Jethro Tull: Classic or Dud?

I love pretty much everything up to "War Child", plus "Songs from the Wood" and "Heavy Horses"*. I don't think "Stormwatch" is bad. The lyrics on most of "Minstrel in the Gallery" (except for the title song) start to make me cringe. "Broadsword and the Beast" has an unpleasant, bloated-puffy synthesizer sound as well as pretty uninteresting songs. "Crest of a Knave" is hard to imagine as the same band - I can't stand Martin Barre's guitar sound at that time, and the lyrics are brutal. "Rock Island" and "Catfish Rising", as probably everyone will tell you, are just embarassing. I haven't heard anything since, though a friend has told me that "J-Tull.com" (sp?) is not too bad.

*I do think that "Thick as a Brick" is a bit structurally clunky, but when I consider that it was kind of a big piss-take of a concept album, it makes sense that it's that way - it's a pretty funny idea for an album. "A Passion Play" is my favourite: the saxophone and synthesizer parts sound great and the melodies are really deft. I don't know why people got mad about "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles". "War Child" continues with similar arrangements and impressive playing (Barriemore Barlow is a superb drummer), though I'd have preferred "Bungle in the Jungle" as a non-LP single.

But it's not offensive like ELP (whose best moments were Greg Lake's Paul McCartney/Neil Young knockoff songs w/ cheap synth solos just to remind you who's IN CHARGE HERE). And the later dumb pop hits he had, around the mid-'70s, are quite enjoyable. Normally I don't bring up Lester Bangs but his piece "Jethro Tull in Vietnam" does sum it all up nicely.

1) Stand Up. One of the great, great psychedelic albums, stuffed with killer riffs and enough otherworldly moods to simulate or enhance being baked. If this album were a one-off by an obscure British folk band (a la Mellow Candle) it would fetch hundreds of $$$$ in collector's circles.
2) Aqualung. There isn't a bad song on it. The flute solo in "My God" is some scary shit. In my experience people who badmouth this are trying to prove another point, like they're cool, or even good music can get overplayed, or something.
3) Thick as a Brick. Some parts drag, but there's no other album like it (I guess besides Passion Play), and most of it's engaging, not an easy thing to pull off over the course of 40+ minutes.

Songs from the Wood, War Child, Benefit, and Minstrel in the Gallery aren't bad, either, and there are timeless singles like "Living in the Past" to get off on.

There's also a ton of shitty albums--Too Old to Rock & Roll. . ., A, Stormwatch, etc. but who cares, really.

and no, Bangs is not infallible. But his central insight into Tull--no rebop--is a good 'un. And I want rebop myself.

xpost

"Wond'ring Aloud"
"Slipstream" (I think)
"Thick as A Brick" (the intro, but many other parts, too)
"Skating Away On the Thin Ice of a New Day"
"One White Duck/Nothing At All"
"Baker St. Muse"
"Salamander" (again, I think -- it's been awhile)
"Dun Ringill"

My personal tastes tell me they also have a few very good hard rock moments, including "Minstrel In the Gallery", "Pibroch" and much of Aqualung. That and Songs From the Wood has a very cool electro-folk production

Thick as a Brick really is ridiculously good. Sweet tunes, fierce playing, beautifully arranged. The strings near the end are next level.

"Locomotive Breath" still rocks greatly.

1) ...If this album were a one-off by an obscure British folk band (a la Mellow Candle) it would fetch hundreds of $$$$ in collector's circles.

Yes yes yes. In the run up to becoming full-on prog, they created some moody and unfussy stuff. Stand Up layers all sorts of acoustic instruments with blues riffing in a way that is intuitive and natural, rather than the hyper-organized feel they soon took on. Really solid songs that would hold up outside of the textures and arrangements.

Their true masterpiece was "A Passion Play". Jethro Tull at their most progressive was also Jethro Tull at their best.

But they did some interesting folk influenced stuff later too.

To me, Minstrel In The Gallery through Stormwatch = classic. The expansive prog notions recompressed into concise songs without losing the progginess.

The stuff from the first heyday's great, but I don't get the urge to put it on very often.

The string of high-concept records (Thick, Passion, Too Old) I have no time for.

i own 'aqualung'. i like it and think it's pretty creative and inspired, but i don't listen to it often

I went to see them live a few days ago. I only really went along to the gig after a mate said he wanted to go.

