Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Jethro Tull
Label: RCA Records
Released: 1985
Running time: 41:58
Rating: 3.5/5
“A Classic Case” is a special live release featuring some of Jethro Tull’s biggest hits, freshly rearranged with the help of the London Symphony Orchestra. The original release was credited to the London Symphony Orchestra, but considering that besides the band’s frontman, flutist and singer Ian Anderson and former member David Palmer (keyboardist, conductor and arranger, known today as Dee Palmer), almost the entire 1985 Jethro Tull lineup takes part (only the then brand-new drummer Doane Perry is missing), the album can be filed without hesitation under the rich discography of this legendary progressive rock band.
As you’d expect, the orchestrally reworked versions of Tull classics turn out very well and make for interesting listening, which is hardly a surprise, since the band’s musical vocabulary has always drawn on the tradition of classical music. Ian’s flute finds its place in the orchestral arrangements brilliantly, as if it were made for a symphony orchestra. Given that this is a special album, an orchestral adaptation with rock and folk elements, you don’t really miss his charismatic vocals, which in 1985 were in a bad way, when he had all but lost his voice.
The selection of songs adapted for orchestra is a good one and even offers a few nice surprises. Worth singling out in particular is “Fly By Night”, which originally appeared on Ian’s solo debut, the electronic rock fiasco “Walk into Light” (1983). In its orchestral version it’s a completely different, thoroughly listenable track, unlike the electronic original. Really, all the freshly arranged versions come out very well. As expected, the baroque instrumental “Bourrée” does especially well, being classical music at its core anyway, since it’s an adaptation of a classic by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The choice of the lament “Elegy” is also a very fitting one. Originally the closing instrumental on the “forgotten” album “Stormwatch” (1979), it’s a more than appropriate tribute to former bassist John Glascock, who tragically died and for whom that album was his last collaboration with the band. Among the orchestral takes on songs that never (any longer) make it into the Tull live repertoire, “War Child” and the excellent medley “Teacher/Bungle in the Jungle/Rainbow Blues/Locomotive Breath” stand out. Ian, mind you, frantically fights off playing either of those two big American hits, as he always found them far too commercial for his idea of the usual Tull musical vocabulary.
“Too Old to Rock’n’Roll, Too Young to Die” is a somewhat logical choice, since the album of the same name already featured plenty of Palmer’s orchestral arrangements. For a wider audience, the most interesting bits will definitely be the orchestral takes on their most beloved classics, especially the hard rock-based “Locomotive Breath” and “Aqualung”, which paired with the orchestra create a completely different atmosphere, while “Thick As a Brick” and “Living in the Past” may even come across as the most convincing of all the orchestral versions of Tull classics.
“A Classic Case” is an album aimed first and foremost at the band’s die-hard fans and at collectors of everything these indestructible folk prog rock forefathers have put out. The orchestral versions of long-time Tull classics, under the baton of conductor and arranger David Palmer, are a real balm for the ears. With Ian’s vocals absent and Barre’s guitar with its wings clipped, the album naturally doesn’t present a true picture of Jethro Tull, but that’s not its aim anyway, since it’s a thoroughly entertaining experiment in tangling with a symphony orchestra, one that’s always a pleasure to listen to and not just on special occasions. Among the special releases they’ve put out so far, it’s way better than, say, the Christmas album from 2003 and the 2005 live album featuring a complete performance of “Aqualung”. A fitting “companion” to this release is Ian’s 2005 double live album, which came out under the very telling title “Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jehro Tull”.
Lineup
David Palmer – orchestral arrangements, orchestra conductor
– London Symphony Orchestra
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Ian Anderson – flute, vocals
Martin Barre – electric guitar
Dave Pegg – bass guitar
Peter-John Vettese – keyboards
Dave Burgess – drums
Production
David Palmer
Track List
1. Locomotive Breath (4:16)
2. Thick As A Brick (4:24)
3. Elegy (3:41)
4. Bourée (3:10)
5. Fly By Night (4:12)
6. Aqualung (6:22)
7. Too Old To Rock ‘n’ Roll; Too Young To Die (3:27)
8. Medley: Teacher/Bungle In The Jungle/ Rainbow Blues/Locomotive Breath (3:58)
9. Living In The Past (3:29)
10. War Child (4:56)
