046: Jethro Tull - Stand Up (1969)
“It’s definitely in my top three Jethro Tull albums, alongside Aqualung and Songs From the Wood. And being the first of the three in a temporal sense it has a very special place in my heart, because it could have all gone downhill. It could have been a not very good blues album.”
—Ian Anderson
Jethro Tull started their career as a hardcore blues band. Within a few years, they were a hardcore progressive rock band, writing album-long suites of extraordinarily complex music. While both of those eras are interesting, the brief period between the two - where the band had moved away from the blues, but hadn’t yet completely progged out - is some of the best music of its era. Sadly, it doesn’t get discussed nearly enough these days. In this episode, Phil, along with Ben, John, and Mike, dive into this era with 1969’s Stand Up - a contender for the best album Tull ever released. So - don your codpiece, jump on one leg, and join in the fun as we discuss one of the best (and most overlooked) rock albums of 1969 (along with several contemporary singles that, while not on the album proper, are far too good to ignore).
Miscellany
When adding the clips to this episode, Mike mostly chose to use Steven Wilson’s remixes, which, as you’ll hear Phil mention, are generally excellent. The exceptions are “The Witch’s Promise” (for reasons explained in the episode), the live version of “For a Thousand Mothers,” “Thick as a Brick” (because Mike still owns the old remaster), and the songs clipped during the history segment, where the original mono mixes were used to give it a nice sepia-toned flashback feel.
Phil *highly* recommends picking up the Steven Wilson remasters with the hardcover books if you see them. They were produced in limited quantities and are extremely excellent (both in terms of material and in terms of liner notes), so they’re definitely worth picking up if you see them for a reasonable price. One note - there are two deluxe editions of Stand Up available - the Steven Wilson one, with a 1969 concert as bonus material, and an older one with a 1970 concert as bonus material. Both concerts are excellent and both sets are well worth getting.
Mike also relistened to Benefit shortly after recording this episode, and it’s a lot better than he remembered it being. It might not be up there with Tull’s finest work, but it certainly deserves better than the dismissive grunt he gave it in the episode.
Other links
Discord & Rhyme’s Stand Up playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Phil Maddox (host)
Mike DeFabio (moderator, animal noises)
Ben Marlin
John McFerrin
Rich Bunnell (guest vocalist)
Stand Up tracklist
A New Day Yesterday
Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square
Bourée
Back to the Family
Look into the Sun
Nothing Is Easy
Fat Man
We Used to Know
Reasons for Waiting
For a Thousand Mothers
Stand Up-era bonus singles!
Living in the Past
Sweet Dream
The Witch’s Promise
Teacher
Other clips used
Jethro Tull:
Bungle in the Jungle
Aqualung
Inside
Sunshine Day
Serenade to a Cuckoo
Love Story
A Song for Jeffrey
For Michael Collins, Jeffrey, and Me
Thick as a Brick
We Used to Know/For a Thousand Mothers (live)
Locomotive Breath
Others:
Johann Sebastian Bach - Bourrée in E Minor
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Nutrocker
Roland Kirk - You Did It, You Did It
Eagles - Hotel California
Band/album personnel
Ian Anderson – vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, Hammond organ, piano, mandolin, balalaika, mouth organ, production
Martin Barre – electric guitar, additional flute (tracks 2 and 9)
Glenn Cornick – bass guitar (all tracks but 5 and 7)
Clive Bunker – drums, percussion
Terry Ellis – production, cover concept
Andy Johns – engineer, bass guitar (track 5)
Dee Palmer – string arrangements and conductor (track 9)
John Williams – cover concept
James Grashow – cover art
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Jethro Tull - Reasons for Waiting (this episode only)
You can buy or stream Stand Up and other albums by Jethro Tull at jethrotull.com or at the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon, but we recommend checking your favorite local/regional record store first. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and animal noises. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.