Aqualung is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Jethro Tull; it was released in March 1971 by Chrysalis Records.

[4] Aqualung's success signalled a turning point in the career of the band, which went on to become a major radio and touring act.

[6][failed verification] After an American tour, bass player Glenn Cornick was fired from the band,[7] and was replaced with Jeffrey Hammond, an old friend of Ian Anderson.

[9] In an interview on the 25th anniversary edition of the album, Tull's bandleader Ian Anderson said that trying to record in the larger studio was very difficult, because of its "horrible, cold, echoey" feel.

Aqualung would be the last Jethro Tull album to include Clive Bunker as a band member, as he retired shortly after recording to start a family.

[10] The songs on the album encompass a variety of musical genres, with elements of folk, blues, psychedelia, and hard rock.

[11] The "riff-heavy" nature of tracks such as "Locomotive Breath", "Hymn 43" and "Wind Up" is regarded as a factor in the band's increased success after the release of the album, with Jethro Tull becoming "a major arena act" and a "fixture on FM radio" according to AllMusic.

Anderson claims his main inspirations for writing the album were Roy Harper and Bert Jansch.

[14][15][16] The initial idea for the album was sparked by some photographs that Anderson's wife Jennie took of homeless people on the Thames Embankment.

[17] The first side of the LP, titled Aqualung, contains several character sketches, including the character of the title track, and the schoolgirl prostitute Cross-Eyed Mary, as well as two autobiographical tracks, including "Cheap Day Return", written by Anderson after a visit to his critically ill father.

Just a bunch of songs.Drummer Clive Bunker believes that the record's perception as a concept album is a case of "Chinese whispers", explaining "you play the record to a couple of Americans, tell them that there's a lyrical theme loosely linking a few songs, and then notice the figure of the Aqualung character on the cover, and suddenly the word is out that Jethro Tull have done a concept album".

[10] The album's original cover art by Burton Silverman features a watercolour portrait of a long-haired, bearded man in shabby clothes.

[23] The artist says the art was only licensed for use as an album cover, and not for merchandising; he approached the band seeking remuneration for the additional uses, such as printing it on T-shirts and coffee mugs.

[27] It was later included in the video game Rock Band 2 as downloadable content;[28] which also featured the album's title track.

[30] Justifying the remix, Steven Wilson said: "Jethro Tull's Aqualung is ... a masterpiece, but was sonically a very poor-sounding record.

[42] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, was more critical of the album in a 1981 review, and described Anderson's undeveloped cultural interests and negative views on religion and human behaviour as both boring and pretentious.

[37] Paul Stump's History of Progressive Rock was more measured in its praise, saying that Aqualung made little advancement over the group's previous album, Benefit.

He found the side two song cycle rambling but added that "if the lyrics were now tending towards the provocatively obscure, they were none the less possessed of some style, not least in their Blakean allusions".

CD 1: Original Album The 2016 edition was remastered by Steven Wilson of his 2011 remixed material as he did not like Peter Mew's mastering.

In the US, the album was given away to ticket holders on almost all US concerts in October and November 2005,[citation needed] before being given an official release on 7 March 2006.