Jethro Tull : A Passion Play (An Extended Performance) (2014 Steven Wilson Edition)

 A Passion Play

 is the sixth

 studio album

 by British 

progressive rock band

 Jethro Tull

released in July 1973

 in both the UK 

and US. 

Following in 

the same style 

as the band's 

previous album

 Thick as a Brick 

(1972),

 A Passion Play

 is a concept album

 comprising individual songs 

arranged into a 

single continuous 

piece of music 

which was split into

 two parts

 across the

 original vinyl release's 

two sides

 The album's concept

 follows the

 spiritual journey 

of a

 recently deceased man

 (Ronnie Pilgrim) 

in the afterlife, 

exploring themes of 

morality, 

religion

 and

 good and evil. 

The album's accompanying tour

 was considered the

 high water mark of

 Jethro Tull's

 elaborate stage productions, 

involving a

 full performance

 of the album

 accompanied by

 physical props,

 sketches and 

projected video.

A Passion Play

 was negatively received 

by critics

 upon its initial release.

 However, 

the album was a

 commercial success, 

becoming 

Jethro Tull's

 second number one album

 in the United States. 

The album has since 

received a more

 positive 

critical reassessment.

BACKGROUND 

A Passion Play 

borrows its title

 from passion plays

 which depict the

 Passion of Jesus Christ,

 though the title

 is evidently ironic, 

since the lyrics 

at first appears to 

present a generically 

Christian view 

of the afterlife 

but then rejects 

Christian theological 

conclusions.

 A Passion Play

 is described in its

 album liner notes 

as though it were a 

staged theatrical

 "play"

 in four acts. 

Of this album,

 "the lyrics themselves are 

extremely complicated, 

the story is often unclear, 

and much is left to the

 individual's interpretation".

 Knowledge of the characters

 and setting actually

 comes less from

 the lyrics themselves 

and more from

 the few brief words 

in the satirical, 

six-page 

"Linwell Theatre programme"

 included in the 

original album packaging, 

which features photos 

of the band members

 listed alongside 

fake names

 and biographies

 as the

 "actors" 

of the play, 

including 

Rena Sanderone

 (an anagram of "Eean Anderrson") 

as the playwright. 

A basic narrative plot 

can be loosely interpreted

 from the lyrics, 

liner notes, 

and 

"programme" 

of 

A Passion Play, 

centering on everyman

 protagonist 

Ronnie Pilgrim, 

who is named only

 in the programme.

On the original release

 of the album,

 side one ends

 in the middle of 

"The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles"

 (it is the same end on track 1 

of the original CD release). 

The sound at the end

 of side one

 was a nod to

 children storytelling records 

which signalled

 the child or parent

 to flip the record over.

 Side two 

begins where it left off. 

However, 

on the 

2003 remastered CD, 

the second part 

begins with

 the full story

 so that it does not get

 cut off in the middle.

In 2014, 

commemorating the 

40th anniversary 

(slightly belated)

 of the album,

 it was released a

 box called

 A Passion Play: 

An Extended Performance, 

which contains the 

complete 

Chateau d’Hérouville sessions 

and brand-new mix by 

Steven Wilson. 

This version also includes

 an additional verse

 not on the original release of

 "The Foot Of Our Stairs".

 It extends the track 

about another 

45 seconds

CD 1: 

Steven Wilson 

stereo remix

 of the album

CD 2: 

Steven Wilson stereo remix of 

The Château d'Hérouville Sessions

Click 

HERE

For Song List

LINK