Living in Past [Original recording reissued]

Jethro Tull | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 14, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1972
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000008H1V
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,540 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Song for Jeffrey

2. Love Story

3. Christmas Song

4. Living in the Past

5. Driving Song

6. Sweet Dream

7. Singing All Day

8. Witch's Promise

9. Inside

10. Alive and Well and Living In

11. Just Trying to Be

12. By Kind Permission Of

13. Dharma for One

14. Wond'ring Again

15. Hymn 43

16. Life is a Long Song

17. Up the 'Pool

18. Dr. Bogenbroom

19. For Later

20. Nursie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Without This Album, The Band's History Is Incomplete, December 27, 2001

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Living in Past (Audio CD)

This was a stopgap album between studio releases Thick as a Brick (1972) and A Passion Play (1973). It also served to capitalize on the band's surge in popularity in the United States following the release of their fourth album Aqualung, which was Tull's first US top 10 album.

Most reviewers have made the same comment regarding the content change between the original LP and the CD release. The mistake they make is based on the error that is made in the "consumer note" on the CD. Yes, two tracks were deleted from the original vinyl: "Bouree" (leaving no tracks from their sophomore effort Stand Up) and "Teacher" (leaving only "Inside" from their third album Benefit). But there was a third track deleted from the original vinyl. Track-2 on Side-4 was "Locomotive Breath." [I know this because I still have my vinyl copy from 1972. Also missing is the 14-page color insert, which has been reduced to two pages with the CD reissue and only a fraction of the more than 50 photos in the original.] One other difference should be noted between the two track listings. The original vinyl release did NOT include "Hymn 43." [Note: The Gold CD issue of Living in the Past includes all 23 tracks, so you get the combined LP/CD track listing. But it's going to cost you enough extra that it would make more sense to simply buy the individual albums.]

With that said, Living in the past is essential classic period Jethro Tull to warrant its purchase even if you own the individual albums. Many of these tracks were non-album singles, B-sides and live tracks. "Love Story" was Tull's first UK hit (#29, 1969), followed by "Living in the Past" (#3, 1969), "Sweet Dream" (#7, 1969), "Witches Promise" (#4, 1970) and "Life Is a Long Song" (#11, 1971). Tull's first charting US single would be "Hymn 43" (#91, 1971), and their first Top 40 hit would be when "Living in the Past" hit No. 11 three years after its release in England. The two live tracks on the disc are from a 1970 Carnegie Hall performance: "By Kind Permission of" and "Dharma for One."

When all is said and done, even if you own the first four studio albums this is an essential album to complete the history of Jethro Tull's first four years. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All's not Alive and Well and Living In..., February 24, 2000

By 

Brian O'Marra (Little Rock, AR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living in Past (Audio CD)

The above rating is not for the album as it was originally released. It is for the frustrating way it has been issued and reissued on CD.

When it first came out on CD, time constraints caused three tracks to be dropped: Teacher, Bouree, and Alive And Well and Living In.

Then it was remastered and the latter track was included. Though Teacher and Bouree were still dropped.

Then Mobile Fidelity stepped in, thankfully and did the CD right. They added all of the songs that were on this in all of its various incarnations (US version, UK version, British version, album version, etc.). In other words, it became a double CD and added Teacher, Bouree, and Locomotive Breath.

The booklet simulated the leather feel of the album cover and was chock full of photos. Unfortunately Mofi went adios, and so did Chrysalis learn anything from this? No! Instead, we get the same old CD with the missing tracks, though remastered.

Suggestion: find the gold disc and buy it! Pay the extra price! It is well worth it. Maybe Chrysalis will take the hint and restore this superb album back to the way it should be.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very pleasant, September 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Living in Past (Audio CD)

This was originally both a retrospective and a collection of outtakes. It was released to allow Jethro Tull to fulfill its contractual obligations when Ian Anderson was unable to finish composing "A Passion Play" on time. It included one cut from each of Jethro Tull's first four records ("Song For Jeffrey" from "This Was", "Bourree" from "Standup", "Teacher" from "Benefit", and "Hymn 43" from "Aqualung"), a live version of "Dharma For One", a live improvisation, "By Kind Permission Of" (in which John Evans plays a bit of Beethoven's Apassionata piano sonata), and many previously unreleased Ian Anderson songs. (Here "Inside" from "Benefit" has been substituted for "Teacher" and "Bourree". I'd prefer all these redundant recordings be removed--I want them in their proper places.) Its was unprecendented that such a motley collection should have become so popular. ("Living in the Past" was Jethro Tull's first hit single. It is ingenuous and compelling, though its quintuple-meter ostinato rhythm--bass, drums, vocal melody--obviously derives from Paul Desmond's "Take Five", possibly by way of Lalo Schriffin's theme from "Mission Impossible".) Goes to show what high standards the group had then that they could have considered these songs unworthy.

Also recommended (for one-legged flautists as well): PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.