Originally only available at gigs during Martin Barre’s 2019 tour, this double-CD compilation has now been repackaged for general sale, with four bonus tracks appended. It’s a collection of live and studio cuts that Barre describes as celebrating some of his favourite Tull tunes. Despite going solo in 2011 and releasing his own material since then, Barre understands that his long tenure as JT’s guitarist is ultimately what keeps the audiences coming. It’s also no surprise that the song listing is drawn almost exclusively from Tull’s classic late-60s/70s period.
The live tracks are delivered for the most part with a confident swagger, mining a very 21st century classic rock sound – these are modern interpretations rather than recreations, singer Dan Crisp adopting a mid-Atlantic, Eddie Vedder-esque tone. Retooled as a swinging showband blues, opening track My Sunday Feeling sets the pace: Barre’s guitar is more metallic in flavour, but remains tasteful throughout. While it’s hard to think of Tull as anything but Ian Anderson’s band, his voice and personality dominating proceedings, it could be argued that here, the songs have a chance to breathe differently – for instance, there’s no flute to get in the way of Barre’s forcefully elegant guitar lines and vamps. It’s also an opportunity to enjoy some of the deeper cuts in Tull’s back catalogue: the clever, twisty Sealion, the proto-doom trudge of Nothing To Say, and especially the groovy prog-pop of Teacher, with Barre properly letting rip over its head-nodding riff.