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Finally my favorite Jethro Tull album gets the deluxe Steve Wilson remix treatment! I've been waiting for this one for years, ever since they first started issuing these deluxe packages, and the day has finally arrived!
As with all these releases, the packaging, and 96-page booklet are a delight, and of course the remixes and production are phenomenal as usual! One might wonder if an album such as this, already well mixed and produced, could be improved upon or changed enough to make the purchase worth it. Well, have no fear. Although to the casual listener or the non-fan, there probably isn't much difference, for the hard-core fan (and I assume you are one if you are even here bothering to read this), who has listened to this countless times in it's various iterations, you'll find plenty to indulge in and notice tons of wonderful changes and additions.
As usual, Steven's changes range from subtle to fairly dramatic, the additional double tracked vocals and boosted delay/reverb in No Lullaby being an example of the latter. The music just jumps out of the speakers and is fuller and richer than ever. Most notable of all are the detailed keys, odd synth or other effects, guitar flourishes, and bells popping prominently in the mix where they were previously buried, or possibly not even there in the original mix. Of course, all the unreleased material is a feast for the ears as well.
EDIT: *As was pointed out by a commenter, I totally left out a review of the live material! Sorry about that! In short - it's great! Shocker, I know. It gives you a much more holistic representation of a Tull concert from that era than Bursting Out, since it's a complete show. You'll recognize I think about 5 tracks from Bursting Out. The book goes into detail on the "studio sweetening" added to Bursting Out, including removing crowd noise, pops, clicks, and most notably, redoing of some of the vocals. My impression was that Ian's vocals are much drier here than what I recall from Bursting Out, but I haven't spun that one for a couple years and I'm going off memory. One of the studio outtakes, Quatrain (which enjoyably features some flubs by I assume Ian on mandolin with some humorous swearing and apologies) was apparently used to "sweeten" the Bursting Out version as well. Interesting stuff. Anyway, the show is great. Icing on the cake, I say.*
Unfortunately for me and you, I don't have a 5.1 system to listen to the surround on and review. My system is a full vintage stereo setup with a Marantz 2275 at the heart, which is the way these old albums were intended to be heard anyway. I never saw much need for a surround set up , but over the last several years many more old albums have been released in 5.1, with more on the way all the time. So I haven't even been able to enjoy half the material on these new reissues... maybe that will be enough argument to convince my wife to let me pull the trigger on supplemental system and speakers to listen. Anyway, that's for another day.
Overall, I can't recommend this enough, and couldn't be happier. Do yourself a favor, grab this masterpiece, and listen to it again for the first time. It's a wonderful time to be a Jethro Tull fan, folks. Enjoy it! Can't wait for the vinyl release!
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never sleepsor can get enough of this albumPLUS: a differentish version of Bursting Out - now, that's appreciated!
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Mark Barry
"...Hoeing And Husbandry..." - Heavy Horses: New Shoes Edition by JETHRO TULL (2018 Chrysalis 3CD/2DVD Book Set Remasters)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2018
"...Hoeing And Husbandry..." - Heavy Horses: New Shoes Edition by JETHRO TULL (2018 Chrysalis 3CD/2DVD Book Set Remasters)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2018
I was a kid of the early Seventies ("Aqualung", "Thick As A Brick", the "Living In The Past" double-album) - so by the time Jethro Tull's 11th album "Heavy Horses" arrived in April 1978 with the double "Live: Bursting Out" following quickly later that same year in September - I can recall being disinterested in JT entirely and thinking - who the hell is buying either of these?Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2018
And yet Tull have always been a cult band personified - so despite or perhaps even because of the utterly changed musical landscape they found themselves in – defiantly "Heavy Horses" bucked the 'Rock Is Dead - Long Live Punk and New Wave' ethos of the NME et al and charted well on both sides of the pond - No. 20 in the UK and even better at No. 19 in the States ("Live: Bursting Out" did the same - No. 17 in the UK and No. 20 in the USA). Now I'm re-listening afresh to what is presently referred to as Part 2 of their Folk-Rock album trilogy - 1978's "Heavy Horses" - the one between "Songs From The Woods" in 1977 and "Stormwatch" in 1979.
And once again fans and newcomers alike will slaver and drool over this 5-Disc Book Set - yet another in Tull's extraordinary reissue campaign that has been putting most major label reissues of huge bands to utter shame for a few years now. There's a cartload of detail to plough through (forgive the puns) - so once more my hirsute horsy friends unto the Mad Nags and Englishmen (and that one-legged geezer with the hat and the flute)...
