The Inflated Edition of “Bursting Out”, who caught the show back in 1978. Sandwiched between shows at The Madison Square Garden and the first Satellite broadcast. The first show at MSG on the 8th was marred by bolts and firecrackers being thrown towards the stage. It almost caused the following show not to happen.
This was Jethro Tull’s first live album, 1978’s “Bursting Out”, has now been reissued in an expanded 3-CD/3-DVD format, remixed by Steven Wilson. The new “Inflated Edition,” “bursting” with an array of extras, arrived June 21st, 2024, via Rhino Records.
The album was recorded at various locations during the European “Heavy Horses” tour in May and June 1978 and released as a live double album several months later on September 22nd. It contained material from ’78’s “Heavy Horses” as well as live versions of songs from “Aqualung”, “Thick As a Brick”, “Songs from the Wood”, “War Child”, and other albums from the Tull catalogue. In the expanded edition’s April announcement, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson notes:
“A live extravaganza from the 70s Jethro Tull, this was recorded over several nights in different venues on a portable 8-track tape recorder and transferred to 2” multitrack when I got home after the tours. I had to listen all through to many shows and pick the best live versions. But much of it was, at least, from the concert in Bern, Switzerland, where dear Claude Nobs came to introduce the band in his inimitable style. Also featuring on this box set collection is the live concert from Madison Square Gardens recorded a few months later and shown live on BBC TV in the UK. A scary experience for the band as it was, we were told, the first time a live rock concert had been the subject of a live satellite broadcast.
“The band line up at this time was a fine-tuned machine and, although missing the unwell John Glascock for the MSG show, it serves as a fine testimony for the many wonderful shows we did in the 70s before general touring fatigue and burn-out began a year or so later.
On the original, Ian Anderson (vocals, flute, acoustic guitar), was joined by Martin Barre (electric guitar, mandolin, marimba), John Glascock (bass guitar, additional electric guitar), John Evan (piano, organ, synthesizers, accordion), Dee Palmer (portative organ, synthesizers) and Barriemore Barlow (drums, percussion, glockenspiel).
When it was first reissued on CD in 1990, “Bursting Out” was available as a double-disc CD in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, but as a single CD release in the United States, with three tracks (“Quatrain,” “Sweet Dream” and “Conundrum”) omitted to fit the 80 minutes CD length, while the double-disc 1990 CD version in the United Kingdom (and Europe) incorporated the first track for both discs (the Introductions) in the song that follows. In 2004, the complete album was released worldwide as a two-disc set with the Introductions as separate tracks.
CD 1: Jethro Tull live: Bursting Out (Part 1) – A Steven Wilson stereo remix
Soundcheck recordings – A Steven Wilson stereo remix. Tracks 7, 10, 11 (full version) & 12-16 previously unreleased
CD 2: Jethro Tull live: Bursting Out (Part 2) – A Steven Wilson stereo remix
Soundcheck recordings – A Steven Wilson stereo remix. Tracks 11-13 previously unreleased
CD 3: Contains an edited version of the 1978 Madison Square Garden Show which was issued in 2009 but now mixed by Steven Wilson.
DVDs 1 & 2 have the remixed tracks in 96/24 stereo and 5.1 surround plus the flat transfers of the original album at 96/24 stereo.
DVD 3 has the full 93-minute MSG show, including 50+ minutes of video which was part of a transatlantic broadcast with the BBC and Radio 1. The audio is 48/24 stereo and 5.1 surround.
The Fat Angel Sings 