"Heavy Horses: New Shoes Edition" by JETHRO TULL (March 2018 Chrysalis 3CD/2DVD Book Set Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Hoeing And Husbandry..."

I was a kid of the early Seventies ("Aqualung", "Thick As A Brick", the "Living In The Past" double-album) - so by the time Jethro Tull's 11th album "Heavy Horses" arrived in April 1978 with the double "Live: Bursting Out" following quickly later that same year in September - I can recall being disinterested in JT entirely and thinking - who the hell is buying either of these?

And yet Tull have always been a cult band personified - so despite or perhaps even because of the utterly changed musical landscape they found themselves in – defiantly "Heavy Horses" bucked the 'Rock Is Dead - Long Live Punk and New Wave' ethos of the NME et al and charted well on both sides of the pond - No. 20 in the UK and even better at No. 19 in the States ("Live: Bursting Out" did the same - No. 17 in the UK and No. 20 in the USA). Now I'm re-listening afresh to what is presently referred to as Part 2 of their Folk-Rock album trilogy - 1978's "Heavy Horses" - the one between "Songs From The Woods" in 1977 and "Stormwatch" in 1979.

And once again fans and newcomers alike will slaver and drool over this 5-Disc Book Set - yet another in Tull's extraordinary reissue campaign that has been putting most major label reissues of huge bands to utter shame for a few years now. There's a cartload of detail to plough through (forgive the puns) - so once more my hirsute horsy friends unto the Mad Nags and Englishmen (and that one-legged geezer with the hat and the flute)...

UK and USA released 2 March 2018 - "Heavy Horses: New Shoes Edition" by JETHRO TULL on Parlophone/Chrysalis 0190295757915 (Barcode 0190295757915) is a 3CD + 2DVD Reissue containing both "Heavy Horses" the album and the live double-set that followed "Live: Bursting Out" – all housed in a Hardback 'Book Set' with an attached 96-page booklet. The team of Steve Wilson, Jakko Jakszyk, Don Needham and Ray Shulman (long associated with Tull reissues) have carried out the Audio and DVD Remasters and Authoring and "Heavy Horses: New Shoes Edition" plays out as follows:

CD1 "Heavy Horses" (76:23 minutes):

1.  ....And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps [Side 1]

2. Acres Wild

3. No Lullaby

4. Moths

5. Journeymen

6. Rover [Side 2]

7. One Brown Mouse

8. Heavy Horses

9. Weathercock

Tracks 1 to 9 are their 11th album "Heavy Horses" - released 10 April 1978 in the USA on Chrysalis CHR 1175 and 21 April 1978 in the UK also on Chrysalis CHR 1175. Produced by IAN ANDERSON and JETHRO TULL - it peaked at No. 20 on the UK LP charts and No.19 in the USA.

ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS

10. Living In These Hard Times [Version 2] - Planned to be on the withdrawn "Moths" EP - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

11. Everything In Our Lives [Studio Outtake] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

12. Jack-A-Lynn [Early Version, Studio Demo] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

13. Quatrain [Studio Version, it featured on "Live: Bursting Out" as a new song in live form] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

14. Horse-Hoeing Husbandry [Studio Outtake] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

15. Beltane [Withdrawn from the "Moths" EP - eventually surfaced on "20 Years Of Jethro Tull" Box Set in June 1988]

16. Botanic Man [Recorded live for the Thames TV Series 'Botanic Man' with David Bellamy but not used] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

17. Living In These Hard Times [Version 1] - Studio Outtake eventually surfaced on "20 Years Of Jethro Tull" Box Set in June 1988

18. Botanic Man Theme [Recorded for the Thames TV Series 'Botanic Man' with David Bellamy but not used] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD2 "Live In Berne 1978 (Part 1)" (50:16 minutes):

1. Opening Music (Quartet)

2. Introduction by Claude Nobs

3. No Lullaby

4. Sweet Dream

5. Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day

6. Jack-In-The-Green

7. One Brown Mouse

8. Heavy Horses

9. A New Day Yesterday

10. Flute Solo Improvisation/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Bouree

11. Living in The Past (Instrumental)/A New Day Yesterday (Reprise)

12. Songs From The Wood

CD3 "Live In Berne 1978 (Part 2)" (59:33 minutes):

