jethro tull vs strawbs

I have 1 Strawbs album which is quite cool. But I have the whole Tull catalogue. I rate Tull better than Yes and Genesis, so it would be a tough for the Strawbs to rank close to Tull. But I look forward to more Strawbs cd's

At this point, two of my favorite bands. The Strawbs may be really good, but Tull at its prime was a force to be reckoned with, one that The Strawbs can never match. Close, but Jethro Tull

I vote for Tull but only because I discovered Tull in 1988 and Strawbs in 2005!!!

Strawbs by a small margin.

Tull never did anything to quite match From the Witchwood and Grave New World, good though Thick as a Brick,  Aqualung and Songs From the Wood are.

Hero and Heroine and Ghosts are also excellent.

Sadly, both bands produced some drivel in the late 70s.

Baza wrote: Don't care too much for Tull, surprisingly, I go with the Strawbs because they made 2 good albums - From the witchwood & Grave new world. But their next 3 albums kind of suck, except a couple of songs, don't be fooled by the good reviews they get, read Hugues Chantraine reviews to understand. :-)

I just looked at those reviews and they seem a bit vitriolic (referring the the apple being rotten is not really very nice!  ).  The main criticisms seem to be around abandoning their roots, which I'd argue is what made strawbs a lot more groundbreaking than, say Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span.  They took chances.  Also, there was some discussion about how some songs, without the mellotron, would be uninteresting.  I don't agree with that because most of them would still be engaging folky songs - listen to Baroque and Roll for an idea of how that plays out.  But I wonder if KC's Epitaph would sound as good without mellotron. 

Yes, Strawbs do go for the verse-chorus -verse approach.  But they did in From the Witchwood too, as they did in all their early albums.  It's their heritage, and they did certainly stray from that.  Verse 2 of H&H is rather different from the other verses!  (it''s the basically acapella verse).  

Also, Lay Down is one of the greatest rock songs ever to hit the charts.  Stormy Down was another great little song from Bursting at The Seams - see my review.    The fact that ithey have a counttry music influence does not enter the picture for me.  It shows Strawbs range of influences.  Even the most Scottish sounding rock band on earth, Runrig, has plenty of country influences.

Tull. TAAB is my favorite album.

I love EVERY Tull album except UNDER WRAPS so guess who win??

I heard Grave new world and wasn't overly impressed on the first listen. I really like Hero and Heroin though

IHMO, The Strawbs do it way more for me than Tull.   Never had a reason why.   Seems like the melodies and songs are more moodier and etheral.

progbaby wrote: IHMO, The Strawbs do it way more for me than Tull.   Never had a reason why.   Seems like the melodies and songs are more moodier and etheral.   "Two Weeks Last Summer" by David Cousins from 1972 is just as good as any of the Strawbs best albums.