Jethro Tull
Aqualung

Release Date: 1971 | Tracklist

“Aqualung” is the fourth studio album of Jethro Tull and was released in 1971. The line up on the album is Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, John Evan, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond and Clive Bunker.


Jethro Tull started in the late 60’s as a basic blues rock band, but leader/songwriter/singer/flutist Ian Anderson would gradually transform them into one of the leading progressive rock acts of the 70’s. Jethro Tull is one of our most serious and intelligent groups, and Anderson’s choice of subject for “Aqualung”, the distinction between religion and God, is witness to that. Further, Jethro Tull has a musical sophistication to match its thematic ambitions. Where “This Was”, their first album, was aimless and disorganized, “Stand Up”, their second, with its dabbling in ethnic and classical forms, was eclectic in the best sense. Out of that experimentation was forged in “Benefit”, their third album, a sound which finally provided the band with a concrete identity. So, once the group has arrived at a coherent style, the next logical step would be a conceptual album, and it’s on the shoals of the concepts that many bands runs aground.

“Aqualung” was recorded at the same time and in the same studio, in Island Studios in December 1970, with the fourth studio album of Led Zeppelin. While recording a section of the album’s title song, “Aqualung”, lead guitarist Martin Barre was moved to impress his counterpart, Jimmy Page and laid down a solo that was totally unorthodox for his style. The result is now an indelible part of Jethro Tull’s legacy, as “Aqualung” the song and “Aqualung” the album, are among their most famous musical works, undoubtedly. This little example of Barre’s guitar work is one of the things that, for better or for worse, make of “Aqualung” one of the most unusual (top-notch) albums in all rock history.

Despite the band’s disapproval, “Aqualung” has always been regarded to be a conceptual album containing the distinction between religion and God as the central theme. The thematic elements explored by Jethro Tull on the album, those of the effects of urbanization on nature, and of the effects of social constructs such as religion on society, would be developed further on most of the group’s subsequent releases. Anderson’s frustration over the album’s labelling as a conceptual album directly led to the creation of their next album, “Thick As A Brick”, intended to be, deliberately, a truly conceptual album, “the mother of all conceptual albums”, said Ian in response to those who deliberately said that “Aqualung” was a conceptual album. The music on “Aqualung” contains more acoustic material and to that extent, it deviates from the band’s previous albums. The album had a kind of a split concept where the first side featured songs about poor people and social differences, while the second side was about the problems and evil of organized religion.

Musically, the album was a superb blend of heavy progressive rock mixed with tasty acoustic melodies dominated by Anderson’s distinctive flute playing and Martin Barre’s excellent guitar riffs. The opening title track demonstrates all sides of the band very well and is the best song on the album, even if it’s one of the few Jethro Tull’s tracks to feature no flute at all, which is a very curious thing. “Cross Eyed Mary” starts with some mellotron and flute before it goes into a crunching rocker where Anderson sings aggressively about a female Robin Hood. “Mother Goose” and “Wond’ring Aloud” are among Jethro Tull’s finest acoustic ballads with beautiful melodies and tasty string arrangements. The side two starts with the sinister “My God” and this track is next to the title track the most progressive song on the album. The mid part where a choir joins Anderson’s flute is one of the most magical and interesting moments here. The blasphemous “Hymn 43” shows Jethro Tull from their most rocking and catchy side, but “Locomotive Breath” captures that side of the band even better with one of the greatest rock riffs in history. The closing number “Wind Up” starts as a ballad but turns into yet another hard rocking tune with a great sense of melody and a quite progressive structure.


Conclusion: Accordingly to Anderson, “Aqualung” isn’t a conceptual album but only a bunch of songs. Whether be or not true, and we have nothing to doubt him, maybe it isn’t a conceptual album, maybe all the songs are linked with a magic invisible link by sheer of coincidence or maybe the secret was in some sort of mood for writing songs about religion without any intentions to delve deep into the thoughtful philosophy of human existence. But what it’s really true is that “Aqualung” is a great album. What impressed me most on it is that, in theory, it shouldn’t be a truly masterpiece. It’s true that it has three great highlights, “Locomotive Breath”, “My God” and especially the title track. The title track is simply one of the best songs ever made by the group. However, after all these years, all the tracks on “Aqualung” can be easily considered classic’s band songs. So, undoubtedly, “Aqualung” is a truly masterpiece and one of the best albums ever made in any rock genre. It deserves to have a very special place inside of the heart of all progressive fans.


Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)

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