Stand Up

Stand Up is the second album by Jethro Tull. Before this album, the band's original guitarist Mick Abrahams resigned because of musical differences with Ian Anderson; Abrahams wanted to stay with the blues-rock sound of This Was, while Anderson wished to branch out into other musical forms. Overall, however, the album does remain more broadly in the style of blues rock than future Jethro Tull albums. Stand Up represents the first album project on which Anderson was in full control of the music and lyrics. It also marks the first appearance of guitarist Martin Barre, who appeared on every Jethro Tull album from this point on. The album goes in a different direction from Ian Anderson's earlier work, revealing influences from Celtic, folk, and classical music. In particular, the song "Fat Man" showed an interest in unusual instrumentation, as Ian Anderson played mandolin, one of the first times the instrument had been used by a rock band. The instrumental "Bourée" (one of Jethro Tull's better-known songs) is a jazzy re-working of "Bourrée in E minor" by J.S. Bach. The album reached No. 1 on the British charts. The gatefold album cover, in a woodcut style designed by artist James Gra…