This Was

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This Was is the debut studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released in October 1968. Recorded at a cost of £1200, it is the only Jethro Tull album with guitarist Mick Abrahams, who was a major influence for the sound and music style of the band's first songs. When the album was released, the band were performing regularly at the Marquee Club in London, where other successful British groups, such as the Rolling Stones and the Who, had started their careers.[1]

Compared to the band's later discography, This Was contains significant blues rock and jazz fusion influences, owing to Abrahams' songwriting and playing style. The band would soon begin to abandon much of these influences upon Abrahams' departure after the release of the album, starting with follow up album Stand Up (1969).

Music

While vocalist Ian Anderson's creative vision largely shaped Jethro Tull's later albums, on This Was Anderson shared songwriting duties with Tull's guitarist Mick Abrahams. In part due to Abrahams' influence, the album incorporates more rhythm and blues and jazz influences than the progressive rock the band later became known for. In particular: This Was also contains the only Jethro Tull lead vocal not performed by Ian Anderson on a studio album, in "Move on Alone". Mick Abrahams, the song's author, provided vocals; Dee Palmer provided the horn arrangement. Abrahams left Jethro Tull following the album's completion.

The song "Dharma for One", a staple of Tull's early concerts (usually incorporating an extended drum solo by Clive Bunker), was later covered by Ekseption, Pesky Gee! and The Ides of March. This song featured use of the "claghorn",[2] a hybrid instrument invented by Jeffrey Hammond which combined the body of a recorder, the bell of a toy trumpet and the mouthpiece of a saxophone.[3] Anderson also claims to have invented the instrument.[4]

In the documentary film Woodstock, the songs "Beggar's Farm" and "Serenade to a Cuckoo" can be heard playing over the festival's PA system.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarFile:Star empty.svgFile:Star empty.svg[5]
Record CollectorStarStarStarFile:Star empty.svgFile:Star empty.svg[6]
The Village VoiceC−[7]
The Daily VaultA[8]
Encyclopedia of Popular MusicStarStarStarStarStar[9]

This Was received generally favourable reviews and sold well upon its release. Record Mirror thoroughly recommended the album in 1968 for being "full of excitement and emotion" and described the band as a blues ensemble "influenced by jazz music" capable of setting "the audience on fire".[10] Allen Evans of New Musical Express wrote in his review that the album "sounds good and has a lot of humour about it" and that the band "play jazz really, in a soft, appealing way, and have a bit of fun on the side with tone patterns and singing".[11] American critic Robert Christgau, on the contrary, was appalled by the success of a band that combined "the worst of Roland Kirk, Arthur Brown, and your nearest G.O. blues band."[7]

Recent reviews of the remastered edition underline the duality of Anderson and Abrahams' songwriting and stage presence, as well as the strong ties of the band to blues in their early days. Sid Smith of BBC Music wrote that "what made Tull stand out from the great-coated crowd (of touring bands) was the high-visibility of frontman Ian Anderson's on-stage Tourette's-inspired hyper-gurning and Mick Abraham's ferocious fretwork."[12] An AllMusic reviewer remarked how Jethro Tull on their vinyl debut appeared "vaguely reminiscent of the Graham Bond Organization only more cohesive, and with greater commercial sense".[5] David Davies of Record Collector reminds how "This Was only hints at the depth and majesty of the ensuing seven albums", but also wrote that "the direct, unfussy and predominantly blues-based" tracks of the original recordings and the extra tracks of the collector's edition "could well come as something of a surprise" and "be of the greatest interest to Tull aficionados."[6]

The album reached number 10 on the UK Albums Chart[13] and number 62 on the US Billboard 200.[14] It was voted number 574 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[15]

Track listings

Standard edition

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  • 1973 cassette reissue has same track order, but on opposite sides.
  • Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–10 on CD reissues.

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  • The 2001 remastered CD added three bonus tracks (which had been on the 20 Years of Jethro Tull box-set) and extensive liner notes.

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  • The 2018 edition CD added six bonus tracks (including four previously unreleased tracks).

40th anniversary collectors' edition (2008)

A deluxe, two-CD 40th anniversary edition was released in 2008. It contains the original mono version, a stereo version remixed from the original four-track session tapes, non-LP single tracks and the BBC sessions recorded by the band in 1968 for John Peel's "Top Gear".

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50th anniversary collectors' edition (2018)

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Personnel

Jethro Tull

Additional musicians

Production

Charts

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Chart (1968–1969) Peak
position
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[17] 13
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Chart (2018) Peak
position

Notes

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  1. ^ The album fails to credit the composer of this track, bluesman Isaiah Ross.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference jethrotullthiswas was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Dharma for One Claghorn". Rhythm in Gold. WordPress.com. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Nollen, Scott Allen (15 December 2001). Jethro Tull: A History of the Band, 1968-2001. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 36. ISBN 978-0786411016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Morton, Tom (27 August 2001). "BBC Radio Scotland: Old Wild Men". Tull Press.com. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  5. ^ a b Eder, Bruce. Jethro Tull - This Was (1968) album review at AllMusic. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  6. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Davies, David (June 2008). "Jethro Tull - This Was: Collector's Edition (1968/Remastered 2008)". Record Collector. No. 350. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  7. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Christgau, Robert (14 August 1969). "Consumer Guide (3) (Album Reviews)". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Thelen, Christopher (2019). "The Daily Vault Music Reviews : This Was". dailyvault.com. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Jethro Tull LP Sets Fans on Fire". Record Mirror. Tull Press.com. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Evans, Allen (26 October 1968). "This Was: Jethro Tull". NME. Tull Press.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Smith, Sid (2008). "Jethro Tull - This Was review". BBC Music. BBC. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 282. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."This Was Billboard Albums". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 194. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Enos, Morgan (9 November 2018). "Jethro Tull's Debut 'This Was' Turns 50: A Track-by-Track Retrospective". Billboard. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in suomi) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.

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