Jethro Tull: Songs From The Wood 40th Anniversary Edition

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Kim Olesen, Sep 17, 2015.

  1. anth67

    anth67 Purveyor of Hogwash

    Location:
    PNW USA
    CD-wise, Wilson's Stand Up is hands down the best I've ever heard, and I used to own the gold MSFL (before it mysteriously disappeared from my shelf:rant:). His Benefit is now my go-to, too. Still love my old Songs From the Wood CD, that one was already perfect. But I'm enamored with the book edition for the whole package, book, bonus tracks, live CD, live DVD...!!! Hope any that don't have that one find a magic key. Wilson's Aqualung is the one, I'm sure, but I just don't play that album much honestly, beyond the bonus stuff. Never owned Warchild or Passion Play pre-Wilson (wonderful packages, though) ~ but I won't discard Night Cap because I much prefer Ian's flute melodies on those Chateau tracks, overdubs or not. Swapped those in on my "complete Chateau" recreation.
     
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2018
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  2. Trainspotting

    Trainspotting Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Just got War Child the 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition, now I have them all!!!
     
  3. SJB

    SJB Beloved Parasitic Nuisance

    Congratulations, and not a moment too soon! The preorder link for This Was just went live this week!
    This Was - The 50th Anniversary Edition
    [​IMG]
     
    tinnox and dclovell like this.
  4. Trainspotting

    Trainspotting Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Yep, already ordered it!
     
  5. tedhead

    tedhead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Space City
    Its the same reason I still have my 20 Years of Jethro Tull box set from way back, and it was also my first box set. The Chateau tracks are great; I particularly like the delay effects on Anderson's vocals.
     
    alduchaney and anth67 like this.
  6. Mainline461

    Mainline461 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tamiami Trail
    Me too, all caught up. My Burning Shed package came yesterday. I will not fall behind on these again.
     
    Ed Hughes likes this.
  7. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    I like the overdubs too, but I can't listen to the Nightcap tracks anymore. The horrible reverb they saturated onto that mix sticks out like doggie-doo when compared to the original recordings. The sound quality on the SW mix is sooooo much better.
     
    Kim Olesen likes this.
  8. anth67

    anth67 Purveyor of Hogwash

    Location:
    PNW USA
    No doubt, but those two or three tracks with no melody at all just sound like the backing tracks that they are. The Nightcap versions are at least a worthy listen musically. Which trumps it for me. Ian's flute sounds great...I even prefer it to a few of the lyrics in that Animale suite ; )
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2018
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  9. SJB

    SJB Beloved Parasitic Nuisance

    Ian wrote lyrics for all the Chateau tracks. I'd be okay with, say, Ryan O'Donnell singing them over the backing tracks, as long as the tracks also remained available in their original, untouched form. Ian has commented that he used to remember those lyrics - I hope they aren't lost forever.
     
  10. anth67

    anth67 Purveyor of Hogwash

    Location:
    PNW USA
    Ha, I'd rather have just the flute "singing" than any other vocalist. Or Ian could try the vocals, I'd take his aged voice over any other singer, also. Cool that he still has the lyrics to those! I thought it was great that he wanted to provide the melody, even with flute. Sure wish we had something like that for Floyd's "In the Beechwoods" or Kinks' "Little Women." I guess I agree we want the untouched tracks, too, for posterity.... But, maybe because I had the flute melodies to go on first, I find the undubbed Chateau tracks a lot less compelling then either of the non-Tull instrumental backings I just named.
     
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  11. Mirsset

    Mirsset Forum Resident

    Location:
    Slovakia
    Guys, I have 40th Anniversary Edition of Songs From The Wood. Is there any reason for me to obtain MFSL CD? Is the flat transferred original mix on DVD solid enough to appreciate original mix?
     
  12. folkfreak

    folkfreak The cold blooded penguin

    Location:
    Germany
    I normally I love the flat transfers in those sets, but SftW is horrible. It sounds like the tape was completely rotten and they tried to bake it but with no success. It, has at least on my disc very strong clanging artefacts. And I tried to rip it on different PCs and on a standalone DVD player.
    Love the MFSL, but after the remix, you'll notice how little bass (the frequencies, not the instrument) the original mix has.
     
