Jethro Tull “This Was” 1968. The debut record from blues rock, jazz-flute enthusiast prog-rockers. I’m a casual Tull fan (to the chagrin of some in our household) but I’m more familiar with their more popular 70’s releases (Aqualung and Songs from the Wood are two favorites). This was (pun totally intended) my first listen to their well-received debut (it hit #10 in the UK and went to #62 in the US) and it’s….background music. Not enough rock, way too much jazz for my tastes, though there is some pretty classic blues (filtered through the lens of British white guys) like the track “It’s Breaking Me Up” and I do like the vaguely exotic instrumental “Dharma for One” – a great beat and a super- impressive drum solo (from Wiki “This song featured the “claghorn,” a hybrid instrument invented by Tull’s Jeffrey Hammond which combined the body of a recorder, the bell of a toy trumpet and the mouthpiece of a saxophone. Anderson also claims to have invented the instrument.” Tull’s rendition of the traditional blues instrumental “Cat’s Squirrel” highlights impressive guitar musicianship and is pretty good, too. The sole single release, “A Song for Jeffrey” did not chart in the UK; it was the b-side to the US single release of “Love Story.” A fun nugget: “The song was performed on the Rolling Stones Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus in December 1968…This was the only Tull performance with guitarist Tony Iommi during his two-week tenure with the band.” (I did not know Iommi was in Tull!) It is pretty good – like Zeppelin…with jazz flute.