Jethro Tull: Albums Ranked: Worst to Best | Updated

welcome classic rock panther worst the best or a ranking video re-ranking in fact now my original jethro tulworth's the best has been very popular it's gained about 120 000 views or thereabouts so people might be interested after this significant passage of time to revisit these albums i've spent the last uh seven days or so really listening to all these records to see if my my feelings about them are still the same and also of course uh the the death hotel ranking has to change due to the uh insertion of the zealot gene so before we get into it i urge you to click like and subscribe and do all that stuff and uh check some of the listings below this video become a patreon why not there's a fine body of work on there now it's all good or even just check the facebook page it's all about connection isn't it so enough this flim flam let's get on with the list shall we number 21 formerly number 20 of course still at the bottom of the pile for me is jethrotal.com from 1999. as i originally said some wonderful guitar parts on here by uh martin barr however one whackish critic has said that he feels this album is nothing more than an advertisement for the band's newly formed website and i must admit i can't help but feel that maybe some of the better songs were put aside for enhancing solo project the the secret language of birds where this album perhaps is made up of a lot of fluty off cuts number 20 formerly at 17 is under wraps from 1984. this position on my original list was actually held by the rock island out but i've been listening to that uh recently and it's it's gone up slightly in my estimation for me the under wraps album is defined by those horrible synth sounds and drums as well as the tour being very much marred by ian anderson's vocal difficulties uh vocal difficulties i don't think he ever really recovered from in fact there's an interesting video on my patreon all about ian anderson's changing voice i would be intrigued by the prospect of a remix of this album where the uh the drumming is replaced with uh the real drums with the electronic pads uh the logistics and the expense and the costs of all that though will probably be um it would be something that they'd have to think hard and fast about but i'm pretty sure that would in itself elevate this album in my opinion there's some great tracks on this time i love european legacy under wraps too but i think sonically the whole thing feels polluted to me like a lot of these mid 80s albums and this is a rather foiled attempt at a band wanting to sound perhaps contemporary but doesn't quite work a bit like the stones dirty work album but it's nevertheless it's an intriguing how i do like the writing on here all that stuff about uh cold war espionage is uh is intriguing number 19 is the zealot gene from 2022 i'll pause here allow you to gasp in disbelief and pepper your computer screens with scotch egg and worthington's best bitter don't get me wrong i find this album intriguing uh textually it's really interesting and quite lush or you can immerse yourself in these interesting numbers they're giving this contextual framework of scripture the writing on this album is wonderful it's just i i don't care much to listen to it as a jethro tunnel album i must admit i really do miss martin barr as well ian anderson has said there's very little difference between an ian anderson solo album and a jethro tull album i would disagree really because when you get a set band of musicians that are working together album after out tour after talk consistently you get this very familiar sonic palette and uh understanding of where everybody is and what everybody's is planning to what they're going to do which i think makes the the band much much greater than just the sum of its parts i think the writing on the specific jethro toll wall was always there i mean steve howe said there was an advert for the new jethro guitarist after mick abrams left and it said no writing required um which made it very clear in the words of frank zappa shut up and play your guitar so there we are the zealot gene ian anderson solo album or jethro tull album who takes your choice but uh i know i would choose a lot a lot of albums above this one number 18 is rock island from 1989 and this hour was formerly at number 19. on my ranking video and has moved up slightly possibly because the zelda gene has pushed it up a notch this album follows crest of a nave but it's just nowhere near as good uh kissing willy is a dreadful number there are some standout numbers on here wayless jews strange avenues but not enough to lift this record up i saw them on this tour actually i'm buying a huge huge rock island poster that might even to this day still be my loft who knows sonically it continues down the very much the same road as the crest of nave perhaps we're hoping to snatch up another grammy or snatch another award away from metallica and this is the album that spawned for the single another christmas song which is a bit of an insipid one if you ask me some great guitar work from martin barr some excellent puffy flute moments from me and anderson number 17 is roots the branches from 1995. this was originally at number 18 in my ranking video my first ranking video this album has an arabian vibe to it which i rather enjoy a rare and precious chain is a great number as well as the title track this album pursues uh some interesting jazzy uh flourishes as well which make it an intriguing listen as well as that overall that middle eastern vibe that's explored this adam throbs with uh social commentary so that's something very much in keeping with the spirit of the aqualung album uh as much as i like this album it's not one that i reach for very often and number 16 is too old to rock and roll which was at number 16 on the original ranking this album came in 1976 of course sounds a real oddity i mean this interesting concept that follows their life um almost almost death of ray lomas and uh kind of coming back into fashion maybe wishful thinking on the