JETHRO TULL – A PASSION PLAY LP + PROGRAM – Nr MINT/EXC+ UK ORIG  PROG

Jethro Tull – A Passion Play
(Chrysalis Records  1973  CHR1040  US Press)

Gatefold Sleeve in Very Good+ condition
– wear to edges front & back and initials written on front bottom right
Theatre Program still stapled inside

Vinyl in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from some light pops/crackles)

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.

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. They have been described by Rolling Stone as “one of the most commercially successful and eccentric progressive rock bands”.

The last works as a group to contain new material were released 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. However, in March 2017, Anderson released Jethro Tull – The String Quartets, an album of reimagined Tull songs, recorded with The Carducci String Quartet.

A Passion Play is the sixth studio album by Jethro Tull, released in July 1973 in both UK and US. Like its predecessor, Thick as a Brick (1972), it is a concept album comprising a single continuous song (which is split into two parts on the original vinyl LP release). The theme of the concept is apparently the spiritual journey of one man (Ronnie Pilgrim) in the afterlife. In the original tour to support the album, three videos were used: one for the intro of the play, a second for “The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles”, and a final shot passage to conclude the act. The whole of the concert was probably the high-water mark of Jethro Tull’s elaborate stage productions.

Track listing

All songs written by Anderson unless stated otherwise.

1973 Original release

Personnel

Jethro Tull

• Ian Anderson – flute, acoustic guitar, soprano and sopranino saxophones, vocals
• Martin Barre – electric guitars
• John Evan – piano, organ, synthesisers, vocals
• Jeffrey Hammond – bass guitar, narrator on “The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles”
• Barriemore Barlow – drums, timpani, glockenspiel, marimba

Additional personnel

• David Palmer – Orchestral arrangements
• Robin Black – Sound engineer
• Terry Ellis – Producer
• Brian Ward – Photography