 The songs on the album cover a variety of musical genres , with elements of folk , blues , psychedelia and hard rock . The " riff @-@ heavy " nature of tracks such as " Locomotive Breath " , " Hymn 43 " and " Wind Up " is regarded as a factor in the band 's increased success after the release of the album , with Jethro Tull becoming " a major arena act " and a " fixture on FM radio " according to AllMusic . In a stylistic departure from Jethro Tull 's earlier albums , many of Aqualung 's songs are primarily acoustic . " Cheap Day Return " , " Wond 'ring Aloud " and " Slipstream " are short , completely acoustic " bridges " , and " Mother Goose " is also mostly acoustic . Anderson claims his main inspirations for writing the album were Roy Harper and Bert Jansch . 
