Reissue of Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" 40th Anniversary Special Edition

For the 40th anniversary, Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" gets a face lift. The cover artwork looks like it has been sitting on a shelf undisturbed for forty years with aged discoloring, but the sound is new. Previous CD releases of this classic have suffered sonically being thin and edgy, much tape hiss, an incomplete track, added reverberation, etc. Most of what is heard here is from 16 track analog tapes circa 1970, which were transferred to 96k/24 bit at Abbey Road by Kris Burton, then remixed by Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree fame) via Logic Audio 9.1.4. Steven did a great job! The new mixes really don't sound new, just revived. By using emulators of original period equipment, reducing tape hiss and paying close attention to the original mix, many, many veils have been removed. The sound is much fuller, present and personal. For example, the drums have more "whack". In general, everything has more body and better dynamics. In spite of these improvements, you'd be hard-pressed to notice many changes in individual instrument levels, effects or pans from the original '71 vinyl release. Great work for a great work!

Note the 62.4dBC dynamic range of the new mix of the title track, an improvement of 2.9dB. On average the song is louder (82.5dB vs, 79.6dB), yet still offers more range. The song's quietest passage is 30.2dB, while it's loudest is 92.6dB, versus the 1984 version of 32.2dB and 91.7dB respectively (see chart below plotting SPL every 1/10th of a second).

Included in the 40th anniversary edition is a 32 page booklet with many color photos of the band, etc., and interviews with Ian Anderson and Steven Wilson.

The second CD contains fourteen 1970 and 1971 recordings made just before and after Aqualung. Five of these tracks have not previously been released, and another three of them have been remastered. This double cd* is a steal for the $17.95 retail price!

*There is also a deluxe 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition, which includes; a 12'x12' 48 page booklet, a 180 gram vinyl pressing, the two cds, a DVD and a Blu-ray. The DVD and Blu-ray have the two cds plus a few extra tracks in 96/24 LPCM stereo, plus a 5.1 remix by Steven Wilson, and the original Quad mix, both in DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital..

Cat: Chrysalis 5099908799920
Format: 2 channel, 16/44.1k
Remixed by: Steve Wilson
Mastered by: Peter Mew at Abby Road
Sound Quality: 3 of 5  This blows all the other CD  versions away!
Content: 4 of 5  Classic rock album.
Extras: 4 of 5  An informative booklet and 14 extra tracks, all worthwhile.