Monday 23 May 2022

Living In The Past - JETHRO TULL****

Song For Jeffrey/Love Story/Christmas Song/Living In The Past/Driving Song/Bouree/Sweet Dream/Singing All Day/Teacher/Witches Promise/Inside/Just Trying To Be/By Kind Permission Of/Dharma For One/Wond'ring Again/Locomotive Breath/Life Is A Long Song/Up The 'Pool/Dr Bogenbroom/From Later/Nursie

The double album Living In The Past was the first compilation release from the progressive rock band Jehro Tull, covering their most creative period. One side is live and most of the tracks were previously only released as singles or b-sides. (US:3 UK:8)

“An excellent grab-bag of early Jethro Tull tracks, including enough non-album tracks (including the entire Life Is A Long Song EP) and alternate versions of album tracks (like a blistering live Dharma For One, and the wonderful full version of Wond'ring Again, to make it worth exploring even if you already own all the studio albums.”

“I just love the way the first two sides of the album flow, with really nice early easy-listening Tull singles that would be too lightweight for their other albums, but here they just sound perfect. This is the core of Living In The Past - soft, folky, jazzy, bluesy - not progressive or hard rock like a lot of their other material - but incredibly tuneful and perfect. The third side breaks the flow a little with the slightly overlong live tracks, but the fourth side gets right back into a short catchy song mode.”

“I could do without the overlong and noisy live side, but otherwise this is exactly how I like my Tull: earnest, folky, melodic and simple, literate and well-crafted, and with mindless boogie kept at bay.”

“The Living In The Past compilation gathered early non-album singles and B-sides, choice album cuts and a small amount of unreleased material. As a result it made a case for Jethro Tull as an idiosyncratic pop band, which in the grand scheme of prog rock, they were. Unlike many of their more pompous and self-important contemporaries, Tull did have a sustained run of hits on the pop charts.”

“With a great mix of Tull from 1968-1971, you cannot go wrong. Most of the songs are folk acoustic tunes that make you want to sing along, but there are some doses of blues and rockers, as well. A must for any Tull/late 60s fan when music was just starting to change the face of rock and roll.”

“Great from start to finish with a range of musical styles so varied it's impossible for some people to believe one band is at work here.”

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