THIS WAS

Not as bad as some people say it is. This was the original TULL, when they were a blues- rock band, and they performed as a band, rather than Ian ANDERSON with musicians backing him up, still calling themselves JETHRO TULL (nothing against that, as TULL continued to make great albums until the late '70s). Martin Barre wasn't here, instead it was Mick Abrahams, who was big on the likes of Clapton and Peter Green (of the early FLEETWOOD MAC, way before they became the slick, multi-platinum band most people associate them with). The rest of the band was rounded out with Clive Bunker on drums and Glenn Cornick on bass. And unlike following TULL albums, other band members got to write some of their material too, like Bunker and Abrahams.

"My Sunday Feeling", "Someday the Sun Won't Shine For You" and "A Song For Jeffrey" all demonstrate the most bluesy side of the band. Jeffrey, in this case, refers to Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, who was in one of ANDERSON's previous bands, and later a member of JETHRO TULL from "Aqualung" to "Minstrel in the Gallery". "Dharma For One" is a more rocking number with an extended drum solo from Bunker. For some reason this inspired other bands to do their version, like from EKSEPTION (from their 1969 self-entitled debut) and by Pesky Gee (the pre-BLACK WIDOW band that released "Exclamation Mark"). "Beggars Farm" points more to the next couple of TULL albums. "Round" is a nice, short jazzy number, while "Serenade to a Cuckoo" is a cover of the Roland Kirk song. Roland Kirk was obviously a big inspiration for ANDERSON's flute playing. "Cats Squirrel", another cover (I think it was some old blues or folk song, not sure), is a lengthy guitar venture for Mick Abrahams, I remembered how much this song blew me away with its intensity. These songs are the rare time TULL ever covered material that wasn't from TULL themselves (the next time I know for sure TULL did a non-TULL song was a version of the traditional "John Barleycorn" for their 1992 live album A Little Light Music). "Move On Alone" features Abrahams on vocals instead, and was the very first time David PALMER used his orchestrations on a TULL song, the orchestrations here were strictly horns (no strings).

Nice album, and if you don't mind TULL doing the blues, then you should like this album.