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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 1. 28th February 1973

Living in the Past — Jethro Tull Reprise 2T5 2106

Living in the Past — Jethro Tull Reprise 2T5 2106

It may seem crass to start with this, but this is a gorgeously presented record. It reminds me of nothing so much as those record/books at primary school that let you turn the page and see the dragon just as the narrator got there too. So, see Ian Andersen leaping and cavorting in magnificent techni-colour poses, and see also the many faces who've inhabited Jethro Tull, as you play through their past on this 2 LP set.

The album is a collection of singles, EP and LP tracks and live cuts, hut it serves even better than an album sampler to show the changes Tull have been through How you feel about this evolution depends on which stage you like best, or which LP. since Anderson has never had the same lineup on two successive discs. My preferences lie between the second and third records, the melodies are complex but attractive, the lyrics intelligent but not pretentious, and has there ever been a tighter, more together band than Jethro Tull? "Stand Up" and "Benefit' have none of the roughness of the first LP, nor much of the emotional emptiness of the later one. These seem more and more to be just brilliant surfaces, the sort of records that get filed at the back of the cabinet after the first few few weeks' excitement.

Drawing of a man playing a flute

This LP won't Change your feelings about Jethro Tull, though it may give you uneasy feelings to hear how completely Ian Andersen has moulded the band into a passive vehicle for his own ideas. This kind of palace revolution has become a familiar part of pop group olilies, so maybe Andersen shouldn't be singled out for blame in this respect. Generally, the album gives the kind of insight into a band's development that you normally associate with bootlegs, but here the line cuts are even better recorded, and the material has been very well selected. It's worth owning no matter what form of Tull you prefer.