BY MIKE METTLER – APRIL 2, 2018
Jethro Tull played their first show a little over 50 years ago at the Marquee Club London on February 2, 1968, the first step of an epic musical journey that has long since seen them become one of the world’s most successful and influential progressive rock bands.
To help Jethro Tull celebrate this historic achievement, Parlophone will release 50 for 50, a career-spanning three-disc CD set that features 50 songs — as chosen by bandleader and founder Ian Anderson — from all 21 of the band’s studio albums on May 25, 2018. 50th Anniversary Hits, a single-disc compilation that spotlights essential tracks from the three-disc set, will also be available on the same day (and will subsequently be released on vinyl on August 31).
50 for 50 provides a sweeping overview of Jethro Tull’s rich and diverse catalog, which includes 11 gold and five platinum records. Arranged chronologically, the three-disc set highlights the band’s continuous musical evolution with blues-influenced early tracks (“Beggar’s Farm,” “A New Day Yesterday”), heavy rockers (“Aqualung,” “Locomotive Breath”), prog classics (“Skating Away,” “Critique Oblique”), and folk tunes (“Songs From the Wood,” “Heavy Horses”).
The compilation also features “Steel Monkey,” “Farm on the Freeway,” and “Budapest,” three songs from the band’s Grammy-winning 1987 album Crest of a Knave (a personal JT catalog favorite of yours truly). The collection ends with “A Christmas Song” and “Ring Out Solstice Bells,” a pair of tracks that originally appeared on 2003’s The Jethro Tull Christmas Album.
Ian Anderson, standing tall with Tull.
The SoundBard has interviewed Ian Anderson numerous times over the years, and he has always been quite generous in sharing a singular focus about the goals he has for both his and Tull’s music. “We have a traditional approach to recording where we try to rehearse and record in the way that we would perform it live onstage,” Anderson told me back in May 2014. “We try to really make it like a live recording. Even though there are certain things in the studio you have to observe in terms of separation. Sometimes you do that with vocals and flutes, because you’re probably going to have to overdub 90 percent of that; you cannot really do that live. And I can’t be producing the record and playing live at the same time. (laughs) But the process of recording is quite traditional. There are real people playing real instruments together in the studio in real time.”
Meanwhile, the Jethro Tull 50th Anniversary Tour is currently underway, with concerts scheduled in Europe and North America. The North American shows will begin on May 30 in Phoenix, Arizona, and will end on September 12 in Wallingford, Connecticut. The upcoming North American tour dates are below, following the track listing breakdowns.
JETHRO TULL: 50 FOR 50
Track Listing
1. “Nothing Is Easy” – Stand Up (1969)
2. “Love Story” – This Was (1968)
3. “Beggars Farm” – This Was (1968)
4. “Living In The Past” – Living In The Past (1972)
5. “A Song For Jeffrey” – This Was (1968)
6. “A New Day Yesterday” – Stand Up (1969)
7. “The Witch’s Promise” – Benefit (1970)
8. “Mother Goose” – Aqualung (1971)
9. “With You There To Help Me” – Benefit (1970)
10. “Teacher” – Benefit (1970)
11. “Life Is A Long Song” – Living In The Past (1972)
12. “Sweet Dream” (Studio) – Stand Up (1969)
13. “Aqualung” – Aqualung (1971)
14. “Minstrel In The Gallery” – Minstrel In The Gallery (1975)
15. “Critique Oblique” (Steven Wilson Remix) – A Passion Play (1973)
16. “Weathercock” – Heavy Horses (1978)
17. “Cross-Eyed Mary” – Aqualung (1971)
18. “Bouree” – Stand Up (1969)
19. “Dun Ringill” – Stormwatch (1979)
20. “Heavy Horses” – Heavy Horses (1978)
21. “Hunting Girl” – Songs From The Wood (1977)
22. “Bungle In The Jungle” – War Child (1974)
23. “Salamander” – Songs From The Wood (1977)
24. “Pussy Willow” – The Broadsword And The Beast (1982)
25. “Too Old To Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young To Die” – Too Old To Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young To Die! (1976)
26. “Songs From The Wood” – Songs From The Wood (1977)
27. “The Whistler” – Songs From The Wood (1977)
28. “Really Don’t Mind/See There A Son Is Born” – Thick As A Brick (1972)
29. “Moths” – Heavy Horses (1978)
30. “One White Duck / Nothing At All” – Minstrel In The Gallery (1975)
31. “Cup Of Wonder” – Songs From The Wood (1977)
32. “Ring Out Solstice Bells” – The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003)
33. “Skating Away” – War Child (1974)
34. “A Christmas Song” – The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003)
35. “One Brown Mouse” – Heavy Horses (1978)
36. “Rare And Precious Chain” – Roots To Branches (1995)
37. “Kissing Willie” – Rock Island (1989)
38. “Rocks On The Road” – Catfish Rising (1991)
39. “Fylingdale Flyer” – A (1980)
40. “Paparazzi” – Under Wraps (1984)
41. “North Sea Oil” – Stormwatch (1979)
42. “Steel Monkey” – Crest Of A Knave (1987)
43. “Black Sunday” – A (1980)
44. “European Legacy” – Under Wraps (1984)
45. “Budapest” – Crest Of A Knave (1987)
46. “Broadsword” – The Broadsword And The Beast (1982)
47. “Dot Com” – J-Tull Dot Com (1999)
48. “Farm On The Freeway” – Crest Of A Knave (1987)
49. “This Is Not Love” – Catfish Rising (1991)
50. “Locomotive Breath” – Aqualung (1971)
JETHRO TULL: 50TH ANNIVERSARY HITS
CD Track Listing
1. “Love Story”
2. “Living In The Past”
3. “Life Is A Long Song”
4. “Sweet Dream”
5. “The Witch’s Promise”
6. “Aqualung”
7. “Dun Ringhill”
8. “Cross-Eyed Mary”
9. “Bouree”
10. “Bungle In The Jungle”
11. “Steel Monkey”
12. “Too Old To Rock ‘n’ Roll”
13. “Ring Out Solstice Bells”
14. “Farm On The Freeway”
15. “Locomotive Breath”
JETHRO TULL: 50TH ANNIVERSARY HITS
LP Track Listing
Side One
1. “The Witch’s Promise”
2. “Sweet Dream”
3. “Life Is A Long Song”
4. “Living In The Past”
5. “Cross-Eyed Mary”
Side Two
1. “Aqualung”
2. “Bouree”
3. “Bungle In The Jungle”
4. “The Whistler”
5. “Locomotive Breath”
JETHRO TULL 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
North American Tour Dates
May
30 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre
June
1 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre
2 Berkeley, CA The Greek Theatre
3 Paso Robles Vina Robles Amphitheater
5 Visalia, CA Visalia Fox Theater
6 Sacramento, CA Sacramento Community Theater
9 Bend, OR Les Schwab Amphitheater
10 Woodinville, WA Chateau St. Michelle Winery
29 St. Louis, MO Fox Theatre
30 New Buffalo, MI Four Winds Casino Resort
July
1 Sterling Heights, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hall
3 Toronto, Canada Budweiser Stage
6 Ottawa, Canada Bluesfest
7 Montreal, Canada Festival International De Jazz De Montreal
August
31 Minneapolis, MN State Theater
September
1 Kansas City, MO Starlight Theatre
3 Highland Park, IL Ravinia Festival
5 Huber Heights, OH Rose Music Center
7 Vienna, VA Wolf Trap
8 Philadelphia, PA Mann Center for the Performing Arts
9 Boston, MA Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
11 New York City, NY Beacon Theatre
12 Wallingford, CT Oakdale Theatre
