LIVE - BURSTING OUT

As much success as JETHRO TULL had releasing one huge successful album after another throughout the 1970s, it wasn't until 1978 that they put out their first official live release in the form of the double album BURSTING OUT which would only come out after the release and tour of their eleventh studio album "Heavy Horses". As a result of waiting so long the playlist is quite the sampling of the band's entire canon up to the point that this particular live release only contains two tracks from that album. The performances are from the European segment of their tour although the individual tracks remain uncredited for any specific venues so it's likely that instead of an accurate representation of any given night, this is sort of a compilation of the best tracks of the lot and then were compiled and tidied up for this special 93 minute and 31 second celebration of their energetic live performances as an offering to those who were unable to attend their fantastic fun filled folk rock parties in the flesh. As with many albums of the period, this one happens to be one of those that was released differently across the pond having one double album release in the UK originally and once released on CD in the US omitted three tracks ("Quatrain," "Sweet Dream," "Conundrum.") in order to be cheap and throw it all on one disc. This has since been corrected with newer double CD versions retaining the original song listing.

BURSTING OUT begins the festivities with a welcoming introduction in a few European languages before the band members jump right into action on the hard rockin' "No Lullaby" which serves as a sort of warm up practice where they improv around the basic melody on their instruments before Ian Anderson finally kicks in his poetic singing bearded bard persona with his unmistakable vocal signature and then never lets up for the entirety of the double album. BURSTING OUT jumps all over the place as far as representation of their career is concerned. While it does begin with a "Heavy Horses" track, it jumps into the past with the non-album single "Sweet Dream" all the way back from the "Stand Up" days and then into the unavailable anywhere else track "Jack In The Green." The album continues cranking a track or two from almost every album except for "This Was" and "A Passion Play." There is even an outstanding performance of "Thick As A Brick" although it is wisely edited it down to a manageable 12 and a half minutes but nonetheless a power display of their majesty and their ability to pull off all their studio antics in a live setting.

While the band pretty much play together in cooperative and intricate symbiosis there are moments where the occasion allows the performers strut their stuff as when Anderson dishes out a beautifully compelling flute solo on the "Bourée" Medley and Barriemore Barlow is allowed to demonstrate his drums and glockenspiel talents that wouldn't be appropriate on the studio recordings. The band generally play together quite organically and sound on top of their game which at this time they were. This album could also be considered the last of the good old days since shortly after this release, bassist John Glascock would quickly deteriorate from a congenital heart defect, leave the band and pass away only a year later. The band's popularity would begin to wane after BURSTING OUT although they would continue on in new uncharted folk rock directions and never really wash out. Despite the release of BURSTING OUT, JT would not overindulge in the release in a flood of live albums and it wouldn't be until 1990 that they released another live offering in the form of "LIve At Hammersmith '84." Luckily there have been quite a few stellar JT live offerings since then but this is the best of the lot and one of the most important live recordings of their 70s appearances.