Dramatic thematics and long, winding commentaries would feed their way into Jethro Tull across a remarkable, decades-spanning career. The Ian Anderson-led group started as many did, though, with an overly ambitious showcase that was meant as their starting pistol moment, their swansong, and a kick against the pricks all at once. Better to choke down what you can’t manage than thinly slice the meaning, though. This Was is a bit messy, but it still stands up as a better debut album than most artists have. Those flute additions are already in place, thankfully, that’s what sets up This Was as a little different to what was available at the time. Anderson sounds very different than he would on the albums to follow. What This Was is, then, is blues rock with a few jazz interpretations to keep that freshness alive and well. It works wonders for Jethro Tull here, and their catchy style is what carries their debut album even now.
Opener My Sunday Feeling is a wonderful listen. It doesn’t quite fit the mould of what people want from a laid-back Sunday, and nor should it. Jethro Tull inspires a confidence and spirit in the end of the week; their Sunday feeling is one of real passion and self-satisfaction. They’ve got a coolness to them which would remain in their best efforts, a sense of pride comes from their instrumental style. It’s rich, it’s well-layered, and above all it sets a standard for the band. Hearing Jethro Tull lean so heavily into the blues rock style is quite the surprise. It should never have been in doubt that they could do it, but consider what the band has released in recent years with both Curious Ruminant and RökFlöte, and you get the feeling the group has always had an interest in developing rock beyond the usual genre suspects. Blues rock suits them. They play with the quiet and calmer sway the blues can afford with the harmonica-heavy Some Day the Sun Won’t Shine for You.
Jethro Tull has brushes with baroque and jazz too, however briefly, on Move on Alone. Beautiful instrumentals with a predictable loss of romance story to it. We’ve heard it all before, sure, but Anderson’s the man holding it together with an inspired vocal delivery quite unlike what he would offer on future releases. Blues and jazz with a bit of flute thrown in there. For those who liked Jethro Tull before stumbling onto This Was, it’s an album filled with surprising treats. Where that’s all well and good for the A-side, the B-side improvisation and drumming frenzy found on Dharma for One isn’t quite as strong. Likeable, sure, and inventive too, but it doesn’t have the same emotional strength as the strong set of songs featured on the A-side.
This Was fully leans into the blues rock style and Jethro Tull would hardly return to it this full on again. Cat’s Squirrel has that hardline thrill which the band would adapt to their later works, but here it sounds so freed of consequence and that’s liberating to listen to. Blues rock thrills are all too frequent on This Was, and it’s somewhat disappointing to hear the band didn’t do anything quite like this again. But then, there was no guarantee they’d stand out a second time around with this style. They would adapt better to the consequences of sub-genres and oversaturation, but it’s nice to know Jethro Tull can hold their own as blues rock instrumentalists. It feeds into all the right places of their further discography, that much becomes clear after a listen through of This Was.
