We all love Christmas, and Jethro Tull is no exception. The band’s relationship with the festive season dates back to their early days. Now, they’re revisiting that magic with an expanded and remixed edition of their 2003 album, “The Jethro Tull Christmas Album,” available on InsideOut Music on December 6, 2024.
Titled “The Jethro Tull Christmas Album – Fresh Snow At Christmas,” the album has been remixed by Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief) and features new artwork, live material, and surround sound mixes. The limited deluxe 4CD + Blu-ray book-set collection includes:
- Original Album Mixes
- 2024 Remixes by Bruce Soord
- Christmas Live At St. Bride’s 2008 (newly remixed by Bruce Soord)
- The Ian Anderson Band Live At St. Bride’s 2006 (previously unreleased)
- Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound and High-Resolution Stereo Mixes of “The Jethro Tull Christmas Album” and both live recordings
The album will also be available on vinyl for the first time as a gatefold 180g 2LP featuring the 2024 remixes.
“The Jethro Tull Christmas Album” was originally hailed as a masterpiece for its eclectic blend of folk, rock, Celtic, and jazz influences, all infused with Ian Anderson’s signature flute and wry humor. Allmusic called it “perhaps the most satisfying TULL releases in 25 years.” The album featured fresh takes on seven TULL songs, including the holiday-inspired “A Christmas Song” (1968).
Ian Anderson explained, “Some of the tracks aren’t strictly Christmas songs; they’re more seasonal. So that gives a broader window. And then there are a couple of them that I quite often play in the middle of summer and say, ‘It’ll soon be Christmas — it’s in the diary. So let’s kick it off now.’ And that’s part of what I’ve done over the years since October of 1968 when I went into record ‘A Christmas Song’. So, yes — it goes back a long way.”
“Part of the joy of redoing those things,” he says, “is that you can…not necessarily recreate, but you can keep all the essential elements of the song and maybe declutter it a little bit and give it a fresh look, but essentially still staying faithful to the original arrangements.”
