Jethro Tull Golden Period

Yea I think Catfish is the best album between Under wraps and Roots to Branches but it’s the least remembered, not sure why, the only thing you could argue is that it’s a little overlong.

 

This Was through to Stormwatch for me. Maybe a slight drop with Too Old but I'd say that glitch has been corrected with the TV Special edition. To not include Stand Up blows my mind.

I would add that with many artists it makes some sort of difference in perception if you were there from the beginning. I bought This Was on the strength of their first article proper in the NME. I played it and the Love Story single to death back in the day and still love them now. Neil Young's first is another example from that time.

There is, of course, no correct answer.

Did I mention that I rate A and Broadsword up there too?!

 

68-71 was their rise; 72-75 was their time at the top.

 

Stand-Up > Stormwatch

Love all of that.

 

Always loved Benefit. My only complaint is hearing live versions of With You There To Help Me from that period kind of ruined the song for me. Way too many utterances from Ian, too much half repeating or half answering lines under his breath, took away from the song and now I can't get away from it, even on the studio take. Love the rest of the album. Lots of great riffs and under appreciated classics (Nothing To Say, For Michael Collins, etc.)

 

I may be alone in the entire universe, but I have certain issues with Stand Up. What it does new it does great. But what it tries to repeat from the previous style it does so not so brilliantly, because as a (jazz-)blues soloist, Martin Barre couldn't hold a candle to Mick Abrahams IMO, and especially in those days. Plus a lovey-dovey track like "Look Into The Sun" I can live without...

 

The tour was good. The album.....

 

When I was 14 I was in the Columbia Record Club and accidentally got Heavy Horses in the mail after failing to return the monthly mailer. I know, old story. Loved the album, so it was my entry into Tull. I had no idea at the time such music even existed. Love it still, so for me the classic period is Stand Up through Heavy Horses.

 

Probably Stand Up to Stormwatch for me, although I like Benefit, Minstrel, Too Old and maybe Warchild a little less than the rest. But I would say 1969-1979 is their golden period.

However I think A, Broadsword and even Under Wraps have their merits, for different reasons and I like these as well. I don't dislike the albums after these either - they all have something to enjoy, apart from dot.com, which I've never been able to get into.

 

I like the album too. Probably the last one I really thought was decent.

 

It has its moments. However I think the Grammy went a little to his head and he tried to pander to the metal heads a little. The material suffered as a consequence with a much less ambitious version of Crest. Good memories seeing them that year though. I was a new fan.

 

I just listened to Minstrel and yes it differs from the others. I am glad however the live version on Bursting Out is wisely cut by two and a half minutes. I see it doesn't fit my original theory but does outstay it's welcome and although the Minstrel album is very good in places it does feel labored at times. Black Satin Dancer is too long and the return to the Baker Street Muse riff gets tedious. I'm not always so fond of Dee Palmer's fussy string arrangements either which are particularly cloying on Minstrel though work very well on some tracks like Cold Wind to Valhalla. Palmer's Orchestrations are noticebly absent from Songs From the Wood and the album is all the better for it. Palmer is clearly a talented arranger but his contributions don't always serve the songs.

 

I feel exactly the opposite (and geographically too! :O)). I find Palmer's strings magnificient with Tull, and when he dropped them for Wood I hated his synths! Generally not too fond of the 6-piece band configuration because of that (the "string synths"), but I loved the portable pipe organ Palmer added.

 

Agree. I find Palmer's strings among the best use of strings in rock music ever. I'm generally not a fan of strings in rock, but they blend perfectly here.

 

Jethro Tull Aqualung Golden Age of Rock n Roll Gold Record Display framed 13x16 | eBay
Golden

 

Oh, man, I love "Look Into the Sun." Ian rarely exhibited such vulnerability. I love its converse, "Reasons For Waiting," too. (Even more lovey-dovey.) The My God boot was one of my first Tull albums in middle school, so the Sossity > Reasons combo will always be sentimental for me. Evans's organ on the live versions is lovely, but I think the strings are, too.

When they busted out that combo in '93, I filled up.

 

All of them were golden until Steven Wilson got hold of them.

 

They’re all gold now because of Wilson and bonus tracks. Before they were gold, silver and bronze

 

That's until he puts a track by Homer & Jethro or Dave Tull on as a bonus track and tells us it's Martin Barre singing.

 

Their golden period... 3 albums...

Stand Up
Benefit
Aqualung

 

Since when are so many trolls around here?

 

Not trolling. 1000% serious. I will NEVER forgive Steven Wilson for putting that terrible singer songer wannabe song on ELP's Tarkus and trying to tell us it was Emerson singing. Just that alone is reason not to ever consider him.

 

Get real. SW has done a decade's worth of Tull Deluxe sets with nothing but stellar bonus material far and above what any fan could have hoped for. A godsend for the Tull fan really.

 

He wasn't an ELP fan and he had no way of knowing that it wasn't Keith "singing". I blame ELP on that one for not stepping up and saying we don't know/remember why that was on the master tapes. Ultimately they should have gave the project a final listen and vetoed that track. Because they couldn't be bothered I give him a pass on that one.

 

Well, you go ahead and be a Tull fanatic. Emphasis on the word fanatic. I'll like them just fine and stick with the older issues, without any extras. If the extras weren't good enough the first time around, there's no reason to consider they're good enough now.