Rating "Jethro Tull " albums?

Only the first single was credited to Jethro Toe

 

"thee"
Typo, he says.

 

Aqualung - 7.5
Thick as a Brick - 9
Passion Play - 8
War Child - 7
Minstrel in the Gallery - 7.5
Too Old to Rock n Roll, Too Young to Die - 7
Songs from the Wood - 9.5
Heavy Horses - 8.5
Stormwatch - 8

Haven't heard the early or later albums.

 

This Was 8
Stand Up 8
Benefit 8
Aqualung 10
Thick As A Brick 10
A Passion Play 10
Warchild 8
Minstrel In The Gallery 10
Too Old To Rock n Roll 8
Songs From The Wood 10
Storm watch 10
A 8
Broadsword & The Beast 9
Under Wraps 6
Crest Of A Knave 10
Rock Island 9
Catfish Rising 8
Roots To Branches 9
Dot Com 7
Christmas Album 2

 

This Was 4/10
Stand Up 8/10
Benefit 9/10
Aqualung 10/10
Thick As A Brick 2/10


Brick turned me right off, never heard the others.

 

I'm not great with these sort of rankings. I will say that for anyone who doesn't rate Aqualung a 10 you've lost me. The calibration of your scale is all off. How can I tell what the rest of it even means.

 

...and what about TAAB??? 2/10..!!??? Wow!!

 

Childish. Tull's Monty Python album.

 

Aqualung
Benefit...both 11!!!

 

...I'm not sure what that means...but, ok.

 

“And the blue-eyed soldiers stand slightly discolored
(in neat little rows) sporting canvas frills.
With their jock-straps pinching, they slouch to attention,
while queueing for sarnies at the office canteen.
Saying: "How's your granny?" and good old Ernie:
he coughed up a tenner on a premium bond win.

So! Come on ye childhood heroes!
Won't your rise up from the pages of your comic-books
your super-crooks
and show us all the way.
Well! Make your will and testament.
Won't you? Join your local government.
We'll have Superman for president
let Robin save the day.

You put your bet on number one and it comes up every time.
The other kids have all backed down and they put you first in line.
And so you finally ask yourself just how big you are
and take your place in a wiser world of bigger motor cars.
And you wonder who to call on.
So! Where the hell was Biggles when you needed him last Saturday?
And where were all the sportsmen who always pulled you though?
They're all resting down in Cornwall
writing up their memoirs for a paper-back edition
of the Boy Scout Manual.”

Compare that to his writing on the two albums before that and you can see what a big step back he took.

 

This Was-7
Stand Up-10
Benefit-9.5
Aqualung-10
LITP-9.5
TAAB-10
Passion Play-5
Warchild-7
Minstral-8
TOTRRTYTD-5
Songs From the Wood-10
Heavy Horses-8

 

...again...if you say so.....you're never gonna convince me. I think it's a brilliant album lyrically, musically, conceptually....one of my top ten favorite albums of all time.

 

I would rank "Living In The Past" higher, even though that is a comp. Where is your rankings list for Tull?

 

I don't bother with ranking lists unless I'm dead certain that they are definitive (which is something I don't consider an easy task). I often question lists of other people especially when they start ranking past ten titles of albums or singles. That said, i would say it's pretty fair to say that these are my top 5 Tull albums (the top three, for sure, will never change):
1-TAAB-10/10
2-Aqualung-10/10
3-Passion Play-9/10
4-War Child-8/10
5-Benefit-8/10

.....on the ones which have the same ranking...honestly impossible for me to separate them by a point so it would depend on my mood which would go higher. TAAB wins out over Aqualung for the cover art.

 

This Was 7
Stand Up 8
Benefit 8
Aqualung 9
Thick As A Brick 10
Living In The Past 9
A Passion Play 10
WarChild 8
Minstrel In The Gallery 10
Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die 7
Songs From The Wood 10
Bursting Out 6
Heavy Horses 8
Stormwatch 8
A 7
The Broadsword And The Beast 7
Walk Into Light 7
Under Wraps 6
A Classic Case 2
Crest Of A Knave 7
20 Years of Jethro Tull (unabridged) 10
Rock Island 5
Catfish Rising 6
25 Years of Jethro Tull 7
Nightcap 8
Roots To Branches 7
Divinities 4
j-tull dot com 6
Secret Language of Birds 8
A Christmas Album 7
Nothing Is Easy (Isle of Wight) 7
TAAB 2 6


Have not heard:

Live at Hammersmith
A Little Light Music
In Concert
Rupi’s Dance
Homo Erraticus

 

Have not heard most of them, but the ones I have heard...
Benefit 8/10
Aqualung 7/10
Thick As A Brick 8/10
A Passion Play 10/10
WarChild 7/10
Songs From The Wood 10/10
Heavy Horses 7/10

 

I'm not gonna rank ...but I will say:

"A Little Light Music" and "The Christmas Album" are generally underrated.

20 Years is one of the best box sets ever (despite now being almost entirely redundant).

"Living in the Past" is one of the best comps ever.

Benefit, Stand Up, SFTW, Heavy Horses are all masterpieces.

Aqualung and TAAB speak for themselves.

 

I think you are forgetting that TAAB is a spiteful rebuttal to all the reviewers who thought Aqualung was a concept album. They wanted a concept album, so he gave them one. A concept album about nothing. Seinfeld must love TAAB.

 

This Was 7
Stand up 8
Benefit 9
Aqualung 8,5
Thick as a brick 10
Living in the past 10
Passion play 6
Warchild 6
Minstrel 6
Too old 6
Songs from the wood 7
Bursting out 6
Heavy Horses 6
Stormwatch 5

 

Now that's just plain wrong.

 

I had to break it down somehow otherwise they would have been equal. Packaging (in conjunction WITH the music, of course) has always played a big part of the appeal an album has for me. Of course there ARE albums which have great covers but I hate the music or the other way around...but with both TAAB and Aqualung it's a win-win with TAAB having the edge on the cover. Whatcha gonna do......

 

So I take it the EP was released because those new songs did not match the new concept album, and it was release them or forget them?

 

Assuming that 10 means "the best Tull album", not the best album ever:

This Was - 9
Stand Up - 10
Benefit - 8
Living in the Past - 8
Aqualung - 9
Thick as a Brick - 9.5
A Passion Play - 9.5

 

Fascinating that you think that your personal opinions are facts.