This month marks the 50th anniversary of Jethro Tull’s album ‘Aqualung’. In celebration of the album’s golden anniversary, we will see an official re-issue of the 1971 classic.
‘Aqualung’ is Jethro Tull’s best selling album. The record has been streamed over 81 million times worldwide and has sold more than 7 million units. In April of 1971, it peaked at number four on the UK Album Chart, as Tull’s fourth studio album.
It has been widely regarded as a spiritual concept album, with the theme of “distinguishing religion from God.” Although, the band have said that there was no intention to make a concept album and that only a few of the songs on the tracklist have a unifying theme. The major success of ‘Aqualung’ signalled a turning point for the band’s career, later becoming a major radio and touring act.
The album was recorded at Island Records’ studio in London, featuring more acoustic tracks than their previous works. The band has since stated that they were inspired by photographs of homeless people on Thames Embankment, taken by singer Ian Anderson’s wife Jennie. The themes of the album reflect religion and Anderson’s own personal issues.
The album was certainly well received, both at the time of release and in more recent throwback reviews. Retrospective articles have described the release as “One of the best rock albums of the 70s” and “Fascinating.” Steve Harris of Iron Maiden also suggested that the release was “A classic album, [with] fantastic playing, fantastic songs, attitude [and] vibe”.
