"...Alive And Well And Living In..."
When Tull fans clapped their
weary lugs on Steve Wilson's spectacular Remaster of Jethro's legendary 1971 LP
"Aqualung" – they promptly sat bolt upright and took notice. Since
then there's been a steady stream of Wilson-wonders and now its time to get
perpendicular again for "Benefit" - their under-appreciated 3rd album
from the spring of 1970. Having lived with this multi-disc baby for some months
now – there's no doubt in my mind that this 2013 '2CD/1DVD' overhaul is yet
another sonic jewel in a growing crown of audio-restoration achievements. Here
are the breathy details...
UK released 28 October 2013
(29 October 2013 in the USA) – "Benefit: A Collector's Edition" by
JETHRO TULL on Warner Brothers/Chrysalis 825646413270 (Barcode is the same) is
a 2CD + 1DVD Reissue/Remaster featuring 'New 5.1 & Stereo Mixes with Associated
Recordings 1969-1970' and plays out as follows:
Disc 1 – The Steven Wilson
2013 Stereo Mixes (65:01 minutes)
1. With You There To Help Me
2. Nothing To Say
3. Alive And Well And Living
In
4. Son
5. For Michael Collins,
Jeffrey And Me
6. To Cry For A Song [Side
2]
7. A Time For Everything?
8. Inside
9. Play In Time
10. Sossity: You're A Woman
Tracks 1 to 10 make up their
3rd album "Benefit" – released 20 April 1970 in the USA on Reprise RS
6400 and 1 May 1970 in the UK (delayed from 24 April 1970) on Chrysalis/Island
ILPS 9123.
EXTRA TRACKS:
11. Singing All Day (Stereo)
12. Sweet Dream (Stereo)
13. 17 (Stereo)
14. Teacher – (4:58 minutes,
UK Single Version, Stereo)
15. Teacher – (4:03 minutes,
US Album Version, Stereo)
Disc 2 – Associated
Recordings 1969-1970 (58:28 minutes):
1. Singing All Day
(Previously Unreleased 1969 Mono Mix)
2. Sweet Dream (Mono Single
Mix)
3. 17 (Mono Single Mix)
Tracks 12 and 13 are the
A&B-sides of a non-album UK 7" single released 17 October 1969 on
Chrysalis/Island WIP 6070
4. Sweet Dream (Previously
Unreleased 1969 Stereo Mix intended as a Promo)
5. 17 (Previously Unreleased
1969 Stereo Mix intended as a Promo, B-side of "Sweet Dream")
6. The Witch's Promise –
Original 1969 Mono Mix used in Europe and USA - double A-side with
"Teacher" (UK used the Stereo version, see Track 9)
7. Teacher - Original 1969
Mono Mix used in Europe and USA – double A-side with "The Witch's
Promise" (UK used the Stereo version, see Track 10)
8. Teacher – US Album
Version in Mono. Also issued as a double-A side with "The Witch's
Promise" in Reprise Records territories
9. The Witch's Promise –
original 1969 UK 7" single Stereo Mix issued 16 January 1970 on
Chrysalis/Island WIP 6077, double-A with "Teacher"
10. Teacher - original 1969
UK 7" single Stereo Mix issued 16 January 1970 on Chrysalis/Island WIP
6077, Double-A with "The Witch's Promise"
11. Teacher – US Album
Version, Stereo. Also issued as a US Promo 7" single with "Witch's
Promise" on Reprise 0899
12. Inside (Single Edit,
Mono) – Original 1970 UK 7" single Mono Mix/Edit – released May 1970 on
Chrysalis/Island WIP 6081 – shorter in length to the LP version
13. Alive And Well And
Living In (UK Single Mix, Mono) – released May 1970 on Chrysalis/Island WIP
6081 as the B-side to "Inside". A Stereo variant prepared in 1971
appeared on the 1972 double-album "Living In The Past"
14. A Time For Everything –
A Mono Reduction of the 1970 Stereo Album Mix used on the Reprise Records LP -
also a B-side to "Inside" in certain Reprise Records territories
15. Benefit AM Radio Spot
No. 1 (Mono)
16. Benefit FM Radio Spot
No. 2 (Stereo) – issued to US Radio Stations May/June 1970 on Reprise PRO 395
DVD, NTSC, All Regions (0),
Aspect Ratio 16.9
Steven Wilson's 2013 Stereo
Mixes of "Benefit" and 5 Extra Tracks in DTS and Dolby AC3 5.1
Surround & Stereo 96/24 LPCM (65:06 minutes)
Flat transfers of the
Original UK and US LP Master in 96/24 LCPM (59:59 minutes)
Additional Tracks
"Sweet Dream", "17" and "The Witch's Promise"
AUDIO Formats: DTS 96/24 5.1
Surround, Dolby AC3 5.1 Surround 96/24 Stereo LPCM
The 42-page booklet is
superbly done and properly packed with fan-pleasing info. MARTIN WEBB gives a
hugely detailed and deft history of that 'difficult' third album. After a
successful tour supporting Led Zeppelin in the USA – Tull popped back to
Blighty to record tracks. But the text cites Tull's inner-camp suspicion that
singles were breaking the band. And even though the 45s were chart successes -
the group felt it was album-buyers who loved them most (and they were proven
right). Alongside all the discussion of American Tours and songwriting - you're
treated to trade adverts for the LP (advertised as due 24 April 1970 but more
likely to have arrived 1 May 1970) and rare Euro picture sleeves for
"Sweet Dream" and "Witch's Promise/Teacher" (with or with
the prefix 'The' on both tracks). On top of that there's caustic and witty
track-by-track discussions by Ian Anderson (Lead Vocals, Flute, Principal
Songwriter), Martin Barre (Guitars), Glenn Cornick (Bass) and Clive Bunker
(Drums). It even references a 1999 interview with John Evans who was called in
to lay down Piano and Organ (credited as John Evan on the LP). There's a
'Sessionography' page cleverly laid out in the text style of a Morgan Studios
Tape Box (3 September 1969 to 25 February 1970), a list of US and UK Tour Dates
for 1970, Terry Ellis notes on ‘Managing and Touring with Jethro Tull’ and
finally STEVEN WILSON explanations on the Remasters in all its transfer
complexity.
