Review Summary: A transition work from the band. One of their hardest works.
“Benefit” is the third studio album of Jethro Tull that was released in 1970. The line up on the album is Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Glenn Cornick and Clive Bunker. The album had also the participation of John Evan and David Palmer.
Jethro Tull is a British progressive rock band that was formed in Blackpool in the end of the 60’s. But, in reality, Jethro Tull was always a one man’s band. The leader of the band Anderson is Jethro Tull’s trademark. He composes almost all the songs, sings, plays acoustic guitar and flute. All of this make of Jethro Tull a band with a very own style. The band released their debut studio album “This Was” in 1968, their second one “Stand Up” in 1969 and this third one “Benefit”.
There are two versions of “Benefit”, the UK edition and the US edition. But, both editions have ten tracks. However, the order of the tracks is put differently on both editions. But, the main difference between both versions is that the US version has the track “Teacher” instead of the track “Alive And Well And Living In”. “Benefit” was the album where Jethro Tull solidified their sound around the folk and the rock music, abandoning their more blues sound of the two previous works. The album is more hard and rock than their predecessor “Stand Up”. This is also the album where the band uses tape-manipulation techniques in several tracks, which was very unusual on their earlier two studio albums.
“Benefit” represents the second change on the line up of Jethro Tull. It was the first album of the band including a keyboardist, John Evan. However, he wasn’t yet a regular band’s member. It was also the last album to include bassist Glenn Cornick, which would be replaced by Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond on their next fourth studio album “Aqualung”.
“Benefit” sounds rockier and more transparent than “Stand Up” or “Aqualung”. Thus, “Benefit”, not only temporally but also musically, is between “Stand Up” and “Aqualung”. So, in a way, “Benefit” is a kind of a transition work. The sound isn’t quite as compact and catchy as on “Aqualung”, but a little more colorful thanks to the addition of Evan as pianist and organist, even if he isn’t officially listed as a band’s member yet. It’s also noticeable how often multiple electric and acoustic guitar tracks are interwoven here. On later Jethro Tull’s works, electric and acoustic parts often formed easily recognizable opposites. Here they’re often combined in the arrangements. The pieces on the album are relatively simple and, despite the piano contributions, are more in the direction of the guitar heavy early 70’s hard rock.
My review is based on the UK version. “With You There To Help Me” is an interesting opener. It’s at the same time soft and dark, hard and melodic. This is a nice counterpoint. It’s a song with many changes in tempo and atmosphere. “Nothing To Say” is harmonious, calm and beautiful. It has a mellow style and a nice floating singing by Anderson. It has a good backing support of bass and drums. “Alive And Well And Living In” is a calm and well balanced song with good performance. It’s a song with a great folk tune. “Son” is very interesting switching the tone from hard rock to soft acoustic guitar. It represents a sarcastic conversation between father and son. It’s a very unconventional song. “For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me” has great piano, nice acoustic guitar, good bass, beautiful chorus and great singing. It starts as a mellow folk song that suddenly rocks. It’s well balanced between folk and rock. “To Cry You A Song” is one the best known songs that became a classic from the band. It’s a nice rock song with a great guitar work. It’s a must for those who love the hard side of the band. “A Time For Everything?” brings the flute back into the music and Barre’s guitar dominates the music. This is another great folk tune in the vein of their most folk oriented albums “Songs From The Wood”, “Heavy Horses” and “Stormwatch”. “Inside” is an intimate soft song with some intricate rhythms, a sweet flute playing and a nice and warm voice. It’s cool, relaxing and pleasant to hear. “Play In Time” is the experimental song on the album. It has a lot of changes and a great aggressive atmosphere. It’s very energetic, nice singing and great guitar riffs. It’s a unique song on the album. “Sossity; You’re A Woman” has great acoustic guitar, good rhythm section and a beautiful voice line. The flute provides also great inserts all over the song. This is a perfect closing to the album.
Conclusion: “Benefit” is an excellent Jethro Tull’s studio album. It’s probably less considered because it was released between “Stand Up” and “Aqualung” and before their greatest masterpiece, “Thick As A Brick”. Still, despite isn’t as good as “Stand Up” and “Aqualung” and especially less good then “Thick As A Brick”, “Benefit” is an excellent effort of Jethro Tull, a very solid album. As happened with “Stand Up”, “Benefit” is also a landmark for the band, because it confirms the changing of the music direction of the band. “Benefit” may not be Jethro Tull’s most exciting album, but it’s an exemplar work of the band. It remains a classic Jethro Tull’s album and an excellent addition to all decent music collection. It’s a great example of their first phase, the pre-“Aqualung” phase. It’s one the hardest albums of them too.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
