This is my favourite Jethro tull album. The first prog rock album they released. The truth is, I tried a lot of times, but still can't get into Thick as a brick
I appreciate this album, more than most on this forum apparently. Spinning it right now. To Cry you a song. A Time for Everything. Utterly brilliant songs.
My favorite is A Passion Play, but I love Benefit. In fact, I've probably played Benefit more than any other Tull album.
I suppose some will be discussing the US version and others, like me, the UK version. I think it's a great album though I prefer Thick as a Brick and Stand Up. I haven't played it for about 18 months so will be pulling out my vinyl copy sometime over this weekend and giving it another spin. For now I'll just mention that To Cry You a Song is an answer to Blind Faith's Had To Cry Today. I found it interesting to note the similarities when I last played the songs back to back.
Benefit and A Passion Play are tied for my favorite Tull album (not necessarily best but favorite, since that distinction goes to Thick As A Brick in my opinion), but every song is good on this one. Very solid album. Love the eclecticism between tracks like "Son" and "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me" and "A Time For Everything" and "Alive And Well And Living In" and "Play In Time" and on and on and on ... I spin it probably more often than any other. Very good example of what a classic album should sound like
A passion play and TAAb are my favs, but "Benefit" is to my ears up there in mood with Aqualung. Had the original songbook for it (under). Love the album and the moods it evokes.
I'm with you on TAAB. Except for Songs from the Wood, precious little post-Benefit is of interest to me. Cant quite put a finger on it....maybe too much embellishment for the sake of embellishment rather than natural song development?
Benefit was the first proper album that I bought. Still sounds great. Passion play and Minstrel are probably my favourites
I love the shortened version of Thick As a Brick as performed live. For me it would make an excellent 15 minute or so track. Benefit is an excellent album. Up there with Aqualung & Stand Up as my favourite Tull
"This Was," "Stand Up" and "Benefit" in that order -- and then I'm outta there. (Wilson's work on the audio is sterling.)
Interesting.....as I feel Benefit is a lot closer in spirit & sound to the Aqualung album than it is to Stand Up.
Benefit was my least favorite of the great run from Stand Up to Passion Play when I first heard the albums as a kid. It's grown on me since then and now it might be the one I play most often.
My favorite as well, though I remember being disappointed that the cutouts featured on the cover were not included.
I really like Benefit, and the associated non-album single Sweet Dream Hard to say what is my favourite Tull.... so many variations. I like the two early bluesish albums, Benefit is really good, and a somewhat transitional album as they moved into different musical spaces. I like Aqualung, but don't revere it as much as most do. I love the Thick As A Brick and Passion Play duo ... but they aren't the easiest albums to get into. Lots of folks slag off War Child, but I think it is an excellent album. Another slight change in direction, keeping it fresh. Minstrel In The Gallery may well be my favourite, but it is a three way toss up. Too Old To Rock And Roll was ok, but a somewhat lesser album for me. I did enjoy the recent book-set though, it did shed new light on it for me. Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses sit with Minstrel in my three way toss up for favourite. Both excellent albums and another slight change in direction. I really enjoyed discovering Stormwatch in the recent Book-set and I think it is another very strong album. I am still yet to discover A, but look forward to a book-set of that, to see where we went after the Storm. Broadsword and the Beats is a good album. It was actually my first Tull album, and I still like it, but since discovering some of the other albums over the years, it is slightly lesser, but still one I like to listen to. Under Wraps did pretty well if I remember rightly, and there was a song off it that got quite a bit of airplay on the radio, but I can't remember which it was. I wasn't a fan of the early electronic drums in a rock context. They suited the synth pop music, but they just sounded to foreign and thin for a rock album, in my opinion. Basically the releases of these recent book-sets is where I really discovered who tull were. Prior to that I had Broadsword, and Aqualung on vinyl, but neither come close to being my favourite Tull albums, since getting these sets, and that has raised the band substantially in my eyes.
A good album, but if I had to pick one release to listen to from the early days it would be Living In The Past.
Benefit is sometimes overlooked, I think, because it's a transitional album wedged between two pivotal career highlights. This Was was a tentative effort by musicians with little studio experience. Stand Up is where Ian began to stretch out as a songwriter; on Benefit, the band stretched out as studio musicians, including explorations that led to dead ends (like the backwards effects on "Play in Time"). In order to figure out where they were going, they had to make a few wrong turns along the way. Personally, I really enjoy the album,effects and all, even though it's clear in hindsight that they couldn't keep moving in that direction. The compositions and feel of the performances definitely point the way to Aqualung; they had to make this album to make that one. The singles were great, too, and marked their last hurrah as a hit singles band.
I saw my first tull show in the summer of 1970 when they toured for this. It was in the round and ian was running up and down the aisles and around the venue. The rotating stage was broken but we had close seats. It was an amazing show.
Benefit is the album old friend John Evans helped out on keyboards & stayed 10 years. Sure glad John stayed made Jethro Tull a much more progressive band. Benefit is one of the top albums of 1970 & one of my favorites I can count on one hand by Jethro Tull.
Benefit is my favorite Tull album, with Songs From The Wood a close second. I have the U.S. version, and I particularly love the way Side 1 of the U.S. version flows -- having "Inside" on it instead of "Alive And Well And Living In." "With You There To Help Me" is my favorite Tull song of all.
My favorite Tull record. I only have 17 copies of it. Or maybe it's 15 or 18 right now. It goes up and down. There's one good thing that will come out of COVID-19. I will finally have enough time to do my "The 1972 And '73 Remasters Of Benefit" thread. That's why I own so many copies. I find these remasters, which became necessary after the huge success of Aqualung depleted the inventory of Benefit, are often better than original pressings. They certainly are a lot cheaper and easier to buy. Quality UK first pressings of Benefit can get a little expensive. I will give you a sneak peak. If folks in the US want a great, warm, dynamic copy of Benefit, they should get the US remaster. It's Chrysalis CHR-1043 with a green label. Chrysalis and a butterfly will be in orange on the label. Another telltale sign is in the upper right corner of the back cover it will say CHR 1043 Stereo. This pressing was out for 4-5 years so there are plenty of them available. Find a clean copy and you'll be in hog heaven. My thread will also cover UK, German and Japanese remasters, plus first presses in Europe and the USA. I've got to talk about them a bit to put these remasters in perspective. OK, let me make a public commitment. I will post this thread by the end of the month. It will take a lot of work because it will cover eleven different masters of Benefit. I already have about a third of the legwork done. It's just buckling down for a couple of days to finish the documentation and write the posts. Thanks for starting this thread, @Sear. I needed the kick in the butt.
Definitely my Top-5 Tull album. I like its flow. It is not as diverse as the album before and the album after but its strength is its cohesiveness.
This gets my vote as one album that Wilson’s remaster massively helped (IMHO). Absolutely love this album. SFTW & Benefit are top 2 Tull.
