Category Archives: Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull

Overview
Jethro Tull is one of  the most unique and stylistically diverse bands in the history of rock music. I can’t think of another band that has covered so many styles and created so many different types of music and done them all so well. As evidence of this statement, Jethro Tull is often described as “Flute Rock”. How often do you hear that? You hear bands being described as “guitar rock,” and you hear bands being described as “piano rock,” but how often do you hear a band described as “flute rock”… not often. All this stylistic diversity stems from Ian Anderson who is the band’s leader, vocalist, lyricist, flautist, acoustic guitarist, sometimes bassist, primarily songwriter, phallic humorist, cod piece wearer, one legged dancer, stage banterer, pun creator, and often times arrogant bastard dictator of Jethro Tull, and all of these characteristics (and there are many more) make him fantastic. Jethro Tull released their first album in 1968, and they are still touring and recording today, so that’s almost 45 years of output, but their most important period is undoubtedly the 1970’s, when they released 11- studio albums, 1- live album, and 2- greatest hits albums between 1970 to 1979.

Styles and Genres
Progressive rock, classic rock, blues, folk rock, electronic rock, world music

1972 Band Line-Up
Ian Anderson – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, flute, violin, trumpet, saxophone
Martin Barre – electric guitar, lute
John Evan – piano, organ, harpsichord
Jeffrey Hammond: Bass guitar, Vocals
Barriemore Barlow – drums, percussion, timpani
David Palmer – Brass and string arrangements

Current Band Line-Up
Ian Anderson – flute, vocals, acoustic guitars, mandolin, piccolo, percussion
Martin Barre – electric and acoustic guitars
Doane Perry – drums and percussion
Andrew Giddings – keyboards, accordion and keyboard bass
Jonathan Noyce – bass guitar

Postscript on Ian Anderson and the flute
Ian Anderson can play any instrument, so why did he choose the flute as his instrument of choice and not the guitar (which is a much “cooler” instrument)? One story that I’ve heard is that after hearing Eric Clapton play the guitar, he knew that he could never better Clapton. Ian wanted to be the best at whatever his main instrument was (or in my opinion his ego couldn’t handle not being the best), so he simply picked an instrument that no else played, which would insure his dominance. The flute is also the most phallic instrument, and if you’ve ever seen Ian play the flute, I have a feeling he took that into consideration as well.

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Jethro Tull This Was- 1968
Album Rating- 6

Disguised as a simple blues rock record, “This Was” is actually quite intricate and an amazingly confident debut album.

Although I love Tull, I originally wrote this one off as a somewhat boring blues record, but now I see that I was completely wrong. The original release (without the bonus tracks on the new remastered version) is only about 40 minutes, and most of those 40 minutes are completely instrumental. Even the songs with lyrics are dominated by flute, guitar, drum, and harmonica jams, and these aren’t your typical blues instrumental segments. These instrumental jams are incredibly intricate, and therefore, incredibly intriguing.

Let’s start with Ian’s Flute, which is all over very song, but most evident on “Beggar’s Farm,” and “Serenade to a Cuckoo” (“Serenade” is the first of four instrumentals), and there is absolutely no doubt that Ian wanted to make the statement that the flute is his signature instrument, and he certainly succeeded. I will also note that “Beggar’s Farm” is the best track from the album, and it is a preview of what’s to come on future Tull albums with great jams laced throughout the song. (Click here to listen to Beggar’s Farm).

The next two instrumentals, “Dharma For One,” and “Cat’s Squirrel,” are both amazing as well. “Dharma” is a drum based instrumental, and it is great, but for the definitive version of the song, check out the 9+ minute live version on “Living in the Past”. It has added lyrics, and it is much more complex. The third instrumental is “Cat’s Squirrel,” which is guitar based, and it rivals anything that Jimmy Page was doing at the same time on Zeppelin’s debut, which was released the same year. It’s also important to note that Mick Abrahams was the Tull guitarist at this time. He left after this album, but he certainly left his mark. He plays a 9-string guitar on “Cat’s Squirrel,” which is a 12-string guitar with 3 strings intentionally removed, which really creates a completely unique sound (Click here to listen to Cat’s Squirrel).  The last instrumental is a simple 1-minute Anderson solo piece to close the album.

