Their first album is This Was [1968]. It sounds nothing like anything else in their catalog. Guitarist Mick Abrahams shared songwriting duties with Ian Anderson. It was Abrahams’ influence that steered Tull’s music in the direction of the blues and jazz. Of the album’s ten songs, four of the songs are instrumentals, two of which are covers [Cat’s Squirrel and Roland Kirk’s Serenade to a Cuckoo]. The vocal tracks of note from the album are Beggar's Farm and A Song for Jeffrey. As good as they are, they just don’t sound like Jethro Tull, not as we know them anyway. This band sounded more like The Graham Bond Organization than the progressive outfit that it became, and This Was is an anomaly in the Tull catalog. By the time of This Was’ release in October 1968, Mick Abrahams was on his way out of the band. Abrahams wanted to continue in the blues direction, while Ian Anderson wanted to branch out into other musical forms. This Was is a good album, just not representative of the rest of Tull’s recorded output. In my opinion it is for completists only.
My playlist of early Tull starts with a single recorded with Mick Abrahams. Love Story is an A-side for a non-album single that was released in the US after This Was. A straightforward guitar rocker that sounds like nothing on This Was, it includes some flute and mandolin segments that foreshadows the folk sound that would come later. Released in November 1968, it was the last Tull recording Mick Abrahams would contribute to before leaving Tull to form Blodwyn Pig [his last Tull gig was November 30, 1968]. The 50th anniversary release of This Was includes both the single and the version recorded for the BBC. I prefer the BBC version since it has more of a “live” feel.
When Tull needed a new guitarist they hired Tony Iommi. The inventor of heavy metal was in the band two weeks before he realized he didn’t fit in with Tull. He stuck around long enough to appear with the band in the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus [only Ian Anderson performed live, the rest of the band mimed]. After Iommi’s departure Tull hired guitarist Martin Barre in December 1968. Barre had to learn This Was quickly, as the band resumed touring. In addition to performing songs from This Was the band also road-tested songs that would appear on the next album, Stand Up [1969].
Stand Up [1969]. With Mick Abrahams gone, Ian Anderson had full control over the music and the lyrics. He also had a guitarist who was more sympathetic to exploring different musical avenues – Martin Barre. Gone was the blues puritanism, and with that came more eclecticism, and “the riff.” Martin Barre played a Les Paul Junior, a guitar described by his main influence Leslie West [also a LP Junior player] as “a tree with a microphone.” Barre’s guitar tones were thicker, darker, and louder than those of Mick Abrahams. Martin Barre was also an exceptional acoustic player. The first song Martin Barre recorded with Jethro Tull was Living In The Past - its 5/4 time was definitely NOT the blues. On Stand Up, Tull still had one foot in the blues with A New Day Yesterday. But this isn’t really the blues, it was more “blues rock,” and it has a great riff. Tull did a jazzy re-working of Bach’s Bourrée in E minor BWV 996 (Fifth Movement) [Ian Anderson would refer to it as “cocktail jazz], and English folk elements entered into the mix [Jeffery Goes to Leicester Square]. Back to the Family is Ian Anderson being annoyed with his parents. Side One ends with Look into the Sun, a sad acoustic ballad about a girl. Side Two is where I think the meat of Stand Up is. It begins and ends with furious rockers [Nothing Is Easy and For a Thousand Mothers, respectively]. Nothing Is Easy has always been a personal favorite of mine from Tull. Fat Man is a mandolin/balalaika excursion into Eastern-sounding music which pokes fun at Mick Abrahams. We Used to Know is a depressing turn toward psychedelia. Reasons for Waiting is a well-done ballad with Ian Anderson playing the acoustic guitar and Hammond organ, while Martin Barre plays the flute [his first instrument]. Adding to the song is wonderful orchestration from David/Dee Palmer. Ian Anderson is annoyed with his parents again on For a Thousand Mothers. After the pastoral beauty that is Reasons for Waiting, For a Thousand Mothers is a manic closer for Stand Up. Sweet Dream was a single cut after Stand Up’s release. It’s a heavy and somewhat experimental tune (for them, anyway) with horns and strings. Martin Barre played the horn parts on guitar in concert [an example of which can be found on the 20 Years Of Jethro Tull box set (1988)]. With Stand Up, Martin Barre the “guitar hero” is born.
