moths
Prentice Jack
Posts: 12
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Post by moths on Mar 11, 2010 21:53:28 GMT
I am torn between the two, both albums around the same period but musically slighty different. Benefit for me is the underated classic album in which Aqualung has overshadowed.
There really are some beautiful songs on that album. 'Nothing to Say' is a classic, out of all the albums from Tull I never bore from it.
Aqualung on the other hand, well I am purely sold on the acoustic stuff. I think the song Aqua and Loco have been played to death at the tours, but when you listen to the whole album from start to finish, I fall in love with Aqua and loco again. No denying John Evans amazing talent! (now wasted).
From Benefit and Aqualung I could kill to write songs like that!!
Would be interested to know your thoughts, because for me even though I adore the Prog to Medieval to Folk Tull of the later years, these two albums have to be the Saturn and Jupiter of the Tull Solar system!!!
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Post by nonrabbit on Mar 11, 2010 22:34:01 GMT
I am torn between the two, both albums around the same period but musically slighty different. Benefit for me is the underated classic album in which Aqualung has overshadowed. There really are some beautiful songs on that album. 'Nothing to Say' is a classic, out of all the albums from Tull I never bore from it. Aqualung on the other hand, well I am purely sold on the acoustic stuff. I think the song Aqua and Loco have been played to death at the tours, but when you listen to the whole album from start to finish, I fall in love with Aqua and loco again. No denying John Evans amazing talent! (now wasted). From Benefit and Aqualung I could kill to write songs like that!! Would be interested to know your thoughts, because for me even though I adore the Prog to Medieval to Folk Tull of the later years, these two albums have to be the Saturn and Jupiter of the Tull Solar system!!! That's a tricky one to explain I mean I know the answer right away - Benefit ;D for me there is no doubt. However I'm trying to work the old grey cells to remember what I thought on first hearing them both and in the context of what I normally listened too then. Aqualung was the calling card for anyone who hadn't delved deeper into the racks of the record store under "J". Aqualung was the album that was quoted if you mentioned Tull. So it was almost compulsive to buy and listen too. I had never heard anything like it in the mix of music the lyrics and the voice. It's been said many times as well that in the time of release the songs like My God and Wind Up were pretty radical in religious terms. Aqualung and Cross Eyed Mary's lyrics were pretty shocking too to the young teenage ear. The attractivness of the cover design and insert was a plus.It was great but not as "hookable" as Benefit. No fancy cover - no insert but songs and lyrics that have stayed with me all my life.
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kleynan
Journeyman
Thick as a Brick
Posts: 89
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Post by kleynan on Mar 12, 2010 21:25:00 GMT
I love both Aqua and Benefit, I do.. but being a huge fan of folk music and progressive music.. Thick as a Brick and SftW just lift me up! Those two albums.. God came down from the heavens and presented himself in song!
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jason
Prentice Jack
Posts: 35
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Post by jason on Mar 21, 2010 20:15:29 GMT
Benefit for me.
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Post by earsoftin on Apr 5, 2010 8:56:08 GMT
It would be Benefit for me, but why? I have to be cautious about a degree of inverse snobbery – if Aqualung is the most played, then I’ll go for the obscurer one! Nostalgia also plays a part, as I suspect it does for many of us of a certain age. I came to Tull not through live performance, as I was too young. It was through Top of the Pops where, to be honest, it was their appearance and the horror this induced in my parents that was a large part of the attraction! The first single I bought was ‘Sweet Dream’, but I wasn’t able to afford an album until Thick as a Brick. So I worked my way back, but Benefit retains a large part of my affections for the memories it creates.
