"Catfish Rising" (official studio album, 1991)

Basic info: released in 1991, charted #88 in US and #27 in UK

Line up: Ian Anderson (flute, acoustic mandolin, electric mandolin, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, percussion, vocals, drums and keyboards) Martin Barre (electric guitar) Dave Pegg (bass, acoustic bass) Doane Perry (drums, percussion)

Guests: Andy Giddings (keyboards on tracks 1, 4 and 8), Foss Paterson (keyboards on track 10), John "Rabbit" Bundrick (keyboards on track 11), Matt Pegg (bass on tracks 1, 4 and 7), Scott Hunter (drums on track 7).

Tracklist: This Is Not Love / Occasional Demons / Roll Yer Own / Rocks On The Road /Sparrow On The Schoolyard Wall /Thinking Round Corners / Still Loving You Tonight / Doctor To My Disease / Like A Tall Thin Girl / White Innocence / Sleeping With The Dog / Gold Tipped Boots / Black Jacket And Tie / When Jesus Came To Play

Rating: 5 /10

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Back in the 1991 "Catfish Rising" was hailed as Tull's long-desired return to the roots and, as such, stormed to very healthy sales in Europe. Ok, cool. But, what roots? Basically, "Catfish" is split in three general directions. And two of those have little to do with Tull roots. Namely, several bluesy tracks such as "Sleeping With The Dog" or pompous Whitesnake-inspired arena rock of "This Is Not Love" & "Doctor To My Desease" can hardly have any connection whatsoever to what Anderson & company are famed for. Tull did play blues in early days, but only because their first guitarist Mick Abrahams wanted to (and subsequently got kicked out of the band in order for them not to play blues anymore), and arena-rock... well, that is just so not-Tull, wouldn't you agree? Ok, I'm simplifyng to the bone, but the essence is more or less the same. So, the only thing vaguely in the vein of "back to the roots" fashion is approximatelly one third of the album, that being lil weird folky tunes like "Roll Yer Own" (again, kinda bluesy but cool and refreshing), "Like A Tall Thin Girl", "Gold-Tipped Boots Black Jacket And Tie" or "Sparrow On A Schoolyard Wall". Now, probably the worst part of the CD are arena-rockers, simply because it slightly sucks even when played by those who know how to do it, let alone in Tull's rendition. Bluesy tracks are acceptable, but painfully predictable and therefore pathetically pointless. The remaing stuff, at moments interesting, but nowhere near classic materials a la "Fat Man". And I'm not quoting "Fat Man" just because it's the first classic I remembered. Alas, all the non-blues or non-Whitesnakish music on "Catfish Rising" seems to be "Fat Man part II", so... Kinda lame. Plus, there's "Budapest part II" too, in shape of "White Innocence". Even lamer. Lastly, but maybe even most importantly, this is where Anderson's voice becomes absolutely unacceptable. His weak hoarse sounds almost like a parody and makes you sort of sad, remembering how good & expressive it used to be. Now, having said all the bad things, there is a positive spot as well. "Rocks On The Road" remains one of the best songs Tull penned in last 20+ years... Almost like a song Bob Dylan always wanted to write, but never managed, as boldly as such a statement might sound. But it's just one song, lost among the most terrible bunch of sounds ever produced by Jethro Tull... So... get a "best of" that includes it, and do yourself a favour of forgetting about "Catfish Rising".