UK and USA released 2 March 2018 - "Heavy Horses: New Shoes Edition" by JETHRO TULL on Parlophone/Chrysalis 0190295757915 (Barcode 0190295757915) is a 3CD + 2DVD Reissue containing both "Heavy Horses" the album and the live double-set that followed "Live: Bursting Out" – all housed in a Hardback 'Book Set' with an attached 96-page booklet. The team of Steve Wilson, Jakko Jakszyk, Don Needham and Ray Shulman (long associated with Tull reissues) have carried out the Audio and DVD Remasters and Authoring and "Heavy Horses: New Shoes Edition" plays out as follows:
CD1 "Heavy Horses" (76:23 minutes):
1. ....And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps [Side 1]
2. Acres Wild
3. No Lullaby
4. Moths
5. Journeymen
6. Rover [Side 2]
7. One Brown Mouse
8. Heavy Horses
9. Weathercock
Tracks 1 to 9 are their 11th album "Heavy Horses" - released 10 April 1978 in the USA on Chrysalis CHR 1175 and 21 April 1978 in the UK also on Chrysalis CHR 1175. Produced by IAN ANDERSON and JETHRO TULL - it peaked at No. 20 on the UK LP charts and No.19 in the USA.
ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS
10. Living In These Hard Times [Version 2] - Planned to be on the withdrawn "Moths" EP - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
11. Everything In Our Lives [Studio Outtake] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
12. Jack-A-Lynn [Early Version, Studio Demo] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
13. Quatrain [Studio Version, it featured on "Live: Bursting Out" as a new song in live form] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
14. Horse-Hoeing Husbandry [Studio Outtake] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
15. Beltane [Withdrawn from the "Moths" EP - eventually surfaced on "20 Years Of Jethro Tull" Box Set in June 1988]
16. Botanic Man [Recorded live for the Thames TV Series 'Botanic Man' with David Bellamy but not used] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
17. Living In These Hard Times [Version 1] - Studio Outtake eventually surfaced on "20 Years Of Jethro Tull" Box Set in June 1988
18. Botanic Man Theme [Recorded for the Thames TV Series 'Botanic Man' with David Bellamy but not used] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
CD2 "Live In Berne 1978 (Part 1)" (50:16 minutes):
1. Opening Music (Quartet)
2. Introduction by Claude Nobs
3. No Lullaby
4. Sweet Dream
5. Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day
6. Jack-In-The-Green
7. One Brown Mouse
8. Heavy Horses
9. A New Day Yesterday
10. Flute Solo Improvisation/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Bouree
11. Living in The Past (Instrumental)/A New Day Yesterday (Reprise)
12. Songs From The Wood
CD3 "Live In Berne 1978 (Part 2)" (59:33 minutes):
1. Thick As A Brick
2. Hunting Girl
3. Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die
4. Conundrum
5. Minstrel In The Gallery
6. Cross-Eyed Mary
First Encore
7. Quatrain
8. Aqualung
Second Encore
9. Locomotive Breath
10. The Dambusters March/Aqualung (Reprise)
NOTE: the 22-tracks of CDs 2 and 3 represent the complete concert upon which the 17-track double-album "Live: Bursting Out" was based. Released 22 September 1978 in the UK on Chrysalis CJT 4 and 25 September 1978 in the USA on Chrysalis CH2 1201 (peaked at No. 17 and No. 21 respectively) – its four original sides can be sequenced from these two CDs using the following tracks:
Side 1: Tracks 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 from CD2
Side 2: Tracks 9, 10 and 12 from CD2 and Track 1 from CD3
Side 3: Tracks 2, 3, 4 and 5 from CD3
Side 4: Tracks 6, 7, 9 and 10 from CD3
DVD 1 (Audio) - NTSC, Region 0 (All Regions), 16.9 Aspect, Exempt from Classification
Contains all 9-Tracks of the "Heavy Horses" album
Plus "Living In These Hard Times (Versions 1 & 2), "Everything In Our Lives", "Jack-A-Lynn", "Horse-Hoeing Husbandry", "Beltane", "Botanic Man" and "Botanic Man Theme" remixed to 5.1 DTS, AC3 Dolby Digital Surround and 96/24 LPCM Stereo by STEVE WILSON
Also has original Stereo mixes of "Heavy Horses" album, "Rover (No Strings version)", "Living in These Hard Times (Version 2)", "Beltane" and "Quatrain (SW Mix)" as 96/24 LPCM Stereo
DVD 2 (Audio/Video) - NTSC, Region 0 (All Regions), 16.9 Aspect (Videos 3:4), Exempt from Classification
Jethro Tull recorded live to 2-track at The Festhalle, Berne, Switzerland by The Maison Rouge Mobile
Remixed to 5.1 DTS, AC3 Dolby Digital Surround and 96/24 LPCM Stereo by JAKKO JAKSZYK
Promotional Video Footage of the tracks "Heavy Horses" and "Moths" Plus 2 TV Adverts for "Bursting Out"
JETHRO TULL was:
IAN ANDERSON - Vocals, Flute, Whistles, Mandolin, Acoustic and Electric Guitars
MARTIN BARRE - Lead Electric Guitar
JOHN EVAN - Piano and Organ
DAVID PALMER - Keyboards and Orchestral Arrangements
JOHN GLASCOCK - Bass
BARRIEMORE BARLOW - Drums and Percussion
On Page 18 of the incredible 96-page booklet is a picture of a 'Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses' Promotional Bottle of Ale complete with its ridged flip cap - on Page 52 is a repro of the rare front page folio for the book "Horfe-Hoeing Husbandry" by Jethro Tull published in London by A. Millar in 1731 (the character the band based their name on) - on Page 74 (to Page 81) that begins the January 1977 to November 1978 day-by-day 'Chronology' of all things JT is a night-time photo of the ill-fated Maison Rouge Studios in Fulham, South West London that the band bought and kitted out to make "Heavy Horses" (now a car-park or some such). It all gives you an indication of the kind of depth we're talking about here. The info and memorabilia come at you fast and furious and it’s a dull boy indeed who would not be impressed with the sheer effort and scope of this reissue.
