MINT SHRINK + LYRICS JETHRO TULL AQUALUNG Hard Prog

$

37

PRSTINE MINT COLLECTIBLE ***STILL IN ORIGINAL FACTORY SHRINK WRAP !                           

            JETHRO TULL

             AQUALUNG

\                                                        USA - CRYSALIS RECORDS - 1044

OUTSTANDING MINT CLEAN VINTAGE PRESSING in gatefold cover amazing to find this minty clean old copy:

  STILL IN ORIGINAL FACTORY SHRINK WRAPPER!!!   with lyrics insert ...complete, just as first pressing released ... the gatefold has NEVER been opened!

"Aqualung" shows vocalist Ian Anderson at his biting, lyrical best. His voice (not classically beautiful but highly expressive and always effective in its delivery) snarls and soothes in turn - as the album's musical content strikes the right balance between acoustic, folk-flavoured moments and fiery, hard-rocking numbers, enhanced by Martin Barre's aggressive guitar. Actually, "hard rock" is probably the most suitable definition for the album's overall sound. Barre, more restrained on the band's previous albums, pulls out all the stops and delivers some of the most incendiary solos in the history of progressive rock? - notably the one on "Aqualung", a real showstopper, allegedly done in one take in the presence of Jimmy Page. The contrast with Anderson's wistful, delicate acoustic playing on songs like "Cheap Day Return" and folk-rock masterpiece "Mother Goose" (also featuring nice fluttering flute parts ) is really one of the album's strenghts.

The standout tracks are nothing short of superb - starting with the title-track, which veers from the crushingly heavy opening riff (one of the most immediately recognisable in the history of rock) to the melancholy, acoustic part in which Ian, at his most heartwrenching, bleakly illustrates the reality of the titular tramp's squalid life, to the galloping instrumental middle section and Barre's blistering solo, before the reprise of the initial theme. A masterpiece of songwriting if ever there was one. "Cross-Eyed Mary", about a day in the life of a teenage hooker, is another hard-rock-flavoured number -- while the next three tracks see the tempo slow down and the folk influences come out to play.

The real masterpiece of the album, though, comes at the beginning of Side Two. With caustic, bitter lyrics decrying the hypocrisy of organising religion and the way it demeans the true meaning of God, "My God" features some of Anderson's best, free-form whirling flute work in the middle, and some guitar work by Barre that would not be wrong to call heavy, as in almost, metal. The way his guitar kicks in at the beginning of the song, after Anderson has sung "So lean upon him gently/and don't call on him to save..." literally slices the air in two. Anderson spits out his words with genuine venom, and the lyrics are among the best he's written in a career spanning almost forty years. Then, of course, we have traditional concert encore "Locomotive Breath", a driving, hauntingly heavy song with great flute and guitar work, and rock-solid rythm backing. Album closer "Wind Up", is probably the most traditionally progressive song on the record and excellent in lyrical content.

Side one

1. "Aqualung" – 6:31 (Ian Anderson, Jennie Anderson)
2. "Cross-Eyed Mary" – 4:06
3. "Cheap Day Return" – 1:21
4. "Mother Goose" – 3:51
5. "Wond'ring Aloud" – 1:53
6. "Up to Me" – 3:15

Side two

1. "My God" – 7:08
2. "Hymn 43" – 3:14
3. "Slipstream" – 1:13
4. "Locomotive Breath" – 4:23
5. "Wind Up" – 6:01

CONDITION: The rough textured gatefold cover is pristine clean, flat and square in original factory shrink wrapper (the gatefold has never been opened!) MINT no seam splits, no bends, no writing anywhere...

The vinyl is ALL clean and clear, MINT

the lyrics insert is clean & crisp

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record