The Best of Jethro Tull

So why did I buy this? Simple. My budget can't afford to replace all of my vinyl Tull albums. This seemed like a cost effective way to have some of Tull's best songs on CD. [I have to admit that other than my vinyl copy of "20 Years of Jethro Tull," I hadn't bought a Tull release since 1979's "Bursting Out (Live)."]

Overall, this collection doesn't disappoint. Disc one contains familiar songs to longtime Tull Fans: "A Song for Jeffrey," "A Christmas Song," "Living in the Past," "Teacher," and of course key tracks from the landmark album "Aqualung." In fact, there are four tracks from that album: "Cross-Eyed Mary," "Mother Goose," "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath." There are also brief extracts from "Thick as a Brick" and "A Passion Play," 3:00 and 3:46 respectively.

If you think Jethro Tull peaked with "Aqualung" and "Thick As a Brick," I would also recommend the 1972 single-disc career retrospective "Living in the Past," which includes 20 songs (only five of which are duplicated on "The Best of Jethro Tull").

Where this set gets the nod over "Living in the Past," is the breadth of its scope--although it is a bit skimpy covering the post-seventies Tull. Consider, disc-one covers only six years (1968-1974), whereas disc-two covers sixteen years (1975-1991).

While much of disc-two was unfamiliar to me, there is little drop off in quality despite the band's constant revolving membership--Ian Anderson (flute, vocals) has remained the band's only constant through the decades. Well into the 1980's Tull continued to maintain a British folk element in its music on tracks like "Under Wraps II" and "Jump Start." They would also add a hard rock sound to songs like "Kissing Willie" and "This Is Not Love." The two songs from "Crest of a Knave"--"Farm on the Freeway" and "Jump Start"--however, give little evidence why this album received the first ever Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Performance in 1989.

Unlike the previous reviewer, disc-one is my favorite disc of the two, but it's nice to catch up on a band that I've followed only marginally over the past twenty years. RECOMMENDED


Indeed a "best-of" and not a greatest hits   November 4, 1999
24 out of 27 found this review helpful

When one buys a best-of or a greatest hits comp. one may be confused by the meaning of these two titles. Nothing better gives a clearer distinction then comparing this to Living In The Past (the gold version that is).

The former is a greatest HITS. Yes, Living... features hits singles, b-sides, ep tracks, etc. This "best-of" is a compilation of Tull's best known TRACKS. They could be singles, or they could be album cuts.

This does have the concert staples: Aqualung, Farm On The Freeway, Teacher, Songs From The Wood, etc. However, it doesn't have the hit singles: Witches Promise, Love Story and Moths, replacing them with To Cry You A Song, Beggar's Farm, and Heavy Horses (all album tracks).

That being said, this is still the best career spanning anthology of Jethro Tull on the market. However, if you still want a great summary of Tull's hit making days: Living In The Past gets the nod. (If you buy that, Aqualung and Thick As A Brick) you've got the Tull Trilogy.

Also take note: the earlier tracks and singles are remixed contrary to what it says on the cover. This is notable if you compare A Song For Jeffrey on Living with this one.


Best Of or a Sampler?   January 23, 2000
Bellagio (Las Vegas)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

The issue in "Best Ofs" is always track selection and space on the disk. Those are especially difficult matters with a band like Tull, which has been around so long, produced such a huge body of work, and with so much of their best work not fitting into the convenient 3-minute song format. What's happened here is that they've produced, for the most part, a "best of" on Disk 1, and realized they were quickly running out of space -- with about 16 years of work left to put on Disk 2. The best they could do with the later, more mature (and some of us would say "the better"), Tull works is produce a "sampler" of title tracks or opening tracks from the many albums covering those 16 years. What I'm left with are only a few quibbles about the first disk selection, and absolute dismay with the omissions made necessary by the lack of space on the second disk. Hey, they really needed 3 disks to do this right.

Before I get into gripes though -- as a sampler disk for those not yet familiar with the band and just looking for something to give them a taste, this'll do just fine. Most long-term Tull fans aren't really in this market anyway, already owning all the albums they are able to lay their hands on these days.

As far as the first disk goes, my only quibbles are the omission of "With You There To Help Me" from Benefit, one of Tull's greatest openers, and not including a few more edits from Thick As A Brick and Passion Play. I'd also prefer to see the "War Child" title track or "Back Door Angels" over "Bungle in the Jungle." But on this kind of album the single release will always win out.

