batcom
Prentice Jack
Posts: 12
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Post by batcom on Jan 28, 2017 22:43:21 GMT
Please forgive me if this thread has been posted before (new user here), but I'm curious to see how the members of this forum would rank Tull's entire discography.
Here's my ranking (I don't consider the Christmas album to be a real album):
1. Thick as a Brick 2. Minstrel in the Gallery 3. A Passion Play 4. Stand Up 5. Songs From the Wood 6. Aqualung 7. Heavy Horses 8. Under Wraps (Will probably get murdered for this one) 9. Benefit 10. This Was 11. The Broadsword and the Beast 12. Stormwatch 13. Too Old to Rock n' Roll, Too Young to Die 14. War Child 15. A 16. Crest of a Knave 17. Roots to Branches 18. Dot Com 19. Catfish Rising 20. Rock Island
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cecil
Journeyman
Posts: 162
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Post by cecil on Jan 29, 2017 1:10:03 GMT
I like to rate them using the remixed album releases considering all studio bonus material and ignoring certain album pop songs that I think were made to get on the radio. Here's my list thick as a brick-excellent 9.5/10aqualung-very good double album worth of tracks 9/10(only using one version of any song). I'd use Wind up(early), hymn 43(quad), loco(quad) and my god(quad) instead of originals to improve the mediocre original side 2 a lot. I gave original album 7.5/10 heavy horses-great album. Living in these hard times and Broadford are worthy of the album to boost it to 9/10 and will get even better with more tracks on the remix. I gave original album 8.5/10 warchild-a pretty good double album 8/10 or could have been a very good single album 8.5/10. 3/4 of the single album would be bonus tracks though. I gave original album 7/10 songs from the wood-very good 8.5/10. Bring on the remix. a passion play-that awesome extra minute on the foot of the stairs really lifts side 2 and makes it flow 8.5/10. I almost like side 2 now as much as taab side 1. I love left right and audition too. Great remixing. I gave original album 8/10 stormwatch-pretty good album and strong bonus tracks which boost rating to 8.5/10. Hoping for extra material on the remix. I gave original album 8/10 a-very under rated 8/10. Hoping for extra material on the remix. benefit-teacher and witches promise are 2 of my fave tull songs and would boost the album to 8/10. I gave original album 7/10 too old to rock n roll-this could have been a pretty good album 8/10 if ian ditched the soundtrack idea and used the great bonus material. I gave original album 6/10 minstrel-love summerday. This would boost the album to 7.5/10. Don't like the title track much. Some cool stuff on album. I gave original album 6.5/10
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Post by Equus on Jan 29, 2017 8:05:19 GMT
Please forgive me if this thread has been posted before (new user here), but I'm curious to see how the members of this forum would rank Tull's entire discography. Here's my ranking (I don't consider the Christmas album to be a real album): 1. Thick as a Brick 2. Minstrel in the Gallery 3. A Passion Play 4. Stand Up 5. Songs From the Wood 6. Aqualung 7. Heavy Horses 8. Under Wraps (Will probably get murdered for this one) 9. Benefit 10. This Was 11. The Broadsword and the Beast 12. Stormwatch 13. Too Old to Rock n' Roll, Too Young to Die 14. War Child 15. A 16. Crest of a Knave 17. Roots to Branches 18. Dot Com 19. Catfish Rising 20. Rock Island So many new members on the forum! That's just great! And no, you will not get into trouble for having an honest opinion... Things are getting posted here all the time, and some of it have been posted before, but it doesn't really matter... and anyway, repetition is the mother of all skills... The people who are running this forum is extremely kind and tolerant... Under Wraps is in my opinion an excellent album, I once suggested that Ian should rerelease it with a live drummer... I believe that the drums is on a separate track... but that would probably be a great sin... in someone's eyes... People usually don't like the drum machine... (...bring back Barrymore Barley for this assignment...) but why not release Under Wraps again? One original CD, and one with a real and live drummer? Why is the world full of all these rules? You have Under Wraps as number 8, but A as number 15... Interesting... I would probably place A much higher. Thick as a brick as number one, and A passion Play as number 3... Most members would place A Passion Play before Thick As A Brick... I personally like Thick As A Brick more... when it comes to these to releases... (Sorry Passion...) I don't believe that there is a right and wrong list of these things... We experience everything so differently, and if I experienced these albums exactly the same way that you experience them, I would rate these albums in exactly the same way... Welcome To the Forum, BatCom!
