Jethro Tull – Stand Up
hello all! our record this week for Jethro Tull’s discography is 1969’s Stand Up!
from reading up on the history of the band, i knew there was a bit of a musical shift going into this record – Jethro Tull’s lead guitarist, Mick Abrahams, left the band before recording this record due to wanting to keep the bluesy sound of the previous record, and now lead songwriter Ian Anderson was free to take the band in a direction he wanted. and he does! Stand Up is much rockier and slightly folkier, dropping a lot of the blues sounds. and yeah, tracks like closer For a Thousand Mothers are a lot closer to what i think of when i thought of Jethro Tull before this listening project.
some really strong tracks here. A New Day Yesterday is a great intro for the record, and their cover of Bach’s Bourée is extremely cool. i really like the lil transitional guitar riffs on Back to the Family, which is a really neat track in the way it builds to a crest, where the flute solo leads into and plays off of a more traditional guitar solo.
on the other hand, i dont dislike Fat Man musically. but lyrically it sucks. ended up skipping this one a lot.
on the whole, pretty good! i really enjoyed this album, with a small exception, haha.
i did also want to note Living in the Past, which is arguably their biggest hit an was a non-album single (it is their highest charting hit in the UK when it first came out and the US when it was released on a best-of album) – it normally ends up on deluxe editions of this record (or on compilations), so i wanted to mention it here. its real good! its strange in very fun ways.
faves – Living in the Past, A New Day Yesterday, Bourée, Back to the Family,
dislikes – Fat Man
Stand Up – 7/10
next week, our recoed is Benefit – see yall then!
first and previous Jethro Tull release: This Was | next: Benefit
all my reviews for Jethro Tull
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