We are 10 albums in with Stormwatch on the way (and surely Benefit).......it would be completely nuts at this stage to NOT continue and issue the entire bands catalogue/history in this format. Wilson or not. At this point I'm committed and will continue purchasing these until they are done.
Stormwatch will be number 12. Wilson can stop after rock island if he has to lol. Just get through the 80s. The 90s stuff doesn’t need much work
Stormwatch will be number 12(????)...... 1 - This Was 2 - Stand Up 3 - Aqualung 4 - Thick As A Brick 5 - A Passion Play 6 - Warchild 7 - Minstrel In The Gallery 8 - Too Old To Rock N Roll 9 - Songs From The Wood 10 - Heavy Horses What am I missing??
Ahh... sorry gents - it was the hard book versions I was referring to......hence "We are 10 albums in with Stormwatch on the way (and surely Benefit).......it would be completely nuts at this stage to NOT continue and issue the entire bands catalogue/history in this format".
I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped with Broadsword And The Beast. Tull's worldwide popularity and commercial success (album sales) declined fairly steadily afterwards--with Under Wraps being a particular failure in both regards. From the viewpoint of the record company they probably don't see much benefit in issuing expensive sets for any of the latter day Tull albums--though Crest Of A Knave could possibly receive such a treatment as it was seen as a bit of a return to form. Plus, it did win a Grammy.
It will come up good with a good drum remix. The album is an hour long, so there could be a double album worth of tracks. I trimmed off 5 songs from the original and the album was a solid 40 minutes of tunes with over tinny drums and giant bass drum.
I agree, but from a business (record company) perspective I don't see it happening. Believe me, I'd love to be wrong about this.
If it's a terrific album, why reassess it? Under Wraps is an INCREDIBLE album. The song writing was top-notch, which is saying a lot in the context of the music Tull made. I bloody love it! I know it sounds strange, what with the drums (clearly a mistake in hindsight), and the synths. I think it shows how strong the writing was that it's still a favorite of mine. If they wanted to go the whole hog they could record some real drums I suppose - though for me that's unnecessary, it might help others. Better yet, perhaps there's a live show from the tour somewhere in the archives? Tull made one bad album with Martin Barre - J-Tull. There's a paper thin line, quality wise, between the rest. The truth is, I'm in for any and all in book format. If they continue - and honestly, Steve Wilson isn't an absolute requirement as long as they use someone who will do an equally sympathetic mix/mastering - then they simply have to go as far as Crest of a Knave at least. As I say, I'm in for all of them.
You lose credibility if you claim an album has top-notch song writing when it contains "General Crossing", "Apogee" and "Saboteur".
The original album lists at only 43 minutes. You must have edited off 5 tracks off the cd. I’d be interested to know which songs you excised.
God bless if you think those are examples of good-writing. I think they're the nadir of Ian's writing talent. I happen to like some songs on that album, but I could not in good conscience state thatit's an album of top-notch writing. I'm open minded though. If somehow the album gets remixed with real drums, etc I will see if I feel the same way. But I think General Crossing has a steep road to climb.
The vinyl only had 11 tracks due to time constraints while the CD had all 15 tracks intended for the album.
You can pick up any album and single out the very best tracks, or the very worst. But it's not a greatest hits effort, it's a concept album. For me not every track needs to be priceless to command the moniker of being great writing. As such, The whole of Side 1 is fantastic. Great writing, and great performances. Sure the songs are rather leaden due to the drums, but you ether have to go with them or abandon ship entirely. Side 2 may not quite be up there with Side 1, but it's far from bad. Apogee is great, imo. Throw in the four bonus tracks that were on the CD, and you have a winner. Hell, there were no bad tracks on Under Wraps, imo. I always thought the drums were a strange choice, but it's never put me off the album, it is what it is. I saw the tour too. Just a great period for Tull.
We'll have to agree to disagree. Of the 4 bonus tracks I enjoyed Tundra and Astronomy but loathed the other two. Even more interesting, now that it comes back to me, is that in an interview on my local rock station promoting Broadsword, Ian was asked what was up next for Tull. He said (and I'm paraphrasing), whatever we'll do it'll sound like Tull but with a minor tweak. We can't do something startlingly different with "crazy" people, because that would be unfairly trading on the name of Jethro Tull". So when Walk Into Light came out, I figured okay, he's getting the electronic toy thing out of his system and it is a solo album so, fine, and I think that album actually worked. I then expected him to follow up with what he was hinting at in that Broadsword interview. I feel we got him jumping into the deep end, and to make matters worse, the material f***ed up his voice; it was never the same. And Ian made a bunch of questionable flourishing touches on that album that probably hid the good writing aspect. Stupid stuff (to me) like the "back b-b-b-b-back" in Later That Same Evening; pretty much any of the electronic touches. Totally ruined songs for me. I feel he no longer understood how to use those types of things, he used them with too heavy a hand. After all this was Tull not Ultravox. Very telling that they were label mates; maybe Ian was overexposed to them in the hallways of Chrysalis.
