OK, we’re getting a lot of Tull posts in the “first concert ever” thread so maybe we need a Tull thread of our own.
I became a Tull fan with the second record, Stand Up, then went back to find This Was–interesting effort–and faded out around Passion Play. That was when I took my own band on the road and we mostly were just concerned with not starving. I’ve heard bits from everything up to Heavy Horses, I guess, but Thick as a Brick was the last one I listened to over and over and could play every note on both guitar and flute.
Check out the Official Tull site–lots of cute trivia, album listings, and even a place to list your own Tull copy band. Anyone in the Denver area want to start a Tull copy band?
I saw the Passion Play concert. Twice. It was great. Ian Anderson has a blood clot that is discussed in great detail somewhere on the Internet. Pretty scary account.
A friend’s girlfriend in college was a flutist, and hated Anderson’s flute playing. His embouchure is all wrong. My friend was of the opinion that that was the whole point, deliberate distortion. Rock flute.
Another fan checking in. I saw them at the “Electric Factory and Flea Market” in Philadelphia way back when and they were astonishing.
Ian Anderson is wonderful all by himself, too. I picked up his Divinities: Twelve Dances with God, just out of curiosity and it has become one of my favorite CDs. It’s all instrumental, not Jethro Tullish at all. Every song is beautiful.
I’m a huge Jethro Tull fan. I’ve seen them dozens of times since 1971 and own all the albums and singles, along with a substantial collection of memorabilia…including a very blurry photograph of myself with Ian Anderson.
I just got the new reissue of A Passion Play last week. It includes a video of the “Hare Who Lost His Spectacles” film that was shown during the live performances. Great fun.
BTW, koeeoaddi, this is as good a place as any to mention that I really like your user name.
'Nother Tull fan checking in. First saw them on, of all things, an NBC special (1969 or so) composed of reinterpretations of classical music by contemporary artists. I recall Tull was the wild-assed token rock band, and they did ‘Bouree’.
Sometime later, I listened to the entire ‘Aqualung’ album at a friend’s house and was bowled over. Amongst the group I hung with (most of whom were wannabe musicians) that album, 'Stand Up and ‘Benefit’ were essentials. Still have the latter two in collection, although my most recent girlfriend would leave the room whenever I put SU on.
That’s a band I’ve never understood the appeal of. I know a lot of people (even people whose musical tastes I usually agree with) find them brilliant, but they bore me silly.
Thank you Biffy the Elephant Shew (a fabulous name you’ve got there too, I might add). I’m an Incredible String Band fan, so I went with it despite the fact that no one, including me, really knows how to pronounce it.
In 1980 I was listening to the radio and “Aqualung” came on. This would not have been a big deal except for the fact that when they got to the line “Snot is running down his nose!” everything started rattling. In a few seconds the rattling got worse. My sister and I were running around like chickens with their heads off while the song continued to blare on the radio. For a few seconds I thought it was Armaggedon and I was relieved to look out the window and discover that there were no angels with trumpets approaching. (Don’t flame me, I was just a kid at the time.) Anyway the rattling ended without causing much damage in the area and it turned out to be a 5.2 earthquake with its epicenter on a fault about 75 miles away.
After that we always referred to “Aqualung” as “that song that caused the earthquake.”
Heh, I remember that earthquake. It happened during a major windstorm and at first I thought it was one HELL of a gust…
Anyways…in the mid-80’s I went nuts collecting used “crappy vinyl” records, including lots of 70’s progressive stuff, and eventually got a complete Jethro Tull collection. Didn’t listen to them much, until the summer of '87 when I put them all on cassette and went backpacking around Europe. By summer’s end, I was a lifelong fan.
Of course, backpacking around Europe is such a cool experience that it would have made me a fan of ANY musical accompaniment I brought along. A few steps down the collection, and I could’ve become a lifelong Kansas or Lindesfarne fan instead…
NCUN;
Wasn’t “Stand Up” their 3rd album? I am old and have been wrong before, but wasn’t it; “This Was”, “Benefit”, then “Stand UP” in that order?
Add “Aqualung” and the band’s production was as good as anything the Stones did, (or any other ‘rock’ band for that matter).
I enjoyed “Thick as a Brick”, but was never as enthralled as those first 4 albums. After that they seemed to lose their enthusiasim, never finding the really high point again.
Back in the day my friends and I used to get loaded and sing along with Aqualung. Great fun. Especially when we got to the “snot is running down his nose” part. Gotta love Jethro Tull!
Tull is great. I can play bouree (ok some of it, the easy parts, ok not that well) and the song Locomotive Breath is a amazing. So is CROSS EYED MARY.
I never knew that much about Ian Anderson until I saw a show about the band and they had him walking around his farm in Scotland I believe. He seemed like he was a very well educated guy who could perform Shakespeare if he wanted to.
Did anybody ever see that crap show hosted by Kevin Bacon on VH1 a few years ago with the top 100 rock acts of all time? I may be wrong but I swear Jethro Tull was not on the list!
I got pissed off but then just dismissed the show as more TV end of century/millennium bullshit.
Saw Tull live here in Schenectady in 1971. It was before Aqualung, so they were playing things from “Benefit.” I love “Stand Up,” “Aqualung,” and “Thick as a Brick.”
I was amazed to hear a local Clear Channel station starting “Thick as a Brick,” but it was only a massively condensed version of about five minutes.
I’m with El Kabong. Stand Up, Benefit, and Aqualung are great. I forget, what album is Too Old to Rock and Roll on? Is it eponymous? Too many bong hits, folks.
