The Jethro Tull Christmas Album is the 21st studio album released by Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull (band)

Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...

, on September 30, 2003 (see 2003 in music

2003 in music

-January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...

). The songs are 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.

Ian Anderson

Ian Anderson (musician)

Ian Scott Anderson, MBE is a Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as the leader and flautist of British rock band Jethro Tull.-Early life:...

 about the song Birthday Card at Christmas: "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

1. "Birthday Card at Christmas" (Ian Anderson) – 3:37
2. "Holly Herald" (Instrumental medley arranged and developed by Anderson) – 4:16
3. "A Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 2:47
4. "Another Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 3:31
5. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" (Trad. instrumental arranged and developed by Anderson) – 4:35
6. "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow" (Anderson) – 3:37
7. "Last Man at the Party" (Anderson) – 4:48
8. "Weathercock" (Anderson) – 4:17
9. "Pavane
   Pavane (Fauré)
   The Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50, is a composition by the French composer Gabriel Fauré, written in 1887. It was originally a piano piece, but is better known in Fauré's version for orchestra and optional chorus...
   
   " (Instrumental, Gabriel Fauré
   Gabriel Fauré
   Gabriel Urbain Fauré 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 and developed by Anderson) – 4:19
10. "First Snow on Brooklyn" (Anderson) – 4:57
11. "Greensleeved
    Greensleeves
    "Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground of the form called a romanesca.A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in September 1580 as "A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves". It then appears in the surviving A Handful of...
    
    " (Trad. instrumental based on "Greensleeves". Arranged and developed by Anderson) – 2:39
12. "Fire at Midnight" (Anderson) – 2:26
13. "We Five Kings" (Instrumental "We Three Kings
    We Three Kings
    "We Three Kings", also known as "We Three Kings of Orient Are" or "The Quest of the Magi", is a Christmas carol written by the Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr., who wrote both the lyrics and the music. It is suggested to have been written in 1857 but did not appear in print until his Carols, Hymns...
    
    ", Rev. J. Hopkins, arranged and developed by Anderson) – 3:16
14. "Ring Out Solstice Bells" (Anderson) – 4:04
15. "Bourée
    Bourrée in E minor
    Bourrée in E minor is a popular lute piece, the fifth movement from Suite in E minor for Lute, BWV 996 written by Johann Sebastian Bach. This piece is arguably one of the most famous pieces among guitarists....
    
    " (Instrumental J. S. Bach, arranged and developed by Anderson) – 4:25
16. "A Winter Snowscape" (Instrumental, Martin Barre) – 4:57

Tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, and 15 are all re-recordings of previously released songs. 'Bourée', however, has significant alterations to the musical arrangement, so it could be regarded as an entirely new piece.

Christmas at St Bride's 2008

Recorded Live at St Bride's Church

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 on Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire during the London Blitz in 1940. Due to its location on...

1. "Weathercock" (Ian Anderson) - 4:41
2. "Introduction: Rev. George Pitcher / Choir: What Cheer" (William Walton
   William Walton
   Sir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
   
   ) - 3:32
3. "A Christmas Song" (Anderson) - 3:19
4. "Living in These Hard Times" (Anderson) - 3:44
5. "Choir: Silent Night" (Traditional) - 3:06
6. "Reading: Ian Anderson, Marmion" (Sir Walter Scott) - 2:17
7. "Jack in the Green" (Anderson) - 2:33
8. "Another Christmas Song" (Anderson) - 3:56
9. "Reading: Gavin Esler, God's Grandeur" (Gerard Manley Hopkins
   Gerard Manley Hopkins
   Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...
   
   ) - 1:50
10. "Choir: Oh, Come All Ye Faithful" (Traditional) - 3:50
11. "Reading: Mark Billingham, The Ballad of The Breadman" (Charles Causley
    Charles Causley
    Charles Stanley Causley, CBE, FRSL was a Cornish poet, schoolmaster and writer. His work is noted for its simplicity and directness and for its associations with folklore, especially when linked to his native Cornwall....
    
    ) - 3:33
12. "A Winter Snowscape" (Martin Barre
    Martin Barre
    Martin Lancelot Barre is an English rock musician.Barre has been the guitarist for rock band Jethro Tull since 1969. He has appeared on every Jethro Tull album except their debut This Was...
    
    ) - 3:39
13. "Reading: Andrew Lincoln, Christmas" (Sir John Betjeman) - 3:12
14. "Fires at Midnight" (Anderson) - 3:38
15. "We Five Kings" (Instrumental "We Three Kings", Rev. J. Hopkins, arranged and developed by Anderson) - 3:19
16. "Choir: Gaudete" (Trad. arranged by Anderson) - 3:39
17. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen / Thick as a Brick
    Thick as a Brick
    -Differences between various CD releases:By 2011 the album received three major releases on CD: the first release , the MFSL-release , and the 25th Anniversary Edition . Whereas the first release and the MFSL-release run with identical speed, the 25th Anniversary edition runs 0.5% slower...
    
    " (Trad. arranged by Anderson / Anderson) - 10:25

Personnel

• Ian Anderson
  Ian Anderson (musician)
  Ian Scott Anderson, MBE is a Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as the leader and flautist of British rock band Jethro Tull.-Early life:...
  
   – flute, vocals, acoustic guitars, mandolin, piccolo, percussion
• Martin Barre
  Martin Barre
  Martin Lancelot Barre is an English rock musician.Barre has been the guitarist for rock band Jethro Tull since 1969. He has appeared on every Jethro Tull album except their debut This Was...
  
   – electric and acoustic guitars
• Doane Perry
  Doane Perry
  Doane Ethredge Perry is an American musician, composer and author. He has been working since 1984 as drummer and percussionist with Grammy award winning band Jethro Tull.-Early life:...
  
  – drums and percussion
• Andrew Giddings – keyboards, accordion and keyboard bass
• Jonathan Noyce – bass guitar

Guest musicians

• James Duncan
• Dave Pegg
• The Sturez String Quartet:
• Gábor Csonka – 1st violon
• Péter Szilágyi – 2nd Violin
• Gyula Benkö – viola
• András Sturez – cello

External links

(bonus DVD)

• Official Website
• Progressive Archives
• DPRP CD Review
• Rolling Stone Review