Jethro Tull

You could argue that Jethro Tull is the perfect desert-island band: Their progressive blend of styles and influences — hard rock, folk, blues, jazz, classical, electronic — means you can listen to the outfit forever and always find something interesting. What's more, charismatic frontman Ian Anderson plays a meaner flute than Ron Burgundy (who name-checks "Aqualung" in the movie). Dip your toes here, before taking your Next Steps.

The question is, where to start? There's so much in here, you may as well just dive in at random. "My Sunday Feeling" captures the thumpin' blues (bolstered, of course, by Anderson's crazy flute) of Tull's early Marquee Club residency days, while a couple of tracks from 1975's Minstrel in the Gallery mark the shift to a more acoustic, pastoral mellowness. And there's more Tull genius in Deep Cuts.

Many bands have taken on the challenge of Christmas music, but none with quite the panache of Jethro Tull, whose output includes "Christmas Song". Other sterling live work that's sure to tickle your fancy includes "The Dambusters March", recorded during the Heavy Horses tour of 1978, and "My God", from the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.

Named after the 18th-century inventor of the seed drill, Jethro Tull has been replanting the boundaries of rock since the late '60s, and is still going strong on the live circuit, thanks largely to a monumentally loyal fanbase and a history of adaptable lineups that reads like a who's who of prog (Phil Collins and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi feature in minor roles). These Essentials salute a band that has forged an experimental and extravagant path through four decades of rock, taking in grand concepts, late-'80s GRAMMY® triumph, forests of dense imagery, and Ian Anderson's role as cornerstone flautist.