hello all! this week, we’re back with Jethro Tull’s 3rd record, Benefit, released in 1970!
Benefit continues some of that more traditional rock and folk influences, but for some reason it doesn’t land as well for me.
there are certainly individual tracks i enjoyed. Alive and Well and Living In has some real fun guitar work. Son is a very strong track – there’s a kind of tension to it in the first half as the expectations of the father clash with the son, and i like that they change the musical style so drastically for the son’s response before the dad comes back in with a comically infantalizing response. For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me is a neat song about staying behind – being left while work is done elsewhere, and has a neat tie in to a friend of the band who would come join them on their journey before the next record. Inside weaves the flute melodies in extremely well, and i like Anderson’s vocals here a lot.
but i dunno. this one doesnt come together, and a majority of the songs didnt quite draw me in the same way that the previous record did.
faves – Son, For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me, Inside
dislikes –
Benefit – 4/10
next week, we’ll be checking out one of their biggest records, 1971’s Aqualung
first: This Was | previous: Stand Up | next: Aqualung
all my reviews for Jethro Tull