A LITTLE LIGHT MUSIC

CONSISTENCY PROBLEMS: A dazzling rounded helping of Jethro Tull, 17 songs long; in a nutshell, it may have some consistency problems. Where it is good, the renditions may be better than the originals, where it fails, it just comes down to being "forgettable", the good edges out the weaker areas oh so barely. It is like the good parts, reassure you of why one finds themself so enthusiastic about Tull. The lesser renditions, might remind one of why over the expansive career of Jethro Tull; of why there may be some dissapointment. so Let's organize this, now to the individual tracks. -------- I am sure, this album is overlooked; but for a rather diversified round selection of JT music, does well. This album represents A "live" release, done in the spirit of the unplugged series but still with some electric, hence, it is "light" vs. "unplugged." The opener, goes to the "This was" release with "Someday the sun won't shine for you", blues, eh, and this is a prog rock forum, for "blues" it is good enough in that vain, though if this is what I am looking for, why not go with the original bluesmakers out of Chicago. "Look into the sun" is a second blues number on this release as well. Still, they are nice to have here and the opening track at least is a very competent effort. The second track, "Living in the past", is all instrumental, I prefer the original, but this one does get good about 30 seconds in. "Pussy willow" is instrumental as well, coming before the finisher, "Locomotive Breath" which could be more faithful to the original and is indeed, a "wind up" but of the songs in between in the heart of the album, this CD fairs well. "One white duck" is even more tranquil than the version on "Minstrel" and right after that peaceful moment a sonic blast into the real early classics, with "A new day yesterday" and boy does it sparkle. Similar valiant efforts exist to with "Nursie" and "John Barelycorn"; the quintessential "Bouree" is present as well, a good rendition but not as sizzling as those mentioned. "A Christmas Song" is from a live performance in Caesarea, Israel. Hmmnn, as I listen to the words and with the recent "Passion" movie; it seems more poignant. Related to this topic, the locales for the recordings are from a vast array of places in Europe, even into Turkey and Greece, which seems a bit rare in the record industry. One other highlight of this record, is that there are 2 songs from the release, "Too Old to Rock and Roll", the title track and maybe on a rarer note, "From a dead beat to an old greaser". Now, I finding "Too Old to R N R" to be excellent rock, though not necessarily to the strict guises of prog rock, this gives this effort even more merit to me. In final analysis, very good in parts, forgettable in other places.