Stand Up

iTunes Review

Jethro Tull’s mix of American jazz and blues, English folk, ‘70s hard rock guitars and progressive rock ideals proffered them a distinctive niche in the then-emerging album oriented rock genre of the early ‘70s. Shedding the heavy blues influence of their 1968 debut album (This Was), their second album, 1969’s Stand Up, represents a giant leap towards the band’s identity as a literate, idiosyncratic voice. Singer-flutist Ian Anderson is always a commandeering presence, however, it’s the addition of new guitarist Martin Barre that surely redefines the group. “A New Day Yesterday” begins things in Ten Years After-era organ-guitar blues mode, but from there the trajectory is a medieval-inspired forest of mystery and weirdness. “Bouree” is an instrumental based on Johann Sebastian Bach. “Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square” and, especially, “Look into the Sun” mine the ominous burbling acoustic-electric vibe that would become more pronounced over the band’s future albums. Though the songs are still relatively short — nothing exceeding the four-and-a-half-minute mark — the band manages several instrumental electric/acoustic guitar-flute jams (“Nothing is Easy,” “Fat Man“) that presage the lengthier excursions that would become their trademark. The expanded edition includes four bonus cuts of worthy distinction, especially the band’s well-known “Living in the Past.”