AQUALUNG LIVE

As many of us know, "Aqualung" is the fourth studio album of Jethro Tull and that was released in 1971. It's considered with "Thick As A Brick" the two most classic and iconic albums from Jethro Tull. The album is divided into two distinct parts. The first part of "Aqualung", the "Aqualung" part, is about society and depicts subjects like paedophilia and prostitution. The second part "My God" is about religion in an introspective, irreverent and very personal perspective.

"Aqualung" was an album which raised some controversy because of two factors. In first place it was considered an anti-religion album and in the second place it was considered a conceptual album by many critics at the time. Ian Anderson always refused that. In relation to the religious matter he lso said that he was misunderstood. Relatively to "Aqualung" be a conceptual album, he always said the album is only a bunch of songs without any kind of concept.

"Aqualung Live" is the eighth live album of Jethro Tull and was released in 2005. This album is a live performance of "Aqualung" and was recorded before an audience of only 40 invited guests at the XM Studios in Washington D.C., a satellite radio station with services in the United States and Canada, which provides pay for service radio. The album was given away to ticket holders on almost all US concerts and the royalties from the European release gone to various charities for homeless people. Thus, we can say this is really a very special live album with a very particular objective.

The line up of the original studio version of "Aqualung" is Ian Anderson (vocals, flute, acoustic guitar and electric guitar), Martin Barre (electric guitar and descant recorder), John Evan (piano, organ and mellotron), Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (backing vocals, bass and alto recorder) and Clive Bunker (drums and percussion). But, the line up on "Aqualung Live" is very different. Only two band's members remaining on the group Ian Anderson and Martin Barre. So, the line up of this live album is Ian Anderson (vocals, flute and acoustic guitar), Martin Barre (electric guitar), Andrew Giddings (piano, organ and keyboards), Jonathan Noyce (bass guitar) and Doane Perry (drums and percussion).

Beyond the original eleven musical tracks of "Aqualung", this live album has also six other tracks. From the twelve to the seventeen tracks we have Ian Anderson and Martin Barre speaking to the audience between the songs, about the band, the album and the music in general, and are labelled on the CD's back insert as "Patter, banter and bunkum".

So, "Aqualung" was never performed live as a whole and released until 2004, when Anderson was asked for a special radio show to play the entire album in front of a small audience. This made possible people to get the entire album in a live show. On "Aqualung Live", Jethro Tull doesn't steer too far from the original arrangements on the original studio version, as the music remains very fresh and the recording was nicely done. The separation of the instruments is clear and overall the sound is very sparkling. On some tracks, a retooling of the original tune is presented, with a very fair effect. If the musicianship on "Aqualung Live" is sometimes a little too benign and safe, at other times it's surprisingly vital and fresh. But, what struck me most was Ian Anderson's singing. His voice was in a rather good shape. It seemed he had hardly any problems to sing the parts originally recorded in 1971. Ian Anderson's flute work is as forceful and emotive as ever. His playing of flute and acoustic guitar are pretty amazing, but that has always been strong during live performances. The rest of the band is in good shape as well as we can hear on the excellent recordings from this radio show. Martin Barre, in particular, is in excellent form. The songs still sound strong with this line up. The more acoustic pieces are also pleasant to listen to. During the final six tracks we hear several parts that were recorded while Anderson spoke to the audience in-between the songs. As I said, the last eight minutes are labeled as "Patter, banter and bunkum". Those parts are funny to listen to because they give you some real inside information about the album. And as I mentioned before, you'll learn that "Aqualung" was never meant to be a conceptual album. And as we also know, as a result of all this and other remarks, Jethro Tull would record a true conceptual album on purpose, "Thick As A Brick".

Conclusion: I know that many people dislike this live version, but, for me, "Aqualung Live" is a very good live version from the original album. Despite I consider the studio version better than this one, we must admit that the sound on the original record is dull and compressed, even on my CD remastered edition, while this my CD live version is excellent. By the other hand, the live version is slightly different from the studio version and has also some great tracks like "Aqualung", "Locomotive Breath" and especially "Cross-Eyed Mary" and "My God". The live version of "My God" is so fantastic that I get to think that it's even better than the original studio version. So, by everything I said before, I decided to rate "Aqualung Live" with four stars. Still, and is as usual, the live version cannot replace the original studio version. So, I think "Aqualung Live" is a great addition for any Jethro Tull's musical collection, especially due to its high quality.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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