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Post by maddogfagin on Jan 29, 2017 8:26:49 GMT
Please forgive me if this thread has been posted before (new user here), but I'm curious to see how the members of this forum would rank Tull's entire discography. Quite subjective and it would always be determined on how I actually felt on a day by day basis. However, I can with certainty list my top 5 this week and those who know me will understand #1 1. This Was 2. Passion Play 3. Benefit 4. TAAB together with TAAB2 as I tend to relate nowadays to these two albums as being one entity 5. Broadsword and the Beast
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jan 29, 2017 19:50:35 GMT
Please forgive me if this thread has been posted before (new user here), but I'm curious to see how the members of this forum would rank Tull's entire discography. Here's my ranking (I don't consider the Christmas album to be a real album): 1. Thick as a Brick 2. Minstrel in the Gallery 3. A Passion Play 4. Stand Up 5. Songs From the Wood 6. Aqualung 7. Heavy Horses 8. Under Wraps (Will probably get murdered for this one) 9. Benefit 10. This Was 11. The Broadsword and the Beast 12. Stormwatch 13. Too Old to Rock n' Roll, Too Young to Die 14. War Child 15. A 16. Crest of a Knave 17. Roots to Branches 18. Dot Com 19. Catfish Rising 20. Rock Island So many new members on the forum! That's just great! And no, you will not get into trouble for having an honest opinion... Things are getting posted here all the time, and some of it have been posted before, but it doesn't really matter... and anyway, repetition is the mother of all skills... The people who are running this forum is extremely kind and tolerant... Under Wraps is in my opinion an excellent album, I once suggested that Ian should rerelease it with a live drummer... I believe that the drums is on a separate track... but that would probably be a great sin... in someone's eyes... People usually don't like the drum machine... (...bring back Barrymore Barley for this assignment...) but why not release Under Wraps again? One original CD, and one with a real and live drummer? Why is the world full of all these rules? You have Under Wraps as number 8, but A as number 15... Interesting... I would probably place A much higher. Thick as a brick as number one, and A passion Play as number 3... Most members would place A Passion Play before Thick As A Brick... I personally like Thick As A Brick more... when it comes to these to releases... (Sorry Passion...) I don't believe that there is a right and wrong list of these things... We experience everything so differently, and if I experienced these albums exactly the same way that you experience them, I would rate these albums in exactly the same way... Welcome To the Forum, BatCom! I am very intrigued that someone (even an avid Tull listener/follower) appreciates the 'music' on Under Wraps. Perhaps, I'm missing something. Can you please explain what it is about this album that you (and anyone can chime in here) find excellent? I agree that there is no right and wrong. But, when I first bought Under Wraps I felt like taking it back to the store. When I went to the Under Wraps concert, I almost walked out and my buddy actually fell asleep. The song Lap of Luxury was not bad in concert. But, the song Under Wraps was terrible, with Ian hitting the keyboard once every two minutes. I especially was bored with all the band members jumping out of wrapping paper. This was at the Philadelphia Spectrum in case anyone else was at that show. It was the worst concert I ever saw in my life (with exception to the time that Elvis Costello came out on stage in 1986 and showed a filmstrip slideshow before announcing each song with some sloppy band called The Confederates.
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Post by steelmonkey on Jan 29, 2017 19:56:10 GMT
Counting TAAB one and two as a single entity puts it verrrry close to the tippy top (APP)....Those three together form a class of their own with MITG as the top of the rest and the details after that somewhat everchanging with mood and remixes,
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Post by Equus on Jan 29, 2017 20:09:09 GMT
So many new members on the forum! That's just great! And no, you will not get into trouble for having an honest opinion... Things are getting posted here all the time, and some of it have been posted before, but it doesn't really matter... and anyway, repetition is the mother of all skills... The people who are running this forum is extremely kind and tolerant... Under Wraps is in my opinion an excellent album, I once suggested that Ian should rerelease it with a live drummer... I believe that the drums is on a separate track... but that would probably be a great sin... in someone's eyes... People usually don't like the drum machine... (...bring back Barrymore Barley for this assignment...) but why not release Under Wraps again? One original CD, and one with a real and live drummer? Why is the world full of all these rules? You have Under Wraps as number 8, but A as number 15... Interesting... I would probably place A much higher. Thick as a brick as number one, and A passion Play as number 3... Most members would place A Passion Play before Thick As A Brick... I personally like Thick As A Brick more... when it comes to these to releases... (Sorry Passion...) I don't believe that there is a right and wrong list of these things... We experience everything so differently, and if I experienced these albums exactly the same way that you experience them, I would rate these albums in exactly the same way... Welcome To the Forum, BatCom! I am very intrigued that someone (even an avid Tull listener/follower) appreciates the 'music' on Under Wraps. Perhaps, I'm missing something. Can you please explain what it is about this album that you (and anyone can chime in here) find excellent? I agree that there is no right and wrong. But, when I first bought Under Wraps I felt like taking it back to the store. When I went to the Under Wraps concert, I almost walked out and my buddy actually fell asleep. The song Lap of Luxury was not bad in concert. But, the song Under Wraps was terrible, with Ian hitting the keyboard once every two minutes. I especially was bored with all the band members jumping out of wrapping paper. This was at the Philadelphia Spectrum in case anyone else was at that show. It was the worst concert I ever saw in my life (with exception to the time that Elvis Costello came out on stage in 1986 and showed a filmstrip slideshow before announcing each song with some sloppy band called The Confederates. No, I don't think that you are missing something... You just don't like Under Wraps, and that's just the way it is... I believe very strongly that any experience that we have is a blend of our own personality and the encountered... In other words... We are not listening to the same music... It was once said that women are from Venus, and men are from mars... That may not be entirely right, but this indicates that we may be in the same room, experiencing the same event, but we interpret this event so differently that we might as well be on two different planets... The perceived and the perceiver are intertwined... You are not wrong if you don't like it, and I am not wrong if I do...
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jan 29, 2017 20:23:09 GMT
Here's my ranking. I haven't thought about ranking their albums in many years. I don't count the Christmas Album, either. But, I do count Living In The Past, because a majority of the album was never released prior in the U.S. or never at all before. To me, that is an album. I had no access to those songs prior to Living In The Past.
