11 March 2025
English prog folk-rock masters JETHRO TULL were and still are a renowned authority of the genre. They’re fronted by prominent voice/songwriter/face and multi-instrumentalist Ian Anderson (77 now) famous for playing flute on one leg. Their career started in 1967, took a 6-year break in 2011, and restarted afterward with reloaded batteries with new albums and tours as a productive result. So far, JT released 24 LPs (new one included). Wowzers.
Debut Album
THIS WAS
1968
AllMusic/Bruce Eder says: “Jethro Tull was very much a blues band on their debut album. Original lead guitarist Mick Abrahams contributed to the songwriting and the singing, and his presence as a serious bluesman is felt throughout, often for the better. This would be the last album of its kind by the group, as Abrahams’ departure and the lure of more fertile inspiration tugged them toward English folk music. Curiously, the audio mix here is better than that on their second album, with a much stronger, harder group sound overall.”
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Newest album
CURIOUS RUMINANT
Released: 7 March 2025
Their 24th
Ultimate Classic Rock website says: “It may be their most satisfying work since the ’80s. Anderson has never shied away from lining his 16th-century musical frameworks with modern-day politics, from the religion-skewering of Aqualung through the condemning of The Zealot Gene’s right-leaning “xenophobic scaremongers.”
And while Curious Ruminant is more about personal reflection, Anderson hasn’t exactly mellowed in his old age. “Angry gods of retribution, driving hate without solution,” he sings
in the headline-ripping “Over Jerusalem”; in the nearly 17-minute “Drink From the Same Well,” he shakes his head over those “displaying willful ignorance as to shifting tides of history.” Still, as Anderson concludes in “Curious Ruminant,” he’s reached the point where he’d rather “sit
on the fence, enjoy the view.” Not bad advice from one who’s earned the right.”
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