''The Jethro Tull Christmas Album'' is the 21st studio album released by Jethro Tull, on 30 September 2003. This was the band's last studio album for 19 years (until the release of ''

The Zealot Gene ''The Zealot Gene'' is the 22nd studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 28 January 2022 by Inside Out Music. Nearly five years in production, it is their first studio album since ''The Jethro Tull Christmas Album'' (2003), ...

'' in 2022), as well as the last album to feature the lineup of

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist w ...

, guitarist Martin Barre (and his last album with the group), bassist

Jonathan Noyce Jonathan Mark Thomas Noyce (born 15 July 1971) is an English musician. He is primarily bass guitar player. Noyce is known for being a member of British rock group Jethro Tull for 12 years, and also for his collaborations with guitarist Gary Moo ...

, keyboardist

Andrew Giddings Andrew Giddings (born 10 July 1963) is an English musician. He primarily plays keyboard instruments and is best known as a former member of British rock group Jethro Tull, for whom he was the longest serving keyboardist. Early life Giddings ...

, and drummer Doane Perry.

Content

''The Jethro Tull Christmas Album'' is a mix of new material, re-recordings of Tull's own suitably themed material and arrangements of traditional Christmas music. In 2009, the live album ''Christmas at St Bride's 2008'' was included with the original album on CD. Of the opening song, ''Birthday Card at Christmas'',

has said: : "My daughter Gael, like millions of other unfortunates, celebrates her birthday within a gnat's whisker of Christmas. Overshadowed by the Great Occasion, such birthdays can be flat, perfunctory and fleetingly token in their uneventful passing. The daunting party and festive celebration of the Christian calendar overshadows too, some might argue, the humble birthday of one Mr. J. Christ. Funny old 25ths, Decembers…"

Track listing

#"Birthday Card at Christmas" (Ian Anderson) – 3:37 #"Holly Herald" (" The Holly and the Ivy" (Trad.) / " Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (F. Mendelssohn); instrumental medley arranged by Anderson) – 4:16 #"A Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 2:47 #"Another Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 3:31 #"

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" is an English traditional Christmas carol. It is in the Roxburghe Collection (iii. 452), and is listed as no. 394 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It is also known as "Tidings of Comfort and Joy", and by other varian ...

" (Trad. instrumental arranged by Anderson) – 4:35 #"Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow" (Anderson) – 3:37 #"Last Man at the Party" (Anderson) – 4:48 #"Weathercock" (Anderson) – 4:17 #" Pavane" (Instrumental,

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

, arranged by Anderson) – 4:19 #"First Snow on Brooklyn" (Anderson) – 4:57 #"Greensleeved" (Trad. instrumental based on " Greensleeves". Arranged by Anderson) – 2:39 #"Fire at Midnight" (Anderson) – 2:26 #"We Five Kings" (Instrumental " We Three Kings", Rev. J. Hopkins, arranged by Anderson) – 3:16 #"Ring Out Solstice Bells" (Anderson) – 4:04 #" Bourée" (Instrumental J. S. Bach, arranged by Anderson) – 4:25 #"A Winter Snowscape" (Instrumental, Martin Barre) – 4:57 Tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, and 15 are all re-recordings of previously released pieces. 'Bourée', however, has significant alterations to the musical arrangement. 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' (Track 5) has been played in concert many times over the years: this is the first studio version.

Christmas at St Bride's 2008

''Recorded Live at

St Bride's Church St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire d ...

'' #"Weathercock" (Ian Anderson) – 4:41 #"Introduction: Rev. George Pitcher / Choir: What Cheer" ( William Walton) – 3:32 #"A Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 3:19 #"Living in These Hard Times" (Anderson) – 3:44 #"Choir: Silent Night" (Traditional) – 3:06 #"Reading: Ian Anderson, Marmion" ( Sir Walter Scott) – 2:17 #"Jack in the Green" (Anderson) – 2:33 #"Another Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 3:56 #"Reading: Gavin Esler, God's Grandeur" (

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...

) – 1:50 #"Choir:

Oh, Come All Ye Faithful "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (originally written in Latin as "") is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and ...

" (Traditional) – 3:50 #"Reading: Mark Billingham, The Ballad of The Breadman" ( Charles Causley) – 3:33 #"A Winter Snowscape" ( Martin Barre) – 3:39 #"Reading: Andrew Lincoln, Christmas" (

Sir John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

) – 3:12 #"Fires at Midnight" (Anderson) – 3:38 #"We Five Kings" (Instrumental "We Three Kings", Rev. J. Hopkins, arranged by Anderson) – 3:19 #"Choir: Gaudete" (Trad. arranged by Anderson) – 3:39 #"

/ Thick as a Brick" (Trad. arranged by Anderson / Anderson) – 10:25

Personnel

;Jethro Tull *

– vocals,

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

, percussion * Martin Barre – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

– bass guitar *

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

* Doane Perry –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion ;Additional personnel * James Duncan – additional drums and percussion * Dave Pegg – additional bass guitar and mandolin * The Sturcz String Quartet: :* Gábor Csonka – 1st violin :* Péter Szilágyi – 2nd violin :* Gyula Benkő – viola :* András Sturcz – cello (leader)

Charts

References

External links

* * (bonus DVD)
Official Website

Progressive Archives

Rolling Stone Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jethro Tull Christmas Album Jethro Tull (band) albums 2003 Christmas albums 2003 albums 2009 Christmas albums 2009 live albums Live Christmas albums Albums produced by Ian Anderson Christmas albums by English artists Folk rock Christmas albums Fuel 2000 albums