Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson - Any Good Albums After 1987?

I personally thought Under Wraps (1984) was an absolute piece of $#*t (regardless of how great the band seems to think it is) but 1987's Crest of a Knave was a return to form.

From then on I've completely dropped out of Tull, with the attitude or perceived image of a flailing band who had lost the magic they once had.

I listened to the Christmas album recently and I freaking loved it and I thought it was very much in the flavor of the late 70s folk/country phase they went through, with some 80s dashes and touches thrown in. This has made me reevaluate my thoughts on the band post 1987 and I'm hoping there are some good albums from after that period, either by the band or Ian himself.

If so, please let me know as I'd hate to wade through the rest of the catalog only to be disappointed and have wasted my time.

 

Catfish Rising from 1991 is pretty good.

 

I really love Under Wraps and don't really like Crest of a Knave (other than Budapest), so I may be the wrong person to ask. However I also love the Christmas album. I think the last couple of Tull albums are too long (or at least seem so) with good moments but not enough consistency, although I like the more World music elements they brought in with Roots to Branches particularly. Personally I would recommend Ian Anderson's Rupi's Dance which I think is a real highlight and the one I go back to most post Under Wraps.

 

I really like Ian Anderson's folk/acoustic album The Secret Language Of Birds, released in 2000.

 

It's the best of the lot IMO. And Roots to Branches is good too. I also quite like the semi-acoustic live album A Little Light Music.

That said, i don't like Catfish Rising or Dot Com at all. Few good songs but that's it.

 

The follow-up, Rupi's Dance is also excellent!

 

IMO, these albums are good for these tracks:

Rock Island
Ears of Tin
Rock Island
Another Christmas Song
The Whaler's Dues
Strange Avenues

Catfish Rising
Occasional Demons
Rocks On The Road
Sparrow On The Schoolyard Wall
Thinking Round Corners
Doctor My Disease
Like A Tall Thin Girl
When Jesus Came To Play

Root to Branches
Roots to Branches
Rare And Precious Chain
This Free Will
Dangerous Veils
Beside Myself
At Last, Forever
Stuck In the August Rain

j-tull DOT COM
Spiral
Dot Com
Hunt By Numbers
El Niño
Bends Like A Willow
The Dog-ear Years
A Gift Of Roses
Bonus track: Ian Anderson / The Secret Language Of Birds

Ian Anderson solo:
Perfect is The Secret Language Of Birds


Rupi's Dance
Calliandra Shade (The Cappuccino Song)
Lost In Crowds
A Raft Of Penguins
A Week Of Moments
A Hand Of Thumbs
Pigeon Flying Over Berlin Zoo
Not Ralitsa Vassileva
Birthday Card At Christmas (Bonus track from The Jethro Tull Christmas Album)


Here's to Tull

 

I quite like that Christmas album. Best, for me, since 'Crest Of A Knave'.

 

I disagree with the OP's assessment of 'Under Wraps'; I actually love this album. Very much of its time, but I guess too radical a change for the Jethro Tull purists.

'Crest of A Knave' was, for me, the last great Tull album. Setting aside the live albums ('A Little Light Music', 'Nothing Is Easy', etc.), the studio output after 'Crest...' is average at best. A few stand-out tracks, but the rest is pretty forgettable really.

The same goes for Ian Anderson's solo albums: Going against the grain again, I really liked 'Walk Into Light', but I found the solo albums after that tedious.

 

Not to exaggerate. I could not/would not live without Under Wraps original LP track order. Walk Into Light too.

 

I highly recommend the two Ian Anderson solo albums (Secret & Rupi). The best Tull related work since the 70's IMHO.

 

yep

 

The last JT album I fully enjoyed was Broadsword, and like the OP, I was also disappointed by Under Wraps (too much synths even though I'm a keyboard/synth fan). The only later albums I usually fully play are the Christmas Album and Ian Anderson's Divinities. Having said that there are plenty of songs from the later albums I enjoy, just not necessarily the full albums.

 

Good Albums After 1987?

 

John you nailed it pretty well, but I would also add that "The Jethro Tull Christmas Album" is outstanding and the Live "A Little Light Music" is very good.

 

Thanks, I love "A Little Light Music".
Like the Christmas album, sometimes, this year not so much.

 

I would add the Christmas album from 2003 is also excellent.

 

Roots To Branches is the best Tull title since Crest Of A Gnave, and The Secret Language Of Birds gets my vote for best Ian Anderson solo album.

 

I agree on both counts.

 

Under Wraps is horrible. I'm a huge JT fan and I try to always give them the benefit of the doubt, but that album is pure garbage. However, it's not after 1987 is it? No, it is not.

Parts of Dot Com are good, but for the most part, it's meh. If you like Dire Straits, you'll like most 1987 and after JT, because that's who they sound like, for the most part.

 

Another vote for The Secret Language of Birds. It's almost entirely acoustic, and there's not a bad song in the bunch.

 

I find all the Tull releases to since Crest of a Knave to be hit and miss with more misses than hits. And most of Ian's solo stuff doesn't impress me. However the one album I really like in that time frame is Divinities: Twelve Dances with God. Perhaps because it is such a departure from Tull, I find it unique and enjoyable.

 

I agree with OP about Under Wraps and Crest of Knave.
So the only post-Crest Tull album I like is Roots To Branches. They go for a little middle-easter flavor in some of the songs, which risks sounding corny, but it seemed to be the kind of creative juice Anderson needed to write some interesting, or at least pleasant, songs.

Catfish Rising has some good tracks but I just can't tolerate the tone of his voice by that point.

 

From 1999 - Three cheers for Ian Anderson - SLOB.

 

for Divinities.