Jethro Tull Albums in Order: 23 Studio Albums and the One Line That Never Breaks

Jethro Tull Albums in Order: All 23 Studio Albums, 1968 to 2023

Jethro Tull released 23 studio albums in order between 1968 and 2023, from This Was to RökFlöte. My discography map draws all 23 as stations and the 47 credited musicians as named lines running through the records they played on, with one-off contributors branching off as short spurs.

I built it from the credits album by album. What follows is what the finished map actually shows, including the two things I had to correct on this page after going back to the research.

The 23 Jethro Tull studio albums, 1968 to 2023

1. This Was (1968)
2. Stand Up (1969)
3. Benefit (1970)
4. Aqualung (1971)
5. Thick as a Brick (1972)
6. A Passion Play (1973)
7. War Child (1974)
8. Minstrel in the Gallery (1975)
9. Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! (1976)
10. Songs from the Wood (1977)
11. Heavy Horses (1978)
12. Stormwatch (1979)
13. A (1980)
14. The Broadsword and the Beast (1982)
15. Under Wraps (1984)
16. Crest of a Knave (1987)
17. Rock Island (1989)
18. Catfish Rising (1991)
19. Roots to Branches (1995)
20. J-Tull Dot Com (1999)
21. The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003)
22. The Zealot Gene (2022)
23. RökFlöte (2023)

This edition stops at RökFlöte. Curious Ruminant, released in 2025, is not on it, because it postdates the artwork. I would rather say that here than have you find out when the print arrives. Live albums and compilations are not on it either, which is an editorial rule I apply right across the range.

Ian Anderson is the only line that never leaves the map

Anderson calls at all 23 stations. No gaps, no returns, 55 years from end to end. On most of the maps I draw, even the founder disappears for a record or comes back on a different instrument, and the diagram fills up with breaks.

Here you get one continuous route with the entire rest of the band changing around it. The instrument list under his name changes almost every station, from flute and claghorn on the debut to Fairlight CMI programming on Under Wraps in 1984, but the line itself never stops.

Mick Abrahams calls once, and Martin Barre runs for 20 stations

Original guitarist Mick Abrahams plays on This Was in 1968 and nothing else. On the map his line starts and finishes at the very first station, which makes him the sharpest single-station spur on the whole print.

Martin Barre arrives at Stand Up in 1969 and then calls at 20 of the 23 stations, running unbroken through to The Jethro Tull Christmas Album in 2003. He is absent only from the 1968 debut and from the two most recent records, The Zealot Gene and RökFlöte. One album in, the band swapped its blues guitarist for the player who would define its sound for the next 34 years.

The bass seat changes hands four times

No role on this map moves as often as the bass, and each handover marks a real change in the sound.

Bass player	First station	Last station	Stations
Glenn Cornick	This Was (1968)	Aqualung (1971)	4
Jeffrey Hammond	Aqualung (1971)	Minstrel in the Gallery (1975)	5
John Glascock	Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll (1976)	Stormwatch (1979)	4
Dave Pegg	Stormwatch (1979)	The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003)	9

Dave Pegg came in from Fairport Convention and kept both jobs, which is the sort of overlap that only shows up when you lay a career out flat. His 9 stations span 24 years, longer than any bass player the band has had.

Stormwatch is where two bass lines meet and one of them stops

John Glascock was seriously ill with a heart condition during the Stormwatch sessions in 1979 and the sleeve credits him on only five of the tracks. Ian Anderson covered most of the bass himself, and Dave Pegg was brought in. Glascock died in November 1979 at the age of 28, and Stormwatch carries his final studio credit.

On the map that means one station where an arriving line and a departing line touch. It is a quiet detail on a wall, and it is the one I think about most in this design.

Eight drummers, not three

This page used to say Jethro Tull had three drummers. Going back through the sheet to rewrite it, I counted eight credited on drums or percussion: Clive Bunker, Barriemore Barlow, Mark Craney, Gerry Conway, Doane Perry, Scott Hunter, James Duncan and Scott Hammond. I would rather correct that in public than leave it.

Bunker drums from This Was through to Aqualung, four albums, including the one most people own. Barriemore Barlow takes over for Thick as a Brick in 1972 and stays to Stormwatch in 1979, eight consecutive stations covering the entire folk-prog stretch. That is the longest drum line on the map by station count.

