I LOVE TAAB ,Aqualung, This Was, Stand Up and lots of tracks from others, but there's a fair bit around that I mildly dislike.

 

Has the OP's friend heard everything or just making a blanket judgement based on hearing a few bits and pieces? Even I haven't heard everything and I'm positively ancient

 

I really like A too. But Dotcom is cool

Awol, Wicked windows, Dotcom, Dog ear years, Far Alaska, It all trickles down(outtake) are enough great tunes for me

 

If you haven't got the Warchild remaster you need to get it. You'll almost find an album of tunes you wished Tull released in 1974. The 7 bonus tracks are the type of songs you would expect Tull to record after hearing so much great music from 1971, 72 and 73 with LITP, Aqualung, TAAB and APP. The 7 bonus tracks are mainly better than almsot all the 11 original songs although i love Queen and country and the title track . There are actually about 11 or 12 extras from 1974. March the mad scientist is also from 1974 and there is an improved version of Bungle too. There are 2 unreleased tracks called Beach parts 1 and 2 also. I have links to 8 of the bonus tracks you can download and hear in full if you like. Very quick downloads. I also have a clip of that Bungle tune too

 

“Heavy Horses” is the logical continuation of the solid prog-folk approach delivered in the “Songs From the Wood” album, and what a lovely follow-up it is. The previous release had been an absolute triumph of Jethro Tull’s ever-present folkish side refurbished and manifested at its maximum potential of sophistication, in no small degree due to the tasteful synth layers and orchestrations provided by John Evan and the new 6^th member David (now Dee) Palmer. What “Heavy Horses” brings as a source of refreshment for this new pinnacle era of Jethro Tull is the use of more natural orchestral arrangements (real strings), as well as a special guest called Darryl Way (yes, the virtuosos violinist from Curved Air). Evan restricts himself to organ and piano, and the synth input is not as abundant. Maybe the occasional portative pipe organ handled by Palmer has more presence than the synths, but again, the keyboard efforts are properly stated in the mix. All in all, the items that are more recurrently featured in the mix (besides Anderson’s flute) are the interplaying acoustic/electric guitars and the drums: this album indeed comprises some of the best Barlow work ever, and I’m talking about a musician who always knew how to use his percussive mastery for good effect. As in the “Wood” album (and many other songs from the previous Tull catalogue), the consistent topic of the tracklist focuses on rural things, but now the predominant mood is not one of celebration of the reality and fantasy in the village men’s lives: “Heavy Horses” is an overall look at the pros and cons of the life (lovely life, after all) in a farm amidst our modern urban-centered times. ‘… And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps’ is a catchy tune about cats watching for mice in their role of countrymen’s best friends; its playful mood is properly perpetuated in the romancing ‘Acres Wild’ and the candid ‘Moths’. Caught between these colorful songs is the grayish ‘No Lullaby’, full of intense rocking sounds and patently prog-oriented shifts. This song signifies a particular apex for Barre and Barlow as performers. ‘Journeyman’ ends the album’s first half with a featured rhythm section that emulates the driving dynamics of a vehicle with funky-friendly swings that oddly feed the song’s basic blues-rock feel. ‘Rover’ brings back the album’s most candid side with well-ordained flourishes that echo the explicit splendor of “Songs From the Wood”, in this way opening the album’s second half in a very exciting way. ‘One Brown Mouse’ is less ornamented but still displays a similar colorfulness – the rural mood works beautifully. But the source of superior beauty comes with the penultimate track, the namesake one, which IMHO is one of the finest Anderson moments as a writer and a poet. This mini-epic that almost totals a 9 minute span celebrates the ancient power of farm horses while calibrating the negative side brought by tractors and other industrial artifacts. The soft piano-vocal passages, the orchestrations exquisite beyond words, the melodic development of the guitar leads and Way’s violin inputs, the fluid sequences between various moods and time signatures, all of them gather together in a perfectly logical framework that capitalizes the song’s beautiful melodic lines. Epic and magical, with a lovely mixture of melancholy and naivety in the lyrics that make sense with the musical material – ‘Heavy Horses’ is a Top 5 song in JT’s history. The album’s closer ‘Weathercock’ brings back a moment of final optimism to complete the tracklist on a pertinently candid note. This album is a must in any rock collection (prog and not prog), and definitely, a wonderful masterpiece from a band whose heyday was still running on by the late 70s.  

In my review I even stated that the interview was the best part. That was a little harsh and cynical really but I meant by it that I do like the interview and am not blown away by the epics. No more and no less.

And by liking the interview it shows that I have no problem with Andersons personality.

 1.Songs from the wood

2.Passion play

3.A

4. and the whole rest

 

So you hate Winona Ryder, Marlilyn Monroe and my Mrs then?

 

Ain't it great to stay on topic!

Barriemore Barlow was a great improvement to their sound. Probably the prog band who released the highest amount of quality albums with King Crimson.

