Jethro Tull certainly has a large & diverse catalogue, with most people familiar with the Aqualung album and singles like “Aqualung”, “Locomotive Breath”, “Living in the Past” & “Bungle in the Jungle” continuing to get airplay on classic rock stations.
While I really like the Aqualung album, the first three Jethro Tull albums – This Was, Stand Up & Benefit – are my favourites as albums, with Benefit getting the nod. The appeal in these early albums is that Jethro Tull is finding its voice as it explores folk, rock & hints of prog rock with Ian Anderson’s unique vocal style & his flute. The musicianship is excellent and there is plenty of strong guitar work to keep me happy.
Benefit captures the best of the guitar work and riffs, and includes good reflective songs such as “Son” and “Teacher” that had a big impact on me in the mid ’70’s. There’s even some effects work on “Play in Time” to satisfy the psychedelic itch. While the album may not have fully impressed the critics at the time, I liked it & still do. So there 🙂 Link to the wiki on Benefit
There were two releases of this album in 1970 – UK & US. Being Canadian, I got the US release. That exact release is not available on iTunes or Spotify, so I created a playlist to recreate that release.