June 23 , 1972 - Living In The Past

Just a mere 3 months after the release of the amazing "Thick As A Brick", Jethro Tull released a compilation album with B-sides, singles and a lesser known EP. Oh, and it was a double album! Released on June 23, 1972, it was called "Living In The Past" after the successful single recorded during the "Stand Up" sessions. Similar to Pink Floyd's compilation album "Relics", there are a few songs on this album that were already on studio albums I have covered, so I will be skipping 3 songs. I will then be listening to 16 songs, only 4 though with current members Jeffrey Hammond and Barriemore Barlow. Most of the songs have Clive Bunker on drums and Glenn Cornick on bass and any keyboards are still done by John Evan, though this would only be from the "Benefit" sessions onward. Ian Anderson is the only member on every song as Martin Barre plays guitar on all but one song, an old one with Mick Abrahams that is also the first one I have. (the first song on the record is "A Song For Jeffrey" off their debut album).

My first disc begins with "Love Story" which has some nice drumming by Bunker and decent guitar by Abrahams. Anderson plays a catchy flute riff as well in a song that definitely sounds similar to their first album. Barre is on electric guitar from here on out, including the next track "A Christmas Song". Sleigh bells start it off and there's some cool acoustic guitar by Anderson. There's also a nice orchestral part arranged by David Palmer, who has contributed on Jethro Tull albums since "Stand Up". Track 4 was the hit single "Living In The Past" and a cool bass riff by Cornick drives the song. No surprise to hear some great flute by Anderson and his singing is solid as well. Flute makes the song though, lots of great stuff! The next track is called "Driving Song", with some catchy bass and guitar leading a cool riff. Barre plays a sweet solo and continues to play great stuff to the end along with more great flute, but it fades out in the middle. It seemed like they cut it off before the awesomeness was done, and I hate it when they fade out too early! Palmer adds another fantastic orchestral part to the next song "Sweet Dream". Anderson's singing is great and he also plays a rockin' riff on 12-string electric guitar that sounds very epic! Another solid song that like all others so far was only released as a single before this album. The first brand new song is "Singing All Day" which is a blues-y jam with good singing by Anderson. Barre adds some cool electric guitar, and there's more cool flute throughout the song. Track 8 is titled "The Witch's Promise" which has an awesome flute opening by Anderson! Acoustic guitar carries the song, and on this song it is played by Barre. No matter who plays it it sounds great as usual, and we hear piano by Evan as well on this cool song with great contributions from everyone. After skipping another track that was on "Benefit", the next song is a short one called "Just Trying To Be". Anderson is on acoustic again and there is a very cool sounding piano by Evan. For a song only just over a minute and a half, it's a pretty cool one. 

Side three of this double album has only two songs: both are live from a concert at Carnegie Hall in late 1970 and both are about ten minutes long. The first one is a new track called "By Kind Permission Of" which starts with some odd talking by Anderson. Beautiful piano by Evan ensues as he plays a true solo that sounds really great! Anderson joins in on flute and the two play some great stuff together. Then we're back to just Evan and the piano in some more awesome soloing. You'd think it's Keith Emerson up here, and that's a huge compliment! There is so much amazing piano, it"s easily the best stuff I've heard Evan play! The rest of the band finally joins for the final minute in a fantastic new song. The other live song is a new and improved version of (in my opinion) the best song off their debut album, titled "Dharma For One". It has trippy organ to start, followed by some fast drumming by Bunker and a cool flute riff by Anderson. We hear lyrics in a first verse, with quick singing by Anderson, immediately showing a new added part to the song, as the original was instrumental. There are wordless vocals as well, from everyone in a kind of weird part, but a great bass riff by Cornick starts a new part, and then it's awesome organ by Evan. Flute's turn to shine now as Anderson plays a cool bit, then some wicked guitar by Barre that is really great. Finally, the inevitable drum solo by Bunker. It's a really fucking great solo! Words do not do justice, as both these live songs are really quite fantastic, what a show it would have been! Bunker was an amazing drummer, and will be forever missed, so it's great to hear him go nuts one last time. The band returns for an epic finish with some cool flute and a final little drum solo to close out the live side.

The final side of this double album begins with "Wond'ring Again", a longer song related to "Aqualung's Wond'ring Aloud" that was previously unreleased. Cool piano and guitar carries the first part and Anderson's singing sounds good. We hear a cool bass riff by Hammond as well, as he is now on bass for the remainder of the album. The second half of the song uses the same melody as the album version in a cool little bonus song. The final 5 songs on the album were originally on an EP made inbetween "Aqualung" and "Thick As A Brick" with Barlow on drums to complete the current line-up. The next song was the title track to the EP, "Life Is A Long Song" which is another track with Barre on acoustic guitar. He opens with some great acoustic and Anderson sings the title very quickly, hardly taking 5 syllables to say it. Piano joins in as well, but it's Barre's guitar that makes the song. Anderson plays some great flute for the ending bit as well in a solid song. Up next is "Up The 'Pool" another acoustic-led song. Anderson plays some cool acoustic but there's not much else going on. Track 17 is titled "Dr. Bogenbroom" which has both acoustic and electric guitar sounding great together. Cool piano and flute as well make a pretty good song and there's also a decent solo by Barre at the end. The next song "For Later" has a cool rockin' riff with good bass and guitar. The flute solos overtop and that sounds pretty sweet. For just over 2 minutes, there's a lot of good stuff packed into this song. The final song on the record is an Anderson solo track called "Nursie".
It's just Ian on acoustic and singing and it sounds really nice. Seems like another "Aqualung" interlude, a short but cool finish to a pretty damn good compilation album.

That wraps up "Living In The Past" and while it did have some songs that seemed like B-sides for a reason, it also had a lot of fantastic new songs! I especially liked the live songs and it was an interesting ride through the early history of Jethro Tull. But how does it compare to their studio works? I think that this album had enough good material on it to easily overtake "This Was" and I think I even like it more than "Benefit". Where I draw the line is at "Stand Up", which I believe was a great album. Still, for their compilation album to top two of their studio albums is quite the feat for Jethro Tull, who now have 2 great albums released this year!