1. Stand Up (My favorite album of any musician, ever!) 2. Living In The Past 3. Aqualung 4. Benefit 5. TAAB 6. Songs From The Wood 7. Minstel in The Gallery 8. Warchild 9. Heavy Horses 10. Storm Watch 11. This Was 12. Crest of a Knave 13. A Passion Play 14. Rock Island 15. Roots to Branches 16. Catfish Rising 17. Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young to Die 18. Broadsword / Beastie 19. A 20. Under Wraps 21. Dot Com (Probably the worst title for an album of the worst songs). I'm surprised he didn't title it "Salmon Farm Raising". The English Gene Simmons knows how to merchandise.
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jan 29, 2017 20:31:39 GMT
I am very intrigued that someone (even an avid Tull listener/follower) appreciates the 'music' on Under Wraps. Perhaps, I'm missing something. Can you please explain what it is about this album that you (and anyone can chime in here) find excellent? I agree that there is no right and wrong. But, when I first bought Under Wraps I felt like taking it back to the store. When I went to the Under Wraps concert, I almost walked out and my buddy actually fell asleep. The song Lap of Luxury was not bad in concert. But, the song Under Wraps was terrible, with Ian hitting the keyboard once every two minutes. I especially was bored with all the band members jumping out of wrapping paper. This was at the Philadelphia Spectrum in case anyone else was at that show. It was the worst concert I ever saw in my life (with exception to the time that Elvis Costello came out on stage in 1986 and showed a filmstrip slideshow before announcing each song with some sloppy band called The Confederates. No, I don't think that you are missing something... You just don't like Under Wraps, and that's just the way it is... I believe very strongly that any experience that we have is a blend of our own personality and the encountered... In other words... We are not listening to the same music... It was once said that women are from Venus, and men are from mars... That may not be entirely right, but this indicates that we may be in the same room, experiencing the same event, but we interpret this event so differently that we might as well be on two different planets... The perceived and the perceiver are intertwined... You are not wrong if you don't like it, and I am not wrong if I do... Great point. I love it! It's like the John Sebastian lyric, "I'll tell you about the magic and it'll free your soul. But, it's like trying to tell a stranger about Rock n Roll". Still, I'm interested in why Tull fans like this album. Is it simply because it's Ian's work? I have friends who like every single song by Springsteen. EVERY SONG. And I'm like, "How can you possibly like everything by somebody? Can you legitimately like every book by a guy like Stephen King who writes an overabundance of books? Or by a guy like Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley for that matter who have way too much material on the shelves?
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Post by Equus on Jan 29, 2017 21:00:35 GMT
No, I don't think that you are missing something... You just don't like Under Wraps, and that's just the way it is... I believe very strongly that any experience that we have is a blend of our own personality and the encountered... In other words... We are not listening to the same music... It was once said that women are from Venus, and men are from mars... That may not be entirely right, but this indicates that we may be in the same room, experiencing the same event, but we interpret this event so differently that we might as well be on two different planets... The perceived and the perceiver are intertwined... You are not wrong if you don't like it, and I am not wrong if I do... Great point. I love it! It's like the John Sebastian lyric, "I'll tell you about the magic and it'll free your soul. But, it's like trying to tell a stranger about Rock n Roll". Still, I'm interested in why Tull fans like this album. Is it simply because it's Ian's work? I have friends who like every single song by Springsteen. EVERY SONG. And I'm like, "How can you possibly like everything by somebody? Can you legitimately like every book by a guy like Stephen King who writes an overabundance of books? Or by a guy like Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley for that matter who have way too much material on the shelves? Well, Under Wraps is not my favorite album, but I enjoy listening to it... and I think that you are absolutely right... If it's Ian, then I like it, makes no sense at all... That's like singing in the rain, even though you deep, deep down in your very soul just don't like it... or you might convince yourself that you like a guitarist simply because he's got a tremendous amount of skills... Like Eric Clapton... God, he can do anything on that guitar, and therefore I like him, and his music... Personally I am bored out of my mind when I try to listen to him... I could try to explain why I like Under Wraps, but I'm not sure if this explanation represents the exact truth of the matter... The intellect has a tendency to distort the real causes of our likes and dislikes... I believe that there's a lot more to it than we probably will ever know... Anyway... If I have to force myself to laugh, it's simply not funny... Don't force yourself to like anything, not even your girlfriend... Ether you like her, or you don't...
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Post by futureshock on Jan 29, 2017 21:36:19 GMT
I'll keep comments to a minimum, this isn't about personal taste, just general grouping. This is a band that produced NightCap and the 20th set that had previously unreleased songs in such quality and number that many other bands would be glad to have them on their "best of" collections. Ranking them one-to-one is impossible so I've grouped them as I see it, and my vision is entirely arbitrary based on musical quality, not sales or popularity of any kind.
