CD Review: Jethro Tull - Aqualung Live - Page 2

As his licks waved out of the XM speakers, I could almost feel Barre’s thoughts, changing the patterns of his playing to keep his parts fresh and alive. The same can be said for Anderson. While he had a little trouble with his voice in parts, Anderson exhales a dynamic animism into the ever-present flute parts, taking each composition to celestial levels. Perry and Noyce’s rhythm section is steady, unobtrusive and keeps Barre and Anderson tacitly tied to the original structure of the songs.

As an extra incentive for people to check this record out, the band has included six tracks of what they call “patter, banter, and bunkum” in which Anderson and Barre comment on aspects of music such as riffing, how the 1971 studio version of Aqualung was recorded, and derive some humor out of the glitches that are inevitable during a live performance.

As good as this live piece is I strongly suggest you first buy the original Aqualung if you’re not familiar with the piece. Considering the prevalence of retro rock stations in the country, I’m sure a whole generation of people has heard “Aqualung” “Cross-eyed Mary” and “Locomotive Breath” ad nauseum, but the lesser known songs including “Cheap Day Return”, “Wond’ring Aloud”, “Up to Me” and “Slipstream” are worth listening to, and will help the listener of the new live versions dig the changes Anderson and Barre have made.

That Jethro Tull has found their way around some of the landmines inherent with musical stardom is a great tribute to the maturity and dedication of these musicians. And Aqualung Live is an enormous example of this group's intense abilities.

Article Author: Larry Sakin

Larry Sakin is a former music executive and non-profit medical organization administrator. He advocates for literacy issues and provides advocacy training for grassroots and non-profit groups around the country.

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