Jethro Tull - The Kelpie (1979)

Jethro Tull's twelfth studio album 'Stormwatch' was released September 1979, and is considered to be the last in the trilogy of folk-rock albums by the band, following 'Songs From The Wood' and 'Heavy Horses', but this time with lyrics that touch heavily on problems relating to the environment, oil and money. It was also the last Tull album to feature the classic line-up of the 1970's, as bassist John Glascock died from heart complications during the Stormwatch tour, and drummer Barriemore Barlow and keyboardists John Evan and Dee Palmer all left the band in the months after the tour had concluded in April 1980. Reception for the album was mixed, as the lyrics gave it a darker energy than previous albums, and the music bordered on heavy metal in places, but overall the fans approved. The 40th anniversary re-issue included a plethora of bonus tracks, with a complete 1980 live concert from Den Haag, and fourteen previously unreleased songs. Once I'd removed early versions of some of the 'Stormwatch' tracks and a live 'Sweet Dream', that left exactly 40 minutes of previously unheard material - just enough for a companion album to 'Stormwatch'. One of the bonus tracks was the original nine-minute take of Orion, but as the first four minutes were pretty much identical to the released version, I extracted the coda to make a stand-alone track, now titled 'Orion Revisited'. I also removed 'Rock Instrumental (Unfinished Master)', as that didn't really seem to go anywhere, and so what we're left with is a pretty good selection of songs that the band couldn't find a place for on the album at the time, but which are definitely worth hearing. I've titled it 'The Kelpie' (a mythical Scottish water spirit, often in the shape of a horse), after one of the songs, and that gave me the opportunity to use this magical painting that I found for the cover.      

Track listing

01 Crossword
02 Kelpie
03 A Stitch In Time
04 The Lyrikon Blues
05 A Single Man
06 Broadford Bazaar
07 Orion Revisited
08 King Henry's Madrigal
09 Urban Apocalypse
10 Man Of God

Solstice Tidings: An Alternative Christmas Album (2019)

If, like me, you've heard the same dozen Christmas songs over and over on the radio and in the shops over the past few weeks, then here's an album to take the edge off the festive period. They're still Christmas/Winter-themed songs, but by some of my favourite bands (most of them already have a post on the site), and the majority are in the alternative genre, with just a couple of more mainstream acts, but with songs that tend not to make it to the ubiquitous Christmas compilation albums. Low issued one of the best ever Christmas albums in 2010, and I was tempted to include the up-beat 'Just Like Christmas', but instead I went for a lesser-known song from it, although do check out the whole thing as it's a classic. Cheap Trick, Ramones, The Flaming Lips, Sparks and AC/DC give us a cynical or left-field viewpoint of the holiday, while the offerings from Squeeze, Smashing Pumpkins and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are surprisingly restrained. Galaxie 500's take on Yoko One's 'Listen, The Snow Is Falling' is simply breath-taking, and I've also included songs by two of my favourite current singer/songwriters, with  'Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)' from Laura Marling and 'Winter Song' from Billie Marten. I hope that this hour-long collection of little-heard Christmas songs adds some joy to your holiday. 

Track listing

01 Christmas Christmas - Cheap Trick
02 A Christmas Song - Jethro Tull
03 Christmas Was Better In The 80's - The Futureheads
04 Listen, The Snow Is Falling - Galaxie 500
05 Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) - Ramones
06 Christmas Time - The Smashing Pumpkins
07 If You Were Born Today (Song For Little Baby Jesus) - Low
08 All I Want For Christmas - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
09 Christmas All Over Again - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
10 Winter Song - Billie Marten
11 Christmas At The Zoo - The Flaming Lips
12 Father Christmas - The Kinks
13 Home For Christmas - Kate Bush
14 Thank God It's Not Christmas - Sparks
15 Christmas Day - Squeeze
16 (We Wish You) A Protein Christmas - The Fall
17 There Ain't No Santa Claus On The Evening Stage - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
18 Mistress For Christmas - AC/DC
19 Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) - Laura Marling

Jethro Tull - Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow (1982)

