BENEFIT

Their next album, 1970's Benefit, saw Jethro Tull fully divorce themselves from their blues roots and establish the folk-prog/hard rock sound for which they would become best-known. John Evan (née Evans; he dropped the "s" after being told that made him sound more distinctive) sorta, kinda, unofficially joined the band as their keyboardist. He was billed as "guest" on the album sleeve and initially intended to play with Tull only for a year or two. He wound up sticking around for ten.

This is also the only Tull (non-compilation) album to feature different UK and US track listings. The (original) UK version featured "Alive and Well and Living In", a jazzy, piano-driven number. In contrast, the US version featured "Teacher" in its place, a hard-rocking piece which was a successful non-album single in the UK. For my money, I prefer the US track listing. "Teacher" is one of Tull's absolute best songs.

The rest of the album is impressive as well. "Inside" is a jazz-influenced song with a strong melody and striking, fuzzed-out bassline. "Son" is one of Jethro Tull's weirdest songs. It clocks in at under three minutes, but it wildly vacillates between melodic hard rock and strange folk rock led by plinking piano and acoustic guitar.

"For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me" and "Sossity; You're a Woman" see the band further exploring folk-rock. Both open with gentle, acoustic moments and are powered along by somber-yet-effective melodies. The band's hard rock influences also became clearer on this record. Songs like the riff-driven "To Cry You a Song" and the charging "Play in Time" showed Tull's willingness to lean into heavier sounds.

Following Benefit, bassist Glenn Cornick left the band and was replaced by Jeffrey Hammond. (This is the same Jeffrey as mentioned in the songs "A Song for Jeffrey", "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square", and "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me". He also occasionally went by Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, as his mother's maiden name was Hammond.)

The addition of John Evan is what really allowed Jethro Tull to blossom creatively. Ian Anderson credits his joining the band to their continued success.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/07/25/deep-dive-jethro-tull/