I know, I'm a bit slow. Just dug out a copy of Thick as a Brick, cleaned it up, listened once, thats cool, twice, diggin it more, third time HOOKED!. I need more, where to now?

Cheers
steve

My favourite has always been Aqualung :thmbsp:

My fav's: Songs from the Wood, Rock Island, Stormwatch, Broadsword and the Beast ...

I'll second Songs From the Wood.
Another thing you might want to try is to just start getting their albums from the beginning, and going forward. Each one is outstanding in its own right, and I would recommend a good listen as to how this group developed.

a couple more good ones are "Catfish Rising", and "Rock Island".

Cheers, thanks for the quick responses guys, maybe a better question would have been any to avoid?

If you like Thick as a Brick, you may also like A Passion Play and Minstrel in the Gallery.

... any to avoid?

Was never a fan of "A Passion Play", but that's just me ...

Anything! It's all different according to what Ian A. was interested in at the time of recording. I'd also recommend his solo work and even his classical compositions.

I'll 2nd Broadsword & The Beast. Love it.

Benefit is the only Tull I own. If I stumbled across This Was, and Standup, I'd pick those up. Still burned out on Aqualung after it being overplayed 30+ years ago. After that, I lost interest.

"Stand up" has always been one of my favorites.

Also just released this year, "Best of Acoustic Jethro Tull" has some great cuts from a lot of different albums, and sound quality is excellent.

Still burned out on Aqualung after it being overplayed 30+ years ago. After that, I lost interest.

Know what you mean, I'm exactly the same with Nirvanas "Nevermind"

Next question, do the recent CD reissues sound any good, or should I hold out for vinyl?

Cheers
Steve

Still have the LP from my college daze in the early '70's that has the "stand up" fold-out when you open the gatefold jacket.

Endless entertainment. Ahem.

Steve A.

Oh, and the music is great, too!

Stand Up. Hands down.

Stand Up - Benefit - Aqualung

Jethro Tull - A Classic Case (http://www.collecting-tull.com/Albums/AClassicCase.html)

A great one if you can find it! :yes: :thmbsp:

Scott

Personally I'd try and find their very early stuff when they were still a blues band in England. They do a nice job with Stormy Monday Blues, which, if I remember properly, showed up on their best of CD.

I think they are still touring. They do an interesting show. For one thing, you can see them do classical music, which, strangely enough, they do a really good job with...

Stand Up - Benefit - Aqualung

in that order.....

This Was There first LP

Benefit, Stand Up and Minstrel In The Gallery are all great albums and should be explored. The English folk-y albums Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses are also quite good. Their first album, This Was, with Mick Abrahams on guitar, was an all out blues effort and worth a listen. Mick left band after that release to pursue a solo career. You might remember the band Blodwyn Pig. No? Anyway, get Living In The Past too. That album collects all the early singles recorded up 1972. No Tull collection would be complete without that album.

After Ian fired his band in 1979 Tull went through a bunch of transitional stuff using synthesizers and drum machines culminating with 1984's Under Wraps. Now there's a horrid album if ever there was one. Your mileage may vary but you have been warned. Ian lost his voice around this period as well for which he has never fully recovered. Some later period albums that I think are very good are Crest Of A Knave and Roots To Branches. Ian's solo album Rupi's Dance is also worth hearing.

The remasters sound fine to me. There's always going to be folks that don't like the way things are remastered these days but I think they're okay. If you go vinyl for the early albums the UK pressings are the most desired but can fetch a few dollars. The early Reprise pressings sound nice as well. When you get into the US Chrysalis pressings from the mid to late 70's is when the quality suffered. MFSL released Aqualung, Broadsword And The Beast and Thick As A Brick on vinyl and have very nice SQ if you you're willing to pay the price. DCC released Aqualung on vinyl and is superb but also fetches very high prices.

Cheers

I thought This Was, Stand-Up, Benefit and the Living In The Past compilation are essential Tull. I also found the Isle Of Wight live recording quite satisfying as it has a far better version With You There To Help Me than on Benefit (although the essential version was the one that they performed on the German show Beat Club if you can find it). Post Benefit Tull often rubs me the wrong way.

I'll throw in two that I did not see mentioned. War Child and Heavy Horses. Both very solid albums. Actually, is there a Tull Album that is not solid?