_____Top 5 Group (outstanding career peaks) 1 Aqualung 2 Songs From The Wood 3 TAAB 4 A Passion Play 5 Minstrel in The Gallery _____Group 6 to 13 (excellent throughout) 6 Heavy Horses 7 Roots to Branches 8 Warchild 9 Broadsword / Beastie 10 Stand Up 11 Storm Watch 12 Crest of a Knave 13 Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young to Die _____Group 14 to 18 (the very good mixed with some lesser quality) 14 Under Wraps 15 Living In The Past 16 Benefit 17 Rock Island 18 This Was _____Group 20 to whatever (Yikes, though with a few nice exceptions) 19 Catfish Rising 20 A 21 Dot Com
No, screw it, here are expanded comments>>> Too Old seems like a Tull attempt at what The Who did with Quadrophenia, a cultural look back to where they came from, and it works. A couple weak songs but I think the idea is valid and it should have been a double album that dug deeper. Under Wraps had an EXCELLENT foundation idea and it sounds like it was recorded in a hurry with those synth drums, but for it's conceptual explorations, bravo. Living In the Past is like a documentary about 5 bands, not one, but some very good songs. This Was is the least Tullish of the albums, some nice studio work by a rookie outfit. Crest may have won a Grammy but it's far from the best while also being consistently very good. Roots to Branches needs to be better recognized for the scope and depth of the artist approaches used, a meal with lots of expert flavoring. Songs From The Wood may be Tull's best album for artistic accomplishment, studio work and talent peaks, it's certainly soars well over Aqualung, but Aqualung is a different phase, a different group, a different situation altogether. Benefit has always felt a little weird to me, the songs are fine, but they feel like "songs to fill up concerts while we figure out what album to do after Stand Up". I like it, but it's bookended by monsters that put it in a shadow. The Christmas Album is the finest album produced by humans, it's the only real Tull album. There should be a Halloween album.
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cecil
Journeyman
Posts: 162
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Post by cecil on Jan 29, 2017 22:23:14 GMT
I reckon Warchild and Too old could have been almost on par with Songs and Horses if they used the best material. Minstrel is still the weakest era for me. I only ranked the 1970-1980 stuff for now. I'll wait until Broadsword and Under wraps are remixed before I rank them. A good remixing of the drum tracks can improve some of those tracks by 50% imo. I don't enjoy Jackalynn and Beastie all because of that horrible snare lol. Btw I think Dotcom is the best era since Broadsword. There's 4 or 5 songs I'd trim off the album though and I'd replace them with It all trickles down
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jan 30, 2017 0:02:41 GMT
Great point. I love it! It's like the John Sebastian lyric, "I'll tell you about the magic and it'll free your soul. But, it's like trying to tell a stranger about Rock n Roll". Still, I'm interested in why Tull fans like this album. Is it simply because it's Ian's work? I have friends who like every single song by Springsteen. EVERY SONG. And I'm like, "How can you possibly like everything by somebody? Can you legitimately like every book by a guy like Stephen King who writes an overabundance of books? Or by a guy like Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley for that matter who have way too much material on the shelves? Well, Under Wraps is not my favorite album, but I enjoy listening to it... and I think that you are absolutely right... If it's Ian, then I like it, makes no sense at all... That's like singing in the rain, even though you deep, deep down in your very soul just don't like it... or you might convince yourself that you like a guitarist simply because he's got a tremendous amount of skills... Like Eric Clapton... God, he can do anything on that guitar, and therefore I like him, and his music... Personally I am bored out of my mind when I try to listen to him... I could try to explain why I like Under Wraps, but I'm not sure if this explanation represents the exact truth of the matter... The intellect has a tendency to distort the real causes of our likes and dislikes... I believe that there's a lot more to it than we probably will ever know... Anyway... If I have to force myself to laugh, it's simply not funny... Don't force yourself to like anything, not even your girlfriend... Ether you like her, or you don't... Ya know, you're completely right on that point. Music is supposed to be fun. If it is appealing to the ears for whatever reason (fond memories, the sound, etc.) then that's all that matters. I have a buddy who is crazy about KISS. I, on the other hand, find it to be subpar (even on a pop music level). Perhaps, the first three of their records aren't quite as unsavory as the rest, before the Casablanca Records fiasco with the Johnny Carson album which begat KI$$ ALIVE. Anyway, one of my favorite songs is Quarter to Three by Gary U.S. Bonds. My Father had it on a 45 r.p.m. Well, I swear that Quarter to Three sounds exactly the same if you listen to it on an old transistor radio, or in your car stereo, or on your Technics system at home. In the end, the song is fun. A lot of fun. And the writing isn't great, the playing isn't great and the production isn't great. But, I love it anyway. So, cheers to Under Wraps!!! A Tull album that is not our favorite is STILL a Tull album!
