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Rock Island | 
| Artist: Jethro Tull
Label: Capitol
Category: Music
Buy New: $11.98
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 14203
Format: Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 70976
UPC: 094637097625
EAN: 0094637097625
ASIN: B000GIWRIO
Release Date: October 31, 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Kissing Willie | | • | The Rattlesnake Trail | | • | Ears Of Tin | | • | Undressed To Kill | | • | Rock Island | | • | Heavy Water | | • | Another Christmas Song | | • | The Whaler's Dues | | • | Big Riff And Mando | | • | Strange Avenues | | • | Live From Zurich: Christmas Song | | • | Cheap Day Return/Mother Goose | | • | Locomotive Breath |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Remastered edition of this 1989 album. Following the success of Crest Of A Knave, which won a Grammy in the hard-rock category, group leader Ian Anderson responded two years later with Rock Island, a record that re-imagined Jethro Tull as a modern-rock act. Features ''Another Christmas Song'', ''Rattlesnake Trail'' and more.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Devil's good tunes August 4, 2008
Golovanov Alexey (Limassol, Cyprus)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I listen to Messrs Anderson & Co., I keep asking myself: Why should this devil have all the good tunes? I listen to "Jethro Tull" for 40 years, and I am quite happy with "Rock Island". I like it and I don't consider my money misspent
the roots of folk-metal July 29, 2007
James B. Whitney (Minneapolis, MN. USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have no idea if any of todays' folk metal musicians ever listered to Jethro Tull, but these guys have been mixing hard rock/metal with British traditional music since the early 70's. This brew has given Tull a certain recognizable sound which has defined them throughout their career even though they have incorporated a wide variety of influences over the years. Rock island has a hard edge to it which tilts it more toward metal than some of Tulls' earlier work but Ian Andrerson's flute and melodic sensabilities still make it classic Tull. I believe that Tull fans who liked Aquqlung as well as On the Crest of a Knave will enjoy this release. I also think that fans of folk metal will like this album since Jethro Tull were a folk metal band long before the term for the genre was coined.
Electric Tull June 17, 2007
Mark (Denver, CO United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Rock Island" is an album for those Jethro Tull fans who are more inclined toward the heavy rock side of Tull over their folkier, accoustic side. It opens with the fast paced rocking "Kissing Willie" and is followed by the riffy "The Rattlesnake Trail" complete with Martin Barre's searing guitar fills.
Then comes my personal favorite from the album "Ears of Tin." It's one of those 'stop-go' songs. The verses are melodic, featuring mandolin and flute while the refrains contain pulsating hard rock. Next is "Undressed to kill," a slow, steady rocking song. Then comes the title song, which is fairly subdued until the fast paced instrumental break.
"Heavy Water" is another moderate to slow paced rocker, which is followed by the subdued and melodic "Another Christmas Song." Then comes the another of my personal favorites: the slow, brooding "The Whaler's Dues." Between Martin Barre's jagged electric guitar fills and Ian Anderson's wheezing flute, the song just gets under your skin and stays there.
The last two songs from the original release, "Big Riff and Mando" and "Strange Avenues" are lackluster, in my opinion. But overall, "Rock Island" is a consistently enjoyable album. The song quality might not be as high as on their previous release, "Crest of a Knave," but it has the advantage (or disadvantage, depending on taste) of containing far fewer ballads than 'Crest.'
There are many who believe that the quality of Jethro Tull's music began a permanent decline following "Aqualung" in 1971 or "A Passion Play" in 1973. However, the music on "Crest of a Knave," "Rock Island" and "Catfish Rising," Tull's 1987, 1989 and 1991 releases, convinces me that Ian Anderson's songwriting has, if anything, improved over time.
As with most Tull albums, you'll need to give this one a half dozen spins in your CD player before familiarity breeds enjoyment.
 Rock Solid Tull January 29, 2007
Alan Caylow (USA)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
Jethro Tull's "Rock Island," their 1989 follow-up to "Crest Of A Knave," is a solid album with a lot of great Tull songs, including rockers like the suggestive "Kissing Willie," "Ears Of Tin," "Undressed To Kill," the title song, and the epic-sounding "The Whaler's Dues." Other highlights include the good cheer of "Another Christmas Song" and the reflective "Strange Avenues." The singing voice of Tull leader Ian Anderson isn't quite as rich as it once was, but he still sings well enough, and he still writes excellent songs and plays a mean flute & acoustic guitar (Ian also contributes some fine keyboard parts throughout the album, along with Martin Allcock & Peter Vettese). Martin Barre delivers the goods on lead guitar, while bassist David Pegg and drummer Doane Perry play with tremendous flair. Though I wouldn't say this album ranks amongst the band's greatest works, "Rock Island" is nonetheless rock solid Jethro Tull.
Rocking the Boat (a little harder than usual) December 19, 2006
Eugenius Dobson (from a global perspective I'm right here.)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I remember hearing Kissing Willie on the radio a week or so before the album was released and it sounded to me like the Jethro Tull of yore returned with guitars and flute to the fore. Yes the lyrics are a bit obvious but it's a good sexual romp through a rocking tune, and while the record does rock more than is usual for the Tull, (even the mandolins occasionally sound almost heavy metal!) it does so through a landscape of interesting lyrics that range from the sexual to the political, the introspective to the observational, even taking a side trip on a sleigh to the seasonal. Musically it has moments that are both straight forward rock to more complex rocking arrangements. I think Kissing Willie, Ears of Tin, Rock Island, Another Christmas Song, The Whaler's Dues, Big Riff and Mando and Strange Avenues are the standout tracks. However they are standout tracks that stand out in a bunch of great songs that all stand up to shake their collective behinds in a very dramatic and boisterous manner.
The bonus tracks are from the Zurich dressing room tapes. While they have appeared elsewhere they're always good to hear, and they do help to bring the listener down a little more gently and less abruptly than the original release did.
The sound quality on this remaster is a great improvement over the original release of Rock Island. All of the instruments shine through clearly now and the sound is completely lifted up out of the muddier waters it used to lay in.
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