Stand Up is the second studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1969. It was the first Jethro Tull album to feature guitarist Martin Barre, who would go on to become the band's longtime guitarist until its initial dissolution in 2012. Before recording sessions for the album began, the band's original guitarist Mick Abrahams departed the band as a result of musical differences with frontman and primary songwriter Ian Anderson; Abrahams wanted to stay with the blues rock sound of their 1968 debut, This Was, while Anderson wished to add other musical influences such as folk rock.
Stand Up represents the first album project on which Anderson was in full control of the music and lyrics. The result was an eclectic album with various styles and instrumentation appearing in its songs.
The album quickly went to No. 1 on the UK charts, further launching the band's career, while the non-album single "Living in the Past" peaked at No. 3. The album was also Jethro Tull's first success in the United States, reaching No. 20 on the Billboard 200.
Background
Jethro Tull released their debut album This Was in October 1968. During the recording of This Was, frontman Ian Anderson began writing new material which differed from the straight blues/jazz fusion style which the band were known for at the time. Anderson estimated that he wrote "50 percent" of Stand Up during the summer of 1968. Anderson wrote the album's songs on an acoustic guitar in his bedsit in Kentish Town, London, and cited Roy Harper, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Parker, Bert Jansch, Pentangle, Blind Faith and Jimi Hendrix as inspirations. The new material's departure from the band's blues-based style caused conflict with guitarist Mick Abrahams, who was a blues purist: Anderson recalled "running some of [the new songs] by Mick Abrahams, and coming to the conclusion that they weren't going up to be up his street at all" while drummer Clive Bunker stated that "when Ian started to write new and different stuff, that's when we realised we were going to have serious problems, because Mick just didn't want to do it." The stylistic clash resulted in Abrahams' departure from the band in December 1968. The band initially began rehearsals for Stand Up with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, however Iommi left the band after only a few weeks as he felt he did not fit in well with the group. The job eventually went to Martin Barre, who immediately joined rehearsals for Stand Up before making his live debut with the band on 30 December 1968.
The band then embarked on a short Swedish tour to support Jimi Hendrix in January 1969 before embarking on a three-month U.S. tour (the band's first) during which the band recorded the non-album single "Living in the Past" and B-side "Driving Song" at the behest of manager Terry Ellis to "keep the pot boiling" in the UK. Following the end of the tour in April, the band returned to the UK to begin recording sessions for the new album.
Recording
The band began recording the album on 17 April 1969, recording "A New Day Yesterday" and finished on 21 May 1969, finishing "Look Into the Sun". Recording was briefly paused in early-mid May for the band to embark on a joint headlining tour of the UK and France with Ten Years After. All of the songs were recorded at Studio 2 of Morgan Studios, except for "Bourée" which was recorded at Olympic Studios because Morgan was already booked for the day (although takes of the song were also recorded at Morgan). The general routine was that the band would arrive at the studio at 9:00 am to work on one or two songs which would be finished by 4:00 or 5:00 pm. Anderson cited Morgan Studios' modern 8-track recording facilities as "a big help", saying that "8-track was the beginning of that creative freedom without which it would have been much harder to have made the Stand Up album." The band praised recording engineer Andy Johns, who they found easy to work with. Johns tried some innovative recording techniques on the album; for example on "A New Day Yesterday" he achieved a swirling, stereo-shifting guitar effect by swinging an expensive Neumann U67 microphone on its cable in wide circles around the studio.