Aqualung

"Aqualung" is a progressive rock album released by Jethro Tull. The album was released on March 19, 1971.

About The Album

Aqualung was one of the first albums to be recorded at Island Studios out in London. While they were recording, Led Zepplin was mixing their untitled fourth album. Aqualung was Jethro Tull's fourth studio album.

Side A begins with two sketchs, including some characters that are less than reputable (Aqualung and Cross Eyed Mary). Then, it includes two autobiographal tracks, both written by Ian Anderson. They are about visiting his father when he was chronically ill.

Side B is about being "Pro-God, Anti-Church". This is because, as it states many times on side B, having an organized religion can restrict somebody to worshipping God in a certain way, thereby not enhancing it.

Cover

The cover dipicts the title character, Aqualung, standing and eying something. The back cover shows Aqualung sitting on a corner. It was drawn by Burt Silverman. Although Silverman says that it was inspired by Anderson, Anderson denies this.

Track Listing

Side A

1. Aqualung-6:31
2. Cross-Eyed Mary-4:06
3. Cheap Day Return-1:21
4. Mother Goose-3:51
5. Wond'ring Aloud-1:53
6. Up To Me-3:15

Side B

1. My God-7:08
2. Hymn 43-3:14
3. Slipstream-1:13
4. Locomotive Breath-4:23
5. Wind Up-6:01

Bonus Tracks

Included with the 1996 and 1999 re-releases of the album were some bonus tracks.

1. Lick Your Fingers Clean-2:46
2. Wind Up (Quad Version)-5:24
3. Excerpts From The Ian Anderson Interview [Mojo Magazine]-13:59
4. Songs For Jeffery (BBC)-2:51
5. Fat Man (BBC)-2:57
6. BourÃ©e (BBC)-3:58

Total Time (Original Release)-42:55 Total Time (Re-release)-75:27

Reception

The album was 7th in Billboard Music Charts' North America. The album was 4th in the UK Charts. The song "Hymn 43" was 91st on Billboards Pop Singles chart. The album was ranked 337th on Rolling Stones top 500 albums of all time. This is Jethro Tull's most popular album.

Quadraphonic

This was one of two Jethro Tull albums released using quadraphonic sound (the other is War Child). One difference between the actual album and between the quadraphonic version was that the song "Wind Up" was preformed in a higher key (this version is included in the re-release). Also, the song "Aqualung" has two riffs at the begining of it instead of just one in the quadraphonic version.