BENEFIT

From out of an ancient cave comes a cackle, a flute, and one of the best rock albums of 1970. While others were making huge strides in modern arrangements, elaborate productions and increasingly grand bombast, this group of battle-hardened travelers was rocking the halls with a more direct and now fully-realized style of heavy Celt-tinged art rock. The album is a successful transition between the breakthrough 'Stand Up' and landmark 'Aqualung', and early hints at the latter can be heard. Ian Anderson's self-harmony steadies 'With You There to Help Me', Martin Barre providing some drama on guitar, more cackling from a mad jester and a whooping flute. Things darken a bit for the brooding folk-metal of 'Nothing to Say', and John Evan's jazzy piano starts 'Alive and Well and Living In', the band's future starting to show with confident riffs and melodic acoustic treatments as the cut develops. More progression on 'For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me' and flat-out meanie 'To Cry You a Song', Tull's medieval metal at its early best. Anderson's unison voice tracks in 'A Time For Everything?', the flute parts now cutting rather than just part of the mix, and folk haunter 'Sossity;You're a Woman' closes a dynamite collection of songs from a band that would soon move well beyond these raw and real days. And though Jethro Tull would grow better with age, like a snapshot of a person in young adulthood this record shows a vibrant and enthusiastic group ready to do much more. Four good bonus tracks from the same period are included on the remaster.