Jethro Tull – A

Obviously not the best Tull album, but some solid stuff on here. The first 3 tracks on Side 2 are fantastic.
Random Comparison: The bass playing on "Uniform" (oddly enough) immediately reminded me of the bass from Death's 1993 classic "the Philosopher". I know they used fretless bass on the Death track, but I'm not sure about this Tull song. I don't know enough about bass playing haha.

Bought everything on LP back then and stopped when Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll:
Too Young to Die! appeared. Then I just followed them without buying much.
When the album A appeared I though: There's nothing left of them, but I got a bit
interested with Songs From The Wood, Heavy Horses, Stormwatch, and later on
with The Broadsword And The Beast, Crest Of A Knave, Roots To Branches &
The Jethro Tull Christmas Album.

Nowadays I only have This Was, Stand Up, Benefit, Aqualung, Thick As A Brick,
Living In The Past, Live & Sessions 1968-1969, Live In Sweden 69 on CD (as much
as possible Steven Wilson remixes!) and still got a super fine bootleg LP from 1972:
Flute Cake (live at Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, Ca. Oct, 19, 1970)
All with the classic line up:
Ian Anderson (vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, harmonica, mandolin 1967-),
Mick Abrahams (electric guitar, 1967-68),
Glenn Cornick (bass, 1967-70),
Clive Bunker (drums, 1967-71),
David Palmer (arrangements, 1967-1979),
Martin Barre (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, recorder, 1968-2012),
Lou Toby (string arrangement, 1969),
John Evans (piano, organ, synthesizer, 1970-80),
Jeffrey Hammond (bass, alto recorder, 1971-75),
Barriemore Barlow (drums, 1971-80).

Only Anderson & Barre still here... Batteries Not Included it shows off.
It's one of those albums that only grows on a die hard fan.

To me, just me! Tull fans, A belongs in their range of missable affords like: Under Wraps,
Rock Island, The Catfish Rising, J-Tull Dot Com, Aqualung Live (2005) & String Quartets.
Let see what The Zealot Gene brings... and hopefully a Steven Wilson mix of Living In The Past!

With the arrival of Benefit 50th anniversary (4CD+2DVD) all tracks from
Living In The Past are finally available in Steven Wilson mix as extra tracks.

A is the 13th studio album by Jethro Tull. It was released on August 29, 1980 in the U.K. and September 1 of the same year in the United States. The album was recorded in the summer of 1980 using Maison Rouge Mobile and Maison Rouge Studios in Fulham, London. Eddie Jobson guested on the album, playing keyboards and electric violin. The album was produced by Ian Anderson and Robin Black.

A was recorded as an intended Ian Anderson solo album before Tull's record label, Chrysalis, asked that it become credited to the group to help the label get through overall slow record sales. This is the reason for the album's title, as the tapes were marked "A" for "Anderson". It is noted for its more synthesizer-based sound, a fact which creates controversy among many of the band's fans. On the other hand, it features a folk-influenced piece "The Pine Marten's Jig".

A features a dramatically different lineup of Tull from the band's previous album, Stormwatch. Former keyboardist John Evan and organist David Palmer were de facto fired from the group, and former bassist John Glascock died soon after the recording of Stormwatch, which caused drummer Barriemore Barlow to leave the band in depression. The only members of Tull to appear on both Stormwatch and A are Ian Anderson and Martin Barre. This is also the bassist Dave Pegg's first appearance on a Tull record but he became a member of the band already in 1979, replacing John Glascock on tour. Conflicting reasons have been given for the lineup change. Anderson has stated that he wanted to take the band in a different direction from the folk rock and progressive rock of the 1970s. Barriemore Barlow was unhappy with the direction the band was taking and later stated that he would have left anyway. However, biographer David Rees reports in Minstrel in the Gallery that Anderson had never intended to replace the 'classic' Tull lineup with the musicians who recorded A, but was forced by Chrysalis Records which had decided to release his 'solo' album under the name Jethro Tull. This claim was further evidenced by Anderson's note in the 2003 re-release of the album.