Sitting On A Park Bench Listening To Jethru Tull’s Aqualung

A while ago I bought the 40th Anniversary Edition Remixed CD of King Crimson’s The Court Of The Crimson King. It’s one of my all time favorite albums and this remixed version is like hearing it for the first time, just great. So I recently purchased the 40th Anniversary edition remastered version of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung. Also surprisingly great considering how great the original is, I didn’t expect that big a difference.

One of the great things about this new edition is the inclusion of an album’s worth of bonus tracks. It is especially interesting to learn that some of the little ditties on Aqualung such as Slipstream and Wondering Aloud are actually tiny bits cut from much longer songs.

Maybe it’s because I was listening more carefully to this new mix but the fantastic musicianship which has always been a hallmark of Jethro Tull really jumped out at me. These guys are musicians’ musicians. Even Ian Anderson’s acoustic guitar playing under his singing is extremely intricate and melodic and then add his world class flute playing, Martin Barre’s heavy rock guitar solos and the great piano arrangements to the long, complex yet dynamic song structures and the music approaches operatic. Aqualung is truly a work of art, period.

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