JETHRO TULL – BENEFIT LP – VG+ UK A2/B1 1970 ORIG  PROG

Jethro Tull – Benefit
(Chrysalis Records  1970  ILPS9123)
Matrix No’s: A2/B1 – UK Pressing

Sleeve in Good+ condition
– sellotape marking and a couple of sticker tears

Vinyl in Very Good+ condition
(there are quite a few surface marks visible on the vinyl which do give pops/clicks but sound quality is excellent overall))

Jethro Tull were a British rock group, formed in Luton, Bedfordshire, on December 20, 1967. Initially playing blues rock, the band soon developed its sound to incorporate elements of British folk music and hard rock to forge a progressive rock signature. The band was led by vocalist/flautist/guitarist Ian Anderson, and featured a revolving door of lineups through the years including significant members such as longtime guitarist Martin Barre, keyboardist John Evan, drummers Clive Bunker, Barriemore Barlow, and Doane Perry, and bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, and Dave Pegg, among many others.

The group first achieved commercial success in 1969, with the folk-tinged blues album Stand Up, which reached No. 1 in the UK charts, and they toured regularly in the UK and the US. Their musical style shifted in the direction of progressive rock with the albums Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972) and A Passion Play (1973), and shifted again to hard rock mixed with folk rock with Songs from the Wood (1977) and Heavy Horses (1978). Jethro Tull have sold over 60 million albums worldwide, with 11 gold and five platinum albums among them.^[4] They have been described by Rolling Stone as “one of the most commercially successful and eccentric progressive rock bands”.

The last works released as a group were in 2003, though the band continued to tour until 2011. In April 2014, as he was concentrating on his solo career, Anderson said that Jethro Tull were finished.

Benefit is the third album by Jethro Tull, released in April 1970. It was the first Tull album to include pianist and organist John Evan–though he was not yet a permanent member of the group–and the last to include bass guitarist Glenn Cornick. It reached #3 in the UK album charts.

More hard-rocking than it predecessor, Stand Up, it also incorporated more advanced studio techniques, such as backward-recorded flute (on “With You There To Help Me”) and piano, and sped-up guitar (on “Play In Time”).

Track listing

Side one

1. “With You There to Help Me” – 6:15
2. “Nothing to Say” – 5:10
3. “Alive and Well and Living In” – 2:43
4. “Son” – 2:48
5. “For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me” – 3:47

Side two

1. “To Cry You a Song” – 6:09
2. “A Time for Everything?” – 2:42
3. “Inside” – 3:38
4. “Play in Time” – 3:44
5. “Sossity; You’re a Woman” – 4:31

Credits

• Ian Anderson: vocals, guitar and flute
• Martin Barre: electric guitar
• Glenn Cornick: bass guitar
• Clive Bunker: drums
• David Palmer: orchestral arrangements

Guest musician:

• John Evan: piano and organ