And did I mention that the record itself sounds utterly amazing - once again the Wills-meister STEVE WILSON and footage genius JAKKO JAKSZYK have pulled off yet more upgrades on both fronts (somebody needs to put these men on the New Year’s Honours List for services to Prog lurches like me). So what about the Music and the Visuals...
As the front cover artwork suggests - Ian Anderson leading Barley and Sir Jim towards us (both gorgeous animals courtesy of the Courage Shire Horse Centre in Maidenhead, Berkshire) - this is a deeply English Countryside Album. "Heavy Horses" is a down-on-the-farm, doing-loads-of-rural-stuff set of Folk-Rock songs and the Acoustic Guitars and Flute of "...And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps" opens proceedings rather nicely. There is real punch in the rhythm section - drums and bass - and that battle between the keyboards and layered vocals later on sounds cool too. Tull tap the Mandolin for "Acres Wild" - a great mixture of their “Stand Up” sound meeting Fairport Convention's "Liege & Lief" Folk-Rock - with one foot in both camps (and I love those breaks that sound like Horslips enjoying themselves). It's easy to hear why Tull opened the live "Bursting Out" double with the clever Rock Guitar of "No Lullaby" - its everything they were at the time - English Folk meets Prog Rock. But that's trashed by the album's mini masterpiece - "Moths". Chrysalis thought so too - releasing it 7 April 1978 on 7" single ahead of the album in the UK (Chrysalis CHS 2214 had "Life Is A Long Song" as its UK B-side while the American variant was to carry "Beltane" on its flipside but the release was withdrawn). Palmer's string arrangement dances like the 'candle flames' in the lyrics.
Martin Barre gives it some wicked guitar work on "Journeyman" - tripping the light fantastic. Anderson chases every footstep and follows every limb in "Rover" - his lady and that lovelorn pot-of-gold just out of reach (beautiful production values on this). "One Brown Mouse" also sounds like it could have been a single - take some tea with me awhile he sings as the acoustic strums race with the drums. The nine-minute title track is the most Prog of all and its arrangements are brilliant - soft acoustics bolstered by lovely string arrangements (you also get to concentrate on the articulate lyrics). It ends on the Mandolin Folk of "Weathercock" (there's one pictured on Page 50) where Anderson's good-morning melody sounds warm and summery (sing to me softly) as Barre brings the song and the album to a satisfactory finish with brilliant guitar flourishes.
I hadn't expected much from the extras - but again I'm shocked at how good "Living In These Hard Times" is - here in two takes - Version 2 done in July with Version 1 dating from February 1977. I'd also argue that "Everything In Our Lives" is equal to anything on the album or at least would have made a killer B-side. And while the David Bellamy theme songs to his "Botanic Man" are interesting if not a bit too heavy-handed - the lovely early version of "Jack-A-Lynn" is surely the unreleased prize here. Sounding like something that could have come straight out of the "Wandering Aloud" sessions from "Aqualung" – both it and "Quatrain" are fabulous outtakes – the second with Anderson's frustration and mistakes left on the tape. The Live Double is cool icing on the cake with barnstorming versions of "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day", "Sweet Dream" and "Cross-Eyed Mary". And the DVD promo videos are a hoot if not a tiny bit cringeworthy now.
I full appreciate that "Heavy Horses" and Jethro Tull in general will not be everyone's idea of 1978 - but man you have to give credit where credit's due. This is an amazing reissue and well done to all involved...
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Teejay
Another superb package - with a complete 78 show that is not just a remix of Bursting Out
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2018
Marc Worthington
Another quality Tull reissue box set
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2018J. Gillan
Icing on a very Creamy Cake
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2018
Icing on a very Creamy Cake
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2018
This is a superbly packaged product, and for Tull affecionados, a must buy.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2018
Comparing the main album CD with the remaster from a few years ago, my ears were immediately drawn to the better overall balance, and the beautifully produced sound of the high end in particular. This doesn't mean there's no bass, there is. I'm merely pointing out that the, slightly, aggressive top end that plagued all the earlier CD masters has been much improved. In my opinion this is the best CD version ever. Other micro, and macro details are also easier to pick out. The bass is also very tuneful and I found my foot tapping more than normal.
The multi-page booklet, DVD versions, live CD and DVD versions are all icing on a very creamy cake! Buy it, you'll love it.
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