  13. I hate to say this about the flat transfer of the Too Old To Rock... album, but it's also completely useless to me, for I guess the same reason. They should have stuck a good quality needledrop in there instead - labelled as such - instead of a dead master tape...

    I haven't got my hands on the Songs From The Wood book set yet, but my copy from the library is on its way.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2018
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  14. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    Hmm, I'm not sure, I think it is historically significant to have a direct copy of the master tape in Hi-Res, even if its present state is degraded. Also, "official" needledrops tend to be of average quality (I'm thinking King Crimson, Yes...). In an ideal world they would put both on disc.
     
  15. folkfreak

    folkfreak The cold blooded penguin

    Location:
    Germany
    As nobody else mentioned this here.... Is something wrong with my SFTW or do you know what I mean ?
     
  16. Vaughan

    Vaughan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    I think there's been a bit of a backlash against the "warts and all"approach. The Bowie boxes have suffered from it - a good number of fans just can't handle it at all. I'm with you though. I have the original copies as it is, and the set is actually about what Steve Wilson brings to the party - meaning if I want stereo playback I'll play the remix. If I must hear the original stereo mix, well, I have three copies of that too on standard releases....
     
  17. Trainspotting

    Trainspotting Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    For the record, I will add that if you can get your hands an a MFSL Songs from the Wood, then by all means do. I actually enjoy all the Mofi Tull releases and they're pretty much my go-to discs for two-channel stereo Tull on CD.
     
    Plan9 likes this.
  18. yescool2002

    yescool2002 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Miami
    The needledrops on Steve Wilson´s remixes of YES albums are horrendous
     
  19. Late to the party, but I just finished playing the SFTW box. What an amazing set! I can't use and judge the 5.1 remixes, but I have nothing but praise for the whole rest of that material...

    I guess that with the 20 Years of Jethro Tull box set, way back then, I was aware that this group had unreleased material of the highest quality, but this is getting ridiculous here... (Old Aces Die Hard... :yikes:)! Really, are there other vintage groups or artists like that out there, who had as much secret, top tier material - throughly finished, polished productions - stashed in their drawers? I mean, objectively speaking, whether you're a fan or not?... As much as I love Frank Zappa, for instance, Jethro Tull takes the cake in this regard, for my taste.
     
  20. folkfreak

    folkfreak The cold blooded penguin

    Location:
    Germany
    yep, especially as Ian repeatedly told us in 1993 after the release of Nightcap, that nothing worth hearing is left in the archives, and that the stuff that was still in the archives even a hardcore fan wouldn't want to listen to....
     
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  21. That's what you tell your fans when you don't want to spend the time to go back to the archives or your memory is shot as to what is there. ;)
     
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  22. Vaughan

    Vaughan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    I also think it speaks to my idea that the artist themselves are poor keepers of the archive from a fans perspective. You really want an unbiased arbiter. One thing that has changed in recent years is the bootleg level recordings have become acceptable to the wider masses.
     
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  23. Yep. Proven time and again for most artists.
     
  24. Norco74

    Norco74 For the good and the not so good…

    I will take the hi-res flat transfer over the needle drop anytime.

    The needle drop that I have heard so far (yes, kc) were all subpar in SQ. I am not sure what combination of TT/cart is used but sincerely the results are disappointing. Also, starting with a cleaned nm or vg+ record helps.

    Some amateur needledrops are way better than the ones included as bonus on cd.

    Rant is over back to our normal program... :D
     
    Plan9 likes this.
  25. tvstrategies

    tvstrategies Turtles, all the way down.

    Hoping that someone who monitors these Jethro Tull threads might have an opinion about some unfinished business:

    Any hope that there may someday be a Benefit set in the tall book format, and an update on release date for Stormwatch in that format?

    Wishing I had bought Brick before it went OOP and priced out of range... (PM me if you are looking for a charity case to sell yours...:D)
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2018
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