Customer Reviews

3 for 1

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those who love Tull, this review is superfluous because you already own all three albums. But for those who are only familiar with Aqualung, Thick As A Brick, or compilations, this set will put it all in perspective, revealing why people are so fanatical about Jethro Tull.

These are three superb albums, in which you can hear, feel, and even see the transformation of Tull from egalitarian jazz-blues-rock band to Anderson & Flunkies. Some may argue that Mick Abrahams' departure was detrimental in that Anderson lost his counterpoint. But the absence of a creative threat resulted in Anderson allowing much more freedom to successor Martin Barre.

It is impossible to review 30 songs in 1000 words, so let's cover the albums briefly, in order of appearance.
1. This Was: Very unstructured and ostensibly undisciplined arrangements. Production values variable, sometimes tinny, occasionally boxy. In spite of all this, an absolutely brilliant debut. Compares favorably with The Doors (debut) and Sgt. Pepper's, both of which came out about the same time, but is poles apart from either of those two. Very obvious jazz influence. Writing credits evenly distributed. Each song is different from the other, but the entire album must be heard in one sitting. Twice.
2. Stand Up: Excellent follow-up effort. Less jazz, less blues, but still not Classic Rock as we know it today. Exit Abrahams, enter Barre. Not a very impressive debut for Martin; no sign of the heights he would later scale. High level of musicianship all around. Lyrics still irreverent, but getting a bit serious sometimes. More oriented to individual songs.
3. Benefit: The first signs of acknowledging the importance of moving some merchandise. Tighter arrangements, superior production, even some pretty low-brow riffs from Martin. But balanced by really brilliant guitar work, especially behind Ian's singing. As if to make up for the commercial sound, most of the lyrics are cleverly cynical, not in-your-face obvious.

You will be hard-pressed to find a better one-two-three effort from any band. Each of the three discs is a must-buy in it's own right. But when they're available at $10.99 a piece (and remastered, to boot), total $32.97, why would you pay $37.49 for the set? Just for the slip case? I don't think so.
(Well, prices are subject to change without notice, so the cost comparison is as of date. Get whatever's cheapest; you're buying the music, not the packaging.)

I saw this 3 cd collection of Tull's first 3 releases and issued in 2000 I thought I had found a really good deal. Unfortunately these are not remasters although the sound is not bad. I am not disappointed with the albums and nor should you., the first is bluesy and the following two are more like the Tull we have all grown to love

The box cover of this collection calls the cd This Was THis Way.One of the few cds I have found with typographical errors. I am surprised EMI did not catch it before they put it up for sale. Otherwise a classic collection of Tull's first three albums.

ok, to call benefit an awesome lp is quite a stretch. however, these three albums, along with the fine but overplayed Aqualung is practically all the jethro tull you'll need aside from the stuff on the living in the past compilation if you're not a tull freak. to my mind, their earliest material, the stuff from their formation until about 1972, is the essential stuff. there just isn't any question in my mind.
sometimes i think that it would've been better if mick abrahams had stayed in the band, and not gone on to form the fine, but generally overshadowed blodwyn pig. i say that because i think that the band might have benefitted from having a second lead vocalist. ian anderson's vocals can be grating at times.. that being said, the debut lp with abrahams is a gem of the british blues scene that also featured bands like fleetwood mac , ten years after, savoy brown, and others. quite simply, this was is one of the very finest blues albums to come out of england at this time. abrahams and anderson trade off vocals well and the songwriting is quite good particularly clive bunker's drummming and abrahams' delta blues licks. the playing is superb. the album features a fine version of roland kirk's jazz classic serenade to a cuckoo, and the excellent single a song for jeffrey, which the band also did in the rolling stones rock and roll circus. some of the other highlights include my sunday feeling, move on alone,dharma for one, and a fine version of the blues standard cat's squirrel. overall, an excellent debut.
stand up is probably tull's best all-around album, by this time abrahams had departed to form blodwyn pig. his replacement was another fine guitarist-martin barre. tull had produced an excellent debut record, but if a criticism could be made, it might be that the lp wasn't diverse enough. this criticism could definitely not be made of stand up. some of these tracks are more like heavy progressive rock( a new day yesterday), psychedelic rock with a touch of british isles folk ( we used to know, one of my favorite tull tracks) and storming blues rock( for a thousand mothers). there's a fine version of bach's bouree, with excellent flute work from the talented anderson. other great tracks are jeffrey goes to leicester square, fat man, and look into the sun-but the album as a whole is extraordinary. definitely the zenith of their career.
benefit is a lesser album. tull certainly was still capable of excellent instrumentation, but the songwriting was rather pretentious at times, and yet still kind of moving-for example, listen to sossity, you're a woman. a few of the other tracks , to me, were also rather dull. nevertheless, the band were still capable of awesome creations like to cry you a song, probably the best song on this album. the teacher is practically the only track that still gets any airplay nowadays, but with you there to help me, for michael collins, jeffrey , and me and play in time are also good tracks. benefit's a good album , albeit weaker than its two prdecessors, but as collection i give it 5 stars though its probably worth 4 in terms of musicality because i think that the 1st two lp's make up for the good but not great third one. this three cd set is definitely a plus if you're a tull fan, a progressive rock fan, or a fan of the bands of the late 60's , early 70's in general.

This CD is excellent. You should buy it. Seriously.