LIVING IN THE PAST

"Living In The Past" is a compilation of Jethro Tull and was released in 1972. It's a collection of Jethro Tull's songs that brings to us some new tracks, some previous released tracks and two live tracks, all combined on a double album.

Still, there are several versions of this compilation. From what I know there are five versions. So, we have the UK CD version with nineteen tracks, the US CD version with twenty tracks, the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab version with twenty three tracks, and the UK vinyl version and the US vinyl version, both with twenty one tracks. Besides the different number of the tracks, all the compilations have some changes about the tracks which were chosen to be part of them.

My version is the UK CD version. The tracks on my version are: "Song For Jeffrey", "Love Story", "Christmas Song", "Living In The Past", "Driving Song", "Sweet Dream", "Singing All Day", "Witch's Promise", "Inside", "Just Trying To Be", "By Kind Permission Of" (Live at Carnegie Hall), "Dharma For One" (Live at Carnegie Hall), "Wond'ring Again", "Locomotive Breath", "Life Is A Long Song", "Up The 'Pool", "Dr. Bogenbroom", "For Later" and "Nursie". All tracks were written by Ian Anderson, except "Living In The Past" which was written by Ian Anderson and Terry Ellis, "By Kind Permission Of" writtern by John Evan and "Dharma For One" written by Ian Anderson and Clive Bunker.

So, it's the UK version that will be the subject of this review. About the tracks which were previously originally released on their first four studio albums we have: "A Song For Jeffrey" and "Dharma For One" from "This Was", "Inside" from "Benefit" and "Locomotive Breath" from "Aqualung". So, on my version there's no track representative of "Stand Up". "A Song For Jeffrey" is a great track and is one of the best representatives of the first musical period of Jethro Tull. "Dharma For One" is an instrumental track with a rock feeling and is one of the most known Jethro Tull's songs. "Inside" is an intimate and soft song with some intricate rhythms, very relaxing and pleasant to hear. "Locomotive Breath" is truly a Jethro Tull's legendary track, one of the favourites by their fans and it's one of my favourites too.

About the remaining tracks previously unreleased, "Love Story" is a nice catchy blues rock track with Baroque melodies and folkie tendencies and represents the last song that Mick Abrahams did with the band. "Christmas Song" is a very beautiful track, the first track recorded without Abrahams and already with Martin Barre on board. "Living In The Past" is one of the highlights of Jethro Tull's career and it was a bit revolutionary at the time, especially for a single, one of the best prog rock singles ever. "Driving Song" is a quiet bluesy rock a track with a good rhythm section and because of that it would actually probably have been more fitting on "This Was". "Sweet Dream" is a heavy and somewhat experimental tune, a dizzying blend of a hard rock track, a bit pompous on the brass part, but I like it quite a lot. "Singing All Day" is a great song with very good keys and bass, one of the grooviest numbers that Jethro Tull ever made, a classic from the early days. "Witches Promise" is a ghostly orchestral folk number with a fantastic build and creepy flute that comes from everywhere and that could have easily fit on "Benefit". "Just Trying To Be" is a short, sweet and charming folk number with some little acoustic lullaby effects, one of the most beautiful short songs I've heard. "By Kind Permission Of" is a beautiful lengthy piano improvisation by John Evan of Johann Sebastian Bach, and it seems that the track is actually cobbled together from several different excerpts. "Wond'ring Again" is a nice folksy tune somewhat a longer reprise and more built up of the earlier version "Wond'ring Aloud" of "Aqualung", with somewhat more political lyrics. "Life Is A Long Song" is a beautiful acoustic symphonic track and represents one of the nicest things Ian Anderson ever composed. "Up The 'Pool" is an enjoyable folksy and goofy pop rocker with a nice choral section, about Blackpool, the place where Ian's lived. "Dr. Bogenbroom" is a forgotten classic track with some nice vocals, an organ psycho rocker, nice guitar work and great bass line. "For Later" is a short instrumental track with some nice and interesting moments. "Nursie" is a beautiful and painful acoustic piece, a mixture of folk and blues which became to be very typical of Jethro Tull's music style. This is a nice track to close this magnificent compilation.

Conclusion: Probably, like me, many of us have only the original studio versions of the first four Jethro Tull's studio albums, missing so the most of these songs. By the other hand this compilation has also two fantastic live songs, with a very good sound quality which is really remarkable in those times. Finally, it has also some songs unable to be found in any studio album of the group. So, "Living In The Past" is a seminal compilation and a must have for all Jethro Tull's fans, because is a fantastic completion to their first four studio albums, which belong to their first period. "Living In The Past" is the only compilation of the band that is a must own album and is also probably the only Jethro Tull's compilation that we can consider essential in the band's discography. So, I really recommend it to all prog rock fans.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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