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jan 30, 2017 0:18:42 GMT
I'll keep comments to a minimum, this isn't about personal taste, just general grouping. This is a band that produced NightCap and the 20th set that had previously unreleased songs in such quality and number that many other bands would be glad to have them on their "best of" collections. Ranking them one-to-one is impossible so I've grouped them as I see it, and my vision is entirely arbitrary based on musical quality, not sales or popularity of any kind. _____Top 5 Group (outstanding career peaks) 1 Aqualung 2 Songs From The Wood 3 TAAB 4 A Passion Play 5 Minstrel in The Gallery _____Group 6 to 13 (excellent throughout) 6 Heavy Horses 7 Roots to Branches 8 Warchild 9 Broadsword / Beastie 10 Stand Up 11 Storm Watch 12 Crest of a Knave 13 Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young to Die _____Group 14 to 18 (the very good mixed with some lesser quality) 14 Under Wraps 15 Living In The Past 16 Benefit 17 Rock Island 18 This Was _____Group 20 to whatever (Yikes, though with a few nice exceptions) 19 Catfish Rising 20 A 21 Dot ComNo, screw it, here are expanded comments>>> Too Old seems like a Tull attempt at what The Who did with Quadrophenia, a cultural look back to where they came from, and it works. A couple weak songs but I think the idea is valid and it should have been a double album that dug deeper. Under Wraps had an EXCELLENT foundation idea and it sounds like it was recorded in a hurry with those synth drums, but for it's conceptual explorations, bravo. Living In the Past is like a documentary about 5 bands, not one, but some very good songs. This Was is the least Tullish of the albums, some nice studio work by a rookie outfit. Crest may have won a Grammy but it's far from the best while also being consistently very good. Roots to Branches needs to be better recognized for the scope and depth of the artist approaches used, a meal with lots of expert flavoring. Songs From The Wood may be Tull's best album for artistic accomplishment, studio work and talent peaks, it's certainly soars well over Aqualung, but Aqualung is a different phase, a different group, a different situation altogether. Benefit has always felt a little weird to me, the songs are fine, but they feel like "songs to fill up concerts while we figure out what album to do after Stand Up". I like it, but it's bookended by monsters that put it in a shadow. The Christmas Album is the finest album produced by humans, it's the only real Tull album. There should be a Halloween album. "The Christmas Album is the finest album produced by humans...." - Even better than Chinese Democracy? ;-)
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Post by JTull 007 on Jan 30, 2017 0:28:27 GMT
I'll keep comments to a minimum, this isn't about personal taste, just general grouping. The Christmas Album is the finest album produced by humans, it's the only real Tull album. There should be a Halloween album. TULL-O-WEEN 2017
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cecil
Journeyman
Posts: 162
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Post by cecil on Jan 30, 2017 0:52:02 GMT
There's only about 3 original new tull tracks on the xmas album. Most of the songs are covers of their older stuff or covers of other composers. I really like Last man at the party. Has a Warchild era feel
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jan 30, 2017 1:19:08 GMT
There's only about 3 original new tull tracks on the xmas album. Most of the songs are covers of their older stuff or covers of other composers. I really like Last man at the party. Has a Warchild era feel Not enough songs about the King's birth, for my liking. Though, I appreciate the album as a "winter" album in the way several of his songs have to do with the seasons. And another thing, what does Bourée have to do with Christmas? Does he have to include that song on any more releases? Hasn't he sold enough of this song? That being said, Ian knocked one out of the park the day he wrote,
Old man is asleep now. He's got appointments to keep now. Dreaming of his sons and his daughters. Proving, proving that the blood is strong.
That lyric is f'ing triumphant!
That lyric hits me in places deep down, and fills me with such tremendous warmth. I don't know if I have ever heard such a beautiful thing written by the likes of Wordsworth or Yeats.
I am glad he created the Christmas Album for the reason that most people have never heard Another Christmas Song, and now, they have.
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batcom
Prentice Jack
Posts: 12
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Post by batcom on Jan 30, 2017 3:31:53 GMT
So many new members on the forum! That's just great! And no, you will not get into trouble for having an honest opinion... Things are getting posted here all the time, and some of it have been posted before, but it doesn't really matter... and anyway, repetition is the mother of all skills... The people who are running this forum is extremely kind and tolerant... Under Wraps is in my opinion an excellent album, I once suggested that Ian should rerelease it with a live drummer... I believe that the drums is on a separate track... but that would probably be a great sin... in someone's eyes... People usually don't like the drum machine... (...bring back Barrymore Barley for this assignment...) but why not release Under Wraps again? One original CD, and one with a real and live drummer? Why is the world full of all these rules? You have Under Wraps as number 8, but A as number 15... Interesting... I would probably place A much higher. Thick as a brick as number one, and A passion Play as number 3... Most members would place A Passion Play before Thick As A Brick... I personally like Thick As A Brick more... when it comes to these to releases... (Sorry Passion...) I don't believe that there is a right and wrong list of these things... We experience everything so differently, and if I experienced these albums exactly the same way that you experience them, I would rate these albums in exactly the same way... Welcome To the Forum, BatCom! I am very intrigued that someone (even an avid Tull listener/follower) appreciates the 'music' on Under Wraps. Perhaps, I'm missing something. Can you please explain what it is about this album that you (and anyone can chime in here) find excellent? I agree that there is no right and wrong. But, when I first bought Under Wraps I felt like taking it back to the store. When I went to the Under Wraps concert, I almost walked out and my buddy actually fell asleep. The song Lap of Luxury was not bad in concert. But, the song Under Wraps was terrible, with Ian hitting the keyboard once every two minutes. I especially was bored with all the band members jumping out of wrapping paper. This was at the Philadelphia Spectrum in case anyone else was at that show. It was the worst concert I ever saw in my life (with exception to the time that Elvis Costello came out on stage in 1986 and showed a filmstrip slideshow before announcing each song with some sloppy band called The Confederates. Thought I would elaborate a bit on why I ranked UW so high. I grew up listening to UW (I'm college-age), as my father would constantly play the cassette in his car. I wasn't into music at all until the teenages, so it's one of the only albums I ever heard growing up. Browsing around this forum a bit, it seems like a lot of the members here are older Tull fans, many of whom saw them live in their hey day (which is awesome), so my experience with being introduced to Tull may be different than most around here. If I heard UW now I probably would have a different reaction to it (now that I'm older and am more familiar with music + being a musician myself, I can more easily identify how "cheesy" a lot of the synth sounds are on there), but I've tried viewing it from the angle of "worst career decision ever" that a lot of Tull fans seem to view it as and I still like it as much as I used to for the most part.
