Under Wraps [Import]

Jethro Tull | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 27, 1989)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI
• ASIN: B000008H23
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,824 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Lap of Luxury

2. Under Wraps # 1

3. European Legacy

4. Later, That Same Evening

5. Saboteur

6. Radio Free Moscow

7. Astronomy

8. Tundra

9. Nobody's Car

10. Heat

11. Under Wraps #2

12. Paparazzi

13. Apogee

14. Automotive Engineering

15. General Crossing

Editorial Reviews

UK pressing of the band's 1984 album on Chrysalis.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In defense of a much maligned gem. Tull's "Cold War" album!, April 7, 2003

By 

G-Dexter (Lakewood, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Under Wraps (Audio CD)

Many Tull fans unjustly shun this work as an aberration in the Tull catalog, a divergent work not really worthy of "Tulldom". I have a different view. First, I will tell you that this is the last album the band made before Ian's voice literally collapsed in the mid 80's, leaving his fans in serious doubt for many years to come as to the veracity of it's ever returning. So, when I think back on that concert tour, I recall with fond memories the final time I saw Ian sing with that wonderful full vocal range so prevalent in the highs of "Songs From The Woods" and the sonorous lows of "Baker Street Muse." It was also really the end of an era of 'big shows' where staging and drama came as part of the Jethro Tull package. Ballooning budgetary concerns mandated a less ostentatious approach to putting on a show. Gone forever were arena venues featuring string quartets and the elaborate Viking ship stage sets.

Be it known, however, that this is really quite an amazing album that harkens back to a concept album format. Apparently at the time, Ian had read a lot of John Le Carre and Martin Cruz novels; the album absolutely drips with cold war rhetoric, international espionage and intrigue. The progression of the songs reads like chapters in 'Gorky Park'. All the characters are there, from the saboteur, the sexy seductress, the double agent, and the turncoat general selling out his country to the other side. We, the listener play the role of the guileless common man helplessly swept along with the story.

The music is rich and complex. Electronic in places - yes, largely due to the keyboard influences of Peter Vettese, but also full of the signature sounds distinctive to Jethro Tull. Present are Martin Barre's soaring guitar solos, Ian's flute work, and the bass lines distinctive to our old friend, Dave Pegg. The album also serves as our introduction to the man who has played percussion for the band longer than any other, the amazing Doane Perry.

My favorite songs include European Legacy, Later That Same Evening, and Under Wraps #2. The CD contains four songs not originally included on the vinyl, and they break up the flow a bit. Unfortunatly, they dropped 'Automotive Engineering' and 'General Crossing' at the end of the disc, rather than before the song 'Apogee' which worked perfectly as a closing chapter to the novel on the record.

Martin Barre has referred to this as the Tull album he listens to when he wants to listen to a Tull album. He absolutely smokes on 'Heat', a song which I think could sit comfortably on any 'best of Jethro Tull' disc. While not a perfect album, in my opinion it is still a great album.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Chameleon strikes again, November 3, 2003

By 

W. Farley "wilfar" (king of prussia, pa. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Under Wraps (Audio CD)

I'm fifty something, and grew up listening to classic rock. Oh, I had Aqualung, and thick as a brick, but never really appreciated Tull. Now that i'm older and the music scene basically stinks. I've been reverting back to the older albumns that i passed over in my speedy youth. I now have every Tull albumn that's available. What I've discovered is a chameleon genius in Ian Anderson. He can and is what ever he chooses to be musically.
Under wraps is the perfect example. He is all over that eighties sound with no problem. His vocals,harmonies,and music are perfect for that period of musical history.
With a large body of work you will have people comparing different albumns. Some say, "Well It's no Aqualung, or TAAB," but I say if you look at the big picture, You see an artist growing, and maybe find yourself saying, "Aqualung is no Broadsword and the beast, or " Crest of the knave". This guy along with Martin Barre have created some very interesting music with great conviction and heart.Under wraps is a different kind of albumn, but the quality is still there. It's a good albumn, from a great band, with an ever-changing leader.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Listen again with a fresh ear, May 7, 2004

By 

Graboidz (Westminster, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Under Wraps (Audio CD)

First, let me clarify my 3 star rating, compared to other Tull albums Under Wraps rates a 3, but compared to any music put out in the last decade even the weakest Tull album is a five star gem. When Under Wraps first came out I was so disgusted with the synth, keyboard dominant disk that after only one listen I shelved it for years. I then went to see Tull in concert in the mid 90's and they played acoustic versions of Later, That Same Evening and Under Wraps #2. Like most great Tull songs I couldn't get Later, That Same Evening out of my head, I had almost forgotten about the Under Wraps album, so I went home and pulled it out again, and now 20 years after it's release I have to say Under Wraps is a very good, but different Tull album. I have a new respect for what Ian Anderson was trying to do here, and there are some really good songs here besides Under Wraps and Later, That Same Evening. Heat has really grown on me, as has Lap of Luxury. Dave Pegg's bass work here is amazing and is worth the price of the disk alone. Pegg's bass drives most of the songs, and there are some really catchy rhythms on Under Wraps. Ian's flute does take a backseat to the keyboards on most of the songs presented here, but it's still a key part to the album. Like another reviewer said, if you are a Tull fan, pick this up just to hear what the band was up to in the early 80's.