Jethro Tull Too Old To Rock and Roll too young to Die! deluxe 2016

This is remastered version though

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has clocked the "TV Special" version as feeling a bit more high energy than the original release.

Overall, even if I hated this album, just about any Steven Wilson remix/remaster offers the chance for genuine reappraisal of the music. In the case of A Passion Play, I found a lot more to like about it with Wilson's mix than in my original, early '00s CD remaster. Even King Crimson's Lizard revealed itself to me after Wilson got done with it.

Also, so we've covered it, he hasn't destroyed any of my favorites, so he's batting a perfect score!

I will say that I'm hopeful for at least the early '80s albums seeing a similar re-release if a relatively low-scoring '70s release as TOTRNR warrants it. I'm still crossing my fingers for a "complete sessions" release of Broadsword & The Beast!

 

I found those first 3 to be classics when that album was released. The only songs I had no use for were Bad-Eyed & Loveless and Deadbeat to an Old Greaser. The title track also wore out fast.
If you read the booklet carefully, Strip Cartoon, although it fits the feel of the album, was recorded after the album was released. It is one of my favorites to this day (I got it on the B-side of the Whistler when that single was released). Hard to believe that was 38/39 years ago.

 

I find the verses from crazed a bit boring although the chorus is cool. Don't mind taxi and quiz. Quiz is the proggiest of the 3 so I chose that to fill 40 minutes worth. I never used to care for greaser and always skipped but when I got to hear the sax solo I started to like it. Now I dig it. Once the bass and drums come in it's cool

 

After a couple of days of close to non-stop listening (with only a pause to play Vince Guaraldi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas") to the boxset and non-stop reading to its 80-page booklet, I finally feel ready to post my review.

I'd like to start by stating my overall opinion of the album. I always thought it was a nice breather between the introspective "Minstrel in the Gallery" and the tour-de force "Songs from the Wood". It is obviously a transition album and one that should not be picked as a representative for the classic era of Jethro Tull and I can understand why it was perceived by some as a bit of a letdown when it came out. However, I wonder why time hasn't softened up much that opinion, now that we are able to place it in context. Personally, I think it's a very clever album, with good songs, a very good variety of musical tones and great orchestral arrangements by David Palmer. I really dig rockers like "Quizz Kid", "Big Dipper" and "Taxi Grab", "Pied Piper" is a nice sneak peek of what we will find in the next years and "The Chequered Flag (Dead or Alive)" never fails to send shivers up my spine. Just like other fellow posters, I didn't care much for "From A Dead Beat to an Old Greaser" at first, but it became a favorite, lately. I rate this album as a 7.5/10.

On to the box now. The re-recorded version, as mentioned previously, sounds a bit rougher than the regular version, but it's stil actually quite polished (hard to imagine that this stuff was recorded just in two separate sessions!) and the relative roughness actually works in favour of certain songs, mostly the rockers. I feel that this take of "Pied Piper" is superior to the one on the album and these versions of "Taxi Grab" and "Quizz Kid" are also quite neat. The more elaborate and delicate sounding songs ("Salamander") are the ones which I prefer in their official version. A very worth alternative: I won't say it's better than the one we have known for all of these years, but it's as much as enjoyable.

The five tracks from the original album that could be remixed from the surviving multitracks follow the same pattern used by Wilson in the other remixes. He is generally pretty faithful to the original mixes, concentrating on enhancing the clarity more than changing the sound image. Since half of the album is missing and the original mix is included in this edition, one might have wished that he took a more creative approach in this case but, admittedly, those particular tracks never sounded better than this before.

