This Was – JETHRO TULL****

My Sunday Feeling/Some Day The Sun Won’t Shine For You/Beggar’s Farm/Move On Alone/Serenade To A Cuckoo/Dharma For One/Its Breaking Me Up/Cat’s Squirrel/A Song For Jeffrey/Round

This Was, the debut album from progressive rockers Jethro Tull, is untypical of their output as songwriting honours were shared between Ian Anderson and Mick Abrahams, giving it a more blues feel than later releases. Abrahams would depart leaving Anderson in charge to craft the four monumental albums which followed. (US:62 UK:10)

"It's good, but it's not nearly as interesting as later Tull stuff. Beggar's Farm is a great song, of course. A Song For Jeffrey is great psycho-blues, too. I love Ian's encoded vocals - they give the song a really weird feel. My favourite, though, is Serenade To A Cuckoo that really gives Ian and Mick a chance to shine through on their instruments. It has a great, peaceful jazz feel to it."

"At this stage, Mick Abrahams was as much a creative force as Ian Anderson. Conflicts led to the departure of Abrahams after the recording of this album, Ian obviously wanting his own way. It does contain some fantastic blues playing and great guitar work. It pounds, yet it seems clear, although this is obviously in retrospect, that Jethro Tull had so much more to offer."

"This is actually a very good album - completely uncharacteristic for this group. First, there are some strong songs from Mick Abrahams. He's a solid blues singer and guitarist. It is much bluesier than other Tull albums, due to Abrahams' presence. If you like late sixties bluesy rock, you'll probably really enjoy this. Although I like Abrahams' voice here, Tull certainly improved after this. Also, this one is almost entirely acoustic - no electric guitars here."

"Before rising to progressive rock stardom, Jethro Tull released this debut in 1968. Drawing more heavily from blues than any of their succeeding efforts, This Was is very much an oddity in this band's discography. You'll find plenty of bluesy guitar licks, psychedelic overtones and, for the time, a nearly unheard of use of flute on a rock album. The extended song structures and progressive sound on their later albums is nowhere to be found here. This is a fairly decent debut which fans of late sixties' blues rock will want to check out, even if it's nothing too spectacular."

"A very solid start to a band that would go on to much bigger things."