A year after honoring the band’s real-life namesake with a rock opera, Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson is giving a dozen of the group’s songs the string quartet treatment. Jethro Tull: The String Quartets, due out March 24 and available to pre-order now, finds Anderson working alongside the Carducci Quartet and arranger/conductor John O’Hara to recast a dozen Tull tracks in a new light.
Under Wraps is the 15th studio album by the band Jethro Tull, released in 1984. The songs' subject matter is heavily influenced by bandleader Ian Anderson's love of espionage fiction. It was controversial among fans of the band due to its electronic/synthesizer-based sound, particularly the use of electronic drums. Dave Pegg has been quoted as saying that the tracks cut from the sessions for Broadsword and the Beast would have made a better album, while Martin Barre has referred to it as one of his personal favourite Tull albums. The album reached No. 76 on the Billboard 200 and No. 18 on the UK charts. The single "Lap of Luxury" reached No. 30.
Jethro Tull's best album of the 1990s, a surging, hard-rocking monster (at least, compared to anything immediately before or since) that doesn't lose sight of good tunes or the folk sources that have served this band well. The lineup this time out is Anderson on acoustic and electric guitars, flute, and electric and acoustic mandolins, Martin Barre on electric guitar, Doane Perry on drums, Dave Pegg on bass, and Andrew Giddings on keyboards. The real difference between this and most of the group's output since the end of the '70s lies in the songs, all of which are approached with serious energy and enthusiasm; the lyrics are completely forgettable, but for the first time since War Child, the band sounds like they're playing as though their lives depended on it.
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.
After the '70s, Jethro Tull struggled with each album to update their sound, but kept falling short with out-of-place synthesizers and drum machines. Three attempts at harder-rocking albums were followed by the Little Light Music tour in 1992, one which took a step back into a relaxing semi-acoustic setting. This album, a document of that May's European shows, should be treasured by fans looking for something more than the 10,000th performance of "Aqualung" (although it does contain the 10,001st performance of "Locomotive Breath"). The playing highlights the gentlest musical abilities of Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, bassist/mandolinist Dave Pegg, and temporary drummer Dave Mattacks (Pegg's Fairport Convention buddy). Old favorites are rearranged alongside rarely performed tunes from the Tull catalog.
This DVD/CD package is an absolute must have for any Jethro Tull fan; finally a concert DVD from the classic 1970s period and the closest thing possible to having a video version of Tull's live album `Bursting Out.'
‘A Passion Play' is the sixth studio album by Jethro Tull, released in 1973. Like its predecessor, Thick as a Brick (1972), it is a concept album the theme being the spiritual journey of one man in the afterlife. Alongside Thick As A Brick, 1973′s A Passion Play is Jethro Tull’s most overtly Progressive and conceptual release, featuring a complex poetic narrative framed by the most adventurous music of the band’s career. A #1 US & #13 in the UK hit on its release, the album offers dazzling virtuoso instrumental passages, evocative synthesiser sequences, and fuses Folk, Jazz and Rock influences in a strikingly unique, wholly Jethro Tull way. A Passion Play (An Extended Performance) features new Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) mixes (stereo and 5.1) of the album, alongside Steven Wilson mixes of the infamous ‘Chateau Disaster’ recordings that preceded it.