Jethro Tull - This Was (Collectors Edition) (2CD)
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Music CD Cover Artist: Jethro Tull Edition: Music CD Audio: English (Unknown) Format: Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered, Special Edition CD Release Date: 2008-06-10 Music Label: EMI Soundtracks: Music CD 1
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Free Music Notes for This Was (Collectors Edition) (2CD) Album
Free Music Review: The only real Jethro Tull album
Hit: 4 Stars
This Lp represents the sole effort by the band which had only recently become Jethro Tull. At the time, it boasted two stars: vocalist/flautist/songwriter Ian Anderson and guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Mick Abrahams. I call it the only real Jethro Tull album because all of the subsequent recordings by the band known as Jethro Tull are actually recordings by the Ian Anderson Band (it's ironic that Abrahams' replacement, Martin Barre, is the only other permanent member of a band that periodically reinvents itself but remains firmly identified with Ian Anderson).
Though Anderson is among the most creative and innovative musicians working in this genre in the past 40 years, his stranglehold on the Jethro Tull brand name has artificially prolonged the life of a band that has passed its sell-by date. Beginning in 1980 with the "accidental" attribution to the band of the Anderson solo LP "A", Tull lost its roots; this began a long period of decline characterized by an endless search for a new identity amid a series of revolving sidemen. The final stroke should have fallen with the loss of Anderson's voice and the resultant vocal disaster of "Crest of a Knave" in 1987.
Anderson needed the strong personality of Mick Abrahams to balance his own ego. "This Was" features very distinctive guitar--Barre is a fine guitarist but changes styles to accommodate Anderson's latest phase--and it's the only Tull album to feature vocals by someone other than Anderson (I don't count the occasional monologs by Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond). Abrahams's "Move on Alone" is a clever blues-derived song fully the equal of the kind of songs Anderson was then writing; the two voices blended well, as demonstrated on "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine"; and as the bonus cut "Sunshine Day" proves, Abrahams could also write songs with commercial appeal, though the era of the hit single was soon to be eclipsed by album-based radio.
With its mix of blues, pop and jazz, "This Was" was refreshingly different from both the standard British "Blooze" of Ten Years After, Fleetwood Mac and Cream, and from the left-over psychedelia that was soon to produce such bloated and pretentious "progressive" bands as Emerson, Lake and Palmer and King Crimson.
The mono mix included in this 40th anniversary package may seem redundant or mere padding, but, for those too young to remember 40 years ago, this was a time when many of us were still in possession of mono record players, and though the record companies were beginning to release only stereo LPs, there were still a few like this one that were issued in both formats. Therefore, this is a chance to explore the way engineers had to create a viable mix for only one speaker; the mono mix featured here is punchier than the stereo, with its wide channel separation, and while there are no real revelations, it's instructive to be able to compare the two. The bonus cuts are all familiar, but the mono mixes are again a historically accurate representation of the originals. The BBC recordings, mostly previously unreleased tracks, give a taste of the live band as well.
Finally, it was a nice touch to include liner notes from each of the original band members instead of Anderson's alone. Altogether, this release shows the kind of care and attention to detail that is worthy of the designation "collector's edition".