This Was

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |Template:Short description|noreplace}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Stand Up1969studioThis WasJethro Tull - This Was fron cover.jpgJethro Tull25 October 1968<ref name="jethrotullthiswas">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>13 June – 27 July 1968Sound Techniques, Chelsea, London*Blues rock

• jazz fusion
• folk rock38:22Island (UK)
  Reprise (US)Terry Ellis, Jethro Tullx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

This Was is the debut studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released in October 1968. Recorded at a cost of £1200, it is the only Jethro Tull album with guitarist Mick Abrahams, who was a major influence for the sound and music style of the band's first songs. When the album was released the band were performing regularly at the Marquee Club in London, where other successful British groups, such as the Rolling Stones and the Who, had started their careers.<ref name="jethrotullthiswas" />

Compared to the band's later discography, This Was contains significant blues rock and jazz fusion influences, owing to Abrahams' songwriting and playing style. The band would soon begin to abandon much of these influences upon Abrahams' departure after the release of the album, starting with follow up album Stand Up (1969).

Music

While vocalist Ian Anderson's creative vision largely shaped Jethro Tull's later albums, on This Was Anderson shared songwriting duties with Tull's guitarist Mick Abrahams. In part due to Abrahams' influence, the album incorporates more rhythm and blues and jazz influences than the progressive rock the band later became known for. In particular: This Was also contains the only Jethro Tull lead vocal not performed by Ian Anderson on a studio album, in "Move on Alone". Mick Abrahams, the song's author, provided vocals; Dee Palmer provided the horn arrangement. Abrahams left Jethro Tull following the album's completion.

The song "Dharma for One", a staple of Tull's early concerts (usually incorporating an extended drum solo by Clive Bunker), was later covered by Ekseption, Pesky Gee! and The Ides of March. This song featured use of the "claghorn",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a hybrid instrument invented by Jeffrey Hammond which combined the body of a recorder, the bell of a toy trumpet and the mouthpiece of a saxophone.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Anderson also claims to have invented the instrument.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the documentary film Woodstock, the songs "Beggar's Farm" and "Serenade to a Cuckoo" can be heard playing over the festival's PA system.

Reception

Template:Music ratings This Was received generally favourable reviews and sold well upon its release. Record Mirror thoroughly recommended the album in 1968 for being "full of excitement and emotion" and described the band as a blues ensemble "influenced by jazz music" capable of setting "the audience on fire".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Allen Evans of New Musical Express wrote in his review that the album "sounds good and has a lot of humour about it" and that the band "play jazz really, in a soft, appealing way, and have a bit of fun on the side with tone patterns and singing".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> American critic Robert Christgau, on the contrary, was appalled by the success of a band that combined "the worst of Roland Kirk, Arthur Brown, and your nearest G.O. blues band."<ref name="Christgau" />

Recent reviews of the remastered edition underline the duality of Anderson and Abrahams' songwriting and stage presence, as well as the strong ties of the band to blues in their early days. Sid Smith of BBC Music wrote that "what made Tull stand out from the great-coated crowd (of touring bands) was the high-visibility of frontman Ian Anderson's on-stage Tourette's-inspired hyper-gurning and Mick Abraham's ferocious fretwork."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> An AllMusic reviewer remarked how Jethro Tull on their vinyl debut appeared "vaguely reminiscent of the Graham Bond Organization only more cohesive, and with greater commercial sense".<ref name="allmusic" /> David Davies of Record Collector reminds how "This Was only hints at the depth and majesty of the ensuing seven albums", but also wrote that "the direct, unfussy and predominantly blues-based" tracks of the original recordings and the extra tracks of the collector's edition "could well come as something of a surprise" and "be of the greatest interest to Tull aficionados."<ref name="collector" />

The album reached number 10 on the UK Albums Chart<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">Template:Cite book</ref> and number 62 on the US Billboard 200.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was voted number 574 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.<ref name="Larkin">Template:Cite book</ref>

Track listings

Standard edition

• 1973 cassette reissue has same track order, but on opposite sides.
• Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–10 on CD reissues.

• The 2001 remastered CD added three bonus tracks (which had been on the 20 Years of Jethro Tull box-set) and extensive liner notes.

• The 2018 edition CD added six bonus tracks (including four previously unreleased tracks).

40th anniversary collectors' edition (2008)

A deluxe, two-CD 40th anniversary edition was released in 2008. It contains the original mono version, a stereo version remixed from the original four-track session tapes, non-LP single tracks and the BBC sessions recorded by the band in 1968 for John Peel's "Top Gear".

Personnel

Jethro Tull

• Ian Anderson – lead vocals (all except track 4), flute, mouth organ, claghorn, piano
• Mick Abrahams – electric guitar, nine-string guitar, lead vocals (track 4), co-lead vocals (track 2), backing vocals
• Glenn Cornick – bass guitar
• Clive Bunker – drums, percussion hooter, charm bracelet

Additional musicians

• Dee Palmer – French horn and orchestral arrangements

Production

• Terry Ellis – producer
• Victor Gamm – engineer

Charts

Template:Album chartTemplate:Album chart

Chart (1968-1969)	Peak position
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)<ref name=FINI>Template:Cite book</ref>	13

Template:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chart

Chart (2018)	Peak position

External links

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• Jethro Tull - This Was (1968) album releases & credits at Discogs.com
• Jethro Tull - This Was (1968) album credits & user reviews at ProgArchives.com
• Jethro Tull - This Was (1968) album review by Ian (Storm) at SputnikMusic.com
• Jethro Tull - This Was (1968/2008 Remastered 40th Anniversary Collectors' Edition) album to be listened as stream at Play.Spotify.com
• Jethro Tull - This Was (1968/2001 Remastered Version) album to be listened as stream at Play.Spotify.com