To keep the Zeppelin comparisons going, you also have the album opener, “My Sunday Feeling,” which is played with as much aggression as any song on Zeppelin’s debut, but it has more of a blues feel than a rock feel, and the sound isn’t nearly as big and bombastic as the tracks from the Zeppelin debut, but I personally think it is a better composition than anything on the Zeppelin I.

I also have to mention “A Song for Jeffery,” which is the most famous track off the album and is still played live on a regular basis. It starts off with great flute work, and it features Ian singing in a very muddy style that gives the song a very curious vibe. I still think “Beggar’s Farm” is the best track from the album, but “A Song for Jeffery” is a close second (Click here to listen to A Song For Jeffrey).

So, don’t underestimate this album. On the surface, it is a simple blues album, but there is an incredible amount of hidden instrumentation that was much more complex than what many bands were doing at the time.

Post Script: The title of the album, “This Was,” was selected by Anderson to clearly state that “this was” the type of blues music that the band originally played, but he wanted to make the point the band’s style was about to change, and it did. This is also why Mick Abrahams left the band. He wanted Tull to remain a blues outfit, but Ian had other plans, and those plans made Tull into one of the most interesting bands in rock history.

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Jethro Tull Stand Up- 1969
Album Rating- 6

“Stand Up” is a transition album between the intricate blues sound that Tull put out on their debut album “This Was,” and the classic rock sound that would follow on their next two albums “Benefit” and “Aqualung.”

Of all the early Tull albums, this one had the least impact on me. It is in no way bad, it just doesn’t really stand out in any way, and it is missing what I refer to as a dynamic factor, meaning that there is no real hook anywhere that makes me want to choose it off the shelf and listen to it. But not uncommonly, my opinion is in the minority because “Stand Up” did go to #1 in the UK, upon its release.

After the debut, Mick Abrahams (the original guitarist) left the band. He wanted Tull to remain a blues outfit, and Anderson wanted to explore other genres. So, Tull was faced with the task of finding a new guitarist. Their first replacement was Tony Iommi (future Black Sabbath Guitarist), and he even played with them live at The Rolling Stone’s Rock and Roll Circus, but he didn’t work out, so they brought on Martin Barre, who is still Tull’s guitarist today, and he has been the only other consist member of Tull other than Anderson, appearing on every record, other than the debut.

The songs here are certainly more diverse in style than those on the debut, which was a strictly blues album. The first album was also dominated by really interesting instrumental breaks, and most of those are gone here as well. The most well known here is probably “A New Day Yesterday,” which remained in Tull’s live set throughout the 70’s. In the same vein, you have the closing track “For a Thousand Mothers,” which I really like. The other two big numbers were “Nothing is Easy,” which has some nice flute work from Anderson, and the instrumental “Bourée, “ which is a modern representation of a  J. S. Bach piece.

“Reasons for Waiting” is actually my favorite track on the album. The orchestration in combination with the acoustic guitar has always been really sentimentally moving for me, and I really like Ian’s vocal delivery. The song is  just three short verses, but they’ve always really resonated with me (Click here to listen to Reasons For Waiting, and the lyrics are below)

“What a sight for my eyes to see you in sleep. Could it stop the sunrise hearing you weep? You’re not seen, you’re not heard but I stand by my word. Came a thousand miles just to catch you while you’re smiling.”

“What a day for laughter and walking at night. Me following after, your hand holding tight. And the memory stays clear with the song that you hear. If I can but make the words awake the feeling.”

“What a reason for waiting and dreaming of dreams. So here’s hoping you’ve faith in impossible schemes, that are born in the sigh of the wind blowing by while the dimming light brings the end to a night of loving.”

So, “Stand Up” is not my first recommendation for a Tull album because it’s missing what I refer to as a dynamic factor, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it either. I wouldn’t start here as a new Jethro Tull fan, but once you’ve explored some other Tull releases, it is absolutely worth checking out.

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Jethro Tull Benefit- 1970
RMR Album Rating- 8

“Benefit” is completely unassuming and modest in nature, but as a result, it produces an incredible collection of single songs that form an inconspicuously confident album.

