50 Years Ago Today.....

W

WITELITE

Experienced
Jethro Tull released Aqualung. While there were many great albums released in 1971 this ranks among the best. It is superb from first track to last and Ian’s acoustic playing and Martin Barre’s electric playing are a textbook for rock guitar.

Take a listen to the Steven Wilson remix today and ask yourself why they are not in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

MM
 
WITELITE said:
Jethro Tull released Aqualung. While there were many great albums released in 1971 this ranks among the best. It is superb from first track to last and Ian’s acoustic playing and Martin Barre’s electric playing are a textbook for rock guitar.

Take a listen to the Steven Wilson remix today and ask yourself why they are not in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

MM
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Great album! The riff and solo in the title song are iconic.

Tull, King Crimson, ELP, Gentle Giant— they should all be more recognized.
 
Listening to it right now for the first time just because of this thread. When I was a kid, Conan O'Brien would bust into Aqualung on acoustic for a gag. Pretty sure he did it more than once but I don't remember. Every time I hear the name Jethro Tull I associate it with that gag or the fact that they won a Grammy for metal.
 
Overcaster said:
Your loss I guess.

Aqualung is a fantastic album that I always go back to. Steven Wilson did a stellar job with the remix and it totally replaced the original album in my playlists.
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Steven Wilson is an absolute genius and I love the crap out of PT and his solo stuff. However, that man really loves the smell of his own farts. He's another one of those dudes who thinks that all music from his teen years is objectively better than everything that came after it and he loves to lecture people about it.
 
deathbyguitar said:
Listening to it right now for the first time just because of this thread. When I was a kid, Conan O'Brien would bust into Aqualung on acoustic for a gag. Pretty sure he did it more than once but I don't remember. Every time I hear the name Jethro Tull I associate it with that gag or the fact that they won a Grammy for metal.
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:). Don't think of Jethro Tull for that. Just underscores how pathetic the Grammy's are. Enjoy the album. It's a classic.
 
deathbyguitar said:
Steven Wilson is an absolute genius and I love the crap out of PT and his solo stuff. However, that man really loves the smell of his own farts. He's another one of those dudes who thinks that all music from his teen years is objectively better than everything that came after it and he loves to lecture people about it.
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In my opinion he was more insufferable back then with his holy crusade against digital stuff, iPods, Mp3s and so on. Glad he came around to allow his stuff to be streamed. He is a bit full of himself, BUT he is a crazy good musician and and even better engineer and producer. The opeth albums he did are just the best in their discography.
 
Overcaster said:
In my opinion he was more insufferable back then with his holy crusade against digital stuff, iPods, Mp3s and so on. Glad he came around to allow his stuff to be streamed. He is a bit full of himself, BUT he is a crazy good musician and and even better engineer and producer. The opeth albums he did are just the best in their discography.
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I vaguely remember seeing something about that way back when. I didn't get into PT until The Incident. And yeah, no argument there about SW Opeth albums, Blackwater Park especially.

Back on topic, I'm maybe halfway through this album and it doesn't do it for me, although it's extremely respectable music. I can definitely hear how some of my favorite artists were inspired by this stuff. Horary for trying new things!
 
I love Jethro Tull.
I first saw them on The Old Grey Whistle Test when they played complete album Too Old To Rock'n'Roll...
Their live album Bursting Out is just sublime
 
50 years? Wow, thanks for making me feel old as dirt, lol. Aqualung was one of my heavy rotation albums in high school. Several of their concerts from back then are still in my Top 10 list of favorite shows. Seeing and hearing them play the full Thick as a Brick album live shortly after it came out was mind-blowing.
 
MisterE said:
I love Jethro Tull.
I first saw them on The Old Grey Whistle Test when they played complete album Too Old To Rock'n'Roll...
Their live album Bursting Out is just sublime
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Bursting out is fantastic. That incarnation of the band with Glascock or Hammond/Hammond on bass was the best.And they were THAT tight live. Some of my favorite shows were from that period. Sadly, I saw their 50th anniversary tour in 2019 and it was one of the worst shows I've seen. The band is lifeless and Ian's voice is nowhere near what it was (to put it mildly). We always have the albums and the memories.
 
USMC_Trev said:
Yeah don't feel like I lost anything except the time classic rock stations stole from me keeping that dreary overlong soup sandwich of a song in the rotation.
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Bursting Out is a great album. I saw the tour right after that, so good. I also saw Ian a few years ago on the Thick As A Brick 2 tour.
 
Love Aqualung. Saw them once in 77 and they were fantastic. I was shocked. Don't know why I should've been shocked, but I thought I'd moved on from whatever I thought they were by the time I saw them live. They were ridiculously tight and just a great band. Plus one on them and King Crimson in particular deserving more due.
 
I love this whole album and the title track a ton....our band covers "Aqualung" and I love the reaction it gets when we play it. There is a tune you don't hear in clubs hardly, if at all...nothing better then surprising a crowd with something off-the-wall like that song.

Funny, a friend just mentioned the other day he was listening to his old Tull vinyl and rediscovering them after not listening to them for a while and raving about how very good they are. I have to agree that they are an amazing, creative, and very unique band and their deep-cuts are the standouts in their discography.

IMO one of the best rock songs, and jams, ever is "The Minstrel In The Gallery"...all 8+ minutes of it (the chopped, edited cut you find on compilations is a travesty).

Fantastic band and catalog...I miss bands who crafted songs like they did.
 
I loved their first album, totally different from everything ever, back when a lot of albums were really something new and unique. Hated Aqualung, with a passion, at least partly because a guy down the hall in my dorm wouldn't stop playing it. Maybe should give a go again, maybe, but see above.
 
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