Jethro Tull Stand Up Deluxe (11/18/16 release date)*

Thin isn't really the way I would describe the old cd. I found it very 60s sounding. Lack of top end but nice deep bass. Nothing HiFi like and that's how it should be. A bit like the first Doors Album or the early Simon and Garfunkel albums from the Collection Box Set, just as a reference what 60s music sounds like from my experience

 

Agree with you about the sound of the CD. Mine is a Chrysalis CDP 321042-2 from the mid 80's. Never heard the LP so don't know what it sounded like from the start, but the hi-res rip of the original mix on the DVD sounds way better to my ears and on my system. Much nicer top end and more defined bass. Fuller and the sound holds together a bit better across the frequency range. The CD is brighter and has more of a washy quality to cymbals etc. that indeed may sound a bit more like the sound of the 60's but that makes it a bit tiring to listen to. The DVD-rip will definitely be the go to version for me. Ymmv of course.

 

The new stereo mixes are AWESOME!!!

 

'Tis amazing. After listening to this album for 45+ years, this is finally how it should sound. Unbelievable instrument separation and clarity on the 24/96 PCM 2-channel mix. It's like Clive Bunker is in the same room with you. And it truly reveals how integral Cornick was to their sound.
Dare I say it? It's not like "a veil has been lifted". It's more like a blanket.
I nominate Steven Wilson for knighthood.

 

I've listened to the 5.1 now about a half dozen times and I've noticed that on some tracks there's not much discreet info in the rears. It still sounds great!

 

As soon as they release it on vinyl!!

 

Yeah man, cant wait!

 

Ahh ... mine's here.

 

Stand Up has always been my favorite Tull album. I had a chance to hear a few of the remix tracks from disc 1 last night and was conflicted. While the sound was nice and clear, I was left feeling that the power of all my favorite songs had been sapped. The guitar parts of A New Day didn't sound as aggressive anymore. Especially the drum breaks toward the end of Nothing Is Easy sounded much tamer. That's the best part of the song, I was expecting a remix to bring those drums thundering out from the speakers (hopefully both speakers in dual stereo) but instead they were actually softened to me and more only from the left side.

I don't know, reading all of the glowing reviews here of the remix made me expecting something totally different to what I just heard. Maybe what I enjoy most about Stand Up and want to hear more of is the opposite of everyone else. Maybe hearing the DVD will be what I'm after. Maybe I'll still be happiest with the MFSL.

 

That's crazy, I mean I'm surprised, I immediatly found the remix had more power, especially in the drums which are more clearly defined and have more punch now.
But it's only my first listen (of the CD), and I know how one can be enthusiastic about these things.

 

I'm hoping one of the versions included on the DVD once I hear it, will be how you say. I just didn't hear it that way on the CD.

 

I've only just got this new set, so giving it a quick run-through now.
I really like "Martin's Tune" on the live concert disk. I've never heard that one before. It's great.
(Introduced as "Martin Lancelot Barre ... and his electric guitar").

edit: typo.

 

Exactly, one thing I've noticed is that the remix has more punch than the original mix!

 

Listened to the new stereo mixes at 24/96 for the first time this week - WOW! Sounds great. What really impressed me were the sonics on "Bouree" the bass and drum interplay smacks you upside the head and punches you in the gut - feels good

 

About 50 seconds into "For a Thousand Mothers," there's a piano playing the song's main riff. I don't recall ever hearing that before, so Wilson must have brought it forward in the mix. I love finding these new little details in the remixes.

I have few complaints about Wilson's mixing choices; my biggest one is probably the way he handled "Wurm" on "The Yes Album. The original recording has two simultaneous guitar solos, on opposite sides of the stereo picture. On the original mix, the different solos fade in and out every few bars but you can still hear both solos. Wilson's remix fades the non-dominant solo completely out. This produces a cleaner sound, but I liked the "busy" nature of the original mix. I'd hoped that, as a bonus track, he'd produce an alternate mix so we could hear both solos in full. At least the original mix is very easy to find, so it's not gone.

 

The 24/96 stereo is really good! I'm going to finally have to learn how to rip DVDA so I will enjoy this more often than I otherwise would.

