Listen: A Song For Jeffrey (Mono) / Jethro Tull
A Song For Jeffrey / Jethro Tull
A very close friend reminded me just the other day that the mention of Jethro Tull still conjures up a cringe amongst many. I get it, but everyone needs to section off their first two albums as being very different to what followed. Even the third, BENEFT, had strong songs in the same style as the previous pair, but the shift in attack on recordings began to reveal itself as softening at that stage.
BENEFIT sounded safe and small. Would bet money a remix that captures Jethro Tull’s wild abandon on stage in ’69 could breathe life into it still, although my guess is Ian Anderson would disagree. Quite soon after it’s release, bassist Glenn Cornick was gone, and the band never regained their sizzle. All soul had been zapped.
‘A Song For Jeffrey’, their UK debut A side single as Jethro Tull, was coupled with second UK single A side, ‘Love Story’ on their double sided US 7″ debut.
Listen: Back To The Family (Mono) / Jethro Tull
Back To The Family / Jethro Tull
The song that best represents this band’s live power at their peak, during the touring cycle for second album STAND UP, was ‘Back To The Family’. I wanted the track to be released as a single so badly then, I just may have beamed it into reality. What a thrill to find it initially mis-pressed on the B side of Reprise 0886, incorrectly labeled ‘Reasons For Waiting’.
Tags: Island, Jethro Tull, Reprise