Tull Into the New Millennium

The Secret Language of Birds

The Very Best of Jethro Tull

Like its predecessor before it, The Best of Jethro Tull - The Anniversary Collection, this collection represents some of the best Tull of its period, although of course, the fans around the world could easily engage me in debate of every single track here and how there's another track on the represented album that they prefer. I have already given my personal thoughts on that kind of thing in the review of the previous anniversary collection, and to be honest, I think that with such a lengthy repertoire as Tull have, it is impossible to please all the fans all of the time.

Personally, I was glad to see that the album included the U.S. hits "Living in the Past", "Locomotive Breath", "Aqualung", and "Bungle in the Jungle", and the classic radio staples of "Thick As A Brick" and "Aqualung". Those tracks *needed* to be on this album, although I think that they have been seriously overplayed over the years. What I found interesting about the CD is that Ian Anderson made the following comments in the liner notes:

"I used to think that compilations or `best of' albums were a bit of a cheap shot. You know: cash in on the odd hit single and album title track to attract the less than committed-not-quite-a-fan at the checkout counter of Thrifty Super-Saver.

"Then a weird thing happened: a few years ago, I found myself mostly buying other artists' best of creations to get the cream of the crop on one disc or perhaps to get a flavour of a band with whom I was only partially familiar. From The Stranglers and Pink Floyd to the creations of Irish, Palestinian or Western Classical musicians, my CD collection must be 50% compilation adventures into both familiar and other more dizzyingly different musical worlds."

That said, The Very Best of Jethro Tull is certainly an enjoyable album and CD to listen to. The re-mastered versions of "Living in the Past", "Bungle in the Jungle", "Witch's Promise", "Broadsword", and "Minstrel in the Gallery" are a joy to listen to. Covering a range of old tracks to new, the CD gives new fans a taste of the band's history, and shows a bit of perspective on some of the songs included on the CD. However, when all is said and done, while this is a nice album, it isn't a "must have" for the die-hard collector...but it does make for a good listen on a cold, fall night, or while driving one's car. A good re-mix of Tull music, for sure.

Living with the Past

Living with the Past, a homage on Ian Anderson's part to the classic Living in the Past album of days gone by, certainly lives up to some of the hype. The sound on this CD is crisp, the band is in fine form (at least the various incarnations of it), and the songs themselves are representative of the various line-ups of Tull that we have seen over the years, notably the most recent 10 to 13 years or so. The song tracks for this CD have been been gathered from a November, 2001 concert at London's Hammersmith Apollo as well as other live performances, and some of these have been acoustic sessions for Radio and TV (which occasionally produce some sparkling and intimate moments). Given that the CD came out shortly after the Living with the Past DVD, rather than mirror the DVD, the band attempted to broaden the mix of material and satisfy the fans of Tull who might be both. As a result, there are some seven different tracks found on the DVD and CD, and this makes for an interesting, if rather pedantic, comparison.

There is some truly terrific stuff on this CD, notably material from the Zurich Dressing Room Tapes from October, 1989 (including "Cheap Day Return" and "Mother Goose"), fine versions of both "Dot Com" and "Fat Man" from a television session in Holland in October, 1999, as well as the set of music from the Hammersmith Apollo in November of 2001. The CD offers a terrific perspective of some the Tull hits, like "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath", and the refreshingly updated "Living in the Past" itself, but shows the current sides of Tull with "Roots to Branches" and "The Habanero Reel" (taken from Ian Anderson's solo album The Secret Language of Birds. Overall, this CD is not a collector's volume by any means, but for those who don't get to hear or see Tull live enough, the CD provides a wonderful set of concert footage, and goes hand-in-hand with the DVD of the same name.

Rupi's Dance

The Jethro Tull Christmas Album

First off, the cover of the CD is a whimsical scene of an English village at the winter solstice, complete with a flute player standing on one foot and serenading a herd of sheep. Like a Currier & Ives-like lithograph, it takes us back to a simpler time, and made me wish for a return to those album covers of the 1970's. The album itself is an interesting grab bag of songs, some old Tull tracks re-recorded by the current line-up (with several friends, old and new) for this purpose, some new compositions with a wintry or Christmas-y theme, and several instrumentals that offer some non-traditional arrangements of Yuletide classics. This album has some interesting re-recorded Tull tracks on it, stuff that is largely known from other place and various singles and their B-sides. "A Christmas Song," Ian's commentary on the commercialism of Christmas, and "Another Christmas Song," with it's thoughts and strengths on home, family, and hearth at Christmas time, both feature the return of old friend Dave Pegg, and the two songs are somewhat more stylish models of the originals. "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow" (one of my favourite pieces, dealing with society's pariahs) and "Weathercock" are both solid re-recordings of the two songs, two of my favourite pieces, and benefit quite nicely from the work of Martin Barre here, and Andy Giddings work on "Weathercock", reworking David Palmer's portative organ work, makes this version of the song very special, and make these two tracks the highlight of the album for me. The renditions of "Fire at Midnight" and "Ring Out Solstice Bells" are, on the other hand, something of a let-down, as both lack the rich vocals and instrumental passion that the originals possessed.

On the instrumentals side, however, "Bourée" is an absolute joy to listen to, and improves with this somewhat Christmas-infused, blues-infused version. "Holly Herald" (based on the traditional "The Holly and the Ivy" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing") is a cheerful piece that is bound to be very popular with Tull fans in the next years to come, and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," a staple in the repertoire, has a terrific jazz feel to it that makes this vesion quite good. "Pavane", based on the piece by Gabriel Fauré, is simply exquisite in its mood and tone, while "We Five Kings" (based on "We Three Kings" in 5/4 time, and somewhat reminiscent of "Living in the Past") is equally fresh and charming throughout. The traditional "Greensleeves" is re-interpreted by Tull and given a Roland Kirk-ish sound in "Greensleeved". However, the instrumental highlight of the album, the Martin Barre-penned "A Winter Snowscape", is a haunting melodic song that appeared on Martin Barre's solo album, Stage Left, without the Ian Anderson flute. As noted, there are three new songs on the album. "Birthday Card at Christmas", based around the idea of those celebrating their birthdays around the Christmas time, and the festive nature of Christmas that sometimes overshadows Christmas, is a very nice, snappy tune that left me wanting more - or perhaps I was somewhat biased at having already heard the track as a bonus piece on the Rupi's Dance CD earlier this year. "Last Man at the Party" is a tune reminiscent of Jethro Tull at its best in the late 1970's, and is full of Ian Anderson's wit and tongue-in- cheek sense of humour. Easily the best song on the album is "First Snow on Brooklyn," a lovely piece that paints a picture steeped in the sadness of the winter chill and lost, forgotten love, and is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in some time.

Suffice it to say The Jethro Tull Christmas Album is a superb CD that catches the emotions of the season quite nicely. I'm not sure that some of the tracks on the CD belong here, such as "Weathercock," "Fire at Midnight", the lovely "First Snow on Brooklyn" and "Pavane," but I won't argue that they do fit into the mood and sentiments of the album's overall theme. This album gives us a few of the Tull old chestnuts, warmed over somewhat, and adds a threesome of new songs and some terrific instrumentals into the mix. As I said at the beginning of this review, I'm not a fan of Christmas music, but to be honest, this album is one that I think deserves to be in all Tull fans' Christmas stockings and Tull collections. It is simply a joy to listen to, and that's all anyone wants regardless of the time of year.

Go back to the beginning with The Early Tull.