 

Has anyone come across a nice scan of the cover art for iTunes purposes?

 

Just added it to my cd/DVD Tull collection. Love it! It still sounds like a product of the late 60s if you know what I mean. Clear and warm but not losing the appeal of the original. It sounds like a pristine old LP to me. Not too polished and hi-fi fancy if that makes any sense. I simply adore these Tull reissues.

 

After the 30 day trial period, you have to pay for it, but I can vouch for DVD Audio Extractor if this is something you're likely to do on any kind of regular basis. It's easy to use and gets the job done rather tidily.

Oh, and if you are only looking to rip this particular HD mix and no other, the trial period is full-featured, so you can easily get that done for free.

 

Bouree' and Back To The Family gave me my wow moments. It seemed, in my brain, things I had never heard before. I have never been a big fan of Bouree' at all. I can't stop listening. Everything is there, just bolder and more defined. Love the live stuff also. What a fantastic job all around.

OK, bring me my Tull Christmas album now.

Bring me more Steven.........

 

I think the new stereo mix sounds fantastic as a whole. At first I thought that Ian's voice could have been brought a bit more forward in "A New Day Yesterday"... but listening to the other versions I realize it's always been buried a bit further back in the mix...

 

I enjoy how the surround mix keeps the dark warmth of the stereo mix and doesn't get all echo-ey and over the top loud. Just a terrific surround mix that keeps me from even testing out the stereo

 

That's the one I was looking at. I have a bunch of these I need to rip. Good to know it works as well as advertised , thanks.

 

I've received this a week ago, along with 2 of the 3 new Zappa releases (I have to wait for "Meat Light" until December 2nd, for some reason). I've listened to this a lot and did read the book several times, so I'm now ready for a review.

"Stand Up" is a very special album for me, since it is the one that started my journey into the world of Jethro Tull. My uncle gave it to me for my seventh birthday and I soon grew extremely fond of it. Apart from the obvious highlight that is "Bourée" (my father used to borrow my CD and play it non-stop), I really liked the harder tracks like "A New Day Yesterday", "Back to the Family" (amazing), "Nothing is Easy" and "For A Thousand Mothers". Nowadays, stuff like "Look Into the Sun", "Reasons for Waiting" (likely my favorite love song ever, or close to) and "We Used to Know" sounds as great as the other tracks, to me. Even the fillerish tracks ("Jeffrey goes to Leicester Square") are so classy that you can't help but rate them high. "Fat Man" is great fun! Although I can't rate it my favorite Jethro Tull LP, "Stand Up" is definitely one of the most important albums in my musical training and I consider it a masterpiece.

But, as much as I loved the music, I've always complained about the original stereo mix, compressed beyond relief. This was especially evident in songs like "For a Thousand Mothers", that sounded extremely messy, especially if you play them in your headphones. Considering the fact that this album is a 1969 recording, I must confess that I wasn't expecting much from Steven Wilson's remix. I was wrong: the music now beautifully shines and finally sounds like a properly recorded album. As you probably know, if you are familiar with his remixing work so far, Wilson usually doesn't deviate much from the original mixes when it comes to stereo image, but this time, he had to be a little more creative in order to enhance the clarity. He absolutely succeeded: I don't think I will ever play the original mix again. All things considered, I'd say this is probably his best remix so far. My favorite moments are Ian playing rhythm harmonica during Martin's solo in "A New Day Yesterday" (mercilessly buried in the original mix) and the extended fade out on "Look into the Sun".

The bonus section, this time, is probably not as exciting as some of the other releases because the only two unreleased titles that have turned up on the original tapes ("The Game" and "Early in the Morning"... I wonder if this last one is related to the prison work song covered by many rock blues artists) have been deemed too incomplete to be released. We do get an interesting rawer alternate version of "Bourée", with some funny studio banter by Ian before the start of the track, and a remix of the "Living in the Past"/"Driving Song" single, though. None of these remixes are as revelatory as the album itself, but both sound excellent and are extremely pleasant to hear.

