's On The Move
02. Hunting Girl
03. Fallen On Hard Times
04. Broadsword >
05. Heavy Horses
06. A Song For Jeffrey >
07. Keyboard & Drum Interlude
08. Fat Man
09. One Brown Mouse
10. Clasp
11. Watching Me Watching You
12. Instrumental (unknown title)
13. Beastie
14. Band Introductions
[51:25]

Disc Two:
01. The Swirling Pit
02. A New Day Yesterday
03. Thick As A Brick >
04. Sweet Dream
05. Too Old To Rock'n'Roll, Too Young To Die
06. Aqualung
07. Locomotive Breath >
08. Black Sunday
09. Cheerio
[33:08]

Oh boy!
I try to save this question for special situations but
ysi?

Rewatched the second season of Fargo recently; loved this, which opened the seventh episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p46qx7KVks

yeah that's a cool set... Fallen on Hard Times, One Brown Mouse, Black Sunday (a new favorite of mine)

XXP - Jon (and anyone else), no worries, here 'tis - https://we.tl/t-pSxK0nePZF

thanks for the link! wow, this recording sounds great for an audience recording.

Yeah! There's mention of binaural mics in the notes, presumably attached to a hat or maybe shirt lapels, as the notes say the taper moves around quite a bit so the perspective changes around, so it's probably best not listened to on headphones.

Headphones are my only option so I’ll prepare myself for some wanderkopf!