Aqualung (Jethro Tull, 1971)

With 21 studio albums and a 44 year history, Jethro Tull is one of those bands with a very long story to tell. A band that would emerge among the hordes of participants in the British Blues boom, it would veer off in a completely different direction than its contemporaries. Their first album, This Was, was about as bluesy as they got. After a change of guitarist, Tull fell far more in league with the progressive rock bands than their old blues counterparts, with harder solos, more flute, and more twisted lyrics. Also during this time, the band was transforming from its "original" incarnation into one that reassembled the old "John Evan Smash" - a pre-Tull group that had dissolved by 1967. By the time of Aqualung the transformation was nearly complete, with John Evan made a full member of the band and Jeffery Hammond-Hammond (the subject of three earlier Tull songs) assuming bass duties from Glenn Cornick. Barriemore Barlowe (the missing piece of the old Smash) would join on the next album; this would be Clive Bunker's last album behind the drumkit.

Aqualung was not only the band's most successful album, but also is a fine document in the transformation of a prog band. Those prog tendencies elevated them to new heights with each album, but within a couple years would also serve as their undoing. This is really the first time that clear themes are evident throughout an entire Jethro Tull album, rather than the album just being a collection of individual songs. It's not exactly a "concept album" (something Ian Anderson hotly denies) but similar characters and ideas pop up in each song, especially side 2 (subtitled "My God") which delves into Anderson's twisted theology. I'm not sure the listening public really picked up on any themes, electing the hard rocking title track and "Locomotive Breath" as successful singles, with "Hymn 43" scoring as a minor hit as well. Meanwhile, the more folk-oriented tracks were kind of overlooked.

If there was any question about Jethro Tull doing concept albums, it was answered with the one-track concept parody album Thick As a Brick, which would rival Aqualung as their greatest success even though being one large inside joke. Critical success melted away from this point onward and even the wider audiences wandered off by mid-decade, leaving behind a core dedicated fan base than would follow the band through a number of musical style changes as well as the divesting of the old "Smash" lineup, completed by 1980 with the dismissal of Barlowe and Evan.

Like most people, Aqualung was an early Tull acquisition for me, alongside Benefit and Thick As a Brick. These albums are probably the best place to start any collection. These, along with the first two albums, are sure bets. After that, though, proceed with caution!