The 3 Jethro Tull albums Ian Anderson said are the most important

Led by the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ian Anderson during the past five decades, Jethro Tull became one of the most influential Progressive Rock bands of all time. So far the group released 24 studio albums and sold an estimated amount of more than 60 million records worldwide.

With so many amazing songs, it’s not easy for a fan to pick a favorite record and to Ian is even harder. Before telling Rock News which were the 3 Jethro Tull albums he thinks are the most important ones, Ian explained why it is difficult to pick only one. “It changes from time to time, it’s hard to have a favorite album.”

“If you ask me which is my favorite cat I would be going through a list of more than 20 cats. All but two of them were dead and to say one of them is my favorite I would feel bad. Because if the other cats knew that they would be really upset if they weren’t the favorite. Same with children, you can’t say I like my son but I don’t like my daughter. You can’t have a favorite child or favorite grandchildren,” he said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

The 3 Jethro Tull albums Ian Anderson said are the most important

“Stand Up”

“The first and most important Jethro Tull album is the second (record) called ‘Stand Up’. Because that was the album where I brought in when I wrote all the songs. I included elements of music from different sources. It was more eclectic, it drew upon Classical music, some Folk music, some World music. It wasn’t a Blues album, which is where we started.”

“So that’s an important one for me. Because it’s the first (I felt like it was) the first real Jethro Tull album as opposed to the first one which was called “This Was”. I did that on purpose and the record company said ‘That’s a weird title for an album’. I said: I know, but This Was Jethro Tull. By the time it comes out and it’s sold on shops or whatever we will have moved on. So ‘This Was” Jethro Tull back in July, 1968. But it won’t be necessarily Jethro Tull in July, 1969 and it wasn’t,” Ian Anderson said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Released in 1969, “Stand Up” was the band’s first album to feature the guitarist Martin Barre who would be part of the band until 2011. It has classic tracks like “Bourée”, which is a J. S. Bach piece arranged by Ian Anderson, “Nothing is Easy” and “Look into The Sun”. The album peaked at number one on the United Kingdom albums chart and 20 at the United States Billboard 200.

Besides Anderson and Barre, the band was also formed at the time by Glenn Cornick (Bass) and Clive Bunker (Drums).

“Thick as a Brick”

“Thick as a Brick was important because it was a big step into a crazy world of Progressive Rock,” Ian Anderson told Rock News.

In an interview with Redbeard a couple of years ago, Anderson explained his idea for the album. He recalled some people didn’t get the joke. “This was the year (1972) of Monty Python, this was a year of the development of quite surreal British humor into an international phenomenon. So it was quite timely in the sense that this particular album should be a spoof, a parody, a send-up. A complete fiction into which people quite readily bought, usually knowingly. But sometimes they didn’t get the joke and took it all absolutely seriously.”

Ian Anderson continued:

“But for the most part, I think people understood it was a British humor thing. And my feeling back then was that it was a timely event. It wouldn’t have worked a year or two earlier. It wouldn’t have worked a year or two later,” Ian Anderson said.

Released in 1972, “Thick as a Brick” was Jethro Tull’s fifth studio album. It contains one continuous piece of music, split over two sides of the LP. Although it is called by many a concept album, it was meant to be a parody of a concept album, something especially Progressive Rock bands of that era were doing frequently. The original packaging of the album was designed as a 12-page newspaper which said the songs were a musical adaptation of an epic poem by a fictional 8 year-old genius. However, all the songs were written by Anderson himself.

Besides Anderson and Barre, the album was also recorded by John Evan (Piano, organ), Jeffrey Hammond (Bass) and Barriemore Barlow (Drums). The follow-up of the classic “Aqualung”, the “Thick as a Brick” record was quite successful. It peaked at number 5 in the UK charts and number 1 on the United States Billboard 200.

“Songs From the Wood”

“Songs From the Wood because it was bringing more obvious elements of Folk music,” Ian Anderson told Rock News.

Talking with Let It Rock, the Jethro Tull leader explained that “Songs From the Wood”, unlike records like Aqualung, it was more of a “band album”, since the other members contributed more to it. “Songs From The Wood” was actually much more of a band album. The others had a lot more input into that than most other records such as ‘Minstrel In The Gallery’ or the ‘Aqualung” album.”

“There are several pieces on the ‘Aqualung” album that were really just… The pieces of music that could have been on Ian Anderson album if I’d made one at the time. Because they were just me playing most of the instruments. That’s something I did as early as 1968, when I was first on myself in the studio with a string quartet. A part of my musical life has always been about working alone. Coming up with things that were more like an artist working in the studio painting a picture. You can’t paint a picture by committee,” Ian Anderson said in 2006.

The third album mentioned by Anderson, “Songs From the Wood” was released in 1977. Besides the famous title-track, also had songs like “The Whistler” and “Jack-in-the-Green”. It peaked at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 and number 13 on the UK Albums chart.

Were also part of the recording at the time Martin Barre (Guitar), John Glascock (Bass), John Evan (Piano), Dee Palmer (Piano) and Barriemore Barlow (Drums).