Unlike every other Tull record released from the debut in 1968 through “Heavy Horses” in 1979, “Benefit” does not seem to have a set purpose, theme, or goal to establish through its songs. The debut was a lesson that blues music can be bluesy but incredibly intricate at the same time. “Stand Up” was a clear statement that the band was moving away from blues music; furthermore, every other 70’s Tull album is based around a musical concept giving each album’s songs an intentional level of themes and stylistic coherence. “Benefit,” on the other hand, is simply a collection of unrelated songs, but every song really stands on its own. The selection of songs is incredibly diverse.

There are moving ballads like “Just Trying to Be,” which reminds me of “Reasons for Waiting” from the previous album. Both of these tracks have always resonated with me on an emotional level, and to me— they just work. I’ve owned this album for years, and I still love the opening line of the song— “There was a time when you were so young, and walked in that way.” The way Anderson enunciates the word “time” just gives me chills every time I hear it. (click here to listen to Just Trying To Be).

Then you have harder edged songs like “Teacher” and “To Cry You a Song”. “Teacher” is more of a basic classic rock song, and is certainly better known than the virtually unknown “To Cry You a Song,” but I prefer the latter because it is much more unique, where as “Teacher” is great, but it is very traditional.

Click here to listen to Teacher
Click here to listen to To Cry You A Song

The last two songs that I’ll mention are “Play in Time” and “Witches Promise”.  Both songs clearly foreshadow Tull’s future signature sound. “Play in Time” has a great flute intro, and it is by far the most progressive song on the album. Lastly, I absolutely love “Witches Promise,” which certainly isn’t progressive in nature, but it has great instrumentation, and more importantly, it gives us our first taste of Anderson’s intentional stuttering singing style, which he would really perfect on “Thick As A Brick” two years later. Just listen in the first line of the song how he drags out (or stutters) the words “fool,” “wood,” and “True” to make them all rhyme (Click here to listen to Witch’s Promise)

To close this out, many fans and critics cite Tull’s prime period as starting with 1971’s “Aqualung” and ending with 1979’s “Heavy Horses,” but I would not leave this one out of the prime period, and if you want to explore Tull as a new listener, “Benefit” is actually not a bad place to start. As I mentioned, it is very unassuming, and it sneaks up on you, but it is a great listen all the way through.

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Jethro Tull Aqualung- 1971
RMR Album Review- 10 (Perfect)

Classically in through the progressive out door…

Jethro Tull started as a blues band in the late 60’s, and then they transitioned into a classic rock band with their second two albums Stand Up and Benefit. Then in 1971, they released Aqualung.

They started recording Aqualung by capitalizing on the strengths and ideas of their previous two classic rock albums, which is why the album is hailed as a classic rock masterpiece, but at the same time, the finished product was bursting with progressive rock tendencies, so it is also hailed as Tull’s first venture into progressive rock.

The most interesting part of the classic rock/ progressive rock juxtaposition on Aqualung is that Ian Anderson never considered Jethro Tull a progressive rock band, at least not in the sense that King Crimson, Yes, ELP, and Genesis were considered progressive rock bands, and Ian has stated this in many interviews.

Ian Anderson has always had a penchant for writing complex and creative music, and because Aqualung is both complex and creative, it was lumped in with the progressive rock movement. On top of that, Aqualung was even called a concept album, to which Ian Anderson was vehemently opposed. So, here comes the ultimate irony. Because Aqualung was called a concept album (although it was clearly not in Ian Anderson’s view), it lead Jethro Tull to create the Thick as a Brick album a year later to mock concept albums and progressive rock in general. However, by doing this, it made Jethro Tull into a full-fledged progressive rock powerhouse, and Thick as a Brick is so good, it really can be considered one of the most classic concept-progressive rock albums ever released.

In 1971, progressive rock was actually a dominant force in popular music and the concept album stamp was being placed on loads of albums during that period, so it’s not surprising that it was placed on Aqualung. However, I have to side with Ian on this one. There are some central themes running through the album, but there are several different themes and not just one central concept. You have some songs about the homeless, some songs about organized religion, and then you have some general ballads and rockers that don’t adhere to any running themes. So, it’s definitely not a concept album in my book.

