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78 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Landmark, milestone, high-water mark . . ., January 7, 2003
. . . or choose your own favorite cliche. Whatever you call it, this album was and is of historical importance, for Tull and for 1970s rock.
In part, that's because it was misdescribed. No sooner was it released than the rock press started hailing it as a "concept album" (prompting Ian Anderson to go to work on the surreal and Pythonesque _Thick as a Brick_ so as to give everybody, tongue firmly in cheek, a _real_ "concept album").
"Concept albums" are frowned on thse days (although I like them just fine); nevertheless this isn't one of them. Sure, there's a lot of thematic unity; the first half ("album side") involves homelessness and lechery, and the second Anderson's reflections on the religious unbringing of his adolescence. But a "concept album"? Not really.
But it does reflect a critical stage in the development of Jethro Tull. Bassist Glenn Cornick had just departed and been replaced by Anderson's boyhood friend Jeffrey Hammond; as of the next album (TaaB) Barrie Barlow would replace Clive Bunker on drums and percussion. And crucially, two things were happening on this album that would affect Tull's direction for the remainder of its still-ongoing career: Anderson was developing both his songwriting and his acoustic guitar chops, and Martin Barre was successfully finding his "voice" as a guitarist.
It's something of a cliche among Tull fans that Anderson's songwriting had taken a darker, more cynical turn as of _Benefit_ (the album preceding this one). Well, on _Aqualung_ that bitter fruit is really starting to ripen. There's the title track, of course, for which Anderson credits the lyrics to his first wife Jennie (he lifted many of them from her notes on the back sides of her photographs of homeless people). There's "Cross-Eyed Mary". And there's all the stuff about Anglican-and-perhaps-other Christianity. This sort of thing was to continue through _Minstrel in the Gallery_ (especially "Baker Street Muse"), roughly until Anderson moved to the country.
Anderson was also developing what we now know as "his" acoustic guitar style. There was a bit of it on _Benefit_ but it's really here that we started hearing his acoustic tunes ("Wond'ring Aloud," etc.); we heard some more early acoustic tunes on _Living in the Past_, but that album hadn't been released yet when _Aqualung_ came out.
And Martin Barre had turned himself into the Tull lead guitarist we all know and love. The opening blast of "Aqualung" is quintessential Tull; the guitar solo on that song ranks among rock's greatest; and I don't know about you, but when I listen to "Locomotive Breath," I have to remember to breathe myself.
Now, for all that, this is not my favorite Tull album (or even my favorite _early_ Tull album). But I don't think a month goes by that I don't listen to _something_ from it.
The remastered version is clean and crisp, and to my ear somewhat anechoic. The extra tracks are notable mainly for the inclusion of "Lick Your Fingers Clean" (an earlier version of "Two Fingers," released on _WarChild_ but originally intended for this one). There are also extended excerpts from an interview and remastered versions of "Song for Jeffrey," "Fat Man" and "Bouree", all of which are now available on the remastered _Stand Up_ anyway (where I think the remastering is done better), and a "quad" version of "Wind Up".
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61 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Genuine Treasure, March 29, 2002
Aqualung is a wonderful, superlative, essentially perfect album. From the day it was released right up to now the record is fresh, exciting, compelling, intelligent, forcefully rhythmic, melodic, brilliantly played, brilliantly sung, and has one of the best ever cover illustrations to boot. After nearly thirty years of wearing out various copies of it, I have yet to tire of this phenomenal artistic tour de force.
I had the great good fortune of seeing Jethro Tull live when they were doing the original Aqualung tour - they were hardly known at the time - and as great as the album is, their performance was even more electrifying. It was at Madison Square Garden and I was up front, a few feet from the performers.
As the show started the house lights went down and the stage went black. Silence. Long pause. Then, hobbling out of the blackness a single spotlight caught Anderson dressed extravagantly like the old man on the album cover, bent over and leaning on his flute, which he used as a cane. Leering maliciously, slowly creeping up front, he finally stopped, silently grinning out at the house as the audience howled with delight. Then he threw his flute straight up, high, and the spotlight went up with the flute, shining and sparkling as it twisted its way up and then down, the only thing visible in the darkness.
When the flute came back down it was met by Anderson's upraised hand, and at the instant he clutched it all the stage lights came up and the band struck the thunderous opening notes of the album. And it got better and better and better as the show went on, Anderson leaping and snarling and playing flute at the same time, a truly athletic performance. Whew! I can still see it.
If you've somehow denied yourself owning this remarkable work of art and music, get it now! I wish you many hours of enjoyment listening to this treasure.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Aqualung and Ian Anderson's take on organized religion, October 20, 2002
"Aqualung" is certainly the rawest of Jethro Tull's albums, as far from the artistic pretensions of "Thick as a Brick" and "Passion Play" as you can get in terms of their albums. This might have something to do with the album's mission statement, which is printed in old fashioned type on the linear notes: "In the beginning Man created God; and in the image of Man created he him....But as all these things did come to pass, the Spirit that did cause man to create his God lived on with all men: even within Aqualung. And man saw it not. But for Christ's sake he'd better start looking." Ironically, this is one of the few Jethro Tull albums where the lyrics are not printed despite the fact this is arguably the album where the lyrics mattereth the most.The first "side" of the album, entitled "Aqualung" after the first and title track, offers nothing overt other than the idea of dismissing organized religion as "salvation à la mode and a cup of tea." However, the second side, "My God," makes its argument in earnest from the opening verse: "People - what have you done/locked Him in His golden cage/Made Him bend to your religion/Him resurrected from the grave." The Church of England is explicitly condemned for having supplanted the authenticity of the Christian religion with plastic crucifixes. "Hymn 43" continues this line of argument by suggesting that: "If Jesus saves - well, He'd better save Himself from the gory glory seekers who use His name in death." "Slipstream" offers a metaphorical look at sinners trying to save themselves at the last moment: "And you press on God's waiter your last dime/as he hands you the bill." That "Slipstream" comes right before "Locomotive Breath" makes sense when you look at the latter's lyrics in light of the former. But Ian Anderson's diatribe against the organized religion of his country does not extend to God, as is amply proven by the concluding song, "Wind Up." To underscore the importance of what is being sung at this point, the music tends to get out of the way of the lyrics, especially the final lines: "I don't believe you/you had the whole damn thing all wrong/He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays." When the teachings of the church consist of nothing more than "half-assed smiles and the book of rules," this necessitates a more personal dialogue with God. In Anderson's world God replies with a firm answer. When Anderson declares "I'd rather look around me - compose a better song/`cos that's the honest measure of my worth," he is staking a claim to more piety and sanctity than the edifices he is indicting. The second side of "Aqualung" aspires to being much more than mere rock `n' roll. The message is simplistic, but still compelling. "Aqualung" represents Ian Anderson speaking in relatively clear words; from here on the will cloak his lyrics in metaphors and his own brand of mysticism. But for me it is ultimately the clarity of the lyrics and the intended message that makes this the strongest of Jethro Tull's albums. There are certainly more pleasing melodies down the road, but that does nothing to diminish the raw power of this effort.
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by Jethro Tull 