This is the point

 

Well you must include all remastered versions of each album

 

Even This Was has some real cool tunes, expecially the bonus tracks Love story, xmas song

 

I'm surprised you haven't mentioned the 90s remasters and relative outtakes

 

Dotcom + it all trickles down(outtake)

Roots to branches

Catfish rising remaster( with bonus track 'night in the wilderness') + silver river turning, truck stop runner(outtakes)

 

If you have the remasters of these 3 and you add those 3 extra outtakes, then you trim those 3 albums down to the 10 best songs (including the bonus tracks and outtakes) then you have 3 very good albums which are even better than some of the 70s albums(or even revised 70s albums using the bonus tracks) 

 

 

There's not 1 single weak remaster

Just go over each remaster and LITP and pick the best 10 songs from each year and you have lots of strong compilations for each year from 1969-1982

 

Without the bonus tracks, i'd only say taab, heavy horses, songs from the wood, litp and bursting out are strong releases. Which would make me sound like you . But with bonus tracks, it is proved Warchild could have been another strong album if it wasn't a soundtrack, Aqualung could have been great if Side 2 was made of songs such as life is a long song, dr bogenbroom, for later, wondring again, up the pool . Stormwatch, Benefit and Stand up could have gained an extra star if the singles/bonus tracks were included instead of some other songs . Broadsword could have been better with the use of some bonus tracks too

 

Trust me

I was always a bit disappointed with Warchild and thought, Tull are better than this. But when I got the remaster I listened to the 7 bonus tracks and realised the band were still producing the same great music, but the original 11 songs were done for sound track purposes for a movie. So if you want to hear the real Tull of 1974, just listen to the bonus tracks. Don't forget that Skating away and Solitaire were written in 1973 for the Chateau sessions. So what we have newly written in 1974 is 7 tull songs(bonus tracks) and 9 playful soundtrack songs(not really tull, made purposely for a movie). But I must say Queen and Country and Warchild(title track) are pretty damn cool soundtrack songs

 

Iván

 

 

I have everything from the band. Love the bonus tracks on Stormwatch and Warchild. Everyone of them are very cool. I really like the 90s Tull too

 

Should that be the criterion of whether you like a band or not? I love Ted Nugent's music, but as a person...

 

Tull have some great albums and some that aren't so great.

 

The fluting's quite stylish on my neighbour's champagne glasses

 

How did you go with all those tunes I recommended at my site?

 

 

Progmonster you old devil!    I've been meaning to write you but hadn't made the time.  I'll get into a little public adoration though, and say that you did a bang up job with the posts I've heard so far (all the bonus tracks from Aqualung through Heavy Horses, the rest with have to wait a bit).  That "Life's a Long Song", did you add those drum tracks (and others)?  In any event, thanks a thousand times!  (I can't remember the site's address off-hand since I'm on a different computer now; if it's cool by the rules, and if I have any say as thread starter, I don't mind if you self-promote it here).  I'll write more another time, but I'll say briefly here that I do definitely love the many Warchild extras.  I didn't know the Sealion's name was Cecil.  Like I said, I'll add more another time.

 

Regards,

AK

 

 

 

Yeah the bonus tracks are quite often tulls best songs. If I had to choose Tulls 100 best songs, 50 of them would be songs that didn't even make original albums lol. Warchild bonus tracks are the type of songs tull would have released any day of the week in 1974 because they were the natural style of songs they'd write. But being a soundtrack, the album had songs with a more commercial feel. You've probably heard most of the bonus stuff from albums up until mid 70s. Stormwatch, Broadsword, Heavy horses, Catfish, Dotcom has some great bonus stuff too. But the bonus material on each remaster is mainly the best songs or among the best 5 songs on every remastered album. Going back to This Was, my favorite tracks are Love story, One for John Gee, Christmas song and Move on alone. 3 of  those are bonus tracks. Same goes for Stand up where my fave songs are Living in the past, Look into the sun, Sweet dream, Jeffrey goes to Leicester square and Driving song. Same with Benefit, where Witches promise, Teacher, Just trying to be are mainly my faves too. 7 of my fave 10 songs on Warchild are bonus tracks. My fave songs on Minstrel and Too old are, you guessed right, the bonus tracks . The 4 Stormwatch bonus tracks are are among the best 7 or 8 songs on that album too. Some goodies on Broadsword also. The version of Jackalynn on my site is pretty hard to find and it's way better than the other version . Check out Blues instrumental under heavy horses also, that's hard to find too. The last 6 songs on LITP would have made a much better Side of an album than Side 2 of Aqualung. Life is a long is a remix tull did. The drums were very quiet on the old version and it sounded like a rough demo recording lol. Tell me what you think of dotcom songs such as awol, wicked windows, dog ear years, dotcom, hot mango flush, far alaska, it all trickles down(bonus). I reckon it';s the best stuff they have done since the late 70s

 

Living in the past is a great tune. One of the most advanced sounding tunes of the 60s, but Bungle is too pop for me . I don't agree with Minstrel. Not a big fan. Tull put out excellent EP's, some excellent albums and several patchy albums. I don't rate tull by albums, I rate them by the amount of quality songs they wrote each separate year. eg 1971- Life is a long song is an excellent EP of 5 or 6 songs and Aqualung the album is a good album(overrated) with a very good Side 1 and a pretty blande Side 2 imo. So I rate Tull as a great band in 1971 and I put Side 2 of Aqualung down to tull trying to sound commercial to gain more success. But the quality of that EP and Side 1 of Aqualung says that tull are capapable of writing many elite rock songs and when I listen to Side 2 of Aqualung, I say to myself 'tull are better than this and if they weren't looking for extra success they wouldn't have written some of these tune'.

Coming to the subject of hatred, it wouldn't surprise me if people hated Tull outright and utterly because it can happen with any band, that's why tastes are subjective.  But I don't really understand where people who consider Aqualung/TAAB/APP desert island and then say that the rest of their output is terrible and they wouldn't want to have anything to do with are coming from. Surely they have their valid reasons for such an opinion, I am just saying I can't relate to it because I am not able to perceive such sharp fluctuations in quality  - if you love one of those to death, it seems odd that you'd intensely dislike the rest because they aren't all that different.