Aqualung Redux01. Aqualung (Chris Goss and Alain Johannes)02. Cross-Eyed Mary (THE WELL)03. Cheap Day Return (OSI AND THE JUPITER)04. Mother Goose (HUNTSMEN)05. Wond’ring Aloud (THE OTOLITH)06. Up To Me (MOTORPSYCHO)07. My God (BIG SCENIC NOWHERE08. Hymn 43 (SATURNA)09. Slipstream (MAMMOTH VOLUME)10. Locomotive Breath (THE SWORD)11. Wind-Up (DOMKRAFT and Arvid Hallagard)Best of Jethro Tull01. Reasons For Waiting (MR. BISON)02. Back to the Family (SWEAT)03. Bungle in the Jungle (HASHTRONAUT)04. We Used to Know (ELEPHANT TREE)05. The Teacher (THE GOLDEN GRASS)06. Son (SERGEANT THUNDERHOOF)07. Sweet Dream (OCEANLORD)08. Nothing To Say (LOWRIDER and ELEPHANT TREE)Those clever bastards at Magnetic Eye Records have got impeccable taste. “Aqualung Redux” is the latest in a series of extravagant tribute albums dedicated to classic albums and great artists of our time, populated by an impressive army of bands from stoner, doom and psychedelic realms. Previous projects have included fresh takes on BLACK SABBATH’s “Vol.4”, PINK FLOYD’s “The Wall” and ALICE IN CHAINS’ “Dirt”, with everyone from Zakk Wylde and Mark Lanegan to the MELVINS and SUPERSUCKERS chipping in with their own unique interpretations of some legendary songs.This time around, British prog rock giants JETHRO TULL receive the same reverential treatment, as 1971’s seminal “Aqualung” album is dissected, dismantled and reconstructed by another gaggle of hirsute miscreants. Among the crown jewels of prog, “Aqualung”, already had a strong connection to the world of heavy music, thanks to IRON MAIDEN’s 1983 cover of “Cross-Eyed Mary”, which appeared as the B-side to “The Trooper”. This new version makes it plain that the lines between fuzzed-out doom and folk-influenced art rock have been irrevocably blurred, and another assortment of the bong-wielding great and good are only too happy to capitalize.An album full of artful and intelligent songs, “Aqualung” was quietly revolutionary back in 1971, and so it seems fitting that many of the acts on “Aqualung Redux” have been fearlessly imaginative in conjuring their own interpretations. In the hands of stoner rock legend Chris Goss (MASTERS OF REALITY) and Alain Johannes (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE alumni),the title track is reimagined as a surreal acapella nightmare, with human voices and inhuman noises colliding to form a bizarre but faithful rendition of a much-adored classic. The criminally underrated HUNTSMEN take a rusty cudgel to “Mother Goose”, turning it into a disorienting blizzard of slow-motion doom and drawing poignancy and pathos from TULL founder Ian Anderson’s eccentric poetry. Norwegian rock mavericks MOTORPSYCHO give “Up To Me” the lysergic rejig it deserves, replete with rasping flute flurries and a rumbling bassline that rattles along on its own momentum. BIG SCENIC NOWHERE’s “My God” is an incendiary, garage doom delight. JETHRO TULL’s best-known song, “Locomotive Breath”, is given plenty of respect by THE SWORD, but the band’s delight at the whole thing is self-evident, and vocalist J.D. Cronise does a superb, double-take-demanding Ian Anderson impersonation. Like everything else on “Aqualung Redux”, it works brilliantly and shines fresh light on an album that many ageing rock fans will have listened to a thousand times.Released simultaneously, “Best Of Jethro Tull” scoops up a bunch of vaguely related Jethro Tull deep cuts and gives them to yet more mercurial distortion pedlars to do their imaginative best with. HASHTRONAUT’s raucous version of “Bungle In The Jungle” and ELEPHANT TREE’s scorched-earth, lo-fi take on “We Used To Know” are the obvious standouts, but as with all of Magnetic Eye’s multi-band projects, there is no drop in quality to be found anywhere. Crushing, clever and resolutely out-there (LOWRIDER and ELEPHANT TREE’s “Nothing To Say” is a disorientating, woozy marvel),”Best Of Jethro Tull” is, as intended, the perfect accompaniment to “Aqualung Redux” and another sparkling feather in the cap of one of the coolest labels around. More of these wonderful things, please.
