Week 3:

Aqualung: One of the few songs I knew of the band before this listen through. I remember seeing a live version of this song when I was a teenager and thinking they were the weirdest band I had ever seen. Almost 20 years later they are still one of the strangest bands I know. Distinctly themselves, their most popular song is a great intro to Jethro Tull even though it features zero flute. Iconic song 

Locomotive Breath: Another strong rock song, this time with flute solos! I mean it’s great… weird and different but if you get past all the theatrics it’s a really strong rock song. 

Cross-Eyed Mary: Love the tone in this song, I can’t even tell if it’s the guitar or the bass (I think it’s the bass, could be a synth too, idk.) but its so GLORPY before glorpy bass even existed. Melody reminds me of Billy Squier a little. 

Hymn 43: Again, kind of reminds me of Billy Squier guitar riffs. It’s like the hard rock riffs of Led Zeppelin with the theatrics of David Bowie. Maybe my favorite guitar and piano out of any song on this list. 

Teacher: Another band they remind me of is Yes. Way weirder than Yes but they share some of the progressive rock elements. Songs instruments as usual with some of his stronger vocals. Second half has a portion that sounds like the end of Fool in the Rain. 

My God: Yea, I hear influences of Zeppelin all over the place, this song and Mother goose both have parts that remind me of Over the Hills and Far Away, Battle of Evermore, When the Levee Breaks. About the same time period so makes sense. The scatting flute solo followed by the choir halfway through the song is so great. So dumb but it works for them. Like that stranger on the internet said…. I shouldn’t like this but it just works. 

Mother Goose: It’s hard to have an “unusual” songs section for a band that only has unusual songs. I was googling the band and stumbled upon a discussion, “Jethro Tull, has there ever been a more "unusual" Rock band that endured so successfully for so long?”. The conversation mentions a few names, Rush, Genesis, Kansas, Steely Dan but none really come close to a band that has decades of platinum albums and sounds so weird. Another comment that I strongly agreed with “Everything about them makes me want to dislike them but when they hit, they hit hard.” I wouldn’t say this song is any different from the songs above but still not a bad thing. 

Cheap Day Return: Are they a famous rock band or are they some bards from the Renaissance playing a little tune at the tavern. Who knows? 

Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young to Die: A weird song even by Jethro Tull’s standards. I like it. Not as much as the rest but I appreciate them fully leaning into the theatrics. Reminds me of Meat Loaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Light Trying to grade this selection is so difficult. 

I liked them a lot after the first listen through and then became completely uninterested the second time through. But as I wrote this review through the third and fourth listen I was 100% back in. It’s 100000% an acquired taste but I give them points for being so authentically themselves, and when you do get past all the weird theatrics they are all animals on their respective instruments. 7.1/10, I think?