I hadn't much listened to them for 30 years, and though I wasn't a big fan I had mates who were very keen indeed and back in the day I did have a soft spot for the quirkier, pop-eyed silliness.

Before the gig I was kinda worried about all that zany 70s catweazle'n'codpiece stuff, since I figured it wouldn't have aged well...

I needn't have worried as there wasn't much of it, indeed there wasn't nearly enough of it. Stripped of the theatrics, left pretty much the music unadorned, though that did reveal some elements which I hadn't noticed before (or didn't know anything about to notice) such as the Mingus influences (though I guess the Roland Kirk stuff was always obvious).

Mainly though they sounded polite 80s rock. Barre's guitar sounded especially cleaned up, Dire Straits and (80s) Supertramp.

So not great then, mostly not even good, but now and then there were flashes about what made them interesting and did confirm there were interesting bits in the War child and earlier albums.

Their guitarist kicks ass and besides that they are fucking Jethro Tull. So many songs to love by them.

Oh god, I had an urge to hear "Skating Away" so I downloaded the Anniversary collection and I'm kind of enjoying it.

Kill me.

They are classic beyond classic.

people who HATE this band hate fun

From another thread:

for all the shit jethro tull got for beating metallica in the grammys, they are probably the *weirdest* band to ever win a grammy. i mean jethro tull! think about it! how could you even invent jethro tull?

― dave coolier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, February 10, 2012 9:33 AM (6 minutes ago)

i was listening to Heavy Horses by Jethro Tull the other day and the album is dedicated to the "hardworking shire horses of England"

― dave coolier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, February 10, 2012 9:33 AM

Jethro Tull OTM

heavy horses and songs from the wood are both well worth checking out btw, late period successes...they decided to completely ignore punk/new wave/everything that was going on at the time

Songs From The Wood a little more so, but M@tt OTM.

Perhaps the receding of the prog wave did influence them to keep it concise on these two records. There are no long songs.

SFTW was my first-ever "favorite album" and it still captivates.

yeah i guess they are pretty tight, there's one funkier tune on heavy horses that almost reminds me of like a jazz rock version of itchy post punk funk type stuff but it's probably by coincidence

ned, do you like jethro tull?

I do, more casually than anything else but I had a small phase in the late eighties (oddly enough -- pre-Grammys, for what it's worth, but that album that won had a couple of creepily interesting songs on it like "Farm on the Freeway," which got some regular classic-rock-radio airplay at the time).

Songs from the Wood I heard courtesy of friends at the time too -- good album! Probably in more freak/psych/underground folk performer/listeners backgrounds than people admit to.

I'll rep for Stormwatch, which does have long songs, but I love the theme so much.

my best friend growing up was a big Tull fan but i never really gave them much thought until Thick As A Brick blew me away on the radio one day, love that album now, should really check more out.

And hey, just got this in email that the UK's Burning Shed label is where to go for, well, everything Tull-related:

http://www.burningshed.com/store/jethrotull/

woah Tull Xmas album!

Benefit is a killer album. I loved this band when I was a kid, then somewhere in early high school all the charm ran right out of 'em for me. "Locomotive Breath" is all-time though, really oughta be a more commonly-cited everybody-knows-that-riff tune

That riff in "Teacher" totally rules

xpost that wonderfully sludgy ga-chunka ga-chunka rhythm

lol I had no idea that this song was called "Locomotive Breath"

yes, it is fucking fantastic

The only (sort-of) art-rock band where I can easily list a top 5: 1. "Witches Promise," 2. "Nothing Is Easy," 3. "Living in the Past," 4. "Skating Away..." 5. "Teacher." Unless ELO count.

btw A Passion Play is completely batshit and over the top and awesome in a way that makes their other albums sound like the Ramones by comparison, recommended on vinyl where it's sequenced as 2 complete sides of vinyl no "songs"

Next time i'm in mpls/stpl, BOC/Tull night at my mom's. Wordisbond.

Haven't heard Passion Play in yonks, and I can't really remember the music, except for one part:

THIS... is the story of the HARE...who lost his SPECKATICKES!

hahahaha

Next time i'm in mpls/stpl, BOC/Tull night at my mom's. Wordisbond.

― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Friday, February 10, 2012 3:34 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cool! we can plan our launch of Classic Rock Artists' Late Period Albums No One Gives A Fuck About Magazine

THIS... is the story of the HARE...who lost his SPECKATICKES!

― Ham House showdown (Dan Peterson), Friday, February 10, 2012 3:45 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha yeah it's so goofy

Classic Rock Artists' Late Period Albums No One Gives A Fuck About Magazine

also featuring Grace Under Pressure/Presto/Hold Your Fire

Ha, I think the singles from Presto are pretty great.

They are! That's why those albums have to be in the first issue of CRALPANOGAFA Magazine!

Sounds like a planet designed by Slartibartfast.

grace under pressure is a top 5 rush album, act like u know

THIS MONTH: SLY AND ROBBIE SPEAK OUT ON THE MAKING OF BOB DYLAN'S INFIDELS

lol

they were certainly well-realized/fully-formed. really looked exactly like they should have looked with their sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqZmtq5LhFo&feature=artist

still pissed i lent Thick as a Brick to a girl in high school and never got it back

and spotify is reminding me that Thick is awesome fuiud

Ok, on to WarChild, which really is kind of “of a piece” with APP. Some of the Chateau D’Isaster tracks made it there (“Skating Away,” “Only Solitaire”). The film they were working on for it had a similar Heaven/Hell storyline and some of the same characters (the “Office of G. Oddie & Son,” LOL). And the whole anthropomorphic exploration is carried over from Chateau to tracks like “Sea Lion” and “Bungle in the Jungle” (which is a sort of reworking of those sessions’ “Law of the Bungle”).

There’s a surprising amount of strong material here.

“Sea Lion” veers back and forth between this gentle waltz chorus and a jagged and surprisingly catchy horror film riff played by Palmer’s strings mirroring the circus life of a touring musician.

“Back Door Angels”—one of those extended Martin showcases à la “Pibroch” and “No Lullabye”—has a similarly schizophrenic construction, with a meandering melody in the A-section whose lyrics seems to be painting a picture of groupies as sirens, with a super high energy riff and solo work for the B (the live version on the Minstrel set is terrific BTW).

“Skating Away” is of course a Tull classic but the big surprise to me was just how much “Bungle” stands up to scrutiny, both musically and lyrically. Ian’s conceit is straightforward enough but features some typically clever and poetic shades. And I’m not sure I ever appreciated just how terrific Palmer’s strings are here – providing a great counterpoint to the guitar in the pre-chorus. Notwithstanding Ian’s own reservations about how on the nose it was musically and lyrically, it really deserves its classic status.

All in all, for a record that is effectively comprised of lifts and shifts, half-realized concepts (I haven’t even mentioned the actual WWII-ish WarChild concept floated at various points here) and no small amount of commercial pressure, the whiff of ambition and exceptional craft really does carry the day.

“Back Door Angels”—one of those extended Martin showcases à la “Pibroch” and “No Lullabye”—has a similarly schizophrenic construction, with a meandering melody in the A-section whose lyrics seems to be painting a picture of groupies as sirens, with a super high energy riff and solo work for the B (the live version on the Minstrel set is terrific BTW).

otm on all counts!

Loving these write-ups, Naive. I love WarChild too -- it's one of the most major, self-consciously minor releases following a run of massively major releases that I can think of (if that makes sense) -- it's low-key ("just a few songs this time, no big concept, we're taking it easy here") but can't help being awesome, because Ian and the band were SO good at that point in time.

I had a bit of a fun revelation last night. I’ve always had a massive soft spot for Ian’s acoustic songs. On songs like Cheap Day Return, Only Solitaire, Salamander and the Heavy Horses-era demo of Jack-A-Lynn, I find his picking patterns hypnotic, bordering on trance inducing.

Among my favorites in that style—and arguably Ian’s last great song—is Dun Ringill from Stormwatch. This ode to an ancient fort on the Scottish Isle of Skye was always an obvious—and somewhat spooky— classic from one of Tull’s less loved albums, with its relentlessly descending guitar pattern and dramatic use of echo and sound effects.

The Talk Tull To Me podcast goes in to how Ian’s lyrics create a sense of ambiguity about whether it’s happening in the past or present – with references to standing stones, kings and gods but also … card games?