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Post by JTull 007 on Jan 30, 2017 10:56:56 GMT
Thought I would elaborate a bit on why I ranked UW so high. I grew up listening to UW (I'm college-age), as my father would constantly play the cassette in his car. I wasn't into music at all until the teenages, so it's one of the only albums I ever heard growing up. Browsing around this forum a bit, it seems like a lot of the members here are older Tull fans, many of whom saw them live in their hey day (which is awesome), so my experience with being introduced to Tull may be different than most around here. If I heard UW now I probably would have a different reaction to it (now that I'm older and am more familiar with music + being a musician myself, I can more easily identify how "cheesy" a lot of the synth sounds are on there), but I've tried viewing it from the angle of "worst career decision ever"
that a lot of Tull fans seem to view it as and I still like it as much as I used to for the most part. Never apologize for liking Under Wraps The album had some of the most creative work ever in the studio and brought TULL lots of MTV exposure! I used to wonder if I would ever see anything as dynamic as these tunes after so many songs about Olde England. The humour was there too with lots of strange noises as Ian was 'un-wrapping' TULL Chicks onstage...
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Post by Equus on Jan 30, 2017 11:10:51 GMT
I am very intrigued that someone (even an avid Tull listener/follower) appreciates the 'music' on Under Wraps. Perhaps, I'm missing something. Can you please explain what it is about this album that you (and anyone can chime in here) find excellent? I agree that there is no right and wrong. But, when I first bought Under Wraps I felt like taking it back to the store. When I went to the Under Wraps concert, I almost walked out and my buddy actually fell asleep. The song Lap of Luxury was not bad in concert. But, the song Under Wraps was terrible, with Ian hitting the keyboard once every two minutes. I especially was bored with all the band members jumping out of wrapping paper. This was at the Philadelphia Spectrum in case anyone else was at that show. It was the worst concert I ever saw in my life (with exception to the time that Elvis Costello came out on stage in 1986 and showed a filmstrip slideshow before announcing each song with some sloppy band called The Confederates. Thought I would elaborate a bit on why I ranked UW so high. I grew up listening to UW (I'm college-age), as my father would constantly play the cassette in his car. I wasn't into music at all until the teenages, so it's one of the only albums I ever heard growing up. Browsing around this forum a bit, it seems like a lot of the members here are older Tull fans, many of whom saw them live in their hey day (which is awesome), so my experience with being introduced to Tull may be different than most around here. If I heard UW now I probably would have a different reaction to it (now that I'm older and am more familiar with music + being a musician myself, I can more easily identify how "cheesy" a lot of the synth sounds are on there), but I've tried viewing it from the angle of "worst career decision ever" that a lot of Tull fans seem to view it as and I still like it as much as I used to for the most part. I remember buying A when it was fresh in the stores... Coming home with a new Jethro Tull album in my hands... That was the first time I had that experience, and I just loved that it was so different from all the other albums that I had heard... Under Wraps was another surprise... The cover just didn't look like a Jethro Tull album cover... It wasn't at all what I expected from Jethro Tull, but we listened a lot to it, and I didn't even consider if this was a bad album... I just thought that it was different, but great... The drum machine didn't bother me at all, maybe because I didn't know that it was a drum machine... Ha, ha... but we experience these things so differently... This statement by Futureshock drives the point home, I believe: "The Christmas Album is the finest album produced by humans, it's the only real Tull album. There should be a Halloween album." That's just fantastic! I like The Jethro Tull Christmas Album too, but not that much, but wouldn't it just be fabulous to, just for a moment or two, to be someone else, and experience the world exactly the way that they do? What dose jazz sound and feel like if you were Miles Davis, Benny Goodman etc... etc... How would The Jethro Tull Christmas album sound like if I was Futureshock, or how would I experience it if I was Futureshock? I think that this leads up to the conclusion that this is not about who is right or wrong... and it's not about what album is the best or the worst... It's more about exchanging the very different ways that we are experiencing Jethro Tull... What a wonderful world! as always... I may be wrong though...
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jan 30, 2017 15:02:30 GMT
I am very intrigued that someone (even an avid Tull listener/follower) appreciates the 'music' on Under Wraps. Perhaps, I'm missing something. Can you please explain what it is about this album that you (and anyone can chime in here) find excellent? I agree that there is no right and wrong. But, when I first bought Under Wraps I felt like taking it back to the store. When I went to the Under Wraps concert, I almost walked out and my buddy actually fell asleep. The song Lap of Luxury was not bad in concert. But, the song Under Wraps was terrible, with Ian hitting the keyboard once every two minutes. I especially was bored with all the band members jumping out of wrapping paper. This was at the Philadelphia Spectrum in case anyone else was at that show. It was the worst concert I ever saw in my life (with exception to the time that Elvis Costello came out on stage in 1986 and showed a filmstrip slideshow before announcing each song with some sloppy band called The Confederates. Thought I would elaborate a bit on why I ranked UW so high. I grew up listening to UW (I'm college-age), as my father would constantly play the cassette in his car. I wasn't into music at all until the teenages, so it's one of the only albums I ever heard growing up. Browsing around this forum a bit, it seems like a lot of the members here are older Tull fans, many of whom saw them live in their hey day (which is awesome), so my experience with being introduced to Tull may be different than most around here. If I heard UW now I probably would have a different reaction to it (now that I'm older and am more familiar with music + being a musician myself, I can more easily identify how "cheesy" a lot of the synth sounds are on there), but I've tried viewing it from the angle of "worst career decision ever" that a lot of Tull fans seem to view it as and I still like it as much as I used to for the most part. a-ha! That is an awesome explanation, young man! There is no better reason to love a music than you shared it with your parent. This you will take carry with you for all your days. I appreciate very much your opening up about your reason for liking this album. As for me, I absolutely love the album Enlightenment by Van Morrison. Now, it's not one of his better albums. But, it is my favorite Van Morrison album. Why, you ask? Because I share my listening experiences with my daughter. The songs resonate to a time I shall cherish until I meet Jacob Marley's ghost.
