Jethro Tull - Aqualung
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Free Music Notes for Aqualung
Free Music Review: Yes it IS a masterpiece!
Hit: 5 Stars
Jethro Tull's Aqualung album is a masterpiece in my opinion. Without a doubt. This was the first Tull record I ever had back in the 70s, and while Stand Up, Living in the Past, and also This Was are all very good albums, I don't think any other Tull (even Thick As A Brick) can top the 1971 Aqualung LP. The lyrics, the vocals, the guitar, the songs overall - the Aqualung album is outstanding in every way. Some of classic rock's best music period is found here. If you like hard rock, prog rock, the 1970s, lavish soundscapes, folk music, or lyrics with biting social commentary, this is a must-have CD. The way they match the uncomfortable riffs of the title track with the just outright ugly vocals and lyrics is amazing. The flute intro that builds to the main verse riff of Cross Eyed Mary blows me away every time. Mother Goose is one of the best "acoustic" rock songs ever recorded. The songs "Hym 43" and "Locomotive Breath" are as heavy as anything Black Sabbath ever did in their prime. I own one of the reissue versions that contains the 14+ minute interview with Ian, which is very interesting, and one of my favorite Tull songs not on the original Aqualung release, Song For Jeffery (the version on Living in the Past is better though). The sound quality on the Aqualung CD is very low - while with most CDs if my stereo is on "10" they're quite loud, I need to turn this one up to about 18 to reach the same volume levels, and the quietness is also due to a lot of dynamics in the music itself- light acoustic guitar into distortion-laden heavy guitar tones and back to soft flute, etc.
Jethro Tull's Aqualung is the only release in their discography I give 5 out of 5 stars to. Standout tracks: Aqualung, Cross Eyed Mary, Mother Goose, Up To Me, Hym 43, Locomotive Breath
Free Music Review: Classic Albums of 1971: No. 5
Hit: 5 Stars
AQUALUNG was the first of three concept albums released by Jethro Tull in the early Seventies. [The other two were 1972's THICK AS A BRICK and 1973's A PASSION PLAY.] The eleven songs on the original album loosely center around the concept that believing in the teachings of the church (specifically the Church of England) and believing in God are not the same thing. Listen to the repeated refrain from "Wind Up": "I don't believe you/You had the whole damn thing all wrong/He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays."
But, to tell the truth, this is my favorite Jethro Tull album because of the songs, the melodies, the incorporation of English folk; not because of the preachings of flautist/singer Ian Anderson, who wrote all of the songs. [Note: Anderson's first wife Jennie is credited with co-writing the lyrics to the title track.]
There are delicate acoustic numbers like "Cheap Day Return" and "Mother Goose," as well as the harder rocking FM radio standards like the title track, "Cross-Eyed Mary" and "Locomotive Breath." The album also yielded the group's first U.S. charting single when "Hymn 43" reached No. 91.
This edition also includes a number of bonus tracks. First, there is "Lick Your Fingers Clean" (a song originally planned for inclusion on the album, but wasn't released until 1988's box set 20 YEARS OF JETHRO TULL) and a quad version of "Wind Up," then a nearly 14-minute interview with Ian Anderson about the album (among other things, he talks about the number of overdubs "Locomotive Breath" required before getting the right sound). This is followed by three BBC radio broadcasts dating from 1968-69, "Song for Jeffrey," "Fat Man" and the instrumental "Bouree." This is the definitive Jethro Tull album ESSENTIAL
Free Music Review: Jethro Tull - Not Their Best But Still A Classic
Hit: 5 Stars
"Aqualung" would turn out to be Jethro Tull's biggest studio album of their career. It contains the band's two huge classic rock anthems "Locomotive Breath" and the title track "Aqualung" that probably get as much airplay today on classic rock radio as they did back when they were released. The album was a bit of a transition for Tull. Their previous stuff had been mainly blues based, while this album moved the band in a more progressive / arena rock direction. Guitarist Martin Barre really comes to the fore front on this one and creates some of his all time best work. Ian Anderson begins to introduce his acoustic / folk leanings as well which would become an even bigger part of the overall Tull sound on later albums like "Songs From The Wood". The album is divided into two halves. The first have entitled "Aqualung" are songs themed around homelessness and general down and out characters of Aqualung himself and others like Cross Eyed Mary. The second half of the album entitled "My God" mostly concerns religion and Ian Anderson's reaction to it. The album is not really conceptual (especially when compared to later albums like "Thick As A Brick"), but has these central themes running through them. Many consider this disc their all time classic. For me I think that the band did better albums, but this certainly ranks up near the top. For a beginner looking to explore Tull I would think this would be an excellent place to start. One quick word on the recording, early Tull albums was not recorded very well. This re-master is better, but it is still not what I would consider great from an audio perspective.Free Music Review: Jethro Tull... best band ever!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Recently i have undergone a bit of a change (Thanks to my guitar teacher/Dad, see i have gone from hiphop to older rock!!! i first song i remeber hearing bits of by Jethro Tull is "We Used To Know" on there "Stand Up" album. My guitar teacher gave it to me as a peice. At 1st i thought they were a bit um wierd! What a fool i was. Jethro Tull are so lickable and lovely. The funny thing about them is though that they have died down somewhat, in the sence that older bands like Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple Still have a name and alot of younger kids would know or have heard of them before... Im 14. Only about 2 or 3 people in my year at my school would have heard them!!! I think that people have missed out on something special even magical. Now to Aqualung:
Aqualung (from what i have heard) was Tull's breakthrough album and its a classic. I must idmit i much prefer Ian's lovely acoustic guitar to Martin's elcectric any day, see the tracks i love on Aqualung are: Wond'ring Aloud, Cheap Day Return and Wind-up. I think Aqualung is a suberb album and is great for any generation. Its also fantastic for young guitar players to play along with... tracks like Wond'ring Aloud and Mother Goose are great (and in some places difficult!) to play on a acoustic guitar. Ian Anderson is a Since then i have given my Dad for fathers day "Minstrel in the Gallery" and bought "Benefit" and they are both great albums!!!!!
If your young or middle aged or old Jethro Tull is for anyone and i hope if Tull ever come to Australia again i go to see Music Review: Adventures of Jethro Tull
Hit: 5 Stars Jethro Tull's 1971 concept album, Aqualung, takes on the ambitious theme of man's relationship to God. Begun as a blues band with its original line up in 1968, Tull became musically more experimental, as did so many of the significant groups of the era. Personnel changes accommodated the musical shift towards more pop-classical, folk and rock elements. Despite the new personnel and style, the performances gel around the emerging song craft of Ian Anderson. The quirky spirit of the band seems to reach its definitive apotheosis here. This album, perhaps better than any other at the time, was able to express the popular discontent with traditional religion. The sequence of songs explore the sufferings of a poor beggar man, the sick, alienated, and homeless Aqualung. As the sad story unfolds, we find him sitting on a park bench, hungry (horny) and lonely; a picture of destitute misfortune, as the album art shows. The forces of religious charity appear unable to help him; the religious dogma he's apparently asked to consume does nothing to improve his condition. The scene is set, then, for a scathing social commentary, where the forces of religion seem either powerless or, even worse, contribute to the overall breakdown in Aqualung's world.
Despite the brain numbing caused by the title track's being overplayed on classic rock stations, this concept album holds up well as a significant piece of rock art, a masterpiece. The theme is as relevant today, if not more so, than when it was released over thirty years ago. And the music sounds just as good.