A fascinating detail buried in the official press materials for Jethro Tull’s Still Living In The Past super deluxe edition: the included Blu-ray Disc alone offers around 355 minutes of music and video. For approximately $60, depending on where you shop, you get hours of vintage, early-period Jethro Tull in high-quality 96 kHz, 24-bit PCM Stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound, spread across this Blu-ray and five additional CDs.
Chockfull of odds, sods ‘n rarities from the period of Jethro Tull classics like This Was, Stand Up, Benefit and Aqualung, this new set is a dream for fans.
Jethro Tull founder Ian Anderson offers useful perspective (again, from press materials): “After 53 years since its original issue, this collection with the Steven Wilson re-mixes and surround sound upgrades is a splendid addition to the Tull album series. It was conceived at the time primarily to update the Tull story for American and European audiences who might not have had the benefit of the many songs which had already reached UK fans’ ears.”
I’ve always considered the original 1972 2LP edition of Living In The Past an essential bridge between Jethro Tull’s past and future. It’s a great listen, and this new set delivers even more vintage Tull delights. Notably, it features a fresh remix by renowned producer/musician Steven Wilson of the entire live recording of Jethro Tull’s epic November 1970 performance at Carnegie Hall in NYC. More on that shortly.
On the Blu-ray Disc we also get high res flat transfers of the original album (UK & US versions combined) as well as new 2025 remixes, bonus rarities (A-sides, B-sides, EPs, etc.) and much more. While there are some redundancies — some tracks have appeared on other sets in this series — I find their presence appealing for contextual continuity and simply for those of us who don’t have all of these special editions.
I’m still working my way through Still Living In The Past, but so far, I’m very impressed with the overall fidelity. The Blu-ray 5.1 surround mixes are tastefully immersive. On tracks like “A Christmas Song” and “Living In The Past,” the string sections complement the front-facing band, expanding the sound and filling the room around you.
The Carnegie Hall concert—previously given a limited vinyl release for Record Store Day 2015 and also appearing in edited form as a single CD in the 1993 25th Anniversary boxed set—is truly fantastic. For the surround mix, the band primarily rocks front and center, but the surrounds provide an excellent sense of the hall’s acoustics, adding depth and atmosphere to the performance.
At this stage Tull was a swinging, bluesy (and even at times jazzy) hard-rocking powerhouse band firing on all cylinders and across two CDs and on the Blu-ray we get the whole swinging performance in uninterrupted bliss — including Ian Anderson’s often charming-rambling song and band member introductions.
The four promotional videos are a fascinating glimpse into Jethro Tull during the 1970 era. It’s especially intriguing to compare the differing approaches to the Benefit-era hit “Teacher” in its UK and US variations. The set also includes extensive liner notes (which I’m still working through!) that provide valuable insights into the music and the cultural context of the time.
If I had more room and time I could go on but I think you get the idea that if you are a fan of early Jethro Tull, you need Still Living In The Past.
Where to buy:
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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