The Broadsword And The Beast (The 40th Anniversary Monster Edition)

The Broadsword And The Beast represented the 14th studio album to date back in April 1982, featuring 10 tracks as recorded with the latest line-up featuring new members Peter-John Vettese on keyboards and Gerry Conway on drums, coming fresh from a stint with Cat Stevens, alongside Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Dave Pegg.During later years, a number of extra tracks from the same period were included on the 20th Anniversary Box Set in 1988 and Night Cap - The Unreleased Masters 1973-1991, in 1993 and provided virtually a whole other album and some, featuring no less than 15 tracks in total. All are polished up and included here. Within the 3 CD's of studio recordings of this superb new box set, another 6 new tracks from the same related sessions are included along with another 3 new titles in demo form.It's easy to say in hindsight that perhaps there was a missed opportunity in 1982 by not releasing what could have been a stellar double-album, but perhaps that was one step too many given what appeared to be constant line-up changes of the band. Plus the music business at that time was primarily focused on the "Sparkle Pony" types of bands, to which very obviously Jethro Tull were no relation.However, suffice to say, I would have greatly appreciated if a few of the tracks on the actual album, such as "Slow Marching Band" and "Cheerio" which I'd always considered to be the weakest of the bunch had been replaced with prime-Tull (imho) such as the band version of "Jack-A-Lynn", which is superb and any others from a list with "Too Many Too", "I'm Your Gun", "Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow" and "Drive On The Young Side Of Life".Perhaps the soundscapes of these tracks were not variable enough or perhaps just a tad too modern to be bundled all together at the same time. However, in saying that, several of the album tracks sound like throwbacks to previous albums such as "Songs From The Wood" and "Heavy Horses". Of course, few people had any idea as to what had been left on the shelf back in `82, as none of the "outtakes" made a public appearance until 1986-87 and only as the occasional B-side.Therefore, I'm as pleased as Punch that all of it is now in one place, side by side and it makes for an engrossing listen. It's a wonderful feeding frenzy feast of superb tracks, one after the other.The live material sounds very good indeed. Martin Barre's guitar is given enough space to really crunch through as it should be heard. I'm absolutely delighted to hear this presented in that manner as it's vital and Steven Wilson completely understands that. He's done a brilliant job on bolstering the balances and the entire gig sounds fantastic. It's all fresh material as none of it was recorded in Hamburg, where 5 tracks were included on the 20th box and 1 track on the 25th box and also nothing from Dortmund, where 9 tracks appeared on the "Jack In The Green" DVD. Tull-heads will already be familiar with the 6 tracks from Freiberg that were previously available courtesy of Wolfgang's Vault. Naturally, they sound so much better here. The entire Freiberg gig is otherwise available on Amazon and as it wouldn't be too cool to give full details here on such a grey area release, all I can muster is it's got the name Old England in the title.I really love what Steven Wilson does with Jethro Tull. He just tweaks in the right places and throughout all these box sets that he's remixed, I've yet to find fault with anything whatsoever. And given that all these albums are indelibly stamped in my mind, that's saying something as it's really not the case with some other artists I could name who have been re-tweaked too far - and these have nothing to do with Mr. Wilson, I should add.The accompanying 164-page book looks like a work of art. I've not read it yet and intend to reserve some hours ahead in order to feast within it.If this was an entry point to Jethro Tull by any newcomer, they could not go wrong here and it’s a no-brainer for bona fide Jethro Tull fans, they simply have to get this.Totally excellent.

When it comes to box sets Jethro Tull sets the gold standard. This is a monster with 8 discs. The last great album by an amazing band.

Wow, so 5 cd's and 3 dvds(audio only),is probably overkill. i will never listen to the dvd's,still if thats your thing,then go for it.No my primary reason for buying was the 'live gig', love archive live stuff.Disc 1 : The original album and assorted related tracks and excellent it is,sounds fantastic.Discs 2/3 : a plethora of outakes/demos/masters etc and its a joy to work your way thru,top quality stuff.Disc's 4/5 Here we go, live tracks from various concerts in Germany,including 9 of the 10 tracks from the 'Broadsword ' album. As its 40 plus years old the audio isnt perfect,wasnt expecting it to be but its not of Bootleg quality either.Crowd's mixed down and due to different venues there are noticeable changes in the sound but i dont care,its a superb live performance,the 2 discs just under 110 minutes.Disc's 6/7/8 are audio only dvd's of all of the above,for completist's, had there been an edition without them i would have went for that.Packaging, as with the previous anniversary editions,excellent and informative liner notes/essay.The Cd placement is a bit tricky until you master the art of removing the discs and replacing them, so be careful.A great release.

You have to really like the album in the first place to be prepared to buy this (about 10 times the price of the original CD) and, if you do, there is next to no prospect of being disappointed as the great tracks on this album sound better than ever. The three duds are still duds but we knew they would be; it is as if that was always acknowledged anyway as they were put right at the end making them easy to avoid!Some of the better additional tracks have been made available elsewhere - on A Night Cap and the 20th/ 25th anniversary box sets - but by no means all. In fact, in my humble opinion, 2 or 3 should have been on the original album (Jack-A-Lynn, Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow and Lights Out possibly but there are other candidates). Great that there was such a wealth of material in this period after the poor previous album … and equally odd that the additional material wasn’t used on the absolute shocker which followed (Under Wraps - which is where it should have been kept - and please tell me that Steven Wilson won’t be wasting his talents on that one). As with some of the other anniversary box sets there is an element of repetition overkill - I’m not really sure that anybody needs 4 studio versions of Fallen on Hard Times, even though it is rather good, and I certainly don’t need 3 of Seal Driver (both are also on the live album which comprises discs 4 and 5). The live album is excellent though and easily justifies the purchase for me. I can’t see the point - literally - of audio only DVDs though so they will never be removed from the case.The booklet, as ever with this series, contains a lot of interesting information for those who are … interested. Such as the link between Dun Ringill (on Stormwatch) and the Broadsword track which I am now kicking myself for not having worked out and the revelation (to me) that The Clasp is about a handshake type greeting and not a mediaeval brooch/ fastener!

Superlative example of how to reissue records. Not Tull’s best album but it’s brought to life in this version

Somehow I missed out on this release. Just got this 40th anniversary release today.3 CDs of quality musicianship and recording. Haven’t got to the 2 live CDs…This is well worth owning if you are a Tull fan.

The Broadsword And The Beast Anniversary Edition is fine. It is not the best Jethro Tull has ever put out but it is a marvelous package, and I like it.

Excelente reedicion y remasterizacion

Um pouco caro na relação qualidade-preço.

Cadeau