SOUND: I have to say that
Wilson has once again done wonders with a Tull album. I’ve had my A1/B2 matrix
LP of ILPS 9123 for way too many decades now and it's sounded brill – but these
CD Remasters are glorious – full of warmth, detail and a musicality that I’ve
not heard on any Previous CDs or Vinyl pressings. The Stereo imaging is
noticeably better – not harsh left and right panning – but more centred. I
don’t have a 5.1 system but a mate does and he’s been raving about the 'band in
the living room' and sense of 'awe' that the Surround Mixes offer. Niggles –
with all that effort and number of pages – it would have been good to include the lyrics this time around (songs like "For Michael Collins,
Jeffrey And Me" cry out for it).
As you can see from Disc 2 –
Jethro Tull 7" singles in the UK, USA and other territories (Europe and
Japan) were released in a plethora of Mono and Stereo Mixes and Edit variants
that dizzies the brain. I never knew that the Double-A of "The Witch's
Promise" and "Teacher" was issued in Stereo in the UK but only
as Mono in European countries - while our American pals had to wait until the
1988 "20 Years Of Jethro Tull" Box Set to get their Mono version. At
least this comprehensive issue sorts that out and other odd LP anomalies. The
Steve Wilson Stereo Mix of "Teacher" on Disc 1 (Track 14) that runs
to 4:58 minutes is a fabulous sonic revelation. Nearly 50 seconds longer than
the American Reprise Records album version – US fans are going to love that
stretched out guitar and the beautiful remaster. The notes also advise that the
mixes for "Singing All Day", "The Witch's Promise" and
"Teacher" that appeared on the 1972 "Living In The Past"
double-album were actually done in 1971 so that would make the 1999 Mobile
Fidelity 2CD versions of them exclusive. They've even fixed 'pitch' mistakes on
both versions of "Teacher" faultily recorded on 8-track at the time.
And of course those Previously Unreleased versions are amazing finds after all
these years.
That wild Flute & Vocals
flourish that begins "With You There To Help Me" opens Side 1 with a
sinister almost creepy song of longing. The Remaster really accentuates those
acoustic guitar strums from Barre. "Nothing To Say" is probably the
most Prog song on the album and a musical fave of Martin Barre – sounding
bigger now than ever. "Alive And Well And Living In" was the first
track I really liked on the album and it's funny to read that in 2013 - Ian
Anderson would 'bin it!' according to his typically forthright liner notes.
Dustbin or no - the remaster on "Alive And Well And Living In" is
wonderfully clear – especially those piano and acoustic battles between John
Evans and Martin Barre supported so sweetly by the rhythm section of Glenn
Cornick and Clive Bunker. "Son" is a nasty and hard-rocking 'father
and son' parable with treated Ian Anderson vocals and at 1:29 minutes suddenly
breaks into the most brilliant music/lyrics/in/tandem refrain. The largely
Acoustic "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me" is brilliant - my
personal poison for this LP. Written in the USA about the Moon Missions while
they absorbed musical breakthroughs like the first Crosby, Stills & Nash LP
– it has fabulous acoustic interplay between Anderson and Barre – and the
Remaster is so damn good.
That Tull signature guitar
sound opens Side 2 with "To Cry You A Song" – a song about
displacement and being far away (three US tours) – and it continues with the
'little song' that is "A Time For Everything" – another Tull winner
that straddles complex and simple in their strange song-structure way. Glenn
Cornick rightly espouses his Bass line contribution to the superb
"Inside" – but if I'm truthful I prefer the more prominent vocal on
the Mono single mix. Funny how they all seem to hate "Play In Time" –
a lyrical pun by Anderson on the difficulty of the band's time signatures. But
I actually like its riffing guitars and mock Psychedelic sound effects. Even
better is awesome audio quality to "Sossity: You're A Woman" – the
album's accomplished finisher. Overall the whole LP transfer is a rip-roaring
success to my ears...
Jethro Tull would go global
in 1971 with "Aqualung" and rightly so. And it has to be truthfully
said that Benefit's illustrious follow up is a better crop of songs and a more
coherent LP in every way. But this fabulous 2013 reissue of 1970's
"Benefit" should surely mean that this forgotten bow in Tull's
arsenal of strings should be reappraised. Well done to all involved...
