Stormwatch marked the end of an era in Jethro Tull's history, as the last album on which longtime members Barriemore Barlow, John Evan, and David Palmer participated, and the final appearance of bassist John Glascock, who played on three of the cuts (Anderson supplied the bass elsewhere) and died following open-heart surgery a few weeks after its release.
Anderson's inspiration seemed to be running out here, his writing covering environmental concerns ("North Sea Oil") and very scattershot social topical criticism ("Dark Ages").
The fire is still there in some of the hard rock passages, especially on "Dark Ages," but most of the songs generally lack the craftsmanship and inspiration of such albums as Minstrel in the Gallery or Heavy Horses, much less Aqualung.
Just when "Something's on the Move" seems like it could be the most tuneless track in Tull's history, "Old Ghosts" and "Dun Ringill" follow it with even less memorable melodic material.
The latter, in particular, proved that Anderson's well of folk-inspired tunes was also running dry, apart from the instrumental "Warm Sporran.".
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Sea OilIan Anderson | Jethro Tull | Play | 03:11 | 7 MB | 18 MB |
| 2 | OrionIan Anderson | Jethro Tull | Play | 03:58 | 9 MB | 22 MB |
| 3 | HomeIan Anderson | Jethro Tull | Play | 02:45 | 6 MB | 14 MB |
| 4 | Dark AgesIan Anderson | Jethro Tull | Play | 09:13 | 21 MB | 52 MB |
| 5 | Warm SporranIan Anderson | Jethro Tull | Play | 03:34 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 6 | Something's on the MoveIan Anderson | Jethro Tull | Play | 04:27 | 10 MB | 23 MB |
| 7 | Old GhostsIan Anderson | Jethro Tull | Play | 04:23 | 10 MB | 22 MB |
| 8 | Dun RingillIan Anderson | Jethro Tull | Play | 02:41 | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| 9 | Flying DutchmanIan Anderson | Jethro Tull | Play | 07:45 | 17 MB | 40 MB |
| 10 | ElegyDee Palmer | Jethro Tull | Play | 03:34 | 8 MB | 14 MB |
| 45 mins | 104 MB | |||||
| 45 mins | 241 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian Anderson | Composer, Cover Art Concept, Flute, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Bass), Producer, Vocals |
| 2 | Barriemore Barlow | Drums, Percussion |
| 3 | Martin Barre | Guitar, Guitar (Classical), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin |
| 4 | Robin Black | Engineer, Producer |
| 5 | John Evan | Keyboards, Organ, Piano |
| 6 | John Glascock | Bass, Guitar (Bass) |
| 7 | David Jackson | Artwork |
| 8 | Jethro Tull | Primary Artist |
| 9 | Dee Palmer | Composer, Keyboards, Saxophone, Synthesizer |
| 10 | Frank Wilson | Vocals |
| 11 | Peter Wragg | Art Direction |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |