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Stand Up

Jethro Tull - Stand Up Audio CD

A fair review of the Jethro Tull "Stand Up" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Jethro Tull reviews here, or go back to the Jethro Tull tabs.

Band: Jethro Tull
Title: Stand Up
Rating:

Release Date: 2002-01-08
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: New Day Yesterday 2: Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square 3: Bour�e 4: Back to the Family 5: Look into the Sun 6: Nothing Is Easy 7: Fat Man 8: We Used to Know 9: Reasons for Waiting 10: For a Thousand Mothers 11: Living in the Past [*] 12: Driving Song [*] 13: Sweet Dream [*] 14: 17 [*]

No other like tull
Tull is a joy from beginning to end. . muscially surprising, poetically gifted. I love their concept albums, their debut work. . . From start to finish and everything in between. Instead of complaining, be glad you were alive in this time and place to hear them play. They're timeless, talented, and each song and album is a piece of art from our otherwise artless times and I treasure all of it. . . The only band in recent years that has come close to them in terms of originality, in my humble view and personal taste, is Muse.
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Stands Up
Lyrics portray a tragic figure who can't hold onto something good because something else drives him onward. Stand Up [Bonus Tracks] - Jethro Tull (4 stars)
Original Release: August 1, 1969

Songs:

A New Day Yesterday (4 stars)
Hard-rocking blues that reminds me of Jimi Hendrix. With Martin Barre now playing guitar we have a lead instrument that is a match for Ian Anderson's aggressive flute.

Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square (3 stars)
Light song with coloful instrumentation. Lyrics portray one who is sneering at those that seem above themselves.

Bouree (3 stars)
Jazzy instrumental with flute playing the lead, reminiscent of the instrumentals on "This Was". The song picks up a funky strain in the middle. Like a good instrumental the song stays on the melodic side of thigs and avoids getting lost in improvisation. The melody is based on a work by classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Back To The Family (4 stars)
Off-kilter melody combined with contrasting musical themes makes this song interesting. The Beatles used a similar song form for "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". The lyrics match the two opposing moods of the musical themes which together describe a grass is always greener view of two contrasting lifestyles.

Look Into The Sun (4 stars)
The acoustic guitar and piano start off this wistful, bittersweet ballad about fateful chances you might have taken in life. Would it not be better to risk misery than to never achieve happiness?

Nothing Is Easy (3 stars)
Upbeat, smooth song which says don't worry, be happy. . . my way. Complex drums and instrumental solos conclude this song.

Fat Man (4 stars)
Exotic sounding song harbors a vicious stab at those who are overweight. It seems to me the lyrics do not rest on metaphor but on criticizing those with eating disorders. Despite the raw insensitivities of the lyrics, I still enjoy the music enough to rate this song with 4 stars.

We Used To Know (2 stars)
Relatively straightforward ballad in 3/3 time. Per Wikipedia this song was a direct inspiration for the Eagles' "Hotel California". This song didn't catch my interest very well.

Reasons For Waiting (4 stars)
Acoustic guitar and flute play softly. Sweetness and determination mix in this song like brief shining moments that serve to light the way for a thousand darker ones. The flute response after each set of lyrics suggests the darker element lurking behind the light that moves one through life.

For A Thousand Mothers (3 stars)
Driving rock rhythm echoes lyrics description of a determination that proceeds against misguided opposition. A nice coda brings joy briefly back into the mood where it was lacking elsewhere.

Living In The Past (3 stars)
Catchy, popish tune that sounds like it has been gone over a few times by a producer. Instrumentally simpler than the songs on the album proper.

Driving Song (2 stars)
Rock song with a funky melody which is otherwise fairly simple and not as interesting as the other songs found here.

Sweet Dream (3 stars)
More complex instrumentation and with changes in melody that anticipates the kind of complexity found in "Thick as a Brick" and "A Passion Play". Another teen sneaking out of the house risking what the parents have tried to preserve.

17 (2 stars)
Rock song that moves relentlessly in the same vein throughout. Lyrics attempt to impart perspective to the young one who is growing older.

Album:

Ian Anderson explores some early balladry in this second album from Jethro Tull. Instrumentation is interesting but has largely left behind the blues and jazz with the departure of the band's original guitarist. The new guitarist, Martin Barre, can play a good hard rock riff. No great stand out songs in my view but enough good ones to appeal to the Jethro Tull fan short of being a completist. The bonus tracks marginally add to the musical experience IMO.

MP3 recommendations:

Stand Up EP (4 stars)
1. A New Day Yesterday (4 stars)
2. Back To The Family (4 stars)
3. Look Into The Sun (4 stars)
4. Fat Man (4 stars)
5. Reasons For Waiting (4 stars)

Stand Up w/out Bonus Tracks (3. 36 stars)

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Pound for Pound, It's their best album
Face it, you're lucky to have four, maybe five excellent songs on any given album, but this one just rolls along like a well-oiled machine, and is one of the very few that I just let play through without skipping the weaker tracks. I was 16 years old when this album was first released in 1969, and I was just amazed at how good all the songs were. This, along with Benefit and Aqualung, was Tull at their very best, and Stand Up stands up at the top. It's the one I played for my kids as they went through their mid-late teens and became interested in the "old stuff". . . Jethro Tull is one of the giants of the late sixties and seventies music, and I encourage everyone to play it for their kids, too. Unique, diverse, progressive, and just a great band at their best.

A Great Beginning...
The album contains a number of stand-out tracks, starting off with the well known, A New Day Yesterday. Stand Up (1969) 14 Tracks (4 bonus) (51:41) *****

Jethro Tull's second album is a very good beginning to a string of great albums, from this one through Thick As A Brick. It's no wonder why it is rated so high on Amazon's rating scale (only second to TAAB) since it contains so many good songs, and the fact that the band really comes into their own on this release and developed the sound that today we immediately associate with Jethro Tull, their Folk-based progressive rock containing the ever present Ian Anderson's highly skilled flute playing. Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square is a perfect example as is the instrumental Bouree.

Stand Up does a good job of mixing acoustic tracks in between electric rockers as well as mixing the two styles together on some songs. We get a taste of string arrangements on some and even some horns thrown in, a really varied group of songs.

Another stand-out song is the excellent Nothing is Easy, with its back and forth instrumental solos throughout and interesting time signature changes. This track is fairly heavy and indicates that the band, along with the electric guitar playing of Martin Barre, could play more than just "folksy acoustic songs". The song We Used to Know is mostly an acoustic number, but has a couple of nice electric guitar solos in the background along the way.

The bonus tracks on this release are a nice addition. Originally recorded to be a single, Living In The Past is another stand-out track, included here as a bonus song. The bluesy Driving Song is also a surprise hit in my book, along with Sweet Dream. I think these are some of the best bonus tracks offered on a Tull remaster and definitely aren't throw-away songs or just some odd live cuts thrown in for free.
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Ian turned down Woodstock; catch them at The Isle of Wight
1969 the greatest year in Rock; Ian Anderson and Martin Barre and Company on the very top of their game on Stand Up.

You can see a complete list of all Jethro Tull discography, or go back to the Jethro Tull tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.