Aqualung (album)

An early version of "My God" was recorded on 11–12 April 1970, followed by "Wond'ring Aloud, Again" on 21 June, both at Morgan Studios. After an American tour, bass player Glenn Cornick was fired from the band, and was replaced with Jeffrey Hammond, an old friend of Ian Anderson. Aqualung would be Hammond's first album with the band. It would also mark the first time John Evan had recorded a full album with the band, as his only prior involvement was to provide several keyboard parts on the previous 1970 album, Benefit. In December, the album became one of the first to be recorded at Island Records' newly opened recording studios on Basing Street in London. Led Zeppelin did some recording for Led Zeppelin IV at the same time, though in the smaller of the two studios in the converted chapel. In an interview on the 25th anniversary edition of the album, Tull's bandleader Ian Anderson said that trying to record in the larger studio was very difficult, because of its "horrible, cold, echoey" feel. The orchestral segments were arranged by Dee Palmer, who had worked with the band since 1968's This Was, and would later join as a keyboard player. The master reels were assembled at Apple Studios on 2 March 1971. Aqualung would be the last Jethro Tull album to include Clive Bunker as a band member, as he retired shortly after recording to start a family. ==Musical style==

The songs on the album encompass a variety of musical genres, with elements of folk, blues, psychedelia, and hard rock. The "riff-heavy" nature of tracks such as "Locomotive Breath", "Hymn 43" and "Wind Up" is regarded as a factor in the band's increased success after the release of the album, with Jethro Tull becoming "a major arena act" and a "fixture on FM radio" according to AllMusic. In a stylistic departure from Jethro Tull's earlier albums, many of Aqualung's songs are acoustic. "Cheap Day Return", "Wond'ring Aloud" and "Slipstream" are short, completely acoustic "bridges", and "Mother Goose" is also mostly acoustic. Anderson claims his main inspirations for writing the album were Roy Harper and Bert Jansch. ==Themes==

Aqualung has generally been regarded as a concept album with a central theme of "the distinction between religion and God". Drummer Clive Bunker believes that the record's perception as a concept album is a case of "Chinese whispers", explaining "you play the record to a couple of Americans, tell them that there's a lyrical theme loosely linking a few songs, and then notice the figure of the Aqualung character on the cover, and suddenly the word is out that Jethro Tull have done a concept album". Other songs "Lick Your Fingers Clean" was recorded for Aqualung, but was not included on the album. The song was drastically re-worked as "Two Fingers" for Tull's 1974 album, War Child. "Lick Your Fingers Clean" was eventually released in 1988 on the 20 Years of Jethro Tull collection. It was then released as a bonus track on the 1996 and 2011 reissues of Aqualung. Another song, "Wond'ring Again" was recorded on 21 June 1970 together with the original version of "Wond'ring Aloud" (included as one single seven-minute song on the Steven Wilson remaster of associated recordings 1970–1971, titled "Wond'ring Aloud, Again"), and was considered for release on the album before Anderson decided to drop it from the final track listing. "Wond'ring Again" was subsequently released on the compilation album, Living in the Past, in 1972. A re-recording of "Wond'ring Aloud" was included on Aqualung. Glenn Cornick played bass on the song and says that it is his favourite song he recorded with the band. Cornick also played bass on early studio recordings of "My God" and "a couple of other songs", though he did not say which they were. ==Album cover==

The album's original cover art by Burton Silverman features a watercolour portrait of a long-haired, bearded man in shabby clothes. The idea for the cover came from a photograph Anderson's wife took of a homeless man on Thames Embankment, and Anderson later felt it would have been better to have used the photograph rather than commission the painting. Ian Anderson recalls posing for a photograph for the painting, though Silverman claims it was a self-portrait. Silverman was paid a flat fee of $1,500 for the painting. or perhaps from Chrysalis' office during a robbery. The original artwork for the interior gatefold painting was not taken during the robbery and is held by Terry Ellis. ==Release==

