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| Jethro Tull - A |
 Released: 2004 Label: EMI Cat. No.: 7243 596899 0 6 Total Time: 42:53 / DVD: 57:34 | |
Reviewed by: John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg, June 2004 Spread over a couple of years, a great deal of Jethro Tull's output (the ones released through Chrysalis) got the remastered treatment, adding a nice selection of bonus tracks to the whole. One of the most interesting ones in this selection most certainly has to be A. Not only is this the only one that also boasts the inclusion of the wonderful Eddie Jobson, who also adds a nice dash of electric violin to Jethro's music. "Fylingdale Flyer," although a rock 'n' roll structure, also contains some hidden Celtic elements that deliver kind of an acceptable folk/rock composition, with flute and synths alternating nicely. In fact, all of A was in fact destined to become Ian Anderson's first solo album, hence the rather different line-up. So although Ian's voice is very recognizable, the minimal use of flute and the addition of more keyboards and violin results in a slightly "different" album alltogether. As happens a lot with this kind of album, the fans didn't particulary like it, although critics went on to hail A as one of Jethro Tull's best albums of all time! Although the contents of this album remain close to the folk idea of Jethro's musical spectrum, the addition of a bigger slice of electronics makes this indeed quite a change. No doubt the standout track here has to be "Black Sunday," which sounds like a leftover from a UK session, including once again some outstanding work by Eddie Jobson. Although Eddie clearly stated that his inclusion on this album and the subsequent tour would be a one-off before returning to his own solo activities, it surely would have been great to see how Anderson and Jobson would fuse together their musical ideas in order to create something compeletely new. Sadly it didn't happen and A (which stands for "Anderson" of course!) is all we can muster right now. The final track "And Further On" is a nice piece of great orchestration though. So who knows, maybe if Jobson had stayed on, Anderson might have added a real orchestra to the whole. And then who knows what might have happened? As a bonus, this re-issue contains all of the Slipstream video released with stereo sound on DVD. Released previously on VHS, Slipstream shows some live footage from the A tour combined with several videos such as "Sweet Dream" showing Ian Anderson disguised as Aqualung and Dracula. Interesting for the Jobson fans are the video clip for "Too Old To Rock N Roll, Too Young To Die" and the live rendition of "Locomotive Breath," which probably is the only time this Jethro classic was performed including an electric violin solo. Most certainly a very welcome surprise for all Tull diehards and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this "new" version of A didn't outsell all of the other titles. Well done to everyone involved! [See also Keith's review -ed.] More about A: Track Listing: Crossfire / Fylingdale Flyer / Working John, Working Joe / Black Sunday / Protect And Survive / Batteries Not Included / Uniform / 4.W.D. (Low Ratio) / The Pine Marten's Jig / And Further On Musicians: Contact: Website: www.jethrotull.com Discography
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