When Jethro Tull released 'Under Wraps' in 1984, the reception was mixed, with longtime fans disliking its electronic/synthesizer-based sound, particularly the use of electronic drums, and the subject matter was also unusual, being heavily influenced by bandleader Ian Anderson's love of espionage fiction. In fact, Dave Pegg was quoted at the time as saying that the tracks left over from the sessions for 'Broadsword And The Beast' would have made a better album, and so never one to shy away from a challenge, I decided to make that very album. The 'Broadsword...' sessions were very productive, resulting in a number of songs being recorded which didn't make the final cut, and eight of them did appear on the expanded CD re-issue of the album, but there were actually even more than that, with other recordings eventually surfacing on the 'Nightcap' and '20 Years Of...' albums. If we take all those songs then there's more than enough material to make the album that Pegg alluded to, and which could have been released in 1983 or 1984, either as a stop-gap between the two official releases, or even replacing 'Under Wraps' completely. 

Track listing

01 Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow
02 No Step
03 Mayhem Maybe
04 Too Many Too
05 Lights Out
06 Motoreyes
07 Jack-A-Lynn
08 Drive On The Young Side Of Life
09 Overhang
10 Crew Nights
11 Rhythm In Gold
12 The Curse
13 I Am Your Gum
14 Commons Brawl
15 Down At The End Of Your Road

Jethro Tull - Chateau D'Isaster (1973)

After the financial success of 'Thick As A Brick', Jethro Tull found themselves as tax exiles in France, and so it was at the Chateau D'Herouville that they began work on the highly anticipated 'A Passion Play'. The sessions ended up mysteriously abandoned, due to 'ill health, technical and production problems, and the sudden decision to return to the U.K.'. Ian Anderson would later re-evaluate and re-record some of these songs, but the sessions' original concept seemed to be a construct around man's relationship with the animal kingdom, and one of these themes would later morph into 'War Child's 'Bungle In The Jungle'. The music is progressive rock at its best, but in a more palatable, abbreviated form that on 'A Passion Play', and mostly comes from 1993's 'Nightcap: The Unreleased Masters'. However, while compiling this album I found that some recorded tracks were missing, and a number of others had been incorrectly titled, so there was a bit of work to do, and I've also edited a few tracks so that they segued smoothly, to give a bit of coherence to the individual sides. The track listing has come from Yesstiles over at the www.stevehoffman.tv. site, who has tried to knock the three sides of the proposed double album into some sort of shape. The three recorded sides all have similar lyrical content - Side 1 carries the God and Theatre concept, Side 2 has the Man and Animal concept, and Side 3 has the Man and Critic concept. Side 4 - who knows? It's likely that 'Bungle in the Jungle' was written for this album, but possibly not recorded until the 'War Child' sessions, so may have been placed on Side 4 if they hadn't abandoned the project. Obviously, since it contains the word 'bungle', like two other songs on this album, it must have been meant to be placed somewhere, so I've put it with the other two 'bungle' songs. 'A Passion Play' contains many musical elements of this album, so the final side of the album could be composed of the last 19 minutes of that release (Side 2 following the Hare story), so I've added that as Side 4, but as it's already released material then feel free to delete it if you want. 

Track listing

Side One
01 Prelude
02 Scenario
03 Audition
04 Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day
05 Sailor
06 No Rehearsal

Side Two
07 First Post
08 Animelee
09 Tiger Toon
10 Look At The Animals
11 Law Of The Bungle Part I
12 Law Of The Bungle Part II
13 Bungle In The Jungle

Side Three
14 Left Right
15 Solitaire
16 Critique Oblique
17 Post Last

Side Four
A Passion Play - Part II

Steven Wilson has recently done a new stereo mix of these tapes, and I was going to use those mixes, but he's removed nearly all the flute from most of the recordings, so as far as I'm concerned they are not worth hearing. The only one I was forced to use was 'Skating Away....' as I couldn't find the original source tape.

Thanks to Willard's Wormholes (R.I.P.) and Yesstiles for information and concept.