The outtakes and the associated recordings were, as usual, very interesting and the part that I was more excited to hear. Once again, the two tracks that were previously released are presented in crystal clear versions: it's especially a blast to finally hear a dry sounding version of the acoustic take of "A Small Cigar" without those dreadful 90s artifacts that were present on "Nightcap". I find Version 1 of "Quiz Kid" amusing to hear because it contains quite a lot of superfluous things in the arrangement: a short haircut and voilà, a great rocker is born. Early drafts of "Salamander" and "Too Old To Rock'n'Roll; Too Young To Die" are included and are very nice, but the major discovery is the complete orchestrated take of "A Small Cigar"; it was previously a song that I didn't consider more than nice filler, but this arrangement elevates it to a quasi-masterpiece status: the final minute of the song had actually me in tears the first time I heard it! The selections include two previously unreleased compositions as well. "Salamander's Rag Time" is quite a strange tune; while I really like the vocals and the orchestration, especially the French Horn at the end, I feel that the song itself is a bit lackluster and the very definition of outtake... Still glad I got to hear it and judge it after 40 years of being locked in a vault! "Commercial Traveller" is a bouncy, well written, great tune with, once again, great vocals and thunderous drumming by Barriemore Barlow; the track is possibly slightly penalized by an orchestral arrangement that becomes a bit overbearing in the chorus. A very good song, nevertheless, and one that was inexplicably missing from the previous outtake releases. There is also a nice early version of "One Brown Mouse" (actually recorded in sessions that came after the release of the album), even though the one that would appear two years later on "Heavy Horses" is better.

Nothing much to say regarding the flat transfer of the original album: it sounds much better than any CD and vinyl version I've heard so far.

I can't judge some of the contents of the DVDs because I do not own a surround system. All I can say is that the video version of the TV special looks (and sounds) much better than the copy I used to have and that a 2-channel reduction listening of the previously unreleased Quad Mix of the album revealed quite a different mix, even though I can't be more specific at the moment. The TV special itself is exactly as described by Anderson and Barlow in the booklet: terribly silly. But it's silly in an enjoyable way and, actually, one of the many reasons for which Jethro Tull is one of my favorite bands is that they are successfully able to take the piss out of themselves, in spite of being sometimes accused of self-indulgence.

Speaking of the booklet, Martin Webb's essay is, once again, a great read with lots of informations and some funny comments by the man himself. Anderson's track by track comments are, again, very insightful even because most of the songs included in this box are obscure and, hence, rarely discussed. Dave Gibbons' story of how he got to draw the iconic artwork for the LP is very interesting as is John Glascock's minibiography at the end: a great bass player that shouldn't be forgotten. Since I'm not interested in motorbikes, I didn't care much about Ian's essay about the ones he owned, but the story about Captain Beefheart's Rockette Morton (aka Mark Boston) and the conclusion had me chuckling.

Verdict: another great addition to this ongoing serie and one that looks great on my shelf as well. Worth for every Tull fan and, maybe, especially to those who are intrigued by their music and are getting into their discography. As I've already mentioned plenty of times: these releases are definitely my Jethro Tull dream becoming true and I hereby thank those involved in the process: you really deserve my money!

 

I still need to pick this one up.

 

Aside from this being a thoughtful, thorough and useful review, your mention of the quad mix just reminded me of it. I can stop mourning the missing 5.1 half of the album. We already have a historic surround mix. Hurray! I'd forgotten it was on there.

 

First, thanks for the great review.

Getting to this bit of it, I suspect the reason time hasn't softened opinions on this record is that it's just not that great of an album when taken as a whole. I mean, obviously, that's a "your mileage may vary" kind of loaded statement, but it seems like most fans are responding to this album being neither fish nor fowl. It's not (as the lovely book in this set outlines) really the musical that Ian Anderson originally envisioned when the project began but it's not really a proper album divorced from that musical's concept either, so you're getting the weaknesses of a concept album AND the "random bunch of songs" with the strengths of neither approach. Don't get me wrong, where this album is good, it's great and there are songs like the title track, From a Dead Beat (yes, I do like that one - surprised by how many here don't) and Chequered Flag that definitely make it worth the price of admission, but it feels like it's trying too hard to service a concept that isn't much worth servicing - at least to me.

Now, imagine how much these perceived "sins" are magnified by the fact that it's sandwiched between two of the best albums ANY band ever put out (again, YMMV). I remember in my teens being grossly disappointed to learn that Minstrel and Songs were not consecutive albums in the catalog. What can I say? I was a fragile youth...

Ultimately, I'm pleased as anything to get the chance to really have all this music to pore over and reevaluate, but I definitely understand why this album is seen as "lesser" in the Tull canon. Now, for the real fun, I should go ahead and say that I think Broadsword & The Beast is better than Aqualung and we can get the controversy party started!

 

I might agree today. Friday party!

 

Jethro Tull at their over-the-top best on expanded ‘Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: To Young to Die’ CD/DVD release

 

Why are older members of the group in this picture?