"A" (official studio album, 1980)

Basic info: released in 1980, charted #30 in US and #27 in UK

Line up: Ian Anderson (vocals, flute) Martin Barre (electric lead guitar) Dave Pegg (bass) Mark Craney (drums) Eddie Jobson (keyboards, electric violin)

Tracklist: Crossfire / Flyingdale Flyer / Working John, Working Joe / Black Sunday / Protect And Survive / Batteries Not Included / Uniform / 4 W.D. (Low Ratio) /The Pine Marten's Jig / And Further On

Rating: 7/10

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One of the first Tull songs I ever heard was "Flyingdale Flyer" and, honestly, I hated it. I hated it because it features such a beautiful vocal performance ruined by terrible synth sounds, which prevent the whole thing from really taking off as much as it could. So I waited for quite some time before buying "A". Plus, everybody ripped it to shreads and, alongside with "Under Wraps", it has the unpleasent reputation of being the worst Tull record ever. Once finally giving it a chance, I was totally surprised. Not only it's not the worst, but it actually beats most of the post-82 stuff by the band, including the overpraised "Crest Of A Knave" and "Roots To Branches". In fact, "Flyingdale Flyer" aside, there is only one more song that I found kinda hard to digest, that being "Batteries Not Included". However, after paying attention to the lyrics, even that one has some sense and can be, well, accepted as such. On the other hand, the album offers one of the best Tull tracks ever, "Black Sunday", and in addition there is "Working John, Working Joe", maybe the most striking protest-song that the band did after "Aqualung". The other stuff stands on its ground, not that much into hi-tech sound as many suggest, but rather somewhere halfway between "Stormwatch" and "Broadsword And The Best". Thus, "A" makes a good transition point and an acceptable album slightly damaged by a few out-of-place synths, but still very good, especially given that most of those darn synths work ok, as heard on forementioned "Black Sunday". So, if you simply have to hate something, rather pick "Under Wraps". It's much worse. In major part. Even if that one also has a few rough diamonds. But that's another story, huh?

"No Way To... Slow Down" (live 1982 bootleg)

Basic info: recorded live @ Hempstead, Nassau Coliseum, September 18th, 1982. Last two tracks recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, April 2nd, 1982.

Line up: Ian Anderson (vocals, flute, ac. guitar) Martin Barre (electric lead guitar) Dave Pegg (bass, mandolin, vocals) Peter John Vettese (keyboards) Paul Burgess (drums)

Tracklist: Intro, Something's On The Move / Hunting Girl / Fallen On Hard Times / Broadsword / Pussy Willow / A Song For Jeffrey / instrumental based loosely on Living In The Past / Fat Man / Jack-In-The-Green / Clasp / Too Many Too / Watching Me Watching You / Untitled Instrumental / Beastie / The Swirling Pit / Seal Driver / Sweet Dream / Too Old To Rock'n'Roll, Too Young To Die / Aqualung / Locomotive Breath, Black Sunday (instrumental) (medley) / Cheerio / Reynard The Fox / Pibroch, Black Satin Dancer (instrumental medley)

Rating: 8/10

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Review: Generally, lots of Tull fans discard most of what the band did after 1980, given that (a) they started toying with hi-tech synth-driven sound and (b) after giving up on synths, Anderson lost his voice, so nothing else matters anyway. And while I do tend to agree with the "b-part" of such an equation, the 1980-82 period works a-ok for me. Firt of all, especially on "Broadsword And The Beast", Tull managed to merge perfectly their "wooden" sound with sort of then-futuristic synths, which is - mind you - extremelly hard to do, and secondly, the songs are cool. Plain and simple, huh? So, not surprisingly, I find the 1982 tour pleasing as well. "No Way To... Slow Down" is, basically, a home-made CDR but actually beats hands down most of the full blown bootleg releases from the same period. It's a double CD clocking around 100 minutes and stands as very credible documentation of the "Broadsword" tour, with nice balance between new songs such as "Fallen On Hard Times", "Pussy Willow", "Seal Driver", etc, and classics from 1970 - 1979 era. The band sounds very tight and powerfull, I'd say much better than on transitional "A" tour... Plus the sound of "No Way To... Slow Down" deserves at least 7/10, maybe even an eighter (in a bootleg context). Also, slightly trivial, but non the less important to point out, this line up features Paul Burgess on the drums, and given that he never made it on an official release, it most definitely adds to the weight of the album. In conclusion, if you're after a 1982 live Tull bootleg, this is one from the upper half of the list.