1. Thick As A Brick

2. Hunting Girl

3. Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die

4. Conundrum

5. Minstrel In The Gallery

6. Cross-Eyed Mary

First Encore

7. Quatrain

8. Aqualung

Second Encore

9. Locomotive Breath

10. The Dambusters March/Aqualung (Reprise)

NOTE: the 22-tracks of CDs 2 and 3 represent the complete concert upon which the 17-track double-album "Live: Bursting Out" was based. Released 22 September 1978 in the UK on Chrysalis CJT 4 and 25 September 1978 in the USA on Chrysalis CH2 1201 (peaked at No. 17 and No. 21 respectively) – its four original sides can be sequenced from these two CDs using the following tracks:

Side 1: Tracks 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 from CD2

Side 2: Tracks 9, 10 and 12 from CD2 and Track 1 from CD3

Side 3: Tracks 2, 3, 4 and 5 from CD3

Side 4: Tracks 6, 7, 9 and 10 from CD3

DVD 1 (Audio) - NTSC, Region 0 (All Regions), 16.9 Aspect, Exempt from Classification

Contains all 9-Tracks of the "Heavy Horses" album

Plus "Living In These Hard Times (Versions 1 & 2), "Everything In Our Lives", "Jack-A-Lynn", "Horse-Hoeing Husbandry", "Beltane", "Botanic Man" and "Botanic Man Theme" remixed to 5.1 DTS, AC3 Dolby Digital Surround and 96/24 LPCM Stereo by STEVE WILSON

Also has original Stereo mixes of "Heavy Horses" album, "Rover (No Strings version)", "Living in These Hard Times (Version 2)", "Beltane" and "Quatrain (SW Mix)" as 96/24 LPCM Stereo

DVD 2 (Audio/Video) - NTSC, Region 0 (All Regions), 16.9 Aspect (Videos 3:4), Exempt from Classification

Jethro Tull recorded live to 2-track at The Festhalle, Berne, Switzerland by The Maison Rouge Mobile

Remixed to 5.1 DTS, AC3 Dolby Digital Surround and 96/24 LPCM Stereo by JAKKO JAKSZYK

Promotional Video Footage of the tracks "Heavy Horses" and "Moths" Plus 2 TV Adverts for "Bursting Out"

JETHRO TULL was:

IAN ANDERSON - Vocals, Flute, Whistles, Mandolin, Acoustic and Electric Guitars

MARTIN BARRE - Lead Electric Guitar

JOHN EVAN - Piano and Organ

DAVID PALMER - Keyboards and Orchestral Arrangements

JOHN GLASCOCK - Bass

BARRIEMORE BARLOW - Drums and Percussion

On Page 18 of the incredible 96-page booklet is a picture of a 'Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses' Promotional Bottle of Ale complete with its ridged flip cap - on Page 52 is a repro of the rare front page folio for the book "Horfe-Hoeing Husbandry" by Jethro Tull published in London by A. Millar in 1731 (the character the band based their name on) - on Page 74 (to Page 81) that begins the January 1977 to November 1978 day-by-day 'Chronology' of all things JT is a night-time photo of the ill-fated Maison Rouge Studios in Fulham, South West London that the band bought and kitted out to record "Heavy Horses" (now a car-park or some such). It all gives you an indication of the kind of depth we're talking about here. The info and memorabilia come at you fast and furious and it’s a dull boy indeed who would not be impressed with the sheer effort and scope of this reissue.

And did I mention that the record itself sounds utterly amazing - once again the Wills-meister STEVE WILSON and footage genius JAKKO JAKSZYK have pulled off yet more upgrades on both fronts (somebody needs to put these men on the New Year’s Honours List for services to Prog lurches everywhere). So what about the Music and the Visuals...

As the front cover artwork suggests - Ian Anderson leading Barley and Sir Jim towards us (both gorgeous animals courtesy of the Courage Shire Horse Centre in Maidenhead, Berkshire) - this is a deeply English Countryside Album. "Heavy Horses" is a down-on-the-farm, doing-loads-of-rural-stuff set of Folk-Rock songs and the Acoustic Guitars and Flute of "...And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps" opens proceedings rather nicely. There is real punch in the rhythm section - drums and bass - and that battle between the keyboards and layered vocals later on sounds cool too. Tull tap the Mandolin for "Acres Wild" - a great mixture of their “Stand Up” sound meeting Fairport Convention's "Liege & Lief" Folk-Rock - with one foot in both camps (and I love those breaks that sound like Horslips enjoying themselves). It's easy to hear why Tull opened the live "Bursting Out" double with the clever Rock Guitar of "No Lullaby" - its everything they were at the time - English Folk meets Prog Rock. But that's trashed by the album's mini masterpiece - "Moths". Chrysalis thought so too - releasing it 7 April 1978 on 7" single ahead of the album in the UK (Chrysalis CHS 2214 had "Life Is A Long Song" as its UK B-side while the American variant was to carry "Beltane" on its flipside but the release was withdrawn). Palmer's string arrangement dances like the 'candle flames' in the lyrics. 