Disk 2 gives me heartburn. Some of that is due to cramming too many years of work onto just one CD. We are left without true Tull classics like "Hunting Girl", "Velvet Green", "No Lullaby", "One Brown Mouse", "And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps", "Home", and "Flying Dutchman" from the great run of albums in the late 70's. Other than being the title track, I can not see how "Heavy Horses" made the list when "No Lullaby" and "One Brown Mouse" were left off.

There are some problems with mis-selection for the "Techno-Tull" albums of the early 80's as well. We are given "Flyingdale Flyer" from "A", while two of Tull's greatest works, "Black Sunday" and "And Further On" are inexplicably left off. Equally baffling is the omission of "Seal Driver" from "Broadsword and the Beast".

But maybe the worst omissions are from the latest Tull albums represented here. From what may be their finest album, "Crest of a Knave", we are simply given the opening three songs. While "Farm on the Freeway" might well make it on merit, the lack of "Said She Was a Dancer", the tone poem-like "Budapest", and what might be their most compelling and complex rocker "Mountain Men" is just inexcusable. Cripes! They alloted time for four tracks off Aqualung -- why not as much here for what was, musically, a far advanced album?

Rock Island and Catfish Rising got much the same treatment -- simply including the opening songs (both of which in this case are not up to Tull standards). I'd much prefer to see these albums represented by the likes of "The Whaler's Dues", or "Rock Island", or "Still Loving You Tonight", or "Rocks on the Road."

OK, my long-time, over-particular, nit-picky Tull-fan griping is out of the way. It's still a good sampler for those of you trying to find out about the band. While, in a number of cases, I'd much prefer to see the band's better work showcased here, there aren't really many inferior works presented. A strong argument could be made for almost all the tracks presented here. You won't be disappointed -- until you buy the individual albums and see what you were missing.


Their best hits compilation   September 18, 2003
Taylor X (Las Vegas, NV (USA))
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

Ever since they began releasing albums in the 1960's, Jethro Tull has been one of the finest progressive rock acts out there. Who would have thought that combining rock and roll with medieval folk music would bring a band such great success? Read on to see what this double-disc compilation does right, and what it does wrong.

PROS:
-EVERY BIG HIT Jethro Tull had to the time this compilation was released can be found in this collection. Cross Eyed Mary and Teacher are (oddly enough) usually deprived of their place on the band's hits compilations, but that's not a problem here!
-Many underrated gems are also featured on this compilation.

CONS:
-Many tracks have been edited. Thick As A Brick and A Passion Play have been sliced down to virtually nothing! The originals exceeded half an hour in length, but these versions are only about three minutes long!
-One of my personal favorite Tull tracks, Son (from the Benefit album) didn't make the cut.
-This is a hard compilation to find in stores.

OVERALL:
If you're a casual fan of Tull, THIS is the compilation to purchase (if you're sure you don't want to buy all the albums.) All the hits and then some can be found here, making this compilation ideal to anyone new to the band. Unless you're a die-hard fan of the band, it's unlikely that this collection will disappoint you.


Good retrospective of 30+ years of Jethro Tull   July 21, 2000
Daniel G. Palese (Lakewood, Colorado USA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

If you're new to Jethro Tull, or want to get some of the bands best material in one package, check out the 2-CD sampler Best of Jethro Tull.

I did something recently I hadn't done in about 20 years. After hearing an interview with Ian Anderson and his playing cuts from his new solo release, The Secret Language of Birds, while driving home from work. I pulled into the first record (are they still called that?) store I passed and bought the CD. At the ripe age of 40, I usually don't just buy any recording on impulse, I either replace old favorites, or carefully consider my spending. Hearing new Ian Anderson music on the radio reminded me of just how much I loved Jethro Tull when I was in high school. My two favorite Jethro Tull albums are Aqualung and Thick As A Brick. I chose the former to include on my top 100 list because it has such great music on it and it really holds together as one of the first "concept" albums of the Rock Era. ~ I recommend the Gold Cd release of this classic, even though it costs a lot more. Reason? It doesn't include the unnecessary extra tracks included on the much cheaper re-release from EMI/Chrysalis of 1999. GET THE ORIGINAL!