part of in anderson an interesting album sonically as well as in lansing's voices heavily reverbed maybe to give it that 1950s rock and roll aesthetic to it the cover is garish and quite frightful to be honest probably the worst in the jethro tull cannon this happens of course is notable i believe for the first album that john glasscock plays on and he certainly left a mark with the band the numbers are concise well written tightly arranged of course uh uh originally coming from an aborted tv show i believe uh interesting i saw announcing perform the title track of this in moscow in 2000 i think it was i was working over there as a teacher and he did this one concert when he got to the chorus there was a backing track that played him singing the chorus and he just mimed over it and i just thought if your voice is as such but you cannot sing that song then is it really worth including in the set list i mean it's hardly aqualung or locomotive breath is it but there we are anyway uh two out of rock and roll number 16 still at number 16. number 15 is catfish rising formally at number 14. this album is often lumped in with those tall 80s 90s albums it becomes a kind of sonic splodge of of uh records that we that people refuse to listen to or to see the nuance of which is a shame actually because some wonderful material tells it in the 80s and 90s in my opinion but hey you know they tried to do something different from that metallic vibe that they'd pursued on the previous two albums uh maybe they were getting bullied by metallica who knows much raw blue sound and the melodies on this album are quite distinctive in some respects martin barr um guitar work who is solid not as flamboyant as uh some of the previous sounds but nevertheless it does a job perfectly but the overall sound they were looking for on this record and like all jethro told albums there's a few eclectic influences on here some of the standout tracks are still loving you tonight a tall thin girl which has a very eastern feel to it which you know reminiscent of wouldn't be out of place on routes to branches uh sparrow on the schoolyard wall is also a standout standout number number 14 is the total debut album this was uh was that number 15 on the original ranking the sample course came out in 1968. this album owes much more to the world of blues and the idiosyncratic sound that would define thailand as a band on their follow-up album song for jeffrey's a delight is a excellent example of psychedelic blues and this is interestingly the onetal album apart from the zealot gene now of course not to feature martin barr hazardously mcgabrums is all over this record his identity is uh very much oozes from every vibe um but not a wonderful influential album a very important album the jethro tyler cannon but certainly not my favorite number 13 is a from 1980 which was at number 13 on my original ranking video many of you will be uh quite horrified that i've ranked this above this once but i'd rather have a soft spot for this record i'd rather enjoy this am i i prefer the material live to be honest with you rather than the studio album which sounds a bit thin to me at times the new remaster remix by stephen wilson has elevated this record sonically as far as i'm concerned but it was uh an anson's wish to experiment with new musical technology was supposed to be uh and some supposed solo album but under pressure from chrysalis records he was eventually released as a jethro tile album so kind of had a new a new lineup of jethro tull foisted upon him and us uh i think he went on to say that he never actually disbanded that classic lineup of tally just wanted to do the solo album which kind of merged into a new lineup of uh of the band a lot of standout moments on this record uh black sunday of course especially live is outstanding i love uh following their flyer and working john the working joe is one of my favorite tracks of this record which i think existed in demo form as far back as 1976. so no change for the a for anderson album number 12 is brought in the beast formerly at number 11. this album came out in 1982. wonderful album that blends folk elements mixed with these kind of um electric soundscapes if you will it works perfectly i think it's a wonderfully atmospheric record and let's not forget the absolutely stunning artwork by ian mckay this album operates perfectly from the paradigms of what jethro tull is uh you know you get those archetypal tall motifs whatever they are and uh it plays along with this rather folky aesthetic as well as incorporating some newer electronic sounds and production techniques to create a very specific vibe for this record like you i'm really looking forward to the deluxe edition which should be out this year with loads and loads of extra stuff number 11 is stormwatch formerly at number 10 the sound came in 1979. this album uh doesn't live up to the brilliance of its uh its predecessors its uh other two albums in the trilogy i say trilogy i'm not even sure that you hansen uh acknowledges any idea of a trilogy really just it was the next album perhaps nevertheless um there's a thematic link that uh that i reach for i don't know if it's there or not but you get the idealized past with um songs from the wood and a a very apparent present looked at with heavy horses to a a rather ominous future explored on this album even the uh even the even the title of the album storm watch has a very ominous feel to it the songs will be rather dour full of threat as well as longing and it kind of characterizes this record this album does have dark ages which is a remarkable song and a dun ring hill which is a lovely track that they dusted off for the crest for nave tour i was pleased to see uh but of course it also has my favorite of the sandwiches old ghosts number 10 is crest of a nave which was formerly at number eight on my list this came out in 1987 jethro tull's heavy metal album i remember first hearing steel monkey on the tommy vance friday rock show if you remember that was a wonderful show i'm thinking it sounded a lot like zz