Martin Barre gives it some wicked guitar work on "Journeyman" - tripping the light fantastic. Anderson chases every footstep and follows every limb in "Rover" - his lady and that lovelorn pot-of-gold just out of reach (beautiful production values on this). "One Brown Mouse" also sounds like it could have been a single - take some tea with me awhile he sings as the acoustic strums race with the drums. The nine-minute title track is the most Prog of all and its arrangements are brilliant - soft acoustics bolstered by lovely string arrangements (you also get to concentrate on the articulate lyrics). It ends on the Mandolin Folk of "Weathercock" (there's one pictured on Page 50) where Anderson's good-morning melody sounds warm and summery (sing to me softly) as Barre brings the song and the album to a satisfactory finish with brilliant guitar flourishes.

I hadn't expected much from the extras - but again I'm shocked at how good "Living In These Hard Times" is - here in two takes - Version 2 done in July with Version 1 dating from February 1977. I'd also argue that "Everything In Our Lives" is equal to anything on the album or at least would have made a killer B-side. And while the David Bellamy theme songs to his "Botanic Man" are interesting if not a bit too heavy-handed - the lovely early version of "Jack-A-Lynn" is surely the unreleased prize here. Sounding like something that could have come straight out of the "Wandering Aloud" sessions from "Aqualung" – both it and "Quatrain" are fabulous outtakes – the second with Anderson's frustration and mistakes left on the tape. The Live Double is cool icing on the cake with barnstorming versions of "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day", "Sweet Dream" and "Cross-Eyed Mary". And the DVD promo videos are a hoot if not a tiny bit cringeworthy now.

I full appreciate that "Heavy Horses" and Jethro Tull in general will not be everyone's idea of 1978 - but man you have to give credit where credit's due. This is an amazing reissue and well done to all involved...

"Trilogy: Deluxe Edition" by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (2015 Sony Music/Legacy 2CD/1DVD-A Set – Paschal Byrne/Andy Pearce/Nigel Wilkes/Jakko Jakszyk Remixes and Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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CLASSIC 1970s ROCK On CD - Exception Remasters  

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"...It Was All Clear...From The Beginning..." 

As an impressionable 14-year old in 1972 Dublin - I can remember holding the 4th ELP album under my arm in all its gorgeous Island Records Hipgnosis Gatefold Sleeve splendiffery as I trucked along the unsuspecting footpath to my mate's house in Clontarf (he later turned out to be a blindingly great bass player - Raymond "Gally" Kelleher). I was gamely determined to get him away from that grungy hard-rocking Black Sabbath and Budgie stuff and introduce the clearly unenlightened eejet Ray to the wondrous and complicated Moog glories of Prog Rock (some chance). He listened to Part One of "The Endless Enigma" and uttered adjectives beginning with 'f' that his mother wouldn't have approved of. Not even Carl Palmer saying the "s" word at the beginning of "The Sheriff" as he misses a beat (which seemed terribly exciting at the time) bought out the inner Rock ‘n’ Roller in him. No – none of it worked – in fact massively unimpressed - Gally looked at me sideways - like I might need to up the drugs-intake or get more therapy (and real fast). Ah well...

In equal measure ELP’s catalogue has long since been the stuff of devotion and utter derision as the decades roll by – and I’m down with both opinions. They were bloated and preposterous at times for sure – but they were also innovative and magnificent and with "Trilogy" – they moved me. "Trilogy" has always had a place in my clogged-up soft machine and this stunning 3-disc reissue finally does that nugget in their patchy catalogue a long-deserved solid. Here are laced-up boots and moody side profiles...

UK released 27 April 2015 (May 2015 in the USA) – "Trilogy: Deluxe Edition" by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER on Sony Music/Legacy /Leadclass Limited 88875004902 (Barcode 888750049025) is a 2CD/1DVD Reissue which breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 – Original Trilogy (42:12 minutes):

1. The Endless Enigma (Part One)

2. Fugue

3. The Endless Enigma (Part Two)

4. From The Beginning

5. The Sheriff

6. Hoedown

7. Trilogy [Side 2]

8. Living Sin

9. Abaddon’s Bolero

Tracks 1 to 9 are their 4th album "Trilogy" – originally released July 1972 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9186 and in the USA on Cotillion SD-9903 (Produced by Greg Lake and Eddie Offord). Original master tapes transferred by PASCHAL BYRNE at Audio Archiving in London – remaster for the original mix by ANDY PEARCE.

