Jethro Tull In Concert, by David Rees
JETHRO TULL - The eccentric troupe of minstrels led by the
flamboyant Ian Anderson, are one of the most successful groups in the
history of rock music. Since 1968 Tull have toured incessantly, selling in
excess of 40 million albums in the process. In the beginning they were the
vanguard of the British blues/rock boom along with their contemporaries
such as Led Zeppelin and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. The
early 70’s saw them bracketed alongside the likes of Yes, Pink Floyd
andGenesis, the kings of the dreaded progressive rock concept
albums. The latter part of the decade brought a gentler, "folkier"
flavor to Tull, and they were labeled incorrectly as a folk-rock band.
The 80’s saw yet another direction, with the emphasis on
hi-tech keyboards and synthesis, before 1987’s ‘back to the roots’ "Crest
of a Knave". That album gained Tull a Grammy for Best Hard
Rock Album. No wonder people struggle to find a convenient label to
pin on the wonderfully varied, eclectic music of Jethro Tull!
In 1991, when this concert was recorded, it hadn’t
gotten any easier to categorize; the then new album, "Catfish
Rising", was registered as a first week top ten entry in both the
Folk/Roots and the Heavy Metal Charts.
The plain truth is that there is no label for them. Jethro
Tull play Tull music, and there is no other band quite like them. Equally
at home playing the blues, or folk, or impossibly complex and genuinely
intensive, classically tinged rock, with the skill and precision that can
only come with immense experience.
This album, recorded at Hammersmith Odeon in October 1991,
brings a taste of the many aspects of Tull, all different but all with the
distinctive driving force of Ian Anderson’s magic flute and the majestic
guitar of Martin Barre, with the powerhouse rhythm of Doane Perry and Dave
Pegg. Dave’s colleague in the folk rock legends Fairport convention,
Maart Allcock made up the five piece on the keyboards. The breif tease of "Minstrel
in the Gallery" leads into the heavy rock classic from 1971,
"Cross-Eyed Mary", still a regular and essential part of
AOR radio in America. "This is Not Love", recorded some 20 years
later, shows that Tull have not lost their bite and aggression from those
early years.
Three songs from Catfish Rising; Rocks on the
Road, Tall Thin Girl and the blues based Still loving you tonight
are proof that Tull is not a band to rest on their laurels and peddle the
vast back catalogue; each new album is featured strongly in the live set,
and is a mark of the band’s excellence that the new material can stand
alongside the old favorites. Those older classics are not neglected
though, and Heavy Horses from 1978 remains a firm favorite with the
fans. Thick as a Brick is their as it always must be, but the
original 45 minute piece is trimmed to a manageable 8 minutes or so, but
still with more twists and turns than most bands could muster in a whole
concert. A New Day Yesterdayoriginally on the 1969 album Stand
Up is given a new lease of life, incorporating one of Ian Anderson’s
dazzling flute solos, which itself leads into a healthy portion of
Bach’s Bouree. Blues Jam is loosely based around Look Into The
Sun, again from 1969, before Tull finish on a storming rendition of Jump
Start from the Crest of a Knave album. Anyone who raised an
eyebrow when Tull won the Hard Rock Grammy should listen to this track and
think again! So there it is, an hour with Jethro Tull in concert. Having
listened to it you still won’t know quite where their pigeon hole is,
but you will know that Jethro Tull have something rather special to offer.
Just what it is, is hard to define, but it has kept them in our hearts and
minds (and the album charts) for some 27 years so far. Here’s to many
more years to come!
Exerted from an article written for Jethro Tull In
Concert
Written by Dave Rees, February 1995
