I'm in. This Was isn't my fave rave JT album but I like enough of it to get this set in addition to the 2-disc one. The Mew Mix is OK but I find it a bit fatiguing here and there and I really miss having the big book, those books have been my introduction and education of JT and I love the idea of having everything from the start as a book set, Benefit included.
The existing SW edition of Benefit has a fairly extensive liner booklet, certainly much more indepth than the 2001 release. I agree that these books have been the best ongoing Tull biography ever ~ much more than I'd ever read before. The Stand Up book is my favorite. Maybe Songs From the Wood after that? so many details about their process of creating that album.... Passion Play after that, then Heavy Horses...?
Only reason i picked it up was for the stereo mix of "love story". I'm a pink island mono 1st pressing owner.
I detest 18th, doesn't even sound like Tull to me. The only way I can see spending this $$ is if they do stereo mix 1. There's no live stuff from '68 and they know it; maybe they'll try and foist some later live stuff on us. Wasn't there a 'reunion' in the 90's of one or two shows?
There are several BBC recordings that sound great, as heard on the 2008 reissue. The reunion performance was in 2001, apparently a single gig filmed for the Living With the Past DVD. In 1993, most of the surviving members, including all four original members, gathered for the 25th anniversary.
There has to be a book(s), so as to keep, the uniformity on my shelf , "This Was" and "Benefit" look so lonely away from the other nine..
i love the books and having been a tull novice prior to the 5.1 releases and really happy they did that. i must say though that with my music addiction i wouldn't re-buy benefit in a book as space to store all this music gets more and more rare. i'll need to build a house extension soon lol
In a heartbeat (along with Thick As A Brick re-issue??). Absolutely no point commencing a series such as this if you are not going to release all albums IMO but if it peters out then definitely no point leaving gaps in the series already issued. However This Was and Stand Up were also released as a Collectors Editions first and they are/will be released as a Book Set, so pretty confident Benefits coming also.
I am in it for the music. No amount of repackaging the same music with just more words added in a book will make me buy it again. New music, then i’m in.
I agree. I wasn't saying that there are truly "live" recordings of the Abrahams lineup from 1968. My point is that there's something beyond the studio master recordings. BBC sessions were typically live-in-studio or involved minimal overdubbing compared to regular studio sessions. The BBC tapes at least give us alternate recordings of most of This Was, plus "Love Story" and two exclusive tracks ("Stormy Monday" and "So Much Trouble"). I'd be happy to hear live recordings from the Abrahams period, but if they don't exist, then the BBC tapes are a nice consolation prize.
I would buy a book edition....even if the audio content was exactly the same. I'm a sucker for aesthetics.
"This Was" in October. This means the "Stormwatch" reissue should hopefully happen by the end of 2019. But Steven Wilson sounds like he'll have a full plate as he plans on touring into next year and is apparently already writing a new album of his own.
