Is it possible to take a crap album and make a great boxed set? Sure thing. Two recent examples are Dylan's Self Portrait, overhauled spectacularly on the Bootleg Series' Another Self Portrait, and Wings Wildlife, helped out so much by auxiliary tracks from around the same time from McCartney. I'll argue the three other CD's of music found on this Tull set greatly enhance and surpass the album proper.
By the time Stormwatch was released in 1979, Tull were stuck in a rut. A huge touring success and a constant album-selling unit, the group kept giving the people what they wanted, another concept album, hoping for the excitement of, say, Thick As A Brick to continue. A recent foray into the British countryside and glorious past had resulted in the pretty fair, somewhat folkie projects Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses. After a series of sessions spread out over most of a year, Stormwatch was cobbled together from multiple tracks with an overall theme of storms, water, the environment and ecology. Only a wag would suggest then that the album was all wet. "North Sea Oil" was a reference to the new oil boom Anderson was witnessing off the Scottish coast, "Dun Ringill" was about the Isle of Skye, complete with a TV weatherman introduction, and "Flying Dutchman" was named for the famous ghost ship. Eight vocals and two instrumentals, there's really nothing on the record that is remembered by Tull fans as among their best. It was a strange mixed bag as well, with some of the hardest rock the group had recorded, with the rest folk-tinged. Trouble was, both styles were mostly lifeless and lacking.
No surprise really, it was the end of an era for the group, which would break up after the album and tour. Only Anderson and Martin Barre remained of the classic lineup to carry on the name. But there was better fare in the leftovers from the sessions for the album, and now all of it is collected on Disc Two of this box (called The Force 10 Edition for this 40th anniversary release). Best of the bunch is the single "A Stitch In Time," released months before the album and left off foolishly. It's a far more melodic number, with rare female backing vocals, and sounds more like a classic Tull track. "Kelpie" is another good one, more folkie in style like the previous albums. Even early versions of songs that did end up on Stormwatch, "Dark Ages" and "Dun Ringill" have a lighter touch.
Two more CD's cover a live show from the era, and point out the difference in the new tracks and the old faves. Tull started off bravely, the first half-hour of the show taken up by eight brand-new songs from the album, which predictably fall flat even now. Then comes good old "Aqualung" and we're off to the races, a grand mix of hit and classics, and as always Tull showing what a powerful live act they had been throughout the entire '70's.
As with all these 40th anniversary editions, this box sets the standard for album reissues, with detailed historical notes, track comments from Anderson, pithy memories and no-holds-barred criticism. For the audiophiles, there's the usual new mix from the redoubtable Steven Wilson, and all the studio tracks appear multiple DVD-audio choices. I've probably reached the end of my Tull interest with this set, the '80's were not kind to the group and vice-versa, but if they do continue with these boxes, who knows? Maybe they can turn more sow's-ears albums around, as the reissue team did with this.
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