Living In The Past
	Produced by Ian Anderson, Terry Ellis, Jethro Tull
	Released on July 1972
	UK CHART POSITION #8 . . . US CHART POSITION #3
	Find it at GEMM
F2 21035 cover

A collection of nonalbum B sides, A sides that differed from their elpee counterparts, live tracks and unreleased gems. Not odds and sods by any means, Living In The Past returned to what some felt were the band’s glory days, before Ian started to lay things on a little Thick. Me, I could have lived without the live “By Kind Permission Of,” but the remaining songs make this a more rewarding purchase than Tull’s first three records (which were themselves no slouches). The only knock on this compilation is that the sense of discovery, which each new Tull album seemed to promise, is here replaced by a sense of rediscovery. With Aqualung and Thick As A Brick, Ian and the band had vaunted past the technical accomplishments present here, and a certain measure of recycling (“Wond’ring Again,” “Up The ‘Pool”) tempers the wonder these songs might have originally inspired. I won’t give you a song-by-song breakdown (where would the fun be in that?), but I will pull out a few diamonds for inspection. There are, first, the classics you might have missed: “Living In The Past,” “Life Is A Long Song,” “Witches Promise” and “Sweet Dream.” Easier to obtain but always welcome are “Teacher” (one of two tracks deleted from the single CD reissue), “Hymn 43” and “Inside” (which didn’t appear on the original Reprise double elpee, go figure). Next are what for many will be new discoveries: that sober antidote to the Christmas spirit, “Christmas Song,” “Love Story” (the last single with Mick Abrahams), and a radical live treatment of “Dharma For One” that now included lyrics. The remaining tracks are often pleasant acoustic throwaways, not unlike the little bits that Ian slipped into Aqualung. Although it fills in most of the gaps between This Was and Aqualung, Living In The Past is rightfully a repast on its own. If you haven’t heard it, I envy you the discoveries that lie ahead in this tome of wonder. (And speaking of discoveries, it seems that some people took Ian’s joke about smoking fingernail clippings to heart. Trust me, you do not want to try this at home unless you’ve got an air freshener handy.)

2TS 2106 front cover	2TS 2106 inner gatefold

TRACK LISTING

Original US double elpee track listing
1. SONG FOR JEFFREY    3:17
2. LOVE STORY    3:03
3. CHRISTMAS SONG    3:04
4. LIVING IN THE PAST    3:18
5. DRIVING SONG    2:37
6. BOURÉE    3:40
7. SWEET DREAM    4:02
8. SINGING ALL DAY    3:04
9. TEACHER    4:07
10. WITCH'S PROMISE    3:50
11. ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN    2:45
12. JUST TRYING TO BE    1:35
13. BY KIND PERMISSION OF (LIVE)    (John Evan)    8:43
14. DHARMA FOR ONE (LIVE)    (Ian Anderson/Clive Bunker)    9:11
15. WOND'RING AGAIN    4:11
16. HYMN 43    3:16
17. LIFE IS A LONG SONG    3:18
18. UP THE 'POOL    3:10
19. DR. BOGENBROOM    2:59
20. FROM LATER    2:06
21. NURSIE    1:35
    
    All songs written by Ian Anderson unless noted
    
    Compact disc track listing
1. SONG FOR JEFFREY
2. LOVE STORY
3. CHRISTMAS SONG
4. LIVING IN THE PAST
5. DRIVING SONG
6. SWEET DREAM
7. SINGING ALL DAY
8. WITCHES PROMISE
9. INSIDE
10. ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN
11. JUST TRYING TO BE
12. BY KIND PERMISSION OF (LIVE)
13. DHARMA FOR ONE
14. WOND'RING AGAIN
15. HYMN 43
16. LIFE IS A LONG SONG
17. UP THE 'POOL
18. DR. BOGENBROOM
19. FOR LATER
20. NURSIE
    
    Tracks 8 and 19 appear mispelled on the CD (unless somebody was loafing in the past)

CREDITS

MICK ABRAHAMS -- electric guitar
IAN ANDERSON -- flute, voice, mandolin, tin whistle, 12-string guitar, balalaika, Hammond organ, acoustic guitar, violin, mixing direction
BARRIEMORE BARLOW -- drums, percussion
MARTIN BARRE -- electric guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion, vocal backing
CLIVE BUNKER -- drums, percussion, vocal backing, glockenspiel
GLENN CORNICK -- bass guitar, Hammond organ
JOHN EVAN -- Hammond organ, piano, melotron (sic), celeste, percussion, vocal backing, harpsichord
JEFFREY HAMMOND-HAMMOND -- bass guitar
David Palmer -- string/orchestra arrangement, conductor
Lou Toby -- string arrangement, conductor
Robin Black -- engineer, mixing engineer
John Burns -- engineer, supervising engineer
Victor Gamm -- engineer
Andy Johns -- engineer
Kim King -- engineer
Dave Palmer -- engineer
John Wood -- engineer
Terry Ellis -- executive producer
CCS -- album design and artwork
Sam Emerson, Tony Loew, Brian Ward, Ed Caraeff, Ruan O'Lochlainn, Jackie O'Lochlainn, Michael Graber -- photographs

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