The Best of Jethro Tull

Product Description:

Personnel: Ian Anderson, Mick Abrahams, Glen Cornick, Clive Bunker, Martin Barre, John Evan, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, Barriemore Barlow, John Glascock, David Palmer, Dave Pegg, Mark Craney, Gerry Conway, Peter Vettese, Doane Perry, Andy Giddings.

Producers: Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson, Terry Ellis, Robin Black, Paul Samwell-Smith.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

While it falls short of the thoroughness of the Tull five-CD boxed set, this comprehensive compendium will likely satisfy serious fans of the group. One would be hard-pressed to find a landmark Jethro Tull song that isn't included among the 36 offerings here.

The two CDs offer an overview of the first 20 years of the band's existence, with the most important songs included from each era. The music unfolds in roughly chronological order, revealing Tull's various incarnations; and there were many. The band played psychedelic blues on its 1969 debut THIS WAS, but with the departure of some original members, Tull evolved into a vehicle for the songwriting and persona of flamboyant flautist Ian Anderson. The image of Anderson as a rustic, Elizabethan vagabond on its masterwork, AQUALUNG, soon became the band's image as well. After several forays into ambitious art-rock on records like THICK AS A BRICK and A PASSION PLAY, the group took a more accessible turn with the pastoral folk-rock of SONGS FROM THE WOOD and HEAVY HORSES. As the '80s dawned, the group veered into the mainstream with a more modern rock style.