Jethro Tull – Minstrel In The Gallery

When it was originally released, Minstrel in the Gallery became Jethro Tull’s fifth consecutive U.S. Top 10 album. It peaked at No. 7, and at a more-than-respectable No. 29 in the U.K. It’s also notable as the final album to feature the longtime lineup of Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, John Evans, Barrie Barlow and Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond. It was previously reissued and expanded in 2002.

The new Minstrel in the Gallery: La Grande Edition will feature the following:
•Original album and seven bonus tracks (six previously unreleased), two mixed to 5.1 surround, and all to stereo, by Steven Wilson
•July 5, 1975 live performance at the Olympia in Paris
•Flat transfers of the original LP mix at 96/24 (plus bonus track “Summerday Sands”)
•Flat transfer of the original 4.0 quadraphonic mix of the LP (plus bonus track “Summerday Sands”)
•An eight-minute film of the band performing “Minstrel In The Gallery” in Paris from July 1975

As with WarChild, Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play, the new Minstrel is housed in a sturdy, casebound DVD book-style format. Its 80 pages boast an extensive history of the album, track-by-track annotations by Ian Anderson, recollections by roadie Kenny Wylie, Maison Rouge maintenance engineer Pete Smith, and string section member Liz Edwards, plus lyrics, the band’s album tour itinerary, and rare and unseen photographs.

La Grande Edition has been expanded with the B-side “Summerday Sands,” studio outtakes, and three recordings made for a BBC broadcast (the album’s title track, “Cold Wind To Valhalla,” and “Aqualung”). Also included is a live recording of the band performing at the Olympia in Paris on July 5, 1975, a few months prior to the release of Minstrel in the Gallery. The concert has been mixed to 5.1 and stereo by King Crimson guitarist Jakko Jakszyk.

Also on May 5, the new stereo remix of Minstrel in the Gallery will be released on a single CD, as a digital download, and as a limited edition 180-gram vinyl pressing. You can pre-order all iterations of this release below!

Jethro Tull, Minstrel in the Gallery: La Grande Edition (Parlophone/Rhino, 2015)

2 CD/2 DVD Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Link TBD
180-Gram Vinyl (New Stereo Remix): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Link TBD
Single CD (New Stereo Remix): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Links TBD
Digital Download: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Links TBD

Album plus Bonus Tracks:
1.Minstrel in the Gallery
2.Cold Wind to Valhalla
3.Black Satin Dancer
4.Requiem
5.One White Duck / 0 10 = Nothing at All
6.Baker Street Muse (Pig-Me and the Whore / Nice Little Tune / Crash Barrier Waltzer / Mother England Reverie)
7.Grace
8.Summerday Sands (B-side)
9.Requiem
10.One White Duck
11.Grace
12.Minstrel in the Gallery (BBC Version)
13.Cold Wind to Valhalla (BBC Version)
14.Aqualung (BBC Version)