Simply because of your reason for loving this album, I shall play this song today (my day off work). I will play it loud and I will attempt to erase the bad feelings I have for it and listen to it from an entirely new perspective. Thank you, sir!
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jan 30, 2017 15:15:08 GMT
Thought I would elaborate a bit on why I ranked UW so high. I grew up listening to UW (I'm college-age), as my father would constantly play the cassette in his car. I wasn't into music at all until the teenages, so it's one of the only albums I ever heard growing up. Browsing around this forum a bit, it seems like a lot of the members here are older Tull fans, many of whom saw them live in their hey day (which is awesome), so my experience with being introduced to Tull may be different than most around here. If I heard UW now I probably would have a different reaction to it (now that I'm older and am more familiar with music + being a musician myself, I can more easily identify how "cheesy" a lot of the synth sounds are on there), but I've tried viewing it from the angle of "worst career decision ever" that a lot of Tull fans seem to view it as and I still like it as much as I used to for the most part. I remember buying A when it was fresh in the stores... Coming home with a new Jethro Tull album in my hands... That was the first time I had that experience, and I just loved that it was so different from all the other albums that I had heard... Under Wraps was another surprise... The cover just didn't look like a Jethro Tull album cover... It wasn't at all what I expected from Jethro Tull, but we listened a lot to it, and I didn't even consider if this was a bad album... I just thought that it was different, but great... The drum machine didn't bother me at all, maybe because I didn't know that it was a drum machine... Ha, ha... but we experience these things so differently... This statement by Futureshock drives the point home, I believe: "The Christmas Album is the finest album produced by humans, it's the only real Tull album. There should be a Halloween album." That's just fantastic! I like The Jethro Tull Christmas Album too, but not that much, but wouldn't it just be fabulous to, just for a moment or two, to be someone else, and experience the world exactly the way that they do? What dose jazz sound and feel like if you were Miles Davis, Benny Goodman etc... etc... How would The Jethro Tull Christmas album sound like if I was Futureshock, or how would I experience it if I was Futureshock? I think that this leads up to the conclusion that this is not about who is right or wrong... and it's not about what album is the best or the worst... It's more about exchanging the very different ways that we are experiencing Jethro Tull... What a wonderful world! as always... I may be wrong though... Equus, I love your explanation. The experience of being twelve years old and walking to the record store to buy the first albums of what will eventually be hundreds (if not a thousand) in ones lifetime is a special experience. At the time, I did not own many albums. So, I did not have a lot to compare them to. Boston's first album, ELO's A New World Record, Steve Miller Band's Book of Dreams, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. These were some of my first albums ever purchased on my own. So, these are still some of my favorites today. As I grew to buy more albums I began learning to be critical. I began reading what rock critics wrote (was a bad idea, in hindsight, to have done that).
In the end, if Led Zeppelin II is playing in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
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Post by maddogfagin on Jan 30, 2017 16:03:47 GMT
Thought I would elaborate a bit on why I ranked UW so high. I grew up listening to UW (I'm college-age), as my father would constantly play the cassette in his car. I wasn't into music at all until the teenages, so it's one of the only albums I ever heard growing up. Browsing around this forum a bit, it seems like a lot of the members here are older Tull fans, many of whom saw them live in their hey day (which is awesome), so my experience with being introduced to Tull may be different than most around here. If I heard UW now I probably would have a different reaction to it (now that I'm older and am more familiar with music + being a musician myself, I can more easily identify how "cheesy" a lot of the synth sounds are on there), but I've tried viewing it from the angle of "worst career decision ever" that a lot of Tull fans seem to view it as and I still like it as much as I used to for the most part. a-ha! That is an awesome explanation, young man! There is no better reason to love a music than you shared it with your parent. This you will take carry with you for all your days. I appreciate very much your opening up about your reason for liking this album. As for me, I absolutely love the album Enlightenment by Van Morrison. Now, it's not one of his better albums. But, it is my favorite Van Morrison album. Why, you ask? Because I share my listening experiences with my daughter. The songs resonate to a time I shall cherish until I meet Jacob Marley's ghost.
Simply because of your reason for loving this album, I shall play this song today (my day off work). I will play it loud and I will attempt to erase the bad feelings I have for it and listen to it from an entirely new perspective. Thank you, sir!
Someone else who enjoys "Enlightenment", fair play to you Sir. Favourite off the album - "In The Days Before Rock 'n' Roll".
