Jethro Tull
Songs From The Wood (40th Anniversary Edition 'The Country Set')

I must say that every time I hold this Special Edition, it is always an absolutely special day. Songs From The Wood (40th Anniversary Edition 'The Country Set') adds that something extra to an album that is already delicious in itself. It must be said that this re-release does not offer great surprises: there are indeed only great confirmations. The only surprising thing is the fact that even in this box set appears the very first version of One Brown Mouse (a song whose final version was included in the album Heavy Horses), also because this track had already been included in the box set Too Old To Rock'n'Roll: Too Young To Die! (The TV Special Edition). But let's go in order. This deluxe repackage contains 3 CDs and 2 DVDs. In CD 1 we can listen to the album and the numerous Associated Recordings, among which we find the practically unreleased Old Aces Die Hard, a truly stellar track; we then find the first version of Working John, Working Joe a song that, in its definitive form, will be included in the album A, another absolutely spectacular disc; we then find Magic Bells, which is nothing more than a slightly rearranged version of Ring Out, Solstice Bells, an absolutely fabulous song that is included right in the album Songs From The Wood and which makes it even more 'tasty' and 'succulent'. We can then listen to the Unedited masters of Songs From The Wood and Fire At Midnight. There is then another small but 'succulent' confirmation, namely Strip Cartoon, included in this re-release because, at the time, it was chosen as the B-Side of The Whistler; it was also included among the bonus tracks of the remastered version of the album Too Old To Rock'n'Roll: Too Young To Die! released in 2002, as well as appearing in the deluxe repackage Too Old To Rock'n'Roll: Too Young To Die! (The TV Special Edition) released in 2015. CD 2 and CD 3 complement each other, in the sense that CD 2 documents the first part of the concert that Tull held on November 21, 1977, in Landover (MD), reconstructed from recordings made during the tour to promote this truly stellar album, and CD 3 documents its second part.

As for the two DVDs, the first contains the entire album and the following Associated Recordings: Old Aces Die Hard, Working John, Working Joe, Magic Bells (Ring Out, Solstice Bells), One Brown Mouse and Strip Cartoon in 5.3 DTS audio formats, AC 3 Dolby Digital Surround, and 96/24 LPCM stereo. It also contains: Songs From The Wood (Unedited master) and Fire At Midnight (Unedited master) in 96/24 LPCM stereo audio format; the entire album in 96/24 LPCM stereo audio format; the original quad mix of the following songs: Songs From The Wood, Jack-In-The-Green, Velvet Green, and The Whistler in DTS 4.0 and Dolby Digital Surround AC3 4.0 audio formats. DVD 2, on the other hand, documents the Tull concert in Landover on November 21, 1977, in 96/24 LPCM stereo, 5.3 DTS, and AC3 Dolby Digital Surround audio formats. It also contains the original audio of a piece from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and the promotional video clip of the song The Whistler.