The Jethro Tull Christmas Album

The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
Studio album (Christmas) by Jethro Tull
Released	September 30, 2003 (U.S.)
Genre	Progressive rock, Hard rock
Length	62:16 126:29 (with Christmas at St Bride's 2008)
Label	RandM Records (UK) & Fuel 2000 (U.S.)
Producer	Ian Anderson
Jethro Tull chronology
Essential (2003) The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003) Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 (2004)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Progressive World
Rolling Stone	(favorable)
George Starostin	(8/10)
The Daily Vault	B+

The Jethro Tull Christmas Album is the 21st studio album released by Jethro Tull, on September 30, 2003 (see 2003 in music). 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 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" (Instrumental, Gabriel Fauré, arranged and developed by Anderson) – 4:19
10. "First Snow on Brooklyn" (Anderson) – 4:57
11. "Greensleeved" (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", Rev. J. Hopkins, arranged and developed by Anderson) – 3:16
14. "Ring Out Solstice Bells" (Anderson) – 4:04
15. "Bourée" (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

1. "Weathercock" (Ian Anderson) - 4:41
2. "Introduction: Rev. George Pitcher / Choir: What Cheer" (William Walton) - 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) - 1:50
10. "Choir: Oh, Come All Ye Faithful" (Traditional) - 3:50
11. "Reading: Mark Billingham, The Ballad of The Breadman" (Charles Causley) - 3:33
12. "A Winter Snowscape" (Martin Barre) - 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" (Trad. arranged by Anderson / Anderson) - 10:25

Personnel

• Ian Anderson – flute, vocals, acoustic guitars, mandolin, piccolo, percussion
• Martin Barre – electric and acoustic guitars
• Doane Perry – 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

• The Jethro Tull Christmas Album 2003 at Allmusic
• The Jethro Tull Christmas Album 2004 at Allmusic (bonus DVD)
• Official Website
• Progressive Archives
• DPRP CD Review
• Rolling Stone Review