Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! is the ninth studio album released by British band Jethro Tull, recorded in December 1975 and released in 1976. It is the first album to include bassist John Glascock who also contributes with backing vocals. Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! is the last Jethro Tull concept album, which follows the story of Ray Lomas, an ageing rocker who found fame with the changes of musical trends. 2015 Box Set audio features the previously unreleased re-recorded version of the album for a UK TV special, 5 original LP tracks and a bonus out-take all mixed by the legendary Steven Wilson. Also included are flat transfers of the original album as well as a host of rare associated recordings including previously unreleased material.
This special edition of the 1976 album will contain new Steven Wilson stereo remixes on CD 1, although this is of the version of the album re-recorded for a TV Special. Only five multi-track master tapes for the actual album could be located and new stereo remixes of those tracks are also appended on the first disc. The second CD consists of a complete flat transfer of the original stereo mix, and eight bonus tracks (seven of which are 2015 remixes). This bonus material includes two unheard songs: Salamander’s Ragtime (not related to album track Salamander), and Commercial Traveller. A third outtake Advertising Man was planned to be included but was not sufficiently complete to merit inclusion.
Rather than just give fans one live concert DVD to dig into, Jethro Tull deliver Around the World Live, a four-disc collection that spans over 30 years' worth of shows. Starting with a performance at the Isle of Wright festival in 1970 and going all the way forward to a 2005 performance in Lugano, Switzerland…
20 Years of Jethro Tull is a 1988 boxed set which spans the first twenty years of Jethro Tull. It was issued as five LPs: Radio Archives, Rare Tracks, Flawed Gems, Other Sides of Tull, and The Essential Tull. It was simultaneously released as both a 3CD and a 3-cassette set, titled 20 Years of Jethro Tull: The Definitive Collection…
Despite its age, this collection remains the best introduction to the wonderfully bizarre sounds of Jethro Tull – a unique combination of folk music, progressive rock, heavy metal, and of course, Ian Anderson's ubiquitous flute. Drawing exclusively from the band's '70s heyday, opener "Living in the Past" sets the retrospective tone, leading the way into the signature guitar riff of "Aqualung," the band's multifaceted pièce de résistance. Though lyrically indecipherable, "Locomotive Breath" is equally timeless, and the moment when John Evan's fanciful piano intro gives way to Martin Barre's guitar feedback remains thrilling. With his acoustic guitar in hand, Ian Anderson becomes a medieval bard, drawing the listener into worlds of legend both threatening ("Sweet Dream," "Witches Promise") and joyously carefree ("Thick as a Brick," "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day"). The unbelievable kaleidoscope of sound which makes up "Songs from the Wood" is simply too original and intricate for words to describe.
Jethro Tull was a unique phenomenon in popular music history. Their mix of hard rock; folk melodies; blues licks; surreal, impossibly dense lyrics; and overall profundity defied easy analysis, but that didn't dissuade fans from giving them 11 gold and five platinum albums…
Where the first Jethro Tull box five years earlier, 20 Years of Jethro Tull, mostly traded on radio broadcast performances and rarities, a few outtakes, and a remastered collection of key songs, 25th Anniversary Boxed Set benefits from a more thorough raid on the vaults that has yielded up one essential addition to any Jethro Tull collection. Disc two is the centerpiece of the set, containing an additional hour of the group's November 4, 1970 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York (two pieces were previously issued on Living in the Past). Preserved on a 16-track master tape, this benefit show for the drug rehabilitation program Phoenix House was the group's most prominent American gig up to that time…