When I listened back, I noticed how masterfully Ian’s production enhances this effect.

After the tail end of Ian counting the song in, the track begins disorientingly with a chaotic treatment of a British meteorologist reporting of the weather which almost imperceptibly morphs into him reading some the song’s more spiritual lyrics before the guitar fades in and the song proper begins.

As the podcast notes, midway through the first verse, there’s a heavy reverse reverb effect, which plays a smeared backwards echo of Ian’s voice before the line is actually sung. This is an effective—if not particularly novel—technique.

What I hadn’t ever thought much about was what shows up in the second half of the verse: before Ian sings each line, you can actually quietly hear the line echoed forward—essentially previewed—a bar early. It’s quite literally a voice from the future.

The track concludes with the heavy atmosphere of seagulls and waves crashing before ending on a notably ambiguous guitar chord.

I don’t know. I would probably love this song were it nothing more than Ian singing and strumming his guitar. But the production somehow transforms it into something more—into possibly their best song—and certainly among their best realized.

See, if my Passion Play ramblings didn’t kill this thread I knew my verbose analysis of Ian’s use of echo effects would.

had half a gummy and I'm on the couch hitting a Stand Up flow state

I'm enjoying reading it all. Love "Dun Ringill".

"Dark Ages" starts amazingly well but I don't think it fulfills the promise at all.

I remember "Home" being really good.

Dark Ages works for me, but I see why you'd say that -- the intro portends an epic-to-end-all-epics, which the actual song veers left of. Home is string overkill territory for me, *and yet* I love it. Sequencing helps! I adore Dun Ringill -- it was a great write-up, Idol, but it goes deeper than my own listening has, so I can't add to it!

Stormwatch is my second favorite Tull after A Passion Play. All I need now is for Idol to delve into the many wonders of A.

Dime has been throwing up quite a few early recordings recently, frustratingly none of them are particularly great quality, with the exception of the LA Coliseum, 1976.

“Home” for me is about Ian’s really lovely lyric working in concert with Martin’s outstanding performance, in particular that fabulously stately harmonized guitar refrain he plays after every chorus that goes right up to and pulls back just shy of bombastic. Palmer’s strings have never felt particularly OTT to me but Ian feels they are too so perhaps I’m missing something.

I like Dark Ages – the longer early version on the box maybe inches it a bit closer to the epic you all are hoping for. The lyrics are really quite good, and it’s got one of Ian’s best let-it-rip vocal performances.

There’s a bonus track from Stormwatch, A Stitch In Time, with a wonderfully incongruous chorus of female backing singers that would never have fit on the album proper—it feels a bit like a Heavy Horses leftover actually—but is catchy and delightful.

I was sitting under a tree with the biggest ole canopy today, and suddenly realized -- it's time for a "Songs from the Wood" tear.

Feeling the TULL in this new mix of Lap of Luxury \m/

Always liked Under Wraps, but would get tired out by the sonics. Sounds like that's not gonna be the case no more

And the beautiful Walk into Light too!

And Under Wraps deluxe book set also officially announced:

https://store.rhino.com/products/under-wraps-the-unwrapped-edition-5cd-1bd

That new Lap of Luxury mix has me on a massive Tullbender. New finding: even Steven Wilson's remix doesn't warm me up to [half of] The Broadsword and The Beast.

dunno why I'd never picked up Bursting Out until now, it's so great and I think a glimpse into Anderson's personality that you don't get from the studio albums. truly a one of a kind dude.

I still have my original double-vinyl pressing, which misspells it as Busting Out on the sleeve - an error I assume they've rectified by now.

meant to say it was misspelled on the spine

mine also says "Busting", I think...like all the great live prog albums it is worn to shit because the gatefold was opened so much

only flaw imo is the fact that the abridged Thick as a Brick doesn't include the bit that ends Side A...probably my favorite section of Tull music

also wanna point out I think this is the only album I have with a word bleeped out

I have bronchitis right now, I am Aqualung. Lying in bed listening to music lungs make deep sea diver sounds

"Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day" is a really special tune, as much as I love prog I think this is the sort of thing they do best. always surprised to find that one is not on Songs from the Wood or Heavy Horses but rather the fairly unappreciated War Child

And its recording predates "A Passion Play".