We also finally get to hear the original rare 1969 stereo and mono mixes of this same single. I've unsuccesfully trying to find the stereo mix for a long time, so I'm pleased that it has been included. I've always seen it described as "crude stereo", so I was expecting some kind of mess like the original "Stand Up" mix. While this is the case for "Driving Song", I have to admit that the original 1969 stereo mix of "Living in the Past" is not half bad and I like to play it from time to time. The mono mixes are OK, nothing too great but nothing too awful either, although it's interesting to note that this mix of "Driving Song" fades out later compared to all the others. There are also a couple of funny US radio spots from the album, but they were also present on the 2010 Disc Collectors Edition, along with the 16th June 1969 BBC session, presented in the exact (good) same quality as before.

The Stockholm 1969 show, that predates the album sessions by a few months, is extremely interesting. This is the closest Jethro Tull has ever been to a jam band and, although the playing is not as tight as it will be in a short while, the performance is definitely great and full of enthusisasm. Highlights include Martin's jazzy tune, a still unfinished "Nothing is Easy" with a great harmonica solo and "Dharma for One" that, along with an amazing drum solo by Clive Bunker, also contains a nice two-flute duet by Ian and Martin. The non-studio track "To Be Sad is a Mad Way To Be" is an okay groove, a straightforward blues that would have probably suited the "This Was" period better. The mixing of this show is a bit strange but, at least, we get to hear well Glenn's amazing bass playing throughout. Although this show has widely been bootlegged before this official release (even though it turns out that the date I was familiar with was the early one, so this show was mostly unknown for me), we have to be glad that this material is available today in this sound quality, as these two Stockholm shows are pretty much all that survive from this particular period of the band. Oh, and in case you are wondering about the "Martin's Tune Again" mentioned in the booklet: while "Martin's Tune" is a jazzy flute-led affair, "Martin's Tune Again" is a blues workout that heavily features harmonica. A couple of versions of that number are avilable on unofficial tapes, the most listenable of which is a semi-professionally recorded performance from Seattle in August 1969.

Once again, I can't judge some of the contents of the DVDs because I do not own a surround system. Previously, I had the brief Stockholm video included here in good quality, but not as good as it's presented here. Note that the video is from the early show, so this version of "Back to the Family" is not the same as the one on the second CD. I wish the full show was still available on video, but I doubt it was filmed in its enterely in the first place.

The booklet is, once again, a true gem. Martin Webb's essays are, as always, interesting and very readable. It's great to be able to read a detailed report of when Jethro Tull really started to become Jethro Tull. There is quite a lot of humour and enthusiasm and I really enjoyed Nick Logan's New Musical Express article from December 1969. The band's comments about the music are always great (I cracked up at Clive's comments about his drum part on "For a Thousand Mothers") and, of course, Ian's track by track breakthrough of the album and related tracks is the major highlight. The tribute to Glenn Cornick's is tastefully made and well-deserved. In fact, Glenn is quoted so much on the booklet that, if you didn't know better, you would think he was still alive and available for the interviews for this edition of the album. The write ups by the LP cover artist Jimmy Grashow and the studio assistant John Burns are also quite excellent. The original vinyl's cut-out of the band popping up when you open is definitely a nice touch. The book contains a great selection of photos, most of which I had never seen before. Some of them really demonstrate the band's very young age: look, for instance, at Ian's expression in the pics at pages 42 and 52. There is still an air of innocence and youth that will soon be replaced by his sardonic, almost cynical stare that we'll get in a while and in most of the other photos. Oh, and the tape boxes: I love seeing the tape boxes, keep them coming!!

Verdict: my only possible complain about this release is that it didn't came out earlier instead of the poorly compiled 2010 release that, with the exception of the Carnegie Hall 1970 show (which definitely needs a separate release, in my opinion), is now quite useless. Apart from that, this is one of the best volumes of the series so far, as far as remixes go, and if you loved the original, you'll simply need this. I don't mean to sound rethorical but it is really like hearing the whole thing for the first time again. An absolute winner!

This reissue series continues to be the best thing that could ever happen to Jethro Tull's back catalog and, trust me, I'm definitely not someone that usually buys again albums that he already owns!

Not much of a story: the "Living in the Past" version from 1972 has an organ overdub by John Evans that was made on the multis themselves, erasing one of the harmony flutes in the same section.

 

Just received it.....

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...it's thinner than the other books....