Heavy Horses

Finally my favorite Jethro Tull album gets the deluxe Steve Wilson remix treatment! I've been waiting for this one for years, ever since they first started issuing these deluxe packages, and the day has finally arrived!As with all these releases, the packaging, and 96-page booklet are a delight, and of course the remixes and production are phenomenal as usual! One might wonder if an album such as this, already well mixed and produced, could be improved upon or changed enough to make the purchase worth it. Well, have no fear. Although to the casual listener or the non-fan, there probably isn't much difference, for the hard-core fan (and I assume you are one if you are even here bothering to read this), who has listened to this countless times in it's various iterations, you'll find plenty to indulge in and notice tons of wonderful changes and additions.As usual, Steven's changes range from subtle to fairly dramatic, the additional double tracked vocals and boosted delay/reverb in No Lullaby being an example of the latter. The music just jumps out of the speakers and is fuller and richer than ever. Most notable of all are the detailed keys, odd synth or other effects, guitar flourishes, and bells popping prominently in the mix where they were previously buried, or possibly not even there in the original mix. Of course, all the unreleased material is a feast for the ears as well.EDIT: *As was pointed out by a commenter, I totally left out a review of the live material! Sorry about that! In short - it's great! Shocker, I know. It gives you a much more holistic representation of a Tull concert from that era than Bursting Out, since it's a complete show. You'll recognize I think about 5 tracks from Bursting Out. The book goes into detail on the "studio sweetening" added to Bursting Out, including removing crowd noise, pops, clicks, and most notably, redoing of some of the vocals. My impression was that Ian's vocals are much drier here than what I recall from Bursting Out, but I haven't spun that one for a couple years and I'm going off memory. One of the studio outtakes, Quatrain (which enjoyably features some flubs by I assume Ian on mandolin with some humorous swearing and apologies) was apparently used to "sweeten" the Bursting Out version as well. Interesting stuff. Anyway, the show is great. Icing on the cake, I say.*Unfortunately for me and you, I don't have a 5.1 system to listen to the surround on and review. My system is a full vintage stereo setup with a Marantz 2275 at the heart, which is the way these old albums were intended to be heard anyway. I never saw much need for a surround set up , but over the last several years many more old albums have been released in 5.1, with more on the way all the time. So I haven't even been able to enjoy half the material on these new reissues... maybe that will be enough argument to convince my wife to let me pull the trigger on supplemental system and speakers to listen. Anyway, that's for another day.Overall, I can't recommend this enough, and couldn't be happier. Do yourself a favor, grab this masterpiece, and listen to it again for the first time. It's a wonderful time to be a Jethro Tull fan, folks. Enjoy it! Can't wait for the vinyl release!

For Tull fans, this is a must, particularly if you're a fan of Songs from the Wood and of course Bursting Out. The clarity of the remix and remaster is fabulous, and I also like the fact that there was some speed correction taking place on a few of the tracks. The bonus tracks range from cringeworthy to majestic. With titles like "Horse-Hoeing Husbandry" (a nice little reference to Tull's namesake) and Botanic Man (cringeworthy), you have to think that Anderson was stepping outside of his comfort zone and it shows in the songs. "Beltane" (majestic) should have made it to an album, but this one's been available to fans for decades. I prefer version 1 of "Living in these Hard Times" perhaps because I'm used to it from the 20 Years collection from 1988? Fans of the song "Jack-A-Lynn" will enjou this "in the making" demo. I also thought the studio version of "Quatrain" was rather nice, though, as Anderson even admists, it could have done without the mandolin that he seems to have forces upon Martin Barre. The book that comes with it is a great read as well, with a few pages that you may want to skip, and if you have this, you'll know which ones I'm talking about. The one down side for me was the live recording. I understand it's a "warts and all" recording, but it seemed flat to me, like you're listening to it through a wall or something. Though it is good to have a complete recording of this that sounds better than most of the bootleg versions I have of this tour.Overall, a worthy purchase, particularly if you're a fan of the Wilson remixes. If not, than stick with the 2003 reissue that doesn't have as many bonus tracks, but adds dimension to the original recording. Better yet, find a pristine copy of the original vinyl and let that please your ears for 42 minutes of so. Still a fine album even after 40 years. To me it doesn't sound dated at all.

Don't know what to say that hasn't already been said? Stephen Wilson + Jethro Tull = MUSICAL MAGIC!.I have been a Tull fan for many, many years and am familiar with their back catalog and have been listening to them almost my entire life, yet every time I buy one of the 40th Anniversary re-issues remixed by Stephen Wilson, it is like hearing that album for the first time. Phenomenal stereo re-mixes, surround mixes, informative books and attractive packaging make the anniversary editions great items to add to the collection.If I had to find one fault, small as it may be, is that this album (compared to other 40th anniversary re-issues) lacks a little in the material chosen to put in the package's book. It seemed to me while reading it, that they were trying to "pad it out" to get a certain page count. I think that they could have replaced a couple of the interviews/narratives with extra pictures from the era, or left those pages out altogether.I really liked the inclusion of the concert from Berne that was included. These are the recordings that resulted in the "Bursting Out Live" album which was one of my favorite Tull albums (of which I literally wore out two 8-tracks and a cassette version in my youth). If you are a Tull fan BUY IT. I have been buying each 40th anniversary edition as they have been released and have not been disappointed. You won't be either.

Edição sensacional de um clássico do JT, que criou o formato mais perfeito para reedições: a embalagem tipo livro capa dura, reunião de remasterização no “estado da arte” (Steven Wilson) com extras, singles, coisas ao vivo e até vídeos. Excelente!

Gran presentación de este artículo. Las características de este producto que sobresalen son el video y el audio mezclado en stereo y 5.1. Buen producto para fans de Jethro Tull.

CD 1 : Heavy Horses (Steven Wilson Remix). CD2 & 3 : Live in Berne May.1978 (Jakko Jakszyk Mix)　更にDVDが２枚。もし買うか迷っているのなら、迷わず買いです。

Este album merecia esta versão. Impecável!!

Todo muy bien.