Jethro Tull: Classic or Dud?

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Sweet Dream video from "Slipstream": CLASSIC!

I'd say more like every TEN years...just like the Doors!

Between that and Jackie Enx of Rhino Bucket, it shows that Jayne County was merely the start of something good.

you know, my dad and my philly relatives pronounce "ann" and "ian" almost identically.

I love "A New Day Yesterday" and "To Cry You a Song".

(though "Living In The Past" is a nice tune)

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

I saw an interview several years ago in which Almond listed several things about himself, then concluded by saying "one of these is true". On the list was being a huge Jethro Tull fan.

hahaha, I would not have guessed that! but it makes sense, since I like Marc Almond and Jethro Tull

I picked up Stormwatch Deluxe recently but haven’t dug into it yet. I don’t know it as well as the other two in the folk/ecology trilogy but “Dun Ringall” has always been my favorite track.

Flying Dutchman rolls up all my favorite things about a good Jethro Tull track, and is the middle of great album close: Dun Ringill/Flying Dutchman/Elegy.

Agreed – there’s a real emotional hitch to when Ian sings “You better be there when the Dutchman comes.”

FWIW, some of Wilson’s best surround mixes of this series have been the small acoustic tracks. “Dun Ringill” sounds absolutely incredible in 5.1.

Is Living in the Past one of the top 50 best rock comps of all time? I’d argue yes.

What’s not in doubt is that “Inside” is an absolute jam.

So I finally got around to picking up the A remaster with the bonus Slipstream DVD, and my word, this video is amazing. Amazing! It's like a classic Doctor Who episode.

Ian Anderson could absolutely have been the Doctor from, say, 1979-1980 for a couple seasons and crushed it. Crushed it!

A is a fantastic album. Tull goes Boingo. But are you telling me they have gotten to A in the new remaster program or is this a previous remaster?

hahaha, sorry that IS misleading... no, this is the remaster from 2003, not one of the newer book-format ones... the live version of Black Sunday on Slipstream is definitely amazing. haven't spent a ton of time with A yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E_ZftZkGJs

the Slipstream intro and Black Sunday, so you can see how fractally bonkers this video is and how great the rendition of Black Sunday is

Funny how the sound of the A era predicted the second wave prog bands like Twelfth Night, IQ, Pendragon all that lot.

for awhile I was hoovering up any live boots I could download from the A tour, that lineup was really REALLY good live

XXXXP - The next remaster is supposedly Benefit because it hasn't gotten the book format yet, plus the 5.1 mix is already done.

I legit feel like petitioning Parlophone to reissue these fucking things.

I just shelled out for a used copy of the Benefit 2CD/1DVD edition, so that should speed things along.

I’m still so sad that I missed the boat on the SftW remaster book, the first favorite album I ever had

I know the guy who works the back catalogue nowadays, I will ask him if they're ever going to be reprinted.

Thank u

Here's the reply.

"At the moment no plans to re-issue, the problem being the cost. Obviously numbers would be a lot less than the original run and therefore unit cost would escalate considerably pushing the sales price up too high. That said it is something we could look at down the line maybe as a D2C option in a quiet JT period."

D2C = direct to consumer?

Yeah, I think so.

Check out the first comment on this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1yLI4kQobE

A really nice recording from 1982 has just gone up on D1m3ad0z3n, cool set list too.

Disc One:
01. Something's On The Move
02. Hunting Girl
03. Fallen On Hard Times
04. Broadsword >
05. Heavy Horses
06. A Song For Jeffrey >
07. Keyboard & Drum Interlude
08. Fat Man
09. One Brown Mouse
10. Clasp
11. Watching Me Watching You
12. Instrumental (unknown title)
13. Beastie
14. Band Introductions
[51:25]

Disc Two:
01. The Swirling Pit
02. A New Day Yesterday
03. Thick As A Brick >
04. Sweet Dream
05. Too Old To Rock'n'Roll, Too Young To Die
06. Aqualung
07. Locomotive Breath >
08. Black Sunday
09. Cheerio
[33:08]

Oh boy!
I try to save this question for special situations but
ysi?

Rewatched the second season of Fargo recently; loved this, which opened the seventh episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p46qx7KVks

yeah that's a cool set... Fallen on Hard Times, One Brown Mouse, Black Sunday (a new favorite of mine)

XXP - Jon (and anyone else), no worries, here 'tis - https://we.tl/t-pSxK0nePZF

thanks for the link! wow, this recording sounds great for an audience recording.

Yeah! There's mention of binaural mics in the notes, presumably attached to a hat or maybe shirt lapels, as the notes say the taper moves around quite a bit so the perspective changes around, so it's probably best not listened to on headphones.

Headphones are my only option so I’ll prepare myself for some wanderkopf!

Cheers again for the link, that's a great show... a little sad it wasn't the full Black Sunday, but it's got a nice selection of Broadsword tracks and is a nice change from the songs that dominated a lot of the mid-late 70s sets on the deluxe reissues. Ian a little less talkative than usual, maybe that was edited out?

I've been listening to the 80s albums for the last few days... Crest of a Knave, Catfish Rising, Rock Island. Catfish definitely the strongest of the three, but wow do they ever sound like Dire Straits!

