![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/tull_minstrel.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The latest example of Ian Anderson<\/strong><\/a>‘s ongoing twofold mission (to encourage a modern-day reconsideration of Jethro Tull<\/strong>‘s back catalog, and to provide be-all-and-end-all versions of those albums) continues with Minstrel in the Gallery: 40<\/em>th<\/em><\/sup> Anniversary La Grande Edition<\/em>.<\/p>\n The 1975 album spawned only one single a-side release (the title track, briefly appearing at #79 on the charts) but did include one of the group’s best-ever \u2013 if lesser-known \u2013 cuts, \u201cSummerday Sands,\u201d included on the 1979 pirate\/bootleg various artists compilation T’anks for the Mammaries<\/em>.<\/p>\n Following the established and successful format of the earlier Jethro Tull box\/book releases, the new Minstrel in the Gallery<\/em> provides a Steven Wilson<\/strong><\/a> stereo remix. The first disc also includes a handful of alternate\/early takes of songs from the album, and a three-song appearance on BBC radio. (As he makes plain in the liner notes, Anderson is not fond of the band’s performance on that BBC session.)<\/p>\n While Wilson’s remix is reliably superb — bringing to the fore previously-buried sonic subtleties \u2013 the real jewel of this new set is the second disc. Live at the Palais des Sports, Paris, 5<\/em>th<\/em><\/sup> July 1975<\/em> is reason enough to purchase the set. The extremely well-recorded concert has been mixed for release by Jakko Jakszyk<\/strong><\/a> (now of King Crimson<\/strong>). While the audience is all but inaudible, this set provides a terrific document of the band’s live onstage prowess in the middle of the 1970s.<\/p>\n Curiously \u2013 at least with the benefit of forty years’ perspective \u2013 the concert features hardly any music from Minstrel in the Gallery<\/em> (only the title track). Perhaps the more acoustic-flavored music of Minstrel<\/em> was thought not to be of sufficient power to carry live onstage. Whatever the reason, the show is best thought of as a greatest-hits-up-to-now concert by prime-era Jethro Tull. (During its heyday, the band wouldn’t release a live disc until 1978’s Live \u2013 Bursting Out<\/em> in 1978.)<\/p>\n The first DVD in the set follows what is by now a predictable pattern: it provides high-bitrate versions of the album (Surround 5.1), the original stereo mix, and a flat transfer of the 1975 quadrophonic mix.<\/p>\n The fourth disc is something of a red herring. The packaging suggests it contains an audiovisual version of the Palais des Sports concert; in reality it has the Jakko audio mix plus a slide show featuring hundreds of stills from the concert and related visuals. But no moving images.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/tull_minstrel2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n