Doane Perry's line is the longest by years: 6 stations from Crest of a Knave in 1987 to the Christmas Album in 2003. Fans who came in through Aqualung tend not to know his name at all until they see how far along the map his line sits.

Minstrel in the Gallery is the busiest station on the map

Eleven credited names call at Minstrel in the Gallery in 1975, more than any other Jethro Tull album. Five of them are a string quintet, Bridget Procter, Elizabeth Edwards, Katharine Tullborn, Patrick Halling and Rita Eddowes, none of whom appears anywhere else on the print. They arrive together, play one record, and leave together.

Compare that with Under Wraps in 1984, which carries four names and is the thinnest station on the map. The band that needed a string quintet in 1975 was, nine years later, largely Anderson and a Fairlight. A discography list puts those two albums nine lines apart. The map puts them side by side and the difference is the first thing you see.

The keyboard spurs: a ten-album run and a one-album Eddie Jobson

John Evan's keyboards join at Benefit in 1970 and call at 10 consecutive stations through to Stormwatch in 1979. Dee Palmer's arranging and keyboard credits appear at 8 stations across the same era, which makes that the longest-serving contributing credit outside the core band.

Eddie Jobson, previously of Roxy Music and UK, plays keyboards, electric violin and synthesiser on A in 1980 and nowhere else, so he is a single-station spur. Peter-John Vettese then takes three stations, The Broadsword and the Beast in 1982, Under Wraps in 1984 and Rock Island in 1989, which is the synthesiser stretch of the catalogue.

One rule worth knowing before you buy: on my maps a production credit alone never earns a musician's line. You only get a line if you are credited with playing or singing something, which is why the diagram stays honest.

Choosing a gift for a Jethro Tull fan: sizes and options

Someone who came in through Aqualung will go straight to the left third of the map. A long-haul fan will want the later stations, where the guest spurs thin out and Anderson's line carries on alone. The print is a Giclée on 230gsm premium acid-free matte fine art paper, landscape. A3 is unframed only. A2 and A1 come unframed or in a black wood frame.

Size	Dimensions	Unframed	Black wood frame
A3	420 x 297 mm (16 x 12 in)	£35	Not offered
A2	594 x 420 mm (23 x 16 in)	£45	£125
A1	841 x 594 mm (33 x 23 in)	£65	£175

US inch formats are sold alongside these at 16 x 12 in, 24 x 18 in and 36 x 24 in. The A sizes and the inch sizes are separate formats rather than conversions of one another. With 23 stations and 47 named lines, A1 is the size I would choose for a milestone birthday, and A2 unframed is the sensible way in.

"Truly amazing"

Bruce Springsteen Archives, Monmouth University, on my discography maps

Related music maps

For the same era and the same run of handovers mid-catalogue, read Deep Purple albums in order. For a catalogue steered by one songwriter with a rotating cast around him, read ELO albums in order. The full range sits in the music art prints collection and the prog rock collection.

Jethro Tull albums in order: questions answered

How many studio albums did Jethro Tull make?

Twenty-three, from This Was in 1968 to RökFlöte in 2023. All 23 are drawn on the map as stations in release order.

Is Ian Anderson on every Jethro Tull album?

Yes. He is credited on all 23 studio albums and is the only unbroken line on the print.

When did Martin Barre join Jethro Tull?

On Stand Up in 1969, replacing Mick Abrahams after the 1968 debut. Barre is then credited on 20 of the 23 studio albums, through to 2003.

How many musicians are on the Jethro Tull map?

Forty-seven credited musicians, each drawn as a named line. Anyone credited on a single record, such as Mick Abrahams or Eddie Jobson, appears as a short branch line off that station.

What is not on the Jethro Tull map?

Live albums and compilations, of which Jethro Tull have released a great many, and Curious Ruminant from 2025, which postdates the artwork. Track-level roles are not shown either: each line tells you which albums a musician is credited on, and only my Rolling Stones Goats Head Soup album map goes down to individual tracks.

Is it a print or a poster?

It is a Giclée fine art print on 230gsm acid-free matte paper, researched and designed by me in East Sussex, supplied unframed or in a black wood frame.