Jethro Tull revisit War Child

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40th anniversary release includes music and script details from abandoned film

Jethro Tull have announced a limited-edition 40th anniversary release of their War Child album, with additional unreleased tracks.

The package includes a new mix by Steven Wilson plus music and a script synopsis from the abandoned film which was intended to accompany the original release in 1974.

The movie, which was set in the afterlife and said to star Leonard Rossiter, with John Cleese hired as “humour consultant,” was shelved after the band failed to secure funding. Instead, War Child was released as a standard 10-track album.

The anniversary edition includes 11 “associated recordings,” with Good Godmother, _War Child II _and Tomorrow Was Today previously unreleased. A set of 10 orchestral soundtrack pieces is also featured, of which only one has been previously released – a track entitled War Child Waltz appeared on the 2002 reissue.

Along with Wilson’s 5.1 and stereo mixes, the original mix and original promo footage is an 80-page booklet including the synopsis and detailed sleeve notes by Tull mainman Ian Anderson.

War Child: The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition is released as a 2CD/2DVD set on November 17, while the new stereo mix will be launched on CD the same day. A limited-edition 180g vinyl pressing follows on January 13.

Tracklist

Disc One

  1. WarChild

  2. Queen and Country

  3. Ladies

  4. Back-door Angels

  5. SeaLion

  6. Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day

  7. Bungle in the Jungle

  8. Only Solitaire

  9. The Third Hoorah

10.Two Fingers

Disc Two – The Second Act: Associated Recordings

  1. Paradise Steakhouse

  2. Saturation

  3. Good Godmother

  4. SeaLion II

  5. Quartet

  6. WarChild II

  7. Tomorrow Was Today

  8. Glory Row

  9. March, The Mad Scientist

  10. Rainbow Blues

  11. Pan Dance

War Child Orchestral Recordings

  1. The Orchestral WarChild Theme

  2. The Third Hoorah (Orchestral Version)

  3. Mime Sequence

  4. Field Dance (Conway Hall Version)

  5. Waltz Of The Angels (Conway Hall Version)

  6. The Beach (Part I) (Morgan master recording)

  7. The Beach (Part II) (Morgan master recording)

  8. Waltz Of The Angels (Morgan demo recording)

  9. The Beach (Morgan demo recording)

  10. Field Dance (Morgan demo recording)

Martin Kielty
Freelance Online News Contributor

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.