Jethro Tull - A Passion Play - MFSL (UDCD-720) [Reupload]

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL, or "MoFi") is a company that produces audiophile releases of classic CDs and vinyl records.

Many commercial CDs undergo dynamic range compression in order to sound "louder" when played on radio or low-end systems. Some consider this detrimental to the sound quality when reproduced on high-quality equipment. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab releases are highly desirable due to their attention to detail concerning the audio mastering process. Some of the techniques used are half-speed mastering and pressing gold-plated CDs. MFSL also releases record albums meant to be played at 45 RPM instead of the standard 33? RPM, for better sound quality. These albums must be released on two or three discs, as less music can be held at increased speed.

MFSL only acquires the license to reproduce releases for a specific time period, and because of the limited quantities produced, they are highly sought after.


Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's ongoing quest is to deliver the foremost sounding audio entertainment software that technological innovation can provide. From our first UHQR™ vinyl LP to our latest Ultradisc UHR™ SACD, we have been and will remain a steadfast innovator in the audiophile frontier. We further believe that technological development serves best when accompanied by a profound awareness and appreciation for the elusive magic and mystery that comprises music itself. Our greatest hope is that our products will serve as conduits for ears ands souls to experience premium, pure, natural sound reproduction of diverse, pre-eminent original master recordings across the entire musical spectrum.



Jethro Tull was a unique phenomenon in popular music history. Their mix of hard rock; folk melodies; blues licks; surreal, impossibly dense lyrics; and overall profundity defied easy analysis, but that didn't dissuade fans from giving them 11 gold and five platinum albums. At the same time, critics rarely took them seriously, and they were off the cutting edge of popular music since the end of the 1970s. But no record store in the country would want to be without multiple copies of each of their most popular albums (Benefit, Aqualung, Thick as a Brick, Living in the Past), or their various best-of compilations, and few would knowingly ignore their newest releases. Of their contemporaries, only Yes could claim a similar degree of success, and Yes endured several major shifts in sound and membership in reaching the 1990s, while Tull remained remarkably stable over the same period. As co-founded and led by wildman-flautist-guitarist-singer-songwriter Ian Anderson, the group carved a place all its own in popular music.

Tull had its roots in the British blues boom of the late '60s. Anderson (b. Aug. 10, 1947, Edinburgh, Scotland) had moved to Blackpool when he was 12. His first band was called the Blades, named after James Bond's club, with Michael Stephens on guitar, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (b. July 30, 1946) on bass and John Evans (b. Mar. 28, 1948) on drums, playing a mix of jazzy blues and soulful dance music on the northern club circuit. In 1965, they changed their name to the John Evan Band (Evan having dropped the "s" in his name at Hammond's suggestion) and later the John Evan Smash. By the end of 1967, Glenn Cornick (b. Apr. 24, 1947, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England) had replaced Hammond-Hammond on bass. The group moved to Luton in order to be closer to London, the center of the British blues boom, and the band began to fall apart, when Anderson and Cornick met guitarist/singer Mick Abrahams (b. Apr. 7, 1943, Luton, Bedfordshire, England) and drummer Clive Bunker (b. Dec. 12, 1946), who had previously played together in the Toggery Five and were now members of a local blues band called McGregor's Engine.

In December of 1967, the four of them agreed to form a new group. They began playing two shows a week, trying out different names, including Navy Blue and Bag of Blues. One of the names that they used, Jethro Tull, borrowed from an 18th-century farmer/inventor, proved popular and memorable, and it stuck. In January of 1968, they cut a rather derivative pop-folk single called "Sunshine Day," released by MGM Records (under the misprinted name Jethro Toe) the following month. The single went nowhere, but the group managed to land a residency at the Marquee Club in London, where they became very popular.

In late 1976, a Christmas EP entitled Ring Out Solstice Bells got to number 28. This song later turned up on their next album, Songs From the Wood, the group's most artistically unified and successful album in some time (and the first not derived from an unfinished film or play since A Passion Play). This was Tull's folk album, reflecting Anderson's passion for English folk songs. Its release also accompanied the band's first British tour in nearly three years. In May of 1977, David Palmer joined Tull as an official member, playing keyboards on-stage to augment the richness of the group's concert sound.


A Passion Play went to No. 1 on the Pop Chart. Created as a theatrical concept album, it humorously deals with the topic of life after death and provides some breathtaking instrumental interludes. A Passion Play is considered Tull’s most progressive album and continues the progressive musical bent of Thick As A Brick.

Tracklist:

01. Lifebeats
02. Prelude
03. The Silver Cord
04. Re-Assuring Tune
05. Memory Bank
06. Best Friends
07. Critique Oblique
08. Forest Dance #1
09. The Story Of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles
10. Forest Dance #2
11. The Foot Of Our Stairs
12. Overseer Overture
13. Flight From Lucifer
14. 10.08 To Paddington
15. Magus Perde
16. Epilogue

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