Jethro Tull: ‘Under Wraps’ – Is it really that bad?
Jethro Tull’s ‘Under Wraps’ is a much maligned album. In this video I explore if the hatred for this record is justified.
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@neilsteadman8380
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Er……1984 not 1986..!!
@StevieZero
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Rubbish album
@progmonster2010
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Now that I’ve heard the pleasant snare remix i realise how good the songs are. The original drum sample was pretty bad. The pleasant snare remix sounds excellent. The bass is greatly improved also
@jedzxor
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Better than Rock Island, Catfish Rising, Roots to Branches and DOT COM.
@ChrisTian-rm7zm
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Say what you want about the music, but I really love the album cover.
@FireMunki63
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I still love Under Wraps, its a great album and far from their worse.
@PutItAway101
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Is it really that bad? YES. The keyboards are ugly and un-musical. Most of the songs are weak.
@Krendall2
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I like 80's synth-pop, so I enjoyed this album a lot more than most. I think this album suffers from both being such a departure from Tull's normal sound plus Anderson suffering throat problems during the tour, and his voice never truly recovering from it.
@dungeondumbo
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
It’s a brilliant record.
@freddysteady1547
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I learned to like it. It’s just a little long.
@freddysteady1547
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
It was 1984.
@andgate2000
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Are…another great band hit by the mid 80s ugly stick. Elo suffered the same fate with " balence of power".
@whitesauce923
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I was a teen when this album was released and, while I knew of Jethro Tull (we had a 45 of Bungle in the Jungle in the 70s), I wasn’t as exposed to them at that point. I really liked it when I heard it. It seemed like a perfectly fine 80s record and it has some good songs. Listening to it again, being more familiar with Jethro Tull’s classic sound, I get why their loyal fans would be discouraged. It might be over-produced, but that was the sound of the time. Plus, this was when all the prog rock bands were modifying their sound to fit in. They were definitely more ambitious than the others. While I wish they toned down the sampling a bit, I still like it.
@bobby666666
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I love the album at the time and played it to death. I played it not long ago and apart from one song still like it. Mind you, I love all music anyway. I'm looking forward to a Deluxe issue if one is released.
@brandon1351
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Songs from the wood – Underwraps is very good! My favourite albums by Jethro Tull
@smithpm81
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I thought the LP was a load of poo back in 1984, have listened a couple of times since then and yes songwriting is good. Would benefit (no pun intended) from a re-mix and proper drums, and a 'tull' sound.
@justgivemethetruth
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I think it's a great album … so much interesting and innovative music. I love it and I am a Tull faithful. Very jazzy and rhythmic. The USA popular music scene precluded ( unfairly so ) Jethro Tull, which might expains the grammy for Crest. Still, most of IA/JT music can be listened to contemporaneously because it is so detached from the "current scene" and always hard to place in time, or timeless.
@timgainnes5534
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
C'mon let's face it Generals Crossing is completely unlistenable! but, this was a great live tour and the Tull graphic was so strong I had it tattooed on my sizable calf. Lap of Luxury, Underwraps 2, European legacy, Later that same evening are all solid. Put Doane on the drums instead of pressing buttons and this would have been even better. That said, UW smokes Catfish Rising which as TULL albums go shows much less creativity. I don't put UW in the middle of the Tull repertoire but it's not the weakest.
@danielmoore4693
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Under Wraps just recently wended its way into my subconscious and I've begun to think of most of it as very catchy; it may even be a favorite soon. This is roughly 35 years after my first being exposed to it while at University. For my money, the entire first side (LP parlance) is brilliant. And even if Lap of Luxury is overtly poppy, it's great fun to my ears, and the music video, with a typically over-mugging Ian, is hilarious….
@houseworkvids
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
1984
@alexbrands5653
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Martin Barre's band played a live version of Under Wraps #1 last year. It was tremendous, and hinted at how much better the album could have been with different arrangements and instrumentation.
@charlied7845
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I avoided this one for years up until recently and I'm glad that I finally gave it a chance. Some really good songs on here. I really like Later that same evening and Heat.
@johnwolcot
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I always knew in September 1984 as soon as I first saw the Under Wraps album cover (already in a secondhand record shop the week of release) that it was going to be an absolutely dreadful album. It put me in a sad and very upset sort of mood. And that mood has never really lifted to this very day.
@Paul_Wetor
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
The synth sound on "Broadsword" sounded great, but the "brittle" synth (as you called it) is exactly why I dislike this album. It's especially evident on the "Lap Of Luxury" track, which is punctuated by an annoying keyboard EEE-EEE-EEE. It sounds cheap, like an amateur who is using a synthesizer for the first time. Having a drum machine diminishes the sound even more, adding to the cheapness. It's just not "heavy" enough.
"Automotive Engineering" is good. I love the classic-Tull-ish songs "European Legacy" and "Under Wraps #2". The rest of the songs are just Tull trying to imitate better synth bands. One thing I love about Tull is that the sound evolved. But instead of charting their own course, Wraps sounds like Tull trying to be a copycat synth group.
@ivozanette7010
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Will there be a Wilson Remix???
@fredkafanka
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I like it it was fun
@geferris83
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
i really like this album ians voice is great on this
@siljeff2708
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I think that because you need Anderson’s Walk into Light to get the whole picture for this album, I really wish he releases a book boxset deluxe edition of Walk Into Light before Under Wraps
@pattardn
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Liked it then, still love it now. It is a product of its time sound-wise, but isn't anything?
Maybe re-recording with real drums and percussion, but then again, does anyone accuse Bill Bruford of using electronic drums?
My favourites are Apogee, along with Tundra and the tongue in cheek Astronomy. Barre's Paparazzi is also great.
Also, no-one mentions the musical shift Tull had to undergo towards even more complexity. If ever there was a Tull album so difficult to play along with and rehearse with an instrument at home, this has got to be it, not because of the chords or rhythm, but because of the wild sounds it uses, without which most of the spirit of the songs would be lost.
Ian's voice is probably the best ever.
@judmcc
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Yes, it is really that bad, except for one song. I was a Tull fan from 1972, and it was so bad that I quit buying Tull albums, until after my brother-in-law played part of Rock Island for me.
@nigelh4617
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
"…All the furore of a librarian's fart"
LOL. Must find a use for that, somewhere.
@Welovefelixtoe
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Give them credit for trying something different.Will be interesting to see what the forthcoming deluxe edition with Steven Wilson remix sounds like.Also hope they include the 1984 live performance from Hammersmith odeon in the boxed set.
@dominiclarosa489
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
I thought this was a 1984-85 release
@davidsimon2096
October 1, 2025 at 6:39 pm
When an album such as Under Wraps is called "brave" you just know there is going to be a problem with it. This album is just indefensible. I hated this album so much when I first heard it I frisbeed it out of the window in disgust. The worst thing is, I heard it again recently and it sounded even worse than I remember it. It is unbearable to think only a few years previously JT had produced one of my favourite albums of all time namely Songs From The Wood. I am generally supportive of bands developing or modernising their sound and I really enjoy the A album for example but I just can't stomach Under Wraps. Sorry fans below who do love it!
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