20 YEARS OF JETHRO TULL (THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION)

This luxurious boxset came out in 1988 as a 5 lPs or a 3 CDs set. I bought the LP format as i was still ''living in the past'' and not ready to embrace new technology yet. It was accompanied by a nice thick booklet the size of the LP, a wonderful resource on the life of this band. A very stylish and 'chic' boxset indeed!

''20 years OF JETHRO TUL'' is not a best-of or a greatest hits album. It's more than that; this is the entrance to the secret JETHRO TULL vault where all the riches of the bands were hidden from public eyes for 20 years. This set should be considered as a ''new''' album and not as some sort of normal compilation.This is where the treasures, the little hard to find gems of the band are finally brought to the public.

The album is divided in 4 parts:

-''The radio archives and rare tracks'' where you can hear reworked versions of old classics and live radio renditions

-''Flawed gems (dusted down) with a lot of unreleased tracks and you know when it comes to JETHRO TULL, unreleased can still mean great tracks; Since 1988, a few of those little treasures have found a way to feature on the remastered new editions of the JT catalogue, but actually just a few like the great KING HENRY'S MADRIGAL or PART OF THE MACHINE. Still plenty of these gems can only be heard on this 3 CDs set.

-''The other sides of Tull'' showing the different aspects of the band with a lot of medieval and acoustic flavors, the old TULL blues-rock period , the more modern 80 sound with a lot of goodies like MAYHEM MAYBE or OVERHANG. You even get UNDER WRAPS # 2 which was the only-very short- listenable song of this awful album.

-''The essential Tull''. Of course you are getting also the heavy weight songs of the band such as AQUALUNG or SONGS FROM THE WOOD , but none as the original of the regular albums as they can only be heard in a live context. This is the only place where you can hear also a live version of the great FARM ON THE FREEWAY from CREST OF A KNAVE.

I would compare this boxset to a museum dedicated to JETHRO TULL music through the ages with a lot of new historic artifacts no one was aware of. This is an album that can be seen as a wonderful introduction to the JETHRO TULL world for the newcomer as much as a real treat to the old faithful TULL fan. This is the cherry on top of the pie...62 songs for happiness!

Sadly, as i notice this set got only 2 reviews so far, this is now a rare collection hard to find nowadays. It hasn't been remastered yet like the rest of the JT catalogue, but hopefully will be sometimes in the future. There is a shortened edition of this boxset with a single CD including 20 songs from this boxset, but that doesn't have the same impact. So be patient and wait for a re-release of this collection like i do as my5 LPs set is kind of worn out now!

And we are not getting younger as next year will be the 40th anniversary of the band! maybe another treat for the old fans?? A wonderful band- a wonderful collection. Only........

5 STARS

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