A NEW DAY YESTERDAY - THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION

Well, I can see why this video should be criticized, although I have to say the DVD version is actually an improvement over the original VHS (not sure if the VHS was ever available in the States, but I know the DVD was because I bought it at a local record dealer). OK, this out of the way: it's a gathering of various past Tull members, including Mick Abrahams, Glenn Cornick, John Evans, Clive Bunker, Barriemore Barlow, and naturally Martin Barre, reminiscing of the past, watching old concert footage. I liked how Mick Abrahams was referred to as "the Pete Best of Jethro Tull". The criticism can be justified when you only see partial concert footage of each song, plus "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" as used during A Passion Play tour. Although I love A Passion Play, it's agreed by just about everyone that "The Story of the Hare..." should have been jettisoned, and to see a bunch of ballerinas and people in a bee and hare costume dancing around to it is just plain ridiculous and throws fuel in the fire to the detractors of A Passion Play. It's strange to see the "A" lineup (Anderson, Barre, Dave Pegg, Eddie Jobson, Mark Craney) syncing to the original recording of "Too Old to Rock 'n Roll, Too Young to Die" (which was obviously recorded by the previous lineup of Anderson, Barre, Evans, Glascock, and Barlow), it's strange to see Eddie Jobson imitating the piano parts (that were played by Evans) with the keyboards he were actually using, a Yamaha CS-80 synth and a Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano (which is what you hear on the UK albums, as well as Tull's "A"), not to mention him using his electric violin to imitate the David Palmer orchestrations.

I think the other complaint was many wished it was more insightful. At least we all know why Mick Abrahams left after one album (and one single, "Love Story"), but everyone knew that anyways.

On the other hand, the bonus features are the real reason to get this, because you get to see full concert footage of all the songs that were featured in the main presentation, and these were all great performances, although one can wish full performances at many of these shows were made available. Plus you get to see seldom seen videos to "Kissing Willie" from Rock Island, and "Rocks on the Road" from Catfish Rising, which neither albums those songs came from were exactly thought of by many fans as a career high point, but on the other hand, if you never saw these videos when they came out in 1989-91, you probably never seen them again, until now (unless you were lucky to tape it on a VCR).

If I only knew the VHS version, I'd say forget it, but with the DVD, thanks to the bonus features, it's the real reason to get this.