Jethro Tull: Under Wraps Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		1.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Jethro Tull: Under Wraps Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 12, 2026

Asking the Google Machine to list "major historical events of 1983" delivers a gauntlet of responses, including such horrifying incidences as the Soviets shooting down KAL Flight 007 and/or the bombings at the barracks in Beirut that killed hundreds of U.S. Marines (along with some French paratroopers). More felicitous moments came courtesy of Sally Ride blasting off into space, Michael Jackson debuting his moonwalk, and the series finale of M*A*S*H attracting record audiences. Kind of hilariously for those of us who like media on little discs, the CD premiered that year, as did (in many official accounts) the internet. But along with those two advances in technology (maybe questionable in the case of the internet), I'd add a rather epochal invention that debuted in 1983 which manifestly changed the world for musicians at least: namely the introduction of the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI). Suddenly the ability for instruments and computers to interact with each other opened seemingly limitless possibilities, and of course it wasn't long before major recording artists starting exploiting some of those possibilities with uses of things like samplers and sequencers. Ian Anderson offers a really interesting quote in the extensive notes accompanying this release from Parlophone about all of this, as follows:

This [note: Under Wraps) was the second album written [note: after Anderson's solo outing Walk Into Light, included here on both the audio Blu-ray and CDs), and to a degree, conceived in the context of '80s synthesisers, and the early development of samplers and computers in music, hence the early drum machines and sequencers. So that was the new technology in '83, '84, and it seemed to me back then that either I got on the bus, if only to see where it would take me, or I let it go by and continued at a more pedestrian pace through my musical life. I felt that I should at least take a look at what that might offer.

Now, it might be joked that some diehard fans of at least early Tull may in fact have preferred Anderson to have let that bus just pass him by and continued at a more pedestrian pace, so to speak, and neither Walk Into Light nor Under Wraps were especially well received at the time of their releases, though Under Wraps at least managed to climb into the Top 20 in the UK and Top 100 in the US. The album was not then and will probably not even now be to every Tull fan's taste, but in the ultimate punchline department, this release features remixer Bruce Soord offering newly produced drum machine tracks to replace the quaint sounds of the original recordings (the original versions are also offered here). That may not still fully account for some of the other quaint and frankly occasionally goofy synths that permeate both albums, but Soord's multichannel remixes add some kind of appropriately Tull-esque hyperoblic flair to even some of them.

This set delivers a veritable glut of both of the original albums as well as a host of accompanying material, and I encourage fans to see the list of CD tracks below as well as screenshots of the ubiquitous submenus on the Blu-ray which offer a kind of astounding (and at least somewhat variant) supply of alternate versions and/or bonus tracks. The brief actual video component offers a music video for Lap of Luxury and a tour promotion authored together (1080i; 4:37).

Jethro Tull: Under Wraps Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jethro Tull: Under Wraps is basically an audio Blu-ray, though two archival videos have been included (see above), with the music video in 1.78:1 and a brief tour promo piece in 1.33, with both AVC encoded and 1080i. The videos are obvious upscales of sometimes badly damaged material (the tour video in particular comes rife with tracking and chroma anomalies along with two pretty big dropouts of Ian's voice), but are fun from an historical perspective. The first three screenshots are from the two videos and probably show pretty clearly that quality is not optimal. There is some very brief animation at disc boot up, and once the album is selected and tracks start playing, a still photo accompanies each album.

There is an absolutely baffling array of submenus on this disc, and so I've uploaded screenshots of all of them here, along with three screenshots from the videos. The list below offers descriptions in chronological order of their placement in the review:

1. Tour Rehearsal
2. Lap of Luxury
3. Lap of Luxury
4. Walk Into Light Main Menu
5. Under Wraps Main Menu
6. Videos Main Menu
7. Main Menu
8. Walk Into Light 1983 Analogue Master (Flat Transfer) Menu
9. Walk Into Light Original 1983 Digital Master Mixes (Flat Transfer) Menu
10. Under Wraps 1984 Digital Master (Flat Transfer) Menu
11. Under Wraps Original 1984 Analogue Master Mixes (Flat Transfer) Menu
12. Under Wraps Early Sessions 1983 and 1984 Remixed by Bruce Soord (stereo only) Menu

Jethro Tull: Under Wraps Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are a number of audio codecs and/or kHz / bit rates for various supplementary audio, but both of the albums and the other so-called "associated" tracks found under the album submenu offer Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 (96/24) options. Some of the other accompanying bonus tracks from circa 1983-84 are offered in LPCM 2.0 only, and some of those are 48/16. Despite the potential confusion, everything is well marked on the various menus, as can be seen in the screenshots of those menus accompanying this review. With that out of the way, how does everything sound? Well, there's absolutely no denying the "of the time" ambience of a lot of the synth effects, which at times kind of hilariously reminded me of all of those bizarre sound effects (in print) Don Martin in particular used to use for his famous Mad Magazine cartoons. Basically the aural equivalents of great Martin moments like kerflooey, shtoink and fagroolana run rampant throughout these tunes, and Bruce Soord's multichannel remixes make the most of them so that, for example, some shtoink-adjacent effects can sound like coiled (chordal) springs suddenly erupting and ricocheting around the soundstage. This description is unavoidably inadequate, but the bottom line is there's a lot of very appealing immersion throughout both of the main albums here, though some of the most noticeable is with regard to synth effects. The new drums are definitely an improvement and are rather good examples of how far technology has advanced since the original recordings. Acoustic instruments (yes, Virginia, there are some) and Anderson's evocative vocals can also surround the listener invitingly.