Disc 2 – New Stereo Trilogy (46:53 minutes):

1. From The Beginning (Alternate Version)

2 to 10 as per Disc 1 with each track as (New Stereo Mix)

Disc 3 – DVD-A 5.1 Trilogy:

Tracks 1 to 9 (as per Disc 1) offers the album in “Original Mixes Presented In Both MLP Lossless & LPCM – both at 24-bit 96kHz”

Tracks 10 to 18 (as per Disc 1) offers the album in “New Stereo Mixes Presented In Both MLP Lossless 5.1 & Stereo at 24-bit 96kHz, DTS 96/24 5.1 & Dolby Digital 5.1 (48kHz) and LPCM Stereo 24-bit 96kHz

Track 19 is “From The Beginning (Alternate Version)” – as per 10 to 18

The New Stereo and 5.1 Surround Mixes are both by JAKKO JAKSZYK - a musician who has been involved in some of the King Crimson Reissues with 5.1 Surround Mixes (all have been praised greatly). DVD-A Authoring is by NIGEL WILKES at Opus Productions. Both Disc 2 and 3 are listed as PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED.

The DVD-A loads up the screen with the front cover artwork across the full widescreen spectrum as it displays EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER – Trilogy – DELUXE EDITION. It offers 3 options (a) Play (b) Audio Setup and (c) Original Mix. If you press play it will immediately launch into the New Stereo Mix by Jakko Jakszyk while the LPCM Stereo, DTS 5.1 Surround and Dolby Digital Surround options are all off the Audio Set Up link.

The four-flap foldout card digipak is a chunky affair with a picture of Keith Emerson (Keyboards), Greg Lake (Lead Vocals and Bass) and Carl Palmer (Drums) under each of the three see-through plastic trays. The 16-page booklet features new liner notes from noted writer and Musicologist CHRIS WELCH with a superbly in-depth interview from Jakko Jakszyk on the tapes and Surround mixes he had to make. A fan of the band since 1971 when he saw the group at the Oval Cricket Grounds in Kennington, London for £1.25 new pence – his enthusiasm and dedication to getting it right is palatable. The reproduce the inner gatefold trick photo by HIPGNOSIS where they are behind trees (Epping Forest), an advert for the American album on Cotillion and there’s even a fee paragraphs from all three musicians (signed beneath) about how they remember the album. It’s well done - but small change to the musical improvements...

"Trilogy" always had way too much hiss and little or no oomph. I’ve heard (I think) no less than three remasters of it – none of which elevated it beyond 'good'. And while you play Andy Pearce’s gallant attempt on Disc 1 – the truth for me is that the flat transfer doesn’t really sound improved. But all of that goes out the window when you get to Disc 2 and 3 where new Remaster Hero JAKSZYK has finally produced the Audio fans have craved for decades – and in two different ways (no less) that both excel. The New Stereo Trilogy is truly fabulous stuff – the hiss gone – the instruments to the fore – and yet it isn’t trebled up to the nines for effect – the whole sound stage is just better and more ballsy for the want of better words. When Greg Lake sings, "I've begun to see the reasons why I'm here..." as he finishes Part 2 of "The Endless Enigma" – the whole group punch is formidable. And there’s a heartbeat at the beginning of track one (Lake on Bass apparently) that predates "Dark Side Of The Moon" by a year as an intro effect that’s been hidden in the mix for decades.

But then you’re hit with a true sensation – the beautiful ballad by Greg Lake "From The Beginning". Having loved and heard this track for 40+ years in average sound – what an utter blast it is to hear it this clear, this gorgeous and dare we say - this powerful. The acoustic guitars strum with power and warmth, the bass is so sweet and man - when that Keith Emerson solo kicks it – you’re floored. Of the tracks on Side Two the best sounding has to be "Trilogy" with its piano intro and then that massive Synth break in the middle. Those huge keyboard blasts and drum rolls at the end of "Living Sin" also sound incredible.

I popped round to a mate's house to sample the 5.1 Surround and WOW is the only appropriate response. There’s instrumental stuff going in the album finisher "Abaddon's Bolero" that I’ve never heard – rhythm flourishes and guitars that swirl around the room – unbelievably good. The DVD-A is a triumph and I’m really going to have to invest in a decent Surround set up at home.

So there you have it – a good Emerson, Lake And Palmer reissue at last - glory be. Why I’m so animated I might even listen to the side and a half version of "Karn Evil 9" on the dreadful live triple "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends..." set?

Well I might...but then again...I may need to look at those med's levels again as Gally Kelleher once advised...

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