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jan 30, 2017 19:33:06 GMT
a-ha! That is an awesome explanation, young man! There is no better reason to love a music than you shared it with your parent. This you will take carry with you for all your days. I appreciate very much your opening up about your reason for liking this album. As for me, I absolutely love the album Enlightenment by Van Morrison. Now, it's not one of his better albums. But, it is my favorite Van Morrison album. Why, you ask? Because I share my listening experiences with my daughter. The songs resonate to a time I shall cherish until I meet Jacob Marley's ghost.
Simply because of your reason for loving this album, I shall play this song today (my day off work). I will play it loud and I will attempt to erase the bad feelings I have for it and listen to it from an entirely new perspective. Thank you, sir!
Someone else who enjoys "Enlightenment", fair play to you Sir. Favourite off the album - "In The Days Before Rock 'n' Roll". Enlightenment speaks to me. It just speaks to me. First off, Avalon of The Heart fills me up with emotion. His singing is TRUIMPHANT! That a human can do this is surely a blessing from Above. Aside from that song, I love all the rest of the songs equally. And that is saying something. The album is beauty personified. Now, the album Avalon Sunset also touches me in ways that Enlightenment does. I can listen to Coney Island over and over again and daydream of my vacation to the Emerald Isle and touring there. "I'm Tired Joey Boy" is a wonderful song. The lyric in that song that really gets me in the heart is when he sings, "Sit down by the river, watch the stream flow. Recall all the dreams that you once used to know. Things you've forgotten that took you away.....to pastures not greener, but, meaner." WOW!!!!!!!
The songs from those two albums are my favorites from Van because of the sum of their parts. Like SFTW. But, other than those albums , here are my favorite Van songs.....
Contemplation Rose Queen of the Slipstream Oh the Warm Feeling When the Leaves Come Falling Down Someone Like You Sweet Thing In The Garden One Irish Rover Tupelo Honey
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Post by rredmond on Jan 31, 2017 14:42:30 GMT
Interesting thread! Welcome batcom! --Ron--
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2017 17:00:22 GMT
'Tulltimate' list:
1. Benefit 2. Songs from the Wood 3. Under Wraps 4. Thick as a Brick 5. Stand Up 6. Heavy Horses 7. Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll 8. Aqualung 9. WarChild 10.Minstrel in the Gallery 11.A Passion Play 12.Stormwatch 13.A 14.Dot Com 15.This Was 16.Crest of a Knave 17.Roots to Branches 18.Broadsword and the Beast 19.Rock Island 20.Catfish Rising
To add to the debate, here are eight things I particularly like about 'Under Wraps':
- The willingness to 'push the boundaries' - The freshness (in Tull terms) of the musical approach - The themes (Cold War, technology, travel, general '80s angst etc) and imagery - The starkness/bleakness/coldness of the sound - The story-telling - The hooks and the riffs - The creative/imaginative use of the 'new technology' - The album's ability to make you think about stuff...
For me, it's a neglected masterpiece. Recognition will forever be elusive (of course) as it's too 'Tull' for most non-Tull fans and not 'Tull' enough for most Tull fans.
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Post by steelmonkey on Jan 31, 2017 17:19:34 GMT
I agree that Under Wraps is a neglected masterpiece and also find the eight reasons very articulate and accurate. Under Wraps has a very hard to describe coolarity and the songwriting, playing and singing are near Tull's peak.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 12:28:59 GMT
I agree that Under Wraps is a neglected masterpiece and also find the eight reasons very articulate and accurate. Under Wraps has a very hard to describe coolarity and the songwriting, playing and singing are near Tull's peak. 'Coolarity' is a great description!! For me, it's almost as if, for UW (and 'Walk into Light'), Ian Anderson became a different (but still equally interesting) musician. If my arm were twisted to unwisely single-out a few highlights, they'd be 'European Legacy', 'Later That Same Evening', 'Under Wraps 2' and 'General Crossing'. I actually bought the album, on cassette (which I've still got), in a department store in Freiburg, on a student trip, and I always get a nostalgic glow from listening it - which is my ninth reason to love it.
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Post by 61jtull on Apr 6, 2018 18:25:03 GMT
Well, this is not an easy task, but I'll give it a shot.
1.Aqualung 2.Songs From The Wood 3.Stand Up 4.Minstrel In The Gallery 5.Heavy Horses 6.A Passion Play 7.Benefit 8.War Child 9.Stormwatch 10.Crest of a Knave 11.Thick As A Brick 12.Broadsword 13.Roots To Branches 14.This Was 15.Catfish Rising 16.Rock Island 17.Too Old To Rock and Roll 18.A 19.Dot Com 20.Under Wraps
*A JT Christmas Album & Living in The Past were mostly previously released material....so I did not rank them....but I would have ranked them in the top 10 otherwise.
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Post by tullabye on May 30, 2018 0:31:06 GMT
1) Stand Up
2) A Passion Play
3) Aqualung
4) Heavy Horses
5) Minstrel in the Gallery
6) Too Old to Rock and Roll
7) Roots to Branches
8) Benefit
9) Thick as a Brick
10) Living in the Past
11)Songs from the Wood
12) Christmas Album
13) Nightcap
14) Warchild
15) Stormwatch
16) Crest of a Knave
17) Broadsword
18) Dotcom
19) Under Wraps
20) This Was
21) Rock Island
22) Catfish Rising
23) A
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