| Living in the Past | |
| Type: | compilation |
| Artist: | Jethro Tull |
| Cover: | Jethro_Tull_-_Living_In_The_Past.jpg |
| Released: | 23 June 1972 (UK) 31 October 1972 (US) |
| Recorded: | July 1968 – May 1971 |
| Genre: | Progressive rock |
| Length: | 87:28 |
| Label: | Chrysalis |
| Producer: | Terry Ellis, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull |
| Prev Title: | Thick as a Brick |
| Prev Year: | 1972 |
| Next Title: | A Passion Play |
| Next Year: | 1973 |
Living in the Past is a double LP compilation album by Jethro Tull, released in 1972. It collects album tracks, outtakes and several standalone singles spanning the band's career up to that point. Also included are the 1971 "Life Is a Long Song" EP and two live recordings taken from a performance at New York City's Carnegie Hall in November 1970.
The album was named after the single released in May 1969 and was released in an elaborate gate-fold packaging that contained a large colour photo booklet with over 50 photos of the band.[1]
Two songs, "By Kind Permission Of" and "Dharma for One", were recorded live at Carnegie Hall in New York City, United States. The former would be extended to include "With You There To Help Me" and would be included in complete form, along with "Dharma For One", on the separate LP release Live At Carnegie Hall 1970 (2015).
"Love Story", "Christmas Song", "Living in the Past", "Driving Song", "Sweet Dream" and "The Witch's Promise", some of which had only appeared on mono versions before, were given new stereo mixes for inclusion on the album. Additionally, "A Song for Jeffrey" and "Teacher" were also remixed.[2] Many of the tracks only appeared as British releases before being compiled on Living in the Past for the first time in the American market. Spurred on by radio airplay of the single, "Living in the Past", US rock fans who bought the album were treated to three years of UK releases.
In the United States, Living in the Past was the first Jethro Tull album to appear on the Chrysalis Records label; while each of the band's previous albums were marked as "a Chrysalis Production", the albums were released by Warner Bros. Records' Reprise Records subsidiary. Early U.S. editions of Living in the Past bore both a Chrysalis catalogue number (2CH 1035) and a Reprise catalogue number (2TS 2106), suggesting that the album was scheduled to appear on Reprise Records but that Chrysalis gained control of the band's USA releases in late 1972.
All of the tracks that were not on the original This Was (1968), Stand Up (1969) and Benefit (1970) albums have appeared as bonus tracks on their 2001 Digital Remasters.
AllMusic review the collection positively, stating that: "Not only was Ian Anderson writing solid songs every time out, but the group's rhythm section was about the best in progressive rock's pop division. Along with any of the group's first five albums, this collection is seminal and essential to any Tull collection, and the only compilation by the group that is a must-own disc."
The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 charts and went gold not long after its release. The title track from the album became Tull's first top-40 hit in the United States, reaching No. 11, a full three years after it performed well in Britain. In UK, the album reached No. 13. In Norwegian charts, the album hit No. 5.
The US vinyl version has "Alive and Well and Living In" and "Hymn 43" in place of "Inside" and "Locomotive Breath".
Differences in the song selections between the US and the UK editions of the album resulted in different track listings for the various CD releases. Most CDs had to further alter the track listings, due to time constraints as CDs at the time could only hold up to 74 minutes of music. Since the original American CD edition of Benefit was released with the alternative track list omitting "Alive and Well and Living In", many of the US CD editions of Living in the Past add that track. All of the single CD reissues omit two songs ("Bourée" and "Teacher") in order to reduce the running time to fit the album on one disc, but both countries' versions include "Inside", which originally was only on the UK vinyl. A 1997 two-disc Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissue contains every song selected for the UK and US vinyl editions.
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[3] | 2 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[4] | 6 |
| Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[5] | 4 |