I found a cassette on the curb the other day, a bootleg of a Jethro Tull show from the Philadelphia Spectrum, March 8, 1975. Sound quality is, well, take a guess! But I got through it all. Setlist as follows:

Side A
1. Wind-Up
2. Passion Play
3. Thick as a Brick
4. Wond'ring Aloud
5. My God
6. Bouree
7. Living in the Past
8. Sea Lion 1
9. Skating Away...

Side B
10. Ladies
11. War Child
12. Reasons for Waiting
13. Cross-Eyed Mary
14. Bungle in the Jungle
15. Aqualung
16. Backdoor Angels

I can listen to Crest of a Knave but Rock Island and Catfish Rising are beyond my capabilities. Roots to Branches a real return to form imo

I don't think any of Tull's albums is really bad. The Stand Up - Stormwatch (arguably Broadsword) run is pretty amazing all-through and some later ones are less memorable overall (and may include more average songs) but there's quality stuff to be found on every record if you ask me.

I've often heard complaints on Ian's later voice, I don't know, I find that he loses his sneer which may have added some well-working venom to classic Tull but instead sings with more beauty on later works, such as his solo stuff like Secret Language of Birds.

I'd say Under Wraps is the weakest album. Martin Barre apparently rates that one very highly, so what do I know.

And yes: there's several 80s songs where they could easily be mistaken for Dire Straits but still I find JT at their weakest waaaay more exciting than DS at their strongest.

Has this been posted before?

There's a podcast called 'Talk Tull To Me' that goes through every song in chronological/album order, I listened to a bit of one last night and the two guys (natch) sound like fairly normal human beings chatting about JT, instead of two bored narcissists blabbing on about a load of in-jokes and irrelevant shit.

The episode I heard a bit of, 'Look Into The Sun', sounded decent, I will give it a proper listen although I remain a little sceptical, what can you say for 30+ mins about 'Cheap Day Return' for instance?

good point, bad example... that song is pivotal

Nothing against CDR, it's one of my favourites and the story behind it is affecting iirc, but idk, half an hour of discourse?

https://www.loudersound.com/news/ian-anderson-im-suffering-from-an-incurable-lung-disease

Ian Anderson has COPD apparently, which might explain some of the vocal issues of recent years. Hope he manages it for some time to come, it's not the best condition to suffer from.

poor guy, I hope he stays healthy for as long as possible... I know people who have had COPD for quite a while that still, for example, work full-time. that said, my guess would be less fog machines than 35-40 years of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Hey all, thought some of you might like this, I saw it go up recently, quality is pretty good, the taper was one of the more well thought of guys doing the rounds back then, I believe he would hide his recording gear in a wheelchair -

Jethro Tull
The Forum
Inglewood, CA
February 9, 1975
Mike Millard Original Master Tapes via JEMS

01 Minstrel In The Gallery Guitar Solo Intro
02 Wind Up
03 Critique Oblique
04 Thick As A Brick
05 Wond’ring Aloud
06 My God > Flute Solo
07 Sealion
08 Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day
09 Ladies
10 Drum Solo
11 War Child
12 War Child Suite
13 Cross-Eyed Mary
14 Bungle In The Jungle
15 The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles
16 Aqualung
17 Guitar Solo
18 Back-Door Angels
19 Locomotive Breath
20 Hard Headed English General
21 Back-Door Angels Reprise

https://we.tl/t-Sc5Dzam4FG

Psyched! Was just listening to the prior gift!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th80xJbWAIg

This one just appeared on D1me and is pretty nice quality and worth sharing, I feel - https://we.tl/t-RQrm1fG5PH

Jethro Tull
"A-OK"
Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Germany
5th February 1981

Disc 1 - 56:41
01. Black Sunday
02. Crossfire
03. Songs From The Wood
04. Hunting Girl
05. The Pine Marten's Jig
06. Dun Ringill
07. Fylingdale Flyer
08. Heavy Horses
09. Band Intros
10. Skating Away
11. Flute Solo
12. Trio

Disc 2 - 52:38
01. Keyboard Solo
02. Batteries Not Included
03. Uniform
04. Drum Solo
05. Protect & Survive
06. Protect & Survive (instrumental)
07. Something's On The Move
08. Bungle In The Jungle
09. Guitar Solo
10. Aqualung
11. Locomotive Breath
12. Balloons Out
13. Black Sunday (reprise)

This is an excellent audience recording taken from the European leg of the "A" tour in 1981.

Band line up:
Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Dave Pegg, Mark Craney, Eddie Jobson

Oh, this one's quite nice... lots of banter from Ian, excellent sound. I love how Black Sunday live sounds like an episode of 80s Doctor Who. Nice brash version of Skating Away, too. Whole show is pretty fast'n'brassy... guitar solo in Aqualung comes out really well that way! Thanks for posting these!

Great show, I have it but I wonder if this version is better quality...

gnarled and turbid sinuses (Jon not Jon)

lol

I did thank u for that one!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/06/15/fired-after-joining-gay-softball-league-gerald-bostock-wins-landmark-supreme-court-case/

This threw me for a minute today.

Ha