Just what exactly is/was the appeal of Jethro Tull?

It's all just a matter of taste. I turn on a JT album
and I like what I hear. YMMV

If you want specifics, I like the vocals, the guitar,
the drums, the writing, the production, just about
everything. They've had a dud song every now and then,
of course, and many dud albums (Heavy Horses and
later, basically). As for legacy-conducive; hmm.
They have a lot of fans, but I don't know if they have
much of a legacy, per se. I hear very little of
them in modern artists.

As for originality, well, they had it in spades, for
short while, anyway.

I never really saw JT as a prog band (alas having 2 albums w/ whole-side opuses), because they really went more for the feeling than the performance. Their roots are in blues, but this is only obvious on their first two albums; Jethro Tull became a power blues-folk-rock, (not unlike Led Zeppelin on many occasions) mainly because of Martin Barre, which replaced the original guitarist w/ blues background. Barre had a wider approach, and a taste for medieval instruments and melodies, which broadened their musical scope. (Tony Iommi was one of the candidates for the position that Barre got! Imagine the world today if Iommi went Tull instead of Sabbath...)

Golden Period: anything from Benefit to Songs from the Wood (though Warchild and Too Old... are a bit weaker than the rest). Some later stuff is good as well.

Tracer -- the S'Span part surely computes to a degree, whereas the Phish-y aspect (imo) doesn't, especially regarding J'Tull's studio recordings.
and even JT live... i've no clear idea what was their stage act in former days, i've seen JT in concert just once, in '91, and then it was definitely a 'presenting greatest hits' affair, with no indulgent jammin' in sight ...dunno.

..."the appeal of JT" - certain rhythmic elements and turns of melody, and the overall sound of of their non-rockin' pieces'n'passages definitely related (at least for my fifteen-year-old-self, decades ago) to some stuff i was hearing at the performances of certain early music consorts at that time (Hortus Musicus, eg.)

there seem to be one or two (rarely 3 or 3,5) decent tracks on also later records (and "Nothing@All" was a smart *song title*), but basically it's not quite worth bothering with stuff from early eighties onward

'Stand Up', tho, is a classic JT album of the very early years

And "Teacher" from Benefit is good and cranky, as well. Plus you can go-go dance to it. Never really listened to them much after Thick as a Brick, though. I think it was around that time that the word "pretentious" started showing up in record reviews constantly.

Now I have to hear that "Pussywillow" song.

jim -- i think i might've uttered something very similar (tho inna different language) sometime in '75 when i first heard Th'asa'Br...
the next one to come my way, accidentally, was War Child (didn't catch my fancy then nor later, as an album, but "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day" me liked)

anyhoo, if Th'a Brick's yer thing, jim, you could as well give a spin to A Passion Play (they're kinda 'of a pair', Play is from one year later, also recorded as - more'o'less - one continuous piece, but sounding sorta more sombre)

- Flute and other unusual instrumentaion.
- Great blues chops.
- They're English! Everyone loves them!
- Only prog rock band to make a great song (in this case, take your pick of anything off Aqualung)
- Pact with the Devil

I always felt Anderson had a cynical, vaguely punk side to him--tho' maybe I gleaned that after reading that he was a big Ian Dury fan.

Oh, their appeal. Riffs, git-solos, flaut-solos, and, uh, wood sprites.

revising Hans Rott's opinion to state that the rest of Benefit is also good, although when Anderson is trying to ahem MAKE A POINT he becomes very quickly intolerable (he pretty much ruins "Son," an otherwise terrific tune with a really puzzling audible tape edit at one point)

it's kind of gratifying to be enjoying this record so much right now - on vinyl, it was the first record I ever bought with my own money (23 cents in the bargain bin at Rhino when it was a shack on 2nd)

Weird, I clearly remember posting to this thread last time it was revived...

Anyway, for me it's the post-prog pop trilogy of Songs From The Wood, Heavy Horses, Stormwatch. And Minstrel, though it's kinda the transition between the concept albums and the concise stuff.

Their initial appeal: I was 12, and he said "snot" on the radio. That, and they were good for playing D&D along to. But like the Who, they were ambitious/pretentious/impressive without being as humorless and precious as Yes or other FM staples. I really liked concept albums at that age.

Honestly, though, who didn't like pretentious concept albums at that age?

Join me as Tommy meets Ziggy Stardust by The Wall and The Lamb Lies Down on Braw-aw-aw-aw-aw-aw-dway!