Five progressive ROCK songs by Jethro Tull

Ok, well, I suppose we have a difference of opinion then. SftW might be folkish but it's still pure prog imo and more prog than anything on your list IMO. Ditto for TAAB and APP.

The only thing that's clear is that you stated your OPINION just like I have mine. In case you didn't know prog incorporates folk as well as jazz, classical and other genres. Prog folk typically isn't complex like the SFTW title track. To designate it simply as folk or prog folk is a bit ridiculous imo. Aqualung and LB are classic rock/ hard rock and barely prog imo. And ANDY is just an extended blues rock number. Nothing really prog about it. But yeah I get it this is your list and your opinion. It's all good. Carry on.

"Literary archetypes from pre-theatrical drama and local legend walk down the old straight track as Ian Anderson follows the keylines of Old English balladry with instruments and tunes to suit.

But unfortunately the whole affair sounds like the background music to TV's Robin Hood, the score of a movie like 'Tom Jones' or perhaps the lowlife themes from 'Barry Lyndon'. Shot in technicolor through gauze they may be, but they mean little or nothing alone.

Steeleye Span play the same game but they succeed because they have strong control over the authenticity of their material. And, at heart, Maddy P. and the boys are well aware that in its original form their music was never meant to be more than a form of community-based entertainment.

But on this album Ian Anderson sounds even more soulful and intense than usual. Sometimes he sounds as cloying as Cat Stevens. But he seems to have nothing to say to justify the emotional weight he's throwing about.

After the heavy leather bias of the last album Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll Too Young to Die it is hard to see Songs From The Wood as more than just a well-prepared exercise in style.

If Tommy Garrett and his Fifty Guitars can play Hawaiian and James Last can play the Beatles then Jethro Tull can turn to Traditional Folk."