Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood (1977) {2003, Japanese Reissue, Remastered}

14 Feb, 23:54
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Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Songs From The Wood
Year Of Release: 1977 / 2003
Label: Chrysalis / Toshiba-EMI Ltd. #TOCP-67185
Genre: Progressive Rock, Folk Rock
Quality: EAC Rip -> FLAC (Img+Cue, Log) / MP3 CBR320
Total Time: 00:52:59
Total Size: 381 / 136 Mb (Covers)
WebSite: Album Preview

Songs from the Wood is the tenth studio album by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, released February 1977. The album signalled a new direction for the band, who turned to celebrating British pagan folklore and the countryside life in a wide-ranging folk rock style which combined traditional instruments and melodies with hard rock drums and electric guitars. The album is considered to be the first of a trio of folk rock albums: Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses (1978) and Stormwatch (1979). On the album cover appears an extended title line: “Jethro Tull—with kitchen prose, gutter rhymes and divers—Songs from the Wood.” The title track of the album contain two of these phrases in its lyrics. The UK music-paper adverts read: “Jethro Tull present ‘Songs From The Wood’. A new album of Old Magic. Songs From The Wood. It’s inspired by the thought that perhaps nature isn’t as gentle as we’d like to believe. And it takes as its theme the natural and supernatural inhabitants of the woodlands of old England. Warm and friendly, harsh and bitter by turns, it includes ‘Ring Out Solstice Bells’ as well as Tull’s new single ‘The Whistler’ and seven other songs. Find a quiet spot and listen to it soon.” The 2003 remastered edition includes a pair of bonus tracks, featuring a live rendition of “Velvet Green.”

Far and away the prettiest record Jethro Tull released at least since Thick as a Brick and a special treat for anyone with a fondness for the group's more folk-oriented material. Ian Anderson had moved to the countryside sometime earlier, and it showed in his choice of source material. The band's aggressive rock interplay and Anderson's fascination with early British folk melodies produce a particularly appealing collection of songs -- the seriousness with which the group took this effort can be discerned by the album's unofficial "full" title on the original LP: "Jethro Tull With Kitchen Prose, Gutter Rhymes, and Divers Songs from the Wood." The group's sound was never more carefully balanced between acoustic folk and hard rock -- the result is an album that sounds a great deal like the work of Tull's Chrysalis Records labelmates Steeleye Span (though Nigel Pegrum never attacked his cymbals -- or his entire drum kit -- with Barriemore Barlow's ferocity). The harmonizing on "Songs From the Wood" fulfills the promise shown in some of the singing on Thick as a Brick, and the delicacy of much of the rest, including "Ring Out, Solstice Bells" (where the group plays full out, but with wonderful elegance), "Hunting Girl," and "Velvet Green," set a new standard for the group's sound. "Pibroch (Cap in Hand)," which is dominated by Martin Barre's electric guitar -- in a stunning array of overlapping flourishes at full volume -- is the only concession to the group's usual hard rock rave-ups, and even it has some lovely singing to counterbalance the bulk of the song.

~ Bruce Eder, All Music

Track List:

01. Songs from the Wood [0:04:55.47]
02. Jack-in-the-Green [0:02:31.10]
03. Cup of Wonder [0:04:33.65]
04. Hunting Girl [0:05:12.58]
05. Ring Out Solstice Bells [0:03:47.45]
06. Velvet Green [0:06:04.42]
07. The Whistler [0:03:30.63]
08. Pibroch (Cap in Hand) [0:08:35.67]
09. Fire at Midnight [0:02:33.38]
10. Beltane (Bonus Track) [0:05:19.25]
11. Velvet Green (Live, Bonus Track) [0:05:53.67]

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