 

The picture is from "M.U. - The Best Of", it's not a picture specific to TOTR&R

It would be interesting to see a similar picture now featuring everyone from all the lineups - they'd need a convention centre

--
Rob

 

Yeah, really.
This picture was used for the 1976 MU Best Of Tull-same time period as Too Old.

 

Came back from Europe and the first thing that I did is to have a blast with TOTRR deluxe. So far and once again, I must say I am liking this album much better than I used to do. the TV special audio, as many have poited out, sounds rawer, rougher and cooler. As Barrie points says in the liner notes, it is a clever album/songs. Salamander´s Ragtime sounds nothing really special, Commercial Traveller I will have to give more listens to say if I like it or not, but from the extras, so far I have liked the orchestral Small Cigar and the TOTRR demo. Still have to watch the DVDs and listen to all audio options.
2016 with Aqualung, Stand Up and SFTW can´t get soon enough!!!

 

Been listening to cd 2 with my fave 10 songs programmed and it comes up as a great listen. Cigar orchestral, ragtime and traveller are bloody awesome after a few listens. They are up there with cartoon. These 4 and chequered are the best 5 tracks. Pied, greaser and salamander are other fine additions and dipper and quiz fill the final 2 spots nicely. Without the 4 outtakes this would be only half as enjoyable. An album with 5 great tracks will get a lot more listens than an album with 1 great track and this has allowed me to enjoy a song such greaser more because I get to hear it more. This would have been a strong 8.5/10 album rather than the 6/10 I give the original release:

Strip cartoon
From a deadbeat
Salamanders ragtime
Pied piper
Commercial traveller
Salamander
Big Dipper
Small cigar(orchestral)
Quiz kid
Chequered flag

This is on par with songs from the wood and heavy horses imo. Similar result with A passion play, Aqualung and Warchild, Benefit remixes. Almost up there with thick as a brick too. Massive improvement with these added tracks. Stormwatch will be up there too. Minstrel will be only remix that I can't form a strong 40 minutes of music from

 

The 2011 release of Aqualung is a Steve Wilson remaster, and very good. Is there another release planned?

 

Hope not!!!!

 

The 2011 Aqualung could be reissued in the book format like the others.

By the way, it's a Steven Wilson REMIX, not remaster.

 

Yeah I always get those two terms mixed. Either way, it sounds great.

 

I've started this set with the original 1976 Quadrophonic version. Very interesting indeed.

 

Well yes, apparently Aqualung will have a new 45 anniversary edition in the now traditional book format. Hopefully with no audio gliches and properly mastered, and possibly some new extras as well.

 

Finally got to say hello to my own copy and once again, the presentation of the boxset and the contents never fail to impress. I recall listening to the recent remaster of Too Old a number of times in preparation for this album and while I got to see the TV performance on YouTube before the set arrived, that was when I decided I was going to be truly looking forward to the album. Enjoyed the quirky little performance and to have the opportunity to watch the DVD with better quality, this is certainly going to be a treat. The bonus tracks are great and yes, the TV Soundtrack greatly surpasses the original recording. That said, I haven't had the chance to listen to the 5 original tracks that managed to get remixed. That will come very soon.

Contrary to popular opinion, I really like From a Dead Beat to an Old Greaser. And again the TV Version super-cedes the original by far.

Now, I've noticed on the DVD after Chequered Flag (Dead or Alive) that there's a 4s track with nothing but a chord playing. I've also noticed the untitled track on the Gentle Giant Octopus remix plus XTC's Oranges & Lemons too. Is this something Wilson is doing on purpose lately or is it just something going unnoticed?

Now, with this set out of the way, 2016 can't come soon enough. Really looking forward to Stand Up and the new Aqualung Bookset! Heck Stand Up may as well be released in a book and then redo Benefit in book format in the future...

 

Greaser and Flying colours are 2 tracks that took me a while but both are awesome now

 

The best thing to do for me is NOT to listen to the upcomming reissue album in its original form in the previous months. And if I havn´t known a particular album ever before, I NEVER have a first listen from Youtube. It´s suicide!

 

Well at the time, YouTube was perhaps the most accessible source to watch the TV performance. While I did enjoy the performance, I was simply looking forward to listening and watching in better quality.