Having said that, I still keep returning to it more than Aqualung. The attractions of the latter, I think, are that the tunes are more obvious and the whole album is more open. By that I mean that a good part of the content is looking outward and dealing with some pretty big themes, as opposed to the more internal focus of Benefit. I’d like to say that it was the lyrical focus that first attracted me to Benefit, but to be honest I couldn’t make much of it out for many years and didn’t try to. I remember at school that there was a debate over Witches Promise/Teacher with many of us preferring the riffier nature of Teacher. I think the same applied to Benefit, with ‘Play in Time’ being an early favourite. However, having said that, I do think that ‘Son’ played a big part in the attraction. Ian Macdonald in his great books has said that the 60s were the revolt of the sons against the fathers and ‘Son’ seems to have that for me in particular. (Perhaps this explains some of the bias towards men amongst Tull fans?) Of course, Aqualung also expressed that revolt against traditional forms of both education and religion that also had resonance with teenagers of the time. It also has some great little fragments – I so much agree with the JD Salinger post on another thread about the wonder that is ‘Cheap Day Return’ and ‘Wond’ring Aloud’ is lovely (‘Wond’ring Again’ being still better and not deserving of being hidden away). However, Benefit seems so much more intriguing – ‘A Time for Everything’ is a remarkable song for somebody of Ian’s age to write and there’s a whole thread to write about being old before your time! Underneath what are sometimes excessive use of sound effects there are some great songs and the introduction of Evan’s keyboards is particularly effective. The more contemplative and internal nature of many of the songs offers much more opportunity for discovery – so Benefit for me!
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Post by steelmonkey on Apr 5, 2010 19:43:47 GMT
Benefit is an almost perfect album-brilliant songs, playing, singing, atmosphere and coherence...Jethro Tull reaching the heights they have inhabited since. Aqualung, however, is a step beyond- an album as good as benefit in the aforementioned manner with additional points for art, literature and, sorry Ian, concept...the first of the 'hot streak' running from Aqualung thru Minstrel, that has not been, and never will be equaled by any band. Aqualung takes hits for the ironic reason of overplaying: live, on the radio and on home and friend's stereos...but how do you punish for overplaying such a brilliant bunch of songs? Can you really ever get tired of the opening riffs of Aqualung or the instrumental break in Locomotive Breath? And what have they done with benefit sons lately that compares with rejuvenated Mother Goose and frisky Up to Me of a few years ago. Imagine...an album so stunning...Wind-Up and Cross Eyed mary aren't even mentioned in the first paragraph? Not that Benefit is in any danger of being used as a frisbee or cup holder anytime soon...but Aqualung wins this one for me.
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Post by conundrum on Apr 6, 2010 6:08:37 GMT
Whew! That's close! Both are great albums, yet so different. But I think overall I have to go with Benefit. It is produced better and even the band has said that Aqualung was never quite right in terms of production. Benefit just seems to flow however. It has so many great yet underrated tunes such as Nothing To Say and For Michael Collins. I could go with either album though.
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Post by maddogfagin on Apr 6, 2010 8:50:04 GMT
Whew! That's close! Both are great albums, yet so different. But I think overall I have to go with Benefit. It is produced better and even the band has said that Aqualung was never quite right in terms of production. Benefit just seems to flow however. It has so many great yet underrated tunes such as Nothing To Say and For Michael Collins. I could go with either album though. Have to go along with you on this one. There's something about Benefit that is so perfect in my humble opinion. Welcome to the JT Forum btw Conundrum. This is the best place to be for all things Tull
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Post by bunkerfan on Apr 6, 2010 10:27:12 GMT
Whew! That's close! Both are great albums, yet so different. But I think overall I have to go with Benefit. It is produced better and even the band has said that Aqualung was never quite right in terms of production. Benefit just seems to flow however. It has so many great yet underrated tunes such as Nothing To Say and For Michael Collins. I could go with either album though. Have to go along with you on this one. There's something about Benefit that is so perfect in my humble opinion. Welcome to the JT Forum btw Conundrum. This is the best place to be for all things Tull Aqualung will always be my favourite Tull album, apart from " Hymn 43" I just love every track from the loverly acoustic " Cheap day return" and "Wondering aloud" to the massive "Aqualung" and what a great last song "Wind up" Attachments:
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Post by nonrabbit on Apr 10, 2010 9:38:59 GMT
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