In April 1971, Aqualung peaked at number four on the UK Album Chart; when the CD version was released in 1996, it reached number 52. It peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard's North American pop albums chart; the single "Hymn 43" hit No. 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album went on to sell over seven million copies, and is the band's best-selling album. The single "Hymn 43" was released on 14 August 1971, and reached number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, spending two weeks in the chart. which also featured the album's title track. The album was re-released in a 40th anniversary edition on 31 October 2011. The release contains a new stereo and 5.1 surround remix of the album by British musician and producer Steven Wilson, the original quadraphonic mix, and comes in three different editions—a "collector's edition" containing the album on LP and two CDs, as well a DVD and a Blu-ray disc (with better sound quality than the DVD) and a hardback book; a "special edition" containing the two CDs and an abridged version of the book; and an "adapted edition" containing two CDs (with 2 extra songs not included in the other two 40th anniversary editions) and 2 DVDs in a hardcover book (written content is the same as in the Collector's Edition book, only the Chronology differs slightly). Justifying the remix, Steven Wilson said: "Jethro Tull's Aqualung is ... a masterpiece, but was sonically a very poor-sounding record. So, some didn't rate it as highly as they should have. What we did with Aqualung was really make that record gleam in a way it never gleamed before. I think a lot of people, including myself, have come around to thinking that the album is a lot better than they even gave it credit for previously. So, there is certainly something very gratifying about being able to polish what was already a diamond and making it shine in a way it never has before". Additionally, according to mastering engineer Steve Hoffman there were tape stretching problems with the original session mixdown master, implying that many editions of the album used multigeneration copies as their source. ==Critical reception==

Aqualung received mixed to favourable reviews from contemporary music critics. Rolling Stone magazine's Ben Gerson lauded its "fine musicianship", calling it "serious and intelligent", although he felt that the album's seriousness "undermined" its quality. Sounds said that its "taste and variety" made it the band's "finest" work. Aqualung was voted the 22nd best album of 1971 in The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, was more critical of the album in a 1981 review, and described Anderson's undeveloped cultural interests and negative views on religion and human behaviour as both boring and pretentious. In retrospective reviews the album is generally lauded and viewed as a classic. ==Track listing==

Vinyl release (1971) Original North American Reprise Records pressings of Aqualung contained a slightly edited version of the title song, with its first three seconds (i.e., the first utterance of the song's signature riff) removed. These pressings correspondingly list the song's length at 6:31. CD issue (1996) 40th anniversary special edition (2011) The 2011 version was remixed by Steven Wilson and remastered by Peter Mew. 40th anniversary adapted edition: Remixed and mastered by Steven Wilson (2016) The 2016 edition was remastered by Steven Wilson of his 2011 remixed material as he did not like Peter Mew's mastering. Aqualung Live (2005) Aqualung Live is a live album of a performance of Aqualung before an audience of 40 invited guests at XM Studios in Washington, D.C., on 23 November 2004. It was released in the UK in September 2005 by RandM Records. In the US, the album was given away to ticket holders on almost all US concerts in October and November 2005, before being given an official release on 7 March 2006. Royalties from the European release went to various charities for the homeless. ;Track listing All songs written by Ian Anderson • "Aqualung" – 7:56 • "Cross-Eyed Mary" – 4:34 • "Cheap Day Return" – 1:21 • "Mother Goose" – 5:39 • "Wond'ring Aloud" – 2:00 • "Up to Me" – 3:35 • "My God" – 8:27 • "Hymn 43" – 4:22 • "Slipstream" – 0:59 • "Locomotive Breath" – 5:19 • "Wind-Up" – 6:40 • Riffs – Another Monkey – 1:27 • Recording the Original – 2:05 • Choosing My Words with Care – 1:17 • Hummmmmm 43 – 0:35 • A Different Kettle of Very Different Fish – 1:02 • But is It Any Good? – 1:42 ==Personnel==

• Ian Anderson – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, flute, production • Martin Barre – electric guitar, descant recorder • Jeffrey Hammond (as "Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond") – bass guitar, alto recorder, odd voices; backing vocals on "Mother Goose" • John Evan – piano, organ, Mellotron • Clive Bunker – drums and percussion ;Additional personnel • Glenn Cornick – bass guitar (played with the band at rehearsals for the album in June 1970, some of which may also have been recording sessions – particularly early versions of "My God" and "Wondring Again/Wondring Aloud" – although he is not credited on the album) • John Burns – recording engineer • Dee Palmer – orchestral arrangements and conducting • Burton Silverman – album artwork • Terry Ellis – producer ==Charts==