Jethro Tull
20 Years Of Jethro Tull

THE REVIEW

In 1988, Jethro Tull celebrated their twentieth anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, they released a special box set titled “20 Years Of Jethro Tull”, consisting of 3 CDs (or 5 LPs depending on the desired format) containing a significant amount of unreleased material, a good number of live tracks, and here and there, a few songs from their studio albums. Additionally, a reduced version consisting of just one CD was released (which is still available on the market today). This is precisely the one I would like to review...

The single CD is divided into four sections.

It starts with The Radio Archives & Rare Tracks. The first three tracks are recordings kindly provided by BBC Radio (1968/69). Stormy Monday Blues is, as the title suggests, a blues track. Given the excellent level, it would not have looked out of place in “This Was” or “Stand Up”: the rhythm is very composed and the flute always at the forefront. Love Story is a very short, fast song with very lively sounds... quite atypical for the group, but nevertheless, decidedly enjoyable. The best of the three, however, remains A New Day Yesterday (the studio version is present on the album “Stand Up”, 1969): it is still excellent blues, but this time the flute is less prominent to highlight Martin Barre's gritty guitar which adds pleasant hard rock nuances. After the BBC recordings, it moves on to Summerday Sands, a B-Side of “Minstrel In The Galley” (1975) which is truly pleasant and relaxing. The atmosphere is sunny but at the same time sad: it starts with acoustic guitar and voice (later a light touch of orchestra is added) while the drums are beaten very gently so as not to ruin the overall balance. Another little gem is the short (less than two minutes) and acoustic March The Mad Scientist, an outtake from “WarChild” (there is a certain similarity with Only Solitaire).

The second section Flawed Gems (Dusted Down) is definitely my favorite. Here, very interesting songs stand out: the first of these is Lick Your Fingers Clean, a fun and delightful piece that was mysteriously excluded from “Aqualung” (a small curiosity: the last track of “WarChild”, Two Fingers, is nothing more than Lick Your Fingers Clean with slightly modified lyrics and the melody rearranged for the orchestra). The subsequent Overhang is a wonderful and powerful song made in 1981: Peter John Vettese is not yet in the group, so Ian Anderson, besides singing and playing the flute, also improvises as a keyboardist... with excellent results! It continues with Crossword, an excellent piece intended for “Stormwatch” (1979): you can indeed hear the bucolic yet somewhat dark atmospheres typical of that album. Jack-A-Lynn is simply the most beautiful love song written by Jethro Tull: a sweet keyboard introduction that culminates in a gritty ending (Jack-A-Lynn and Overhang both come from the same demo session... evidently very inspired!).

Now we come to the richest part, The Other Sides Of Tull, with its 8 songs. The first of these, Part Of The Machine, is dated 1988. Most likely, the song was recorded specifically for the “20 Years...” box set and being immediately after the release of the LP “Crest Of A Knave”, you can hear folk and hard rock atmospheres. Certainly one of the most beautiful compositions among the 21 present on this CD: a masterful flute solo (reminiscent of Jump Start), powerful guitars, and an intense rhythm... absolutely worth listening to! Mayhem, Maybe is a typically folk track dating back to 1981. Nice but nothing more. We remain with folk with Kelpie, but here it's a whole different story: besides being a delight to listen to, there is undoubtedly much more energy compared to the previous song. This is followed by a tasty mini-medley composed of Wond'ring Aloud and Dun Ringill, taken from the “Crest Of A Knave” tour: noteworthy is the presence of the excellent keyboardist Don Airey (now with Deep Purple). It continues at excellent levels with Life's A Long Song, an acoustically well-orchestrated song (the ending where you can hear one of the most beautiful combinations between orchestra and flute is truly beautiful). The very short Nursie and Grace are already released studio versions, taken respectively from the albums “Living In The Past” and “Minstrel In The Gallery”.

The remaining four tracks are part of the Essential Tull section. For Witch's Promise, the same goes for what was said earlier about Life's A Long Song, namely a great track characterized by a perfect harmony between flute and orchestra. Another quality peak of the disc is the totally revamped version of Living In The Past (also taken from the “Crest Of A Knave” tour)... magnificent and an absolute must-listen. The CD closes with Aqualung and Locomotive Breath taken from a 1982 concert: the sound of the two historic tracks is rendered much more modern by Vettese's keyboards. In particular, although not mentioned on the cover, Locomotive Breath is attached to the ending of Black Sunday: it's a small medley that closes in the best way an excellent album like this one.

In conclusion... a disc that until recently could be considered essential. Its slight loss of importance lies in the fact that many songs from this compilation of rarities have been appended as bonus tracks to the remastered CDs. Despite everything, I highly recommend it (especially the 3 CD version), as much of the material can still only be found here today!

Enjoy listening...