JETHRO TULL
Still Living In The Past RHINO
Reissue series revives high-class hodgepodge.
While that tweak to the title of 1972’s Living In The Past compilation practically invites comment on its dated elements – and in fairness, some of those live drum solos haven’t aged too well – there remains something about vintage Tull which, in 2025, still throws up surprises. Nobody ever sounded quite like them, and the colourful identity established by Ian Anderson’s poeticism and social observation, alongside some quicksilver musicianship, sets them apart from lazy assumptions of what prog was doing in the early 70s. The singer’s wordy snipes and seductions, mostly concerning the state of England, placed him in the lineage of Ray Davies or (later) Elvis Costello, and the band’s early line-ups, with Mick Abrahams and Martin Barre offering inventive, unconventional guitars, were busily looking to eschew the obvious, easy resolutions.