This Was
by Jethro Tull

Album
This Was by Jethro Tull
Year: 1968
Release date: 1968-10-25
Overall rank: 3,959th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 164 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1968 (57th)
Award Top albums of of the 1960s (328th)
Award Best albums of all time (3,959th)

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Jethro Tull bestography

This Was is ranked 9th best out of 48 albums by Jethro Tull on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Jethro Tull is Aqualung which is ranked number 328 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 5,067.

Jethro Tull album bestography « Higher ranked (3,561st)
Minstrel In The Gallery This album (3,959th)
This Was Lower ranked (5,234th) »
Living In The Past

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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This Was rankings

This Was rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,959th | 1960s rank: 328th | 1968 rank: 57th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)

This Was collection

This Was ratings

Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 164 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 164 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
65/100
 !		10/27/2026 21:07 TheHutts  Ratings distribution  2,12776/100
 
65/100
 !		10/16/2026 02:20 BurndenAce  Ratings distribution  1,36176/100
 
60/100
 !		10/10/2026 16:34 Artem  Ratings distribution  87277/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 25% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.4/100, a mean average of 72.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.5.


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This Was favourites

Showing all 10 members who have added this album as a favourite

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This Was forum mentions

This album has been referenced 11 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From Liedzeit 10/02/2026 16:13 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
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From mrmcrook 09/08/2023 21:33 in What album are you listening to right now?
“What album are you listening to right now?”
View topic (8 mentions) →

From mrmcrook 09/06/2023 00:40 in Albums You Added To Your Collection Today
“Albums You Added To Your Collection Today”
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This Was comments

Showing all 5 comments |
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Rating:  
80/100
From 08/23/2012 15:10 | #49083 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
A very strong debut album. Hints at what Tull were to become but stand out. Their 3 earlier albums (Stand Up, This Was & Benefit) are blues rock and stand slightly apart from the rest of their musical corpus. If you are into late 60s-early 70s blues-rock, these early Tull albums are essential. (Edited)
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From 09/06/2016 21:42 | #174424 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Good bluesy album. Almost a Mayall vibe here.
The guitar replacement soon will leave Ian leading the band completely. Golden JT era ahead. (Edited)
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Rating:  
85/100
From 09/22/2022 11:57 | #289864 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
I like this a lot, bluesy and jazzy, but not without the flute of the madman ;) (Edited)
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Rating:  
70/100
From 12/24/2019 14:35 | #245917 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Just your usual hard rock album of the late sixties... with a very out of place flute. Anyway, they try to make blues heavy and they succeed. Do they succeed exceptionally more so than their contemporaries? With Jimi in their back and Led Zeppelin hovering in the near distance, I can see why they're mostly forgotten. (Edited)
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Rating:  
85/100
From 01/06/2022 10:43 | #278714
Gran disco de debut, aunque no marcarían claramente su rumbo hasta el siguiente. Toques de jazz y blues para un álbum magnífico. (Edited)
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Best Albums of  1968
1. The Beatles (The White Album) by The Beatles
2. Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
3. Astral Weeks by Van Morrison
4. Odessey And Oracle by The Zombies
5. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks
6. Beggars Banquet by The Rolling Stones
7. White Light/White Heat by The Velvet Underground
8. Bookends by Simon & Garfunkel
9. Music From Big Pink by The Band
10. At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash