I came to Jethro Tull through their flutey folky stuff, matched to the occasional powerchord, but was never a big fan – largely because of Ian Anderson’s flute.
Consequently I was unaware they had started out as part of the British blues revival of the mid-Sixties.
They didn’t stay in that realm for long but their debut album This Was, recorded over the summer of 1968, was very much a blues affair.
This album track, It’s Breaking Me Up, could have been by one of those other bluesmen of the time like Big Bill Broonzy, or the Graham Bond Organisation.
It showcases the virtuoso talent of Mick Abrahams, the band’s original guitarist, who was compared to Clapton in his heyday, and also contributed to the songwriting and singing.
Discarded after this album, he went on to form the far less successful Blodwyn Pig and all but disappeared from the annals of rock history.
Tull, meanwhile, delved deeper into the emerging prog movement, bringing Anderson’s flute – my least-favourite instrument – further to the fore, often played on one leg while wearing a codpiece, and found fame and fortune with albums like Aqualung and Thick As A Brick.