top but it was interesting of course anderson had um uh following on from his vocal issues with the uh underwraps tour everything is recorded in a it seems like a lower key so he could sing them more comfortably given the vocals are very husky almost spoken quality to them and that combined with the crisp sound of martin bart's guitar a lot of critics said they were trying to sound like dire straits capitalizing no doubt on the success of their brothers brothers-in-arms album it's certainly true that his voice had changed by time he got to this album but for me the quality of his voice is often in the the character and expression rather than the range and volume uh module didn't stop them opening the set with uh songs from the wood on that tour and what a wonderful wonderful t-shirt we got as well number nine is minstrel in the gallery formerly number 12. so this one has been lifted up a little bit rolling stone magazine said this is jethro tons of elizabethan boogie which uh signifies little and delivers less ouch the recording of this app is very low-key and it's a shift away from the very i would say almost radio friendly vibe that we got with war child uh recorded mainly in france i believe on the french riviera probably probably to avoid tax i suppose but it's a beautiful word from the delicate acoustic playing to the wonderful joseph nash painting on the front a million miles across from the conceptual bombast we got with thick as a brick and a passion play as well as of course the the more digestible chunks that we got on the uh the war child album from 74. number eight is the war child album from 1974 now this formerly occupied the number nine slot on my previous list i love the way this record starts with that siren it reminds me of black servers war pigs without the coke and menace instead we get a lovely jangle of a cup of tea and a crisp snap of a morning newspaper i love the way anderson makes the analogy on this album between warfare and everyday commerce which is rather intriguing and clever of course this album was formed of the aborted plan to make a film um called war child and musical fantasy which is actually based on the the passion play out my belief we return more to a conventional song structures on this album um some people say that's because passion play received such a critical mauling brilliant anderson has said that they just wanted to go back to performing uh individual songs and rather having to remember these lengthy conceptual pieces performing performing live on stage this album is full of uh you know conventional song structures songs that are full of wit and charm many songs excavated from the uh chateau de reville sessions of course uh including reworkings of tracks like lick your fingers clean was actually spawned during the aqualink sessions and far more acerbic version as well stand out tracks you know things like backdoor angels skating running through nice of a new day which is uh incredibly uh poignant number i think one of my favorites is tomorrow was today which was a check that's been excavated fairly recently and is featured on the war child special edition deluxe dog's bollocks version number seven is benefit from 1970 which was formerly at number seven on my list this album suffers i think for being sandwiched between the bright and innovative stand up album and the conceptual brilliance that is acquaintance use the c word when i talk about aqualung of course but nevertheless uh you know classic rock has described this album as a band finding its future it's it's an album that ian anderson doesn't seem to be that uh overall pleased with although it's one martin barr's favorites it's a wonderful blend of electric and acoustic interplay brilliant guitar of course from martin bar which i say way too often on this video and the songs on this album have a lot of folk like melodies and a fairly downbeat uh lyrical content number six is a stand-up album which was also at number six on my original ranking video i consider this to be the first jethro hotel album in many respects it's the album where the sound is very much born and then tinkered with benefit before reaching its fruition of aqualung it's a real sense of experimentation on this record it's a real exploration of musical form and genre as well it bristles of energy and vitality uh john peel i think got the ump when they released this album i think he felt that they somehow betrayed who they originally were perhaps i don't know excellent numbers on this channel fat man and we used to know uh which sees the band flirting with all sorts of instrumentation almost world music before the term world and music was even coined lots of tracks on this album were inspired by the worker but yanshan roy harper um it's a very precocious album it relies on maturity considering this is just about second record it's uh wonderful number five is aqualung from 1971 this originally came in at number three on my original ranking list um uh this ad was stunning i i think in in terms of its progression uh from the first three albums the sound on this record there has always been a little bit emaciated although i do love uh what steve wilson has done with it it's probably as good as it gets and it's pretty damn good to be honest with you anderson maintains that this is not a concept happening let's face it he should know side one specifically interesting as i like all these rather cd vignettes in essence aqualung cross-eyed mary and aqua along that flemy old soap dodger which almost becomes a motif for this record appearing on a i think a couple of tracks i believe with my memory certainly right and then of course we drift into the magical world of storybook and folklore with things like mother goose before we get this um side two that critiques uh or explores anderson's disillusionment with organized religion uh locomotor breath of course was on this one that wonderful parable if you like of uh things spiraling out of controlling the uh wrapped up in the uh analogous with this um thundering locomotive all pretty damn good stuff