Now Available: Jethro Tull’s A Passion Play, Extended for Your Listening Enjoyment

In the early 1970s, the Billboard Top 200 was Jethro Tull’s oyster: they started the decade with Benefit going to #11 in 1970, took Aqualung to #7 the following year, and by ’72, they’d made it all the way to the top spot with Thick as a Brick. Today, though, we’re here to talk about their second chart-topping album, which followed immediately on the heels of their first: 1973’s A Passion Play, released on July 6 in the UK and July 23 here in the States.

The process of recording A Passion Play was a bit unique for Tull, starting with the fact that it was the first time they’d recorded a new album with the same lineup as they’d had on the previous album. (To say that the band’s membership had a tendency to fluctuate a bit is rather like saying, “Spinal Tap had a few drummers.”) There was also a problem in the studio in which they’d begun recording the album – the Château d'Hérouville near Paris, home to such classic albums as Elton John’s Honky Château and Pink Floyd’s Obscured by Clouds – which led the band to give up the ghost and shift locations, setting aside the hour or so of music they’d recorded and start anew elsewhere.

In the end, A Passion Play turned out rather well, but if you know the saga of the album and have always wanted to hear what might’ve been as well as what ultimately was, then you’ll want to pick up A Passion Play (Extended Performance), now in stores, which features two CDs and two DVDs packaging in a case-bound book and includes the original album and the Château d'Hérouville sessions, both mixed to 5.1 surround sound and with new stereo mixes by Steven Wilson.

And, yes, LP lovers, we’ve got your back: there’s also a 180-gram vinyl edition featuring the new stereo mix of the original album.

Here’s the track listing of the two-CD, two-DVD set:

Disc One - A Passion Play

1. Lifebeats /Prelude
2. The Silver Cord
3. Re-Assuring Tune
4. Memory Bank
5. Best Friends
6. Critique Oblique
7. Forest Dance #1
8. The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles
9. Forest Dance #2
10. The Foot Of Our Stairs (containing two extra verses found on the end of the multi-track reel and have been added back in)
11. Overseer Overture.
12. Flight From Lucifer
13. 10.08 to Paddington
14. Magus Perde
15. Epilogue

Disc Two - The Château d'Hérouville Sessions

1. The Big Top
2. Scenario
3. Audition
4. Skating Away
5. Sailor
6. No Rehearsal
7. Left Right
8. Solitaire
9. Critique Oblique (Part I)
10. Critique Oblique (Part II)
11. Animelee (1st Dance) [Instrumental]
12. Animelee (2nd Dance) [Instrumental]
13. Law Of The Bungle (Part I)
14. Tiger
15. Law Of The Bungle (Part II)

DVD 1 (Audio & Video):

• A Passion Play mixed to 5.1 DTS and AC3 Dolby Digital surround sound and PCM 96/24 PCM stereo.
• A flat transfer from the original master at PCM 96/24 stereo
• Video clips of ‘The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles’ an intro and outro film used in the Passion Play tour of 1973.

DVD 2 (Audio only):

• The Château d'Hérouville Sessions mixed to 5.1 DTS and AC3 Dolby Digital surround sound
• PCM 96/24 PCM stereo.

Oh, and remember how we mentioned that it’s packaged in a case-bound book? Well, the book includes an extensive article by Martin Webb on the preparation and recording of the album and the Château sessions that preceded it, Steven Wilson’s thoughts on mixing the recordings, memories of the cover shoot and Hare filming by dancer Jane Eve (Colthorpe), recollections from the Rev’d Godfrey Pilchard, a history of Tull’s 1973 tour, and recollections of touring and PA systems by sound man Chris Amson.

Can you feel the passion involved in putting together this set, Tull fans? Well, good, because now you can listen to it, too.