Note: The first time I listened to the album there was a brief (but scary) complete dropout during Nobody's Car, but in first rewinding and then replaying the entire disc, I didn't experience the same anomaly. I'm mentioning it here in case anyone else runs into it.

Jethro Tull: Under Wraps Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release comes stuffed with extra audio on five CDs (complete contents listed below). The MediaBook is immense, measuring 8" high by nearly 6" wide and 1" deep and is liberally stuffed with text and photos.

CD 1: Under Wraps (2026 Drums)
Remixed By Bruce Soord

• 1. Lap Of Luxury
• 2. Under Wraps #1
• 3. European Legacy
• 4. Later, That Same Evening
• 5. Saboteur
• 6. Radio Free Moscow
• 7. Nobody's Car
• 8. Heat
• 9. Under Wraps #2
• 10. Paparazzi
• 11. Apogee

Associated Recordings 1983-1984 (2026 Drums)

• 12. Astronomy
• 13. Tundra
• 14. Automotive Engineering
• 15. General Crossing
• 16. Lap Of Luxury (Demo Version)*
• 17. Bring Back The Waltz*
• 18. Her Love Is Strange*

CD 2: Under Wraps (Original Drums)
Remixed By Bruce Soord

• 1. Lap Of Luxury
• 2. Under Wraps #1
• 3. European Legacy
• 4. Later, That Same Evening
• 5. Saboteur
• 6. Radio Free Moscow
• 7. Nobody's Car
• 8. Heat
• 9. Under Wraps #2
• 10. Paparazzi
• 11. Apogee

Associated Recordings 1983-1984 (Original Drums)

• 12. Astronomy
• 13. Tundra
• 14. Automotive Engineering
• 15. General Crossing
• 16. Lap Of Luxury (Demo Version)*
• 17. Bring Back The Waltz*
• 18. Her Love Is Strange*
• 19. Under Wraps Intro

CD 3: Walk Into Light (2026 Drums)
Remixed By Bruce Soord

• 1. Fly By Night
• 2. Made In England
• 3. Walk Into Light
• 4. Trains
• 5. End Game
• 6. Black And White Television
• 7. Toad In The Hole
• 8. Looking For Eden
• 9. User-Friendly
• 10. Different Germany

Associated Recordings 1983 (2026 Drums)

• 11. Raincoat Man*
• 12. In Dark Tunnels*
• 13. Elizabeth In White*
• 14. User Friendly (Version 1)*
• 15. Toad In The Hole (Alt. Vocal)*
• 16. Clean Away*

CD 4: Walk Into Light (Original Drums)
Remixed By Bruce Soord

• 1. Fly By Night
• 2. Made In England
• 3. Walk Into Light
• 4. Trains
• 5. End Game
• 6. Black And White Television
• 7. Toad In The Hole
• 8. Looking For Eden
• 9. User-Friendly
• 10. Different Germany

Associated Recordings 1983 (Original Drums)

• 11. Raincoat Man*
• 12. In Dark Tunnels*
• 13. Elizabeth In White*
• 14. User Friendly (Version 1)*
• 15. Toad In The Hole (Alt. Vocal)*
• 16. Clean Away*

CD 5: BBC Live At The Hammersmith Odeon 1984 (Remastered)

• 1. Under Wraps Intro
• 2. Locomotive Breath (Instrumental)
• 3. Hunting Girl
• 4. Under Wraps #1
• 5. Later, That Same Evening
• 6. Pussy Willow
• 7. Clasp
• 8. Living In The Past
• 9. Thick As A Brick
• 10. Aqualung
• 11. Locomotive Breath
• 12. Too Old To Rock'n'roll: Too Young To Die!
• 13. Different Germany / Thick As A Brick (Reprise)

Jethro Tull: Under Wraps Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I did some of my first studio MIDI work on an Atari, since it was the only computer at the time with MIDI ports built into its shell. When I got my first multimedia (as they were called back in the Dark Ages) Windows PC, two of my first software purchases were Master Tracks Pro and Encore from Passport Designs (I'm not embarrassed to admit I still prefer Encore over later, ostensibly better, notation programs like Sibelius or Finale). All of this is simply to say I may be more tolerant of the obvious excesses Anderson employs in both of these albums simply because in a way I was "there" myself and have proof of my own excesses in some of the insane MIDI stuff I churned out simply because you could. I still undeniably prefer earlier, more acoustically based, Tull albums, but I actually rather enjoyed revisiting both of the albums on this set, and the Soord drum revamps and multichannel remixes definitely improve things. The accompanying text is going to be a treasure trove for Tull fans, and the extra CD of the BBC concert is a lot of fun. As an inveterate Tull fan from an actually pretty early age, I know I'm not alone in wishing that some of Tull's earlier work would get the audio Blu-ray and surround sound treatment (so far, we only have Jethro Tull: Aqualung and Jethro Tull: Still Living in the Past from what might be called the "classic era"), but as quirky as these albums are, this release still comes Highly recommended.