Jethro Tull: Ian Anderson (vocals, flute, clag horn, mouth organ, piano); Mick Abrahams (guitar, background vocals); Glenn Cornick (bass); Clive Bunker (drums).

Producers: Terry Ellis, Jethro Tull.

Reissue producers: Jo Brooks, Nigel Reeve.

Recorded at Sound Techniques Studio, London, England between June 13 and August 23, 1968. Includes liner notes by Ian Anderson.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Jethro Tull's first album, THIS WAS, recorded and released in 1968, shows a band that is a far cry from their better-known incarnation as a prog rock outfit in the late 1970s. Instead, Tull come across here as a solid and talented blues band with elements of jazz, folk, and psychedelia thrown in. The band's sound was heavily influenced by guitarist, singer, and songwriter Mick Abrahams, whose bluesy singing and leads distinguish this disc in Tull's discography. Frontman Ian Anderson also shines with tunes like "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You" and the excellent cover of Rashaan Roland Kirk's "Serenade to a Cuckoo." A collector's edition, released in 2008, features a new stereo mix of the album and four early singles added as bonus tracks.

Jethro Tull was very much a blues band on their debut album, vaguely reminiscent of the Graham Bond Organization only more cohesive, and with greater commercial sense. The revelations about the group's roots on This Was -- which was recorded during the summer of 1968 -- can be astonishing, even 30 years after the fact. Original lead guitarist Mick Abrahams contributed to the songwriting and the singing, and his presence as a serious bluesman is felt throughout, often for the better: "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You," an Ian Anderson original that could just as easily be credited to Big Bill Broonzy or Robert Johnson; "Cat's Squirrel," Abrahams' big showcase, where he ventures into Eric Clapton territory; and "It's Breaking Me Up," which also features some pretty hot guitar from Abrahams. Roland Kirk's "Serenade to a Cuckoo" (the first song Anderson learned to play on flute), their jazziest track ever, is one of the best parts of the album. The drum solo on "Dharma for One" now seems like a mistake, but is understandable in the context of the time in which it was done. The one number here that everybody knows, "A Song for Jeffrey," almost pales amid these surroundings, but at the time it was a superb example of commercial psychedelic blues. This would be the last album of its kind by the group, as Abrahams' departure and the lure of more fertile inspiration tugged them toward English folk music. Curiously, the audio mix here is better than that on their second album, with a much stronger, harder group sound overall. In late 2001, This Was was reissued in a remastered edition with much crisper sound and three bonus tracks. The jazzy improvisation "One for John Gee" (a reference to the manager of the Marquee Club), the folky "Love Story" (which marked the end of Mick Abrahams' tenure with the group), and the novelty piece "Christmas Song" have all been heard before but, more to the point, they're worth hearing again, especially in the fidelity they have here. ~ Bruce Eder

Q (7/99, p.140) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It's a band escaping from its bedroom blues, experimenting with the free progressive vibe, dipping into some officially crazy jazz structures and coming up with a sound that's unique....THIS WAS caught [TULL] at the peak of their unbridled creativity."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.124) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The band's jazz and blues passions, which made them ideal Marquee residents, are virtually transparent here....Best of al are the instrumental workouts..."

Record Collector (magazine) (p.90) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[D]irect, unfussy and predominately blues-based....[With] some inspired ensemble playing, not least from frontman, multi-instrumentalist and principal songwriter Ian Anderson."