If there is one defining album from 1972 that was really in need for an uplift makeover, this one was probably it. And I must state, from the start, that a really great work was done in what concerns giving Aqualung a new profoundity and a musical shinning armour. Steven Wilson, I must say, has done it again. In little details or in major changes, the album that must be one of the more defining and abrangent of JT’s discography is now (an even greater) joy to listen.

But apart from praising the remastering production (which by itself would deserve a lengthy review), I must accept the challenge and review the 2cd set itself, being that the first Cd comprises the original recording and the second one a mix of different version tracks and some that weren’t on the previous release.

In what concerns “Aqualung”, originally released in 1971, it simply rocks and cradles. It rocks because it has some tracks that power up the steer in an almost hard rock fashion, but it cradles not only in the sense of presenting some swell (close to) lullabies, but also serves, as a whole, as a sum of the various phases that the band would then follow during the remaining 70’s and 80’s.

In fact, the way I look at this album is not only as a major step forward in comparison with the previous work, but as an experience laboratory to what the band would then become. Aqualung has bits and hints to the complexity opuses of A passion Play and Thick as a Brick, to the and to the rockier Warchild and Too old to rock’n’roll: too young to die and to the more pastoral phase of Songs from the Wood and Heavy Horses. It even provides long term glimpses to A and The Broadsword and the Beast. It serves almost like a window to the bands future campaign on perfectly mixing rock, folk, prog, hard and blues. The lyrical contain is sometimes poetic and introspective and other times extrovert or even provocative, and all elements were starting to really come together for this band. In the end, it is probably the album that better frames and pictures the wide broad of the band’s musicality and influence. It may not be their best achieved or most famous and appreciated album, perhaps because it is a bit unbalanced and too diverse for most people, but is definitely one of the most basing and inner-driving albums of Jethro Tull’s long career.

The second album, filled with new mixes, early versions and some more tunes, is nothing but a candy treat to add to the urge of buying the whole set. But to be honest, this is one of those remastered albums that, due to the brilliant work in that remasterization, needs to be owned not only by the fans of the band (even if they have the original), but all those that want to understand the concepts of the art of perfectly mixing different musical grounds and influences into a compact, competent and groundbreaking sonic concept. Jethro Tull is undoubtedly one of the most original and influential bands in rock history. Absolutely ESSENTIAL!