and number four is heavy horses from 1978 and this originally occupied the number five spot for me of course this follows on from um songs from the wood and plows very familiar ground if you if you excuse the agricultural metaphor there the genius of deep armor on these albums is very much apparent i uh i can't um emphasize that enough how much we must doff our cap to uh what she did on these records you know the stunning lullaby and moths it continues very much in the vein of songs from the but gone is that a exploration of rural myth and whimsy instead we get a very down-to-earth portrayal of the realities of country life or rural existence it's an album that speaks of impending change and struggle in some respects the song heavy horses feels like a kind of valediction in a way kind of a saying goodbye to the to the old life and uh having to embrace what thomas hardy calls that ache of modernism what a wonderful wonderful record this is and number three which was at number four in my original ranking is songs in 1976. this album was inspired by anson's reading of a book published in 1973 simply called folklore myths and the legends of britain and subsequently we see anderson hang up his minstrel garb to adorn the attire of a country squire the interesting musical landscape in 1977 of course it was marred by the snarl and spit nihilism of punk uh but rather than anarchy in the uk jethro tull regale us with these wonderful slices of english folklore and whimsy i love the optimism of this album it almost has a mischievous effervescent quality to it as it explores a landscape of wooden sprites and spirits good stuff all around to be honest with you fabulous fabulous album wonderful wonderful iconic album cover number two is fix the brick which was formerly at number two on my original rankings this album came out in 1972 as well this is the mother of all concept albums so pissed was anderson with the critics insisting that aqualung was a concept album that he decided to give us the mother of all concept albums um many people see this a kind of uh it's kind of a prob parody and there's certainly elements of that there um even anson has admitted that a lot of the fiddly bits on things brick uh affectionate prod at bands like yes and king crimson who were replete with musicians uh in anderson's in in anderson's words took themselves way too seriously but i love the way this album fuses all these jazz and blues and classical elements and the interesting segues uh in as soon as i said it's actually just a collection of individual songs that we've just joined up really to make one long progre piece but the musical interludes and expressions is remarkable as you know perfectly melded with ian anderson's stream of consciousness lyrics of course we get barrymore barlow playing on this album and he was an incredible drummer and makes an immense impact on the jethro tile sound from 1972 onwards no disrespect to clive bunk who was also wonderful i think but uh i think things are lifted up a notch musically with uh baron barbaro's inclusion and you guessed it by process of elimination number one my favorite album and still number one for me is a passion play from 1973. many jethro tull fans of you this is a kind of divisive album in some respects it's tull's topographic oceans if you will but you know i love the theatrical conceit with this album broken up into different acts and the the wonderful uh program the theater program you got the original vinyl edition it's um such a lavish program is so theatrical in fact of course the original idea of a passion play was a medieval construct which explores the life death and passion of jesus christ whereas he lands in explores the life and death and resurrection of ronnie pilgrim his very name taken from that 17th century john bunyan spiritual a pilgrim's but this of course traces the progress of ronnie pilgrim from his death on the fulham road to the fiery nether regions at the foot of the stairs um this is my go-to tall out my never tire of listening to it it's complexity and just downright weirdness it's just compelling and i rope these in with the original chateau de reville recordings you combine all those as a package and this is just wonderful wonderful stuff of course the release of the some of the chatterjee reveal recordings in 1988 for tol's 20th anniversary boxset amusingly dubbed the shadow disaster tapes by ian anderson is also intriguing but it's of its time a very 1980s um reverb on anderson's voice gives it another worldly feel as well he's added some extra passengers and things like that i rather like that it's still available on the um strange strange case i can't remember what the compliment compilation album that uh put it out in a few years later in the 90s slipped my mind but i also like what stephen wilson has done with those records very stark feeling very much in keeping with the uh sonic aesthetic of the time i guess anyway i waffle on as usual this is my favorite turnout it's still my favorite tal album a lot of you could give me a lot of [ __ ] about this but it's it's just one that i um often listen to from beginning to end including all those associated recordings anyway i hope you enjoyed that video and if you're still watching you haven't switched off i want to thank you for doing uh just that and maybe you could go a stretch further and consider the ways you could support this channel by looking at the links below this video and just subscribing maybe that would be a start wouldn't it but i'll end us i always super hope you're safe and well covert free but more importantly that you keep listening you

Channel: Classic Album Review

Views: 29,368

Keywords: review, album, best, analysis, classic album review, song, progressive rock, music, live, new, unboxed, ranking, classic rock, best to worst, all albums, album list, explained, psychedelic rock, rock cultural, history, top ten, jethro tull, Ian Anderson, Albums ranked, worst to best

Id: i5n3OKScqo0

Length: 25min 42sec (1542 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 17 2022