Jethro Tull’s acclaimed series of deluxe album editions reaches 1999’s J-Tull Dot Com with Another Cast of the Net — a new 3CD/Blu-ray set accompanied by the album’s first-ever vinyl release.
This one has arrived relatively quickly after the deluxe edition of Under Wraps, but there is an important difference. J-Tull Dot Com is being released by InsideOutMusic rather than Chrysalis.
Despite the change of label, nobody has dared to interfere with the familiar Jethro Tull hardback-book design. It remains the template for how a long-running reissue campaign should be handled. These editions sit beautifully together on the shelf, but more importantly, they contain the kind of information that encourages you to spend time with them.
This particular book is slightly slimmer than some of the earlier volumes, but it still contains 36 pages of liner notes, archive photographs, lyrics and Ian Anderson’s observations about the individual songs.
J-Tull Dot Com: album facts
Originally released on 23 August 1999, J-Tull Dot Com was Jethro Tull’s 20th studio album. It reached number 44 on the UK Albums Chart and remained in the Top 100 for two weeks.
The musicians on the album were:
- Ian Anderson – vocals, flute, acoustic guitar and bouzouki
- Martin Barre – electric and acoustic guitars
- Jonathan Noyce – bass guitar
- Andrew Giddings – piano, keyboards, Hammond organ and accordion
- Doane Perry – drums and percussion
- Najma Akhtar – additional vocals on “Dot Com”
The album was produced by Ian Anderson and featured 14 listed tracks, although some original CD editions also contained “The Secret Language of Birds” as a hidden track following “A Gift of Roses”.
A later Jethro Tull album worth rediscovering
I have always liked J-Tull Dot Com. In fact, I would place it among my favourite later-period Jethro Tull albums.
When I was filling the gaps in my Tull collection during the CD era, I remember finding numerous albums at remarkably low prices in Fopp. I hoovered them up, despite being told by several people that I did not need to venture much beyond Crest of a Knave.
I completely disagree with that view.
There is worthwhile music throughout Jethro Tull’s later catalogue, and J-Tull Dot Com is a particularly strong example. This is a hard, rock-orientated progressive album, powered by some wonderfully aggressive playing from Martin Barre.
It is not built around extended suites or constant changes of direction. Instead, it delivers powerful riffs, memorable songs, keyboards, superb flute playing and a sense of energy that runs through much of the record.
“Hunt by Numbers”, inspired by Ian Anderson’s love of cats, is one of its strongest tracks. The title song is also highly effective, with Najma Akhtar’s additional vocals bringing an atmospheric, otherworldly quality to the music.
Then there is “Hot Mango Flush”, an eccentric earworm that listeners will probably either love or find impossible to remove from their heads. Personally, I think its humour and playfulness are part of the album’s character.
Jethro Tull enters the internet age
The title immediately places the album in 1999, when the internet was rapidly becoming part of everyday life and bands were beginning to understand that they needed an online presence.
The story told in the book about Ian Anderson attempting to secure the Jethro Tull domain name is fascinating. He discovered that it had already been taken and was being used for decidedly unsuitable material, leaving him with an expensive battle to reclaim it.
Anderson also recognised surprisingly early that online fan communities would not always be positive places. Although the internet offered artists a new way to communicate directly with listeners, it also created environments where fans could bicker, criticise musicians personally and endlessly declare that one album or period was “rubbish”.
His advice to the other musicians was essentially to avoid reading it and concentrate on the band’s own website. More than a quarter of a century later, that observation feels even more relevant.
What is in the 3CD/Blu-ray edition?
