Aqualung (40th Anniversary Special Edition)

iTunes Review

Few albums stand as singular in their sound and ambition as Jethro Tull’s Aqualung. Its mix of classic English folk, spiritual concerns, and classic hard rock has an unusual appeal to both music fans and classic rock radio programmers, who’ve made songs such as “Aqualung,” “Cross-Eyed Mary,” “Hymn 43,” and “Locomotive Breath” on-air staples for decades. This 2011 remaster brings the songs to life in a way that hasn’t been heard in years. The mix of acoustic guitars, electric guitars, Ian Anderson’s flute, and a rhythm section that was as lithe and heavy as it needed to be gives the tracks a power uncommon in the modern age, when heavyhanded producers and computer technology often demand lifeless perfectionism. The previously unreleased cuts, alternate takes, and obscure non-LP tracks make this the album to own. The early versions of “My God,” “Wind-Up,” and “Slipstream,” the new mixes of “Life Is a Long Song” and “Lick Your Fingers Clean,” and the inclusion of “Dr. Bogenbroom” and “Nursie” from the Life Is a Long Song EP give listeners an excellent overview of the era. The “US Radio Spot” completes the trip back to the early ‘70s.