Jethro Tull quality album streak

I have always been amazed by the quality of Jethro Tull's output each year from 1969 to 1979. They altered their style at least four times during this period, yet stayed relevant and successful.

Stand Up 1969
Benefit 1970
Aqualung 1971
Thick As A Brick 1972
Living In The Past 1972
A Passion Play 1973
Warchild 1974
Minstrel In The Gallery 1975
Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die! 1976
Songs From The Wood 1977
Heavy Horses 1978
Stormwatch 1979

In my humble opinion I consider this to be the longest unbroken streak of great albums with no stinkers. I admit I am hugely biased since Tull is my favorite band.
It seems to me though, that most successful bands tend to have 3-5 great albums in a row and then start to decline.
So, what other bands or musicians have released what you would consider to be 10+ high quality albums in a row?

 

I'd most certainly include This Was

True Tull fan: In my humble opinion I consider all of their albums to be the longest unbroken streak of great albums with no stinkers.

+Don't mention other bands, Tull stands up alone. The future will know the truth. lol

 

Well...as much as I love Tull, I'd have to disagree. Too Old To Rock And Roll was a dud IMO. And The Beatles certainly have a longer streak of great albums. As do The Stones.

 

Absolutely!

I picked up on the wonderful This Was as a schoolkid when I bought my first copy of NME for an article about Mike Nesmith. A small piece caught my eye about a new band from down the road in Blackpool, who'd dressed up as old men on their debut album. I pestered my parents and at Xmas, the album duly arrived... (In the meantime I'd bought the Love Story single.) This Was pretty far from Monkeedom but it sounded great! Love at first hearing!

(Many years later, and) back to the 9 album run... I've always felt that Too Old To Rock & Roll was not quite up to the standard of the others but it's a stunning run however you look at it. If only a band today cou..... No, I'll leave it there


Addition:

I love em both but I don't think that they do.

 

I tend to agree, but really the songs from Too Old are all pretty good. It's more the concept and the album itself that missed the mark. Definitely a case of the whole being less than the sum of its parts.

 

I agree it is a phenominal 10 year run for Tull (and I like Too Old...), but Zeppelin had a similar quality run from 69-79.

 

The three Tull albums I never got into this from period:

Stand Up
Too Old
Stormwatch

I even liked Passion Play and THAT was kind of a chore to listen to (kind of like how Tales of Topographic Oceans is to some Yes fans)

 

Too Old...seemed like the end in May 1976. Got into this album in the CD age. I recommend the first UK CD release, it drew me in.

Wow now!

Quizz Kid
Crazed Institution
Salamander
Taxi Grab
From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser
Bad-Eyed And Loveless
Big Dipper
Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die
Pied Piper
The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive)

 

What a boring place this planet would be if we all thought the same!

Stand Up????? I'm speechless - almost! I can still recall the first time I heard Nothing Is Easy over the Radio 1 airwaves, prior to it's release. Totally Gobsmacked. What playing!!! And what a strong collection of songs; I still think it may be their best...

Passion Play - a chore???? Well, as I said, it must be life's rich tapestry...

 

Tull Forever

Yes, definitely add This Was and you have an amazing run of albums. Some are better than others but I enjoy them all, even Too Old.

Scott

 

I don't like Stand Up...and I also don't like Fly by Night either.

I've tried to get into these albums and it just never really clicked for me. I'm not saying there's not good individual songs on these albums, but the albums as a whole just never did it for me.

I keep trying to get my friend to like A Passion Play and he listened to it once and didn't like (he likes most or all the other Tull albums as well). Our joke is that A Passion Play is for the hardcore fans.

 

I thought about including it but I don't remember it well. I used to have the original record but it was destroyed in a flood 20 years ago.

Clearly, it is past time for me to get a replacement.

 

Oh, it happens; I took quite a long time to really get into Benefit - I think I needed "more flute" at the time. It's the later albums I struggle with, though I really enjoy the Christmas album.

Hmm, seem to be wandering off track here

Maybe he needs "more flute" too

 

Well, I'm going to disagree here. It was one of the last Tull albums I bought. As a matter of fact I was on the Tull thread with tooTull who said give it a chance. I was always told it was not up to the standard of other Tull albums. I was more than a little surprised at how much I liked it.

 

'Benefit' was the first Tull album I bought besides the Greatest Hits/Original Masters.

I fell in love with the band from that point. That album is total killer.

 

Yes, to my ears "Benefit" was a huge leap forward from the rather drab "Stand Up."

 

Get the mono on the This Was: 2cd
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=798751
One caution, vocals on "A Song for Jeffrey" are real ear-blasters... in a bad way!
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=3563695&postcount=284


2001 stereo remaster is good.

 

I'm, obviously, a huge Tull fan, and Stand Up is probably my favorite Tull album. Wan't always the case, but it has been for some time now.

I find it hard to call Too Old a great album. Same with A, which is why I can't carry the streak through '82's Broadsword. (Though A has grown on me, possibly because I never overplayed it back in the day).

 

A is a pretty solid album - not as bad as its reputation seems to imply.

I need to try to listen to Stormwatch again and try to "get" it.

 

Man, it's been Tull central around here lately. tootull's nefarious agenda is bearing fruit!

They did indeed have a strong run there and I would certainly include This Was in that. I quite enjoy those early albums, as well as the plethora of outtakes and singles from that era as featured on Living In The Past.

For me, they started to lose their way a bit with their prog phase. Thick as a Brick was largely successful, albeit a bit bloated and redundant on side two. A Passion Play just went off the deep end for me--too heavy handed and ponderous. Anderson has since claimed that TaaB was meant as a send up of concept albums, a bit of a parody. If so, what is APP? A parody of a parody or the real deal? I always thought War Child was rather a return to form, though it's not generally well regarded.

From there, it was a bit of hit and miss for me with Too Old... being a particular low point. I enjoy their pastoral folky phase up to a point, but I don't find myself revisiting Songs From The Wood or Heavy Horses that often. Overall, a very impressive run, though not entirely unprecedented. I'd say the rather more unsung Gentle Giant did about as well throughout the 70's.

 

Same here. What was Ian thinking?

 

Nefarious agenda by one of the good guys. (don't forget it)

 

Too Old

"From there, it was a bit of hit and miss for me with Too Old... being a particular low point."

++++++++++++++++++++

I don't understand the low opinions of Too Old becasue I love that album! I first heard it when I bought it on cassette while stationed in Germany. At that time (1979) It was new and unheard, unlike the overplayed (but well liked) Aqualung and I have enjoyed it ever since.

Even the so-called low points of 70s JT are much preferred by me than most of the rock that came after 1980. Just my humble opinion...

Scott

 

I think Too Old To Rock And Roll only suffers because of the releases that came out before and after it. Minstrel In The Gallery is Tull at their peak (IMHO), and Songs From The Wood is arguably the band's final classic release.

There are some good songs on Too Old. The opening three tracks in particular are great.

As for The Beatles, I don't think they started to really hit their stride until Help in 1965. Then began a seven album streak of greatness that ended with Abbey Road--with only the Yellow Submarine soundtrack (which I didn't count) to muck things up a bit.

As for Zeppelin, Presence has its moments, but it was rushed. I consider it their Too-Old-To-Rock-And-Roll, Too-Young-To-Die moment. And both albums came out in 1976. Tull did a better job recovering. Zeppelin was pretty much finished.

 

A fantastic run of albums for sure, but for some reason, I’ve never been able to click with War Child, so for me, that breaks up the run a bit. Perhaps it’s time to revisit that album and give it another chance?