I remember being at college in central Wisconsin, one dark night in April 1970,sitting alone in a big stone quarry, watching an awesome lightning storm approach.I ran back to my room just as the rain was hitting, to listen to a loaned LP recordby a really hairy band of young Britons-- "Stand Up" by Jethro Tull! They jumpedout at you from the green, leafy album gatefold, like a hippie-era greeting card.The songwriter and obvious leader, one Ian Anderson, dressed like a rusticwoodsman with thigh-high deerskin boots, and from his belt dangled a small sack of-- what?Later, when I knew more about Ian, I would suppose it was pipe-tobacco.All that was amusing, but how were the ten songs? Fantastic, exciting, exotic,varied! Ian blew a mad flute, and sang like a rugged, honest, buckskinnedfrontiersman, full of adventure, humor, and romance. Love was often lost andregretful, and he endured much tension visiting the old family manor. But thereare worse things at sea, and at least he wasn't a fat man.The album blended hard-hitting rock with exotic sounds performed with mandolins,balalaikas, and tablas. Bluesy passages, then I was transported to old India.An echoey resonance, like the sounds in a woods after a rain shower, gave a sylvansheen to the music. Truly wondrous were the ringing guitar chords of baby-facedMartin Barre, the rolling bass of headbanded Glenn Cornick, and the thundrousdrums of tough Clive Bunker. I played "Stand Up" repeatedly through that stormynight, and a true Jethro Tull fan was forged amidst mighty thunder and lightning!FORTY-ONE years later, I am enjoying this deluxe edition of "Stand Up," withplenty of additional early Tull tracks, plus a 11-04-70 Carnegie Hall, N.Y.C.,Tull concert both on a CD, and on an unedited DVD-audio version. The longerversion is worth hearing for Ian's outlandish between-songs chatter. He describesthe disgusting uncleanliness of the harmonica from the pocket of his checkeredfrock-coat, the hardened drippings of which get eagerly chewed by new keyboardistJohn Evan. Ian also speaks of his old mate Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, who wouldlater be replacing Glenn Cornick on bass. Ian describes Jeffrey as a shy person"who people laugh at and make fun of...he even tried to commit suicide!" WhenJeffrey did join, we already felt like we knew him, thanks to Ian's kind remarks!The DVD also has a 2010 visual/audio "interview" with Ian Anderson, who doesn'tneed questions to reminisce about the creation and recording of "Stand Up," one ofhis favorite Tull albums. I was struck by the sight of his big hands and longfingers, which undoubtedly aid in playing the guitar and flute. Ian wastes hisbreath comparing the similarities of his song "We Used to Know" to the Eagles'later "Hotel California," modestly calling the Eagles song "much better."He also compares the rough energy of early Jethro Tull to the "Seattle sound"of Nirvana and Pearl Jam twenty years later. Ian seems very much the "elderstatesman of rock and mandolins." Will they please get Jethro Tull into theRock Hall of Fame "before the Man says it's time to go"?!