Aqualung

Jethro Tull乐队是摇滚乐历史上一支非常特别的队伍，他们的音乐融合了摇滚、民谣、Blues等多种风格，歌词带有超现实的意味。评论界对他们一直比较冷漠，但这并不影响他们拥有大批的歌迷，60年代末刚出道时候，Mick Abrahams的吉他主导了乐队的Blues风格。1968年，演奏长笛的Ian Anderson在乐队的位置引起争议，原来的Blues歌迷更本不喜欢他的演奏，但披着一头浓密长发的Ian Anderson穿着三角裤在舞台上跑来跑去，或做仙鹤单腿独立姿势演奏长笛的方法很快吸引了更多歌迷的关注。随后Mick Abrahams退出了Jethro Tull，这意味着Ian Anderson成为了乐队的主导，随后推出的专辑《Stand Up》何《Aqualung》都带有沉重而抒情的民谣风格，1989年的《Crest Of A Knave》为乐队赢得了葛莱美年度最佳硬摇滚专辑 这张专辑在滚石杂志选出的500张历代最强专辑中排名第337位。 by Bruce Eder Released at a time when a lot of bands were embracing pop-Christianity (à la Jesus Christ Superstar), Aqualung was a bold statement for a rock group, a pro-God antichurch tract that probably got lots of teenagers wrestling with these ideas for the first time in their lives. This was the album that made Jethro Tull a fixture on FM radio, with riff-heavy songs like "My God," "Hymn 43," "Locomotive Breath," "Cross-Eyed Mary," "Wind Up," and the title track. And from there, they became a major arena act, and a fixture at the top of the record charts for most of the 1970s. Mixing hard rock and folk melodies with Ian Anderson's dour musings on faith and religion (mostly how organized religion had restricted man's relationship with God), the record was extremely profound for a number seven chart hit, one of the most cerebral albums ever to reach millions of rock listeners. Indeed, from this point on, Anderson and company were compelled to stretch the lyrical envelope right to the breaking point. As a compact disc, Aqualung has gone through numerous editions, mostly owing to problems finding an original master tape when the CD boom began. When the album was issued by Chrysalis through Columbia Records in the mid-'80s, the source tape was an LP production master, and the first release was criticized for thin, tinny sound; Columbia remastered it sometime around 1987 or 1988, in a version with better sound. Chrysalis later switched distribution to Capitol-EMI, and they released a decent sounding CD that is currently available. Chrysalis also issued a 25th anniversary edition in 1996.