I think Ian took such offense to Aqualung being called a concept album because Jethro Tull didn’t set out to write a concept album, or a progressive rock album. With Aqualung, Jethro Tull just set out to write a good album. The sound of the album is rooted in classic rock, but it is also bursting with odd time signatures, complex instrumentation, classical piano sections, and dynamic vocal hooks, all of which are hallmarks of progressive rock. However, there is a major difference in how the elements of complexity on Aqualung compare to elements of complexity on the other major progressive rock albums released in 1971. I think the other major progressive rock acts knew that they were part of an emerging movement (the progressive rock movement), and they liked creating complex music because it was complex. In other words, the complexity of their music was intentional, whereas I think Jethro Tull was just writing music, and the complexity of their music just effortlessly seeped out, so the sound is a perfect blend of classic and progressive rock; nothing sounds forced, and nothing seems out of place.

As for the songs, they are all winners; there is not a weak moment on the album, and it absolutely flies by when playing it. There are harder edged songs like the title track, and “Cross Eyed Mary.” There are more progressive natured songs like “My God” and “Locomotive Breath,” and then there are ballads like “Cheap Day Return,” “Wondering Aloud,” and “Slipstream.” I could easily highlight any of these, but “Aqualung,” “Wondering Aloud,” and “My God” stand out above the rest for me.

“Aqualung” starts out with one of the recognizable guitar riffs and lyrical openings in all of rock history. As soon as Martin Barre hits those opening sinister notes, any classic rock fan knows that it’s “Aqualung;” it is simply unmistakable. Thematically, the song is about a homeless man that is nicknamed Aqualung because of his hacking cough. Musically, the song has a biting edge to it, which is completely driven by Barre’s guitar— and on a side note, Martin Barre is one the most criminally underrated guitarists in all of rock. As mentioned, the opening notes and lyrics might be the most recognizable part of the song, but my favorite aspect of the song is its diversity, which comes in the fourth verse, when there’s a major pace change, and my favorite lyrical section of the song:

“Do you still remember/ December’s foggy freeze/ when the ice that clings on to your beard is screaming agony/ And you snatch your rattling last breaths/ with deep-sea-diver sounds/ and the flowers bloom like madness in the spring.”

Anderson’s wording here is extremely visual, and his description of the Aqualung character followed by the description of blooming flowers is a really interesting contrast, and it completely resonates with me (Click here to listen to Aqualung).

In addition to the biting rockers like “Aqualung,” you also have beautiful ballads like “Wondering Aloud,” which is completely moving and one of my favorite ballads of all time by any band. It depicts Anderson’s relationship with his new wife Jennie Franks, who he had married in 1970. My favorite verse is the last line, where in all candor Anderson sings…

“And it’s only the giving/ that makes you what you are.”

There’s an interesting twist to this song as well: it has a sequel called “Wondering Again,” which came out a year later, so it doesn’t appear on the record. It features very similar music, but with much darker lyrics, and the lyrics to the key verse mentioned above are changed from “And it’s only the giving/ that makes you what you are,” to “And it’s only the taking/ that makes you what you are. This could be commentary on Anderson’s view of his relationship with Franks, which was deteriorating, and they ultimately divorced in 1974. Nonetheless, “Wondering Aloud” is a completely moving love song. Here are both songs to compare:

Click here to listen to Wond’ring Aloud
Click here to listen to Wond’ring Again

The last song I’ll highlight is “My God,” which in my view is the album’s one full-fledged progressive song (whether Ian intended it or not). Work began on “My God” before Aqualung was released, and they even played a very early and rough version live at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. Lyrically, Ian sings venomously about organized religion with lines like…

“So lean upon Him gently/ and don’t call on Him to save you/ from your social graces/ and the sins you used to waive/ The bloody Church of England/ in chains of history/ requests your earthly presence at/ the vicarage for tea.”

Musically, it is easily the most complex song on the album, and the tone of the instrumentation sounds just as poisonous as Ian’s lyrics, especially Ian’s flute playing, which culminates with a 2-minute flute solo mid-way through the song. The song is absolutely one of the many shining moments of the album, and it is certainly one of my personal favorites (Click here to listen to My God).

All in all, it doesn’t really matter how you label Aqualung, but one thing is for sure, it is quintessentially Jethro Tull, which makes it completely unique. Personally, I think it is the epitome of classic and progressive rock fusion, which is why it has appealed to fans of classic rock and progressive rock for over 40-years.

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