Jethro+tull+stormwatch

With five decades behind them, there are certainly plenty of career overviews and compilations to be had for listeners looking to indulge in the choicest bits of the stalwart British progressive folk-rock band's career. The aptly named 50 for 50 sees Jethro Tull's longtime director of operations, Ian Anderson, deliver his picks, which range from instantly familiar classic rock radio staples "Aqualung" "Locomotive Breath," and "Cross-Eyed Mary" to later, more stylistically diverse offerings like "Steel Monkey" (from 1989's Grammy Award-winning Crest of a Knave) and the Middle Eastern-tinged "Rare and Precious Change" (from 1995's Roots to Branches)…

5 Album Set (Digital Remaster): Aqualung/A Passion Play/Minstrel In The Gallery/Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die!/Songs From The Wood

Jethro Tull - A (1980) {Japan Mini LP Edition 2004, TOCP-67288} [CD + DVD]
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 275 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 103 Mb | Artwork (web)
DVD5 | ISO -> 3.93 Gb | All Regions | 00:57:31 | NTSC 4:3 VBR | Audio: LinearPCM, 2 ch
© 2004 Toshiba-EMI / Chrysalis | TOCP-67288
Rock / Prog Rock / Art Rock

This CD/DVD combination pack, in a jewel case, features the digitally remastered CD "A" and the bonus DVD "Slipstream", which features 60 minutes of classic, live footage from the 1980 concert in Los Angeles, along with 2+ music videos.
By the end of the 1970s, the golden age of progressive rock was over, and Jethro Tull, former rulers of the prog-rock roost, entered the '80s sporting a radical change in both personnel and sound. Some of the change was a result of circumstance–longtime piano player John Evans and keyboardist/arranger David Palmer departed after '79's STORMWATCH, and bassist John Glascock had recently died, leaving only Ian Anderson and guitarist Martin Barre. Anderson enlisted Dave Pegg, the rock-solid former Fairport Convention bass player; prog-rock veteran Eddie Jobson on electric violin and keyboards, and Mark Craney, the first of several Tull drummers in the '80s.

Gone are the longtime Anderson images of the vagabond/sage (the group is clad in white jumpsuits on the cover) – also gone are the historical immersion of their music and anything resembling Dickensian, much less Elizabethan sensibilities. And nearly gone was Jethro Tull itself, for A started life as an Ian Anderson solo project but ended up as a Jethro Tull release, probably for commercial reasons. The difference is probably too subtle for most people to comprehend anyway.