TO CRY YOU A SONG: A COLLECTION OF TULL TALES (JETHRO TULL TRIBUTE)

Can a "tribute" performance be a masterpiece?

I doubt it. It actually could be, but there must be well-defined criteria to consider a certain tribute album as a masterpiece. Reason being, actually I want to rate this tribute compilation as masterpiece. But, never mind with a four-star rating as long as you get my true message that this is a great compilation of Jethro Tull's music performed by great musicians. If you are a fan of Jethro Tull, it's a must collection. Well, actually this is not truly a tribute compilation as there are two songs: "Tull Tale" written by T. Gardner of Magellan and "Cat's Squirrel" written by M. Abrahams.

The compilation album is opened beautifully with "Tull Tale" (2:35), an instrumental track written specifically for this tribute, featuring Stan Johnson on flute. Containing pieces of "Bouree" and other Tull classics, it serves as an introduction to Magellan's excellent cover of "Aqualung". It starts off with a great piano intro, then it goes into an industrial music combined with metal guitar sound on the verses. The guitar solo is played on a slightly different chord progression, but it sounds really well. "Up The Pool" is performed wonderfully with great acoustic guitar work and unique vocal by Roy Harper. Really good. The great song "Nothing Is Easy" (4:17) is performed remarkably well by John Wetton on vocals. It's so rewarding when I listen this song - it's like King Crimson meets Jethro Tull.

"Mother Goose" (4:23) is performed by Lief Sorbye (of Tempest) in a great arrangement. Well, overall I don't see any track that is performed worse than the original version - all of them are great arrangements. But if you force me to mention the best of the best performance is the one performed by Glenn Hughes on track 9: "To Cry You a Song". As you may have known that the vocal timbre between Ian Anderson and Glenn Hughes is totally different and you might have imagined that Glenn Hughes voice only suitable for Deep Purple or Trapeze. But what hhappen here is truly a fabulous combination of energetic music with organ solo (reminds us to Jon Lord?) and rocking and funky voice of Hughes. The result is Deep Purple meets Jethro Tull kind of music. I especially like when Hughes sings his high register notes under chorus lyrical part: "It's been a long time .!!". Wow! It's a wonderful voice man!

In summary, if you are a die hard fan of Jethro Tull, this tribute is a compilation that will definitely satisfy you. Production and sound quality are to notch. Highly recommended. Keep on proggin' .!

Progressively yours, GW

What can I tell you about this CD? Well to be honest I picked it up for the names Wetton and Emerson. It surprised me that Emerson and Wetton are are only on one track each. Former Jethro Tull members abound throughout the CD. This is strictly a Robert Berry production for his Magna Carta Records. The production is fluid throughout and the song selection interesting to say the least. Keith Emerson plays Living in the past with Clive Bunker on the drums. It is a nice instrumental and I found myself not missing the lyrics. The CD opens with an original piece A Tull Tale. It takes melodies and parts for many a varied JT song. A nice way to start it out. Aqualung sounds a little jazzy at first but once the guitar joins in it is a classic JT cover. Up the Pool features Roy Harper, another nice touch. Nothing is Easy sounds like a carbon copy to the original. Ian McDonald does a fine job filling in for Ian. John Wetton does a nice job on vocals. No bass for him and no other songs as well. Minstrel in the Gallery sounds nothing like the original song. Robert Berry should have stayed more to the original instead of making it his song. Echolyn does a fine job covering One Brown Mouse. Cat's Squirrel has a nice touch of having Charley Musselwhite on it but goes into Led Zeppelin territory once the blues riffs come out. New Day Yesterday has Kansas Alumni Robby Steinhardt on it. He does justice to the song. A nice touch having violin on it.

I would give this CD a 3.5 for it's all-star members and former JT alumni getting together. A nice CD but not great.

It's been said that this is a must-have for Jethro Tull fans, but I don't see fans of Ian Anderson and company getting too excited about the arrangements and executions on this one. That said, tribute albums exist as a kind of novelty item- it's an opportunity to hear other artists retool a band's music according to their own sound and style. The trouble is that many of the bands used on tribute albums lack a defining sound or style, and this is especially the case in Magna Carta's mill of various artists albums- they choose the bands that sound progressively generic to fill up most of the time, and that's unfortunate. On this one there are a few amazing surprises.

"A Tull Tale" The opening track from Magellan is a fitting tribute in that it blends various pieces into one short introduction, most recognizably "Bouree."

"Aqualung" It's a challenge to offer a fresh rendition of a classic song. Magellan begins in the middle, with the vocals accompanied only by piano. Predictably, the band turns up the gain on the guitars to make this a much heavier version. They leave the acoustic section fairly untouched, but the vocals are stale and unconvincing though- they lack the dramatic disgust and sympathy of the original.

"Up The Pool" Even including a false start, this is a lovely rendition of a little known tune, performed with just a voice and an acoustic guitar.

"Nothing Is Easy" This rock song is given the John Wetton treatment, and he does a solid job with it. It has a competent flute bit in the middle, and fortunately, his voice is suited for this song. One mustn't miss the couple of bass solos thrown in toward the end.

"Mother Goose" This is a decent hard rock version of this fanciful acoustic ditty, even though the vocals don't work again, and many of the gracious subtleties of the original are just steamrolled over. As a compensation, there's a fantastic electric guitar solo.

"Minstrel in the Gallery" The introduction to this piece is almost unrecognizable, relying heavily on mandolin, and then jumping right into Robert Berry's typical big sound, which just doesn't work for a variety of reasons. It's bad enough that this is a truncated version (excluding the acoustic introduction of the original), but the cheesy 1980s wall of sound of synthesizers and drumming just spoils the soul of this progressive folk masterpiece.

"One Brown