This Was, Stand Up, and Benefit are their first three and best albums IMHO. Mick Abrahams' guitar on This Was was phenominal, as was Clive Bunker's drumming exercise on Dharma For One. Aqualung was OK but unfortunately, Ian Anderson got caught up in the post-Tommy rock opera binge with Thick As A Brick and Jethro Tull sort of lost sight of it's roots quickly thereafter. Compared to their first 3 or 4 albums, their material became sort of lackluster, as folks above have mentioned.

I like the early stuff too. I just scored an original pressing of "Stand Up" and have a hi fi version of "This Was". Also have "Aqualung", "Benefit", and "Thick as a Brick" which always "Puts Me to Sleep". Don't know much about the band after that as "Passion Play" picked up where Brick (ZZZZzzzzzzz) left off.

Alway liked Mick Abrahams and his follow up band Blodwyn Pig's "A Head Rings Out" is a classic in its own right, if for nothing else than the cover with the pig's head and headphones. But the music's pretty good too.

Cue Mitsu Man and his sig..............

http://images-jp.amazon.com/images/P/B0000011LI.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Here's KSHE's hog-
http://www.kshe95.com/images/masthead/sweet.gif

Which came first?...

Thick as Brick,,Aqualung,,Benifit,,Stand-up,,Caught them Live at the old Chicago Stadium during their Thick as A Brick tour,,,WOW

Here's one of mine........

This Was ,Is my favorite followed by Benefit....

Thick as a brick is my favorite. Aqualung still is in the running. Need to find some of the early stuff. Saw them at the Salt palace in SLC back in the day during the Thick as a Brick tour. FANTASTIC!

I agree that the early albums are terrific. On "Benefit" for example, 'To Cry You a Song' has a great guitar riff. Martin Barre is in a class by himself.
I also enjoy "WarChild". 'Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day' has one of my favorite lines:
Well do you ever get the feeling
That the storys too damn real and in the present tense
Or that evrybodys on the stage
And it seems like youre the only person sitting in the audience
http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/images/JT-War.jpg

http://www.ferhiga.com/progre/portadas/jt-benefit.jpg

I always wondered what that cover looked like as a negative-

My favourite has always been Aqualung :thmbsp:

This is the correct answer!:yes:

If you want to try something a little different which you'll either love or hate, try the DVD "Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull", the audio is very very good.

I was just playing thick a brick last night COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. Have fun

Without a doubt "Thick As A Brick" but I also love "Minstrel In The Gallery, "War Child" and "Benefit". Actually there really aren't any Tull albums I dislike but those are DEFINITELY ones that belong in any collection.

I keep This Was ,sTAND Up and Benefit on one of my 6 CD's in the car, always...


I saw them open for the Original Jeff Beck group in, I think, '68. Three encores later, ole Pizzaface coudn't follow and threatened to walk off the stage if the crowd wouldn't stop chanting for Tull.

I have a bootleg album 'My God" on clear red vinyl. All live material. "Children of America, listen to me...", Ian says...

If you want to try something a little different which you'll either love or hate, try the DVD "Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull", the audio is very very good.

I was at one of his live Orchestral performances last year. He had this really good looking oriental gal playing violin with him. It was a small venue at the Fitzgerald Theatre (where a Prairie Home Companion is broadcast) in St. Paul, Minnesota. I took my daghter with me and we had a blast.



Retro

I was at one of his live Orchestral performances last year. He had this really good looking oriental gal playing violin with him. It was a small venue at the Fitzgerald Theatre (where a Prairie Home Companion is broadcast) in St. Paul, Minnesota. I took my daghter with me and we had a blast.



Retro

Two years ago they had violinist Lucia Miccarelli with them. She almost (I said almost) stole the show. Went out and got her cd, "Music From a Farther Room". Good stuff.

Cheers, thanks for the quick responses guys, maybe a better question would have been any to avoid?

I love Tull, but I would avoid "Under Wraps" and "A". They're a little too "moderne", if you get my drift--synthesizers and drum machines and such.

For what it's worth; "Minstrel in the Gallery" is my favorite, followed by "Songs from the Wood" and "Benefit". I don't think anyone has mentioned "Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die", but I like it.

Benefit is the only Tull I own. If I stumbled across This Was, and Standup, I'd pick those up. Still burned out on Aqualung after it being overplayed 30+ years ago. After that, I lost interest.
I could of wrote this. I never need to hear Aqualung ever, ever again! But I would go up to and include War Child, Too Old to Rock & Roll. I never cared for anything by them past this point.

Funny though to hear 'Thick As A Brick' as jingle in a car commercial!
PS: I forgot to include "Living In The Past", as one of my all time faves!