Benefit [1970] isn’t as great stylistic leap from Stand Up as Stand Up was from This Was. Martin Barre’s guitar heroics continue here. Benefit featured the same core line-up as Stand Up [Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Glenn Cornick (bass), and Clive Bunker (drums)]. John Evan [piano, organ], a pre-Tull bandmate of Anderson’s, joined the core line-up on a “temporary” basis and ended up staying for eight years. Benefit has a darker, moodier feel than its immediate predecessor. Ian Anderson’s flute is less prevalent, the music is less folky, but there’s still plenty of English folk to be heard. The opener With You There to Help Me is a great piece of melancholy that features guitar chords that switch between gentle acoustic and jarring electric, punctuated by Anderson’s smooth yet unnerving flute. It has a two-minute finale that is a bit of a freak-out, with backwards-recorded flute. Nothing To Say has an intriguing folk melody and a strong, hard rock chorus. Alive and Well and Living In has a jazz vibe, thanks to Evan's piano. The folky For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me - the third and final tribute to Jeffrey Hammond - has a very nice melody and a catchy chorus. Son is pure hard rock where Ian Anderson is annoyed with his parents yet again. It is one of Jethro Tull’s strangest songs. It clocks in at under three minutes, but it wildly vacillates between melodic hard rock and strange folk rock led by plinking piano and acoustic guitar. To Cry You A Song has an endlessly repetitive Martin Barre riff, with Ian Anderson’s vocals sounding like they’re coming through a Leslie speaker, giving the song a bit of a psychedelic feel. The stand-alone single from the same period, The Witch’s Promise, has a medieval tint that foreshadows the band’s future folk direction [Songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses, Minstrel in the Gallery, Stormwatch]. It’s one of a very few Jethro Tull songs to feature a mellotron. Teacher is the flip side of The Witch’s Promise. It has a simple yet addictive riff from Martin Barre that earned extensive FM radio airplay. Bassist Glenn Cornick left the band after the tour for this album was completed.
Aqualung [1971]. Some would have you believe Aqualung is a concept album – it isn’t. Tull would hit their listening public with the real thing a year later with Thick as a Brick. Aqualung has themes running throughout. Side One looks at urban characters – the lecherous homeless bum from the title song, the schoolyard slut in Cross-Eyed Mary. It has a couple of short acoustic reflections on love and life – Cheap Day Return and Wond’ring Aloud. Mother Goose is a wonderful acoustic number with multi-tracked flutes. The usual suspects from this album – the title song, Cross-Eyed Mary, and Locomotive Breath – populate my playlist. In the minds of classic rock radio programmers, these are the only three songs on the album. Side Two is Ian Anderson ranting against organized religion in general, and the Church of England in particular. My God is the most progressive thing on the album [and probably the song on the album I like the most] with tons of heavy guitar work and an extended flute solo. It starts off at a slower pace and sort of brooding, then introduces the electric guitar and eventually flute and things start getting crazy. It ranges from the brooding acoustic guitar [courtesy of Ian Anderson], a solemn piano to another savage riff from Barre and an unexpected medieval choral breakdown [Gregorian chants?]. Hymn 43 focuses on how people will use God's word to explain their actions and mocks American pop culture in the process. The piano serves a more leading role here, which offers a nice change of pace, and the guitar serves well in a supportive role. It has a guitar riff that sticks in your head for days. Drummer Clive Bunker left the band after touring for Aqualung so he could get married.
Life Is a Long Song [1971] is another exercise in folk acoustic bliss from Ian Anderson. Anderson said he took up the flute because he realized he was never going to be as good a guitarist as Eric Clapton. He sells himself short as he is very good at the folk acoustic thing as this song attests. Tull recorded an EP of the same name that appeared six months after Aqualung.
The playlist
This somewhat resembles a “best of” with quite a few well-known songs, but I have enough deep tracks to make it interesting. Of note, I like to sequence the songs from the second side of Stand Up [minus We Used to Know] and the first side of Benefit in order like one would hear the vinyl albums played on an old-style turntable with a record changer. I like the flow.
Nothing Is Easy [Stand Up, 1969]
Fat Man [Stand Up, 1969]
Reasons for Waiting [Stand Up, 1969]
For a Thousand Mothers [Stand Up, 1969]
With You There To Help Me [Benefit, 1970]
Nothing To Say [Benefit, 1970]
Alive And Well And Living In [Benefit, 1970]
For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me [Benefit, 1970]
Son [Benefit, 1970]
To Cry You A Song [Benefit, 1970]
The Witch's Promise [Single, 1970]
Teacher [Single, 1970]
Aqualung [Aqualung, 1971]
Cross-Eyed Mary [Aqualung, 1971]
Cheap Day Return [Aqualung, 1971]
Mother Goose [Aqualung, 1971]
Wond'ring Aloud [Aqualung, 1971]
My God [Aqualung, 1971]
Hymn 43 [Aqualung, 1971]
Locomotive Breath [Aqualung, 1971]
Life Is a Long Song [Life Is a Long Song EP, 1971]
Sweet Dream [Single, 1970]
Living in the Past [Single, 1969]
A New Day Yesterday [Stand Up, 1969]
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