The new Another Cast of the Net edition contains:
- CD1 – the original 1999 album mix
- CD2 – the complete 2026 remix by Bruce Soord
- CD3 – bonus studio recordings, “The Secret Language of Birds” and three live performances from Katowice in 2000
- Blu-ray – Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound and 24-bit stereo mixes
- A 36-page hardback book with liner notes by Martin Webb, photographs, lyrics and contributions from Ian Anderson
The bonus disc includes six previously unreleased studio recordings and live versions of “Hunt by Numbers”, “Dot Com” and “AWOL”. The Blu-ray contains the album and bonus studio material in high-resolution audio, although the live recordings are excluded from the surround and Atmos content. Official Jethro Tull release details
The three live tracks are excellent. “Hunt by Numbers” is even heavier in concert than it is on the studio album, with Martin Barre’s guitar given additional bite. Hearing these performances inevitably makes me wonder what has happened to the rest of the Katowice concert. A complete live recording would have strengthened the package further.
Bruce Soord’s 2026 remix
Bruce Soord did an excellent job remixing Under Wraps, and he has delivered again with J-Tull Dot Com.
A remix should not be regarded as a replacement for the original album. It is another way of experiencing music you already know — a new perspective that can reveal different details within familiar performances.
The original J-Tull Dot Com already sounded good, but the new stereo mix adds greater depth and range to the soundscape. The guitars, keyboards, flute, percussion and vocals have more space to breathe without losing the weight and energy of the original production.
The Dolby Atmos mix is particularly rewarding. This may not be one of Jethro Tull’s most intricately arranged progressive albums, but there is still plenty happening within the music. The new immersive mix allows the individual instrumental colours to emerge while retaining the power of the songs.
My only minor criticism concerns the visual presentation on the Blu-ray. The screen simply displays the album artwork while the music plays. We are becoming used to releases from artists such as Gentle Giant and Steven Wilson offering animated graphics or additional visual content with their surround mixes.
Naturally, we should be listening rather than staring at the television, but richer visuals would have made the Blu-ray feel more complete.
The first vinyl edition
Remarkably, this is the first time J-Tull Dot Com has been officially released on vinyl.
The album is presented as a 180g double LP in a gatefold sleeve, using Bruce Soord’s 2026 remix and adding a selection of the studio bonus material. There is also an LP-sized booklet containing lyrics, Ian Anderson’s notes, photographs and recording information.
The pressing is exceptionally quiet and arrives in proper poly-lined inner sleeves. InsideOutMusic and Sony have become extremely reliable when it comes to the presentation and manufacture of their vinyl releases, and this is another excellent example.
Because the original album lasts approximately 54 minutes before the hidden track, spreading it across two records gives the music more room than attempting to squeeze it onto a single LP.
Why is The Secret Language of Birds included?
Some listeners may wonder why the title track of Ian Anderson’s 2000 solo album The Secret Language of Birds appears in this collection.
The song was recorded during the same general period, but the record company did not want Anderson’s solo album and the Jethro Tull album released too close together. It subsequently appeared as an unlisted track on some editions of the original J-Tull Dot Com CD, beginning after a period of silence at the end of “A Gift of Roses”.
Its inclusion here is therefore entirely appropriate, and hearing it newly remixed is one of the pleasures of the set.
The verdict
If you have collected all the previous Jethro Tull hardback deluxe editions, I think you will find this very difficult to resist. The book may be slimmer and there may be fewer discs than in some earlier volumes, but the quality remains extremely high.
If you only buy deluxe editions of your favourite Tull albums, the decision may depend on how you feel about the band’s later catalogue. However, I would encourage anyone who dismissed J-Tull Dot Com in 1999 to give it another chance.
This is a much heavier and more guitar-orientated album than some listeners may remember. Martin Barre is on tremendous form, Ian Anderson’s flute playing is outstanding, and the songwriting deserves to be reassessed away from the expectations that surrounded Jethro Tull at the end of the 1990s.
Bruce Soord’s stereo, 5.1 and Dolby Atmos mixes bring additional life and depth to the recordings, while the vinyl edition finally gives the album the physical presentation it should have received in 1999.
J-Tull Dot Com: Another Cast of the Net is not merely another space to fill on the shelf. It is a welcome opportunity to rediscover one of Jethro Tull’s most underrated later albums.
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Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
