Jethro Tull
Stand Up: The Elevated Edition
Rhino / Parlophone

Stand Up Stands Out

One summer, long ago, when I was in my early teens, I was working as a paperboy, delivering good old newspapers made out of good old paper to hundreds of people, each and one of them living on the top of a hill - if I remember correctly. And each and one of them wanting their newspaper in time for breakfast.

That summer I made a new enemy - my alarm clock.

The only thing that got me through those weeks was a cassette (you remember them, don't you?) on which I had recorded M. U. The Best of Jethro Tull. One of the songs - perfect for paperboys, was "Nothing Is Easy". How true...

Later, when I became a rich paperboy, I bought myself a record player - and Stand Up - the LP containing "Nothing Is Easy". Since then I've played that LP and different CD-versions, a million times. Why? Ten killer tracks out of ten, that's why.

And here's yet another version - remixed to stereo and 5.1 surround by the ever present Steven Wilson. The verdict? The 2016-version of Stand Up stands out! But that is not the only reason why you need this box. Included is also 112 pages concerning the making of Stand Up - and Jethro Tull. Don't miss the interview with Jimmy Grashow, the woodcutter who made the iconic cover. Remember the sixth finger? And much, much more. And what a load of beautiful photographs!

The elevated edition is completed with a live recording made in Stockholm in January 1969. This recording is not completely new to me, thanks to a bootleg bought in Barcelona a few years ago. But here the sound is cleaned up and we get two versions of the non-LP-track "To Be Sad is a Mad Way" - and also "Martin's Tune" by Martin Barre. The next song Barre came up with - "Martin's Tune Again" (!) is not included.

The concert also includes a very long version of "Nothing Is Easy" (+15 minutes) - sounding partly nothing like the song we know and love from the LP. Listening to the extended song you realize that the transition from the blues band on This Was to the eclectic pop/rock band on Stand Up, didn't happen just like that. It was the result of a band trying very hard to find its own voice/sound/identity. And boy, did it pay off!

The next years saw Jethro Tull release Benefit, Aqualung, Thick as a Brick, A Passion Play, WarChild, Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, Minstrel in the Gallery, Songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses and Stormwatch. Ten fantastic albums and one not that great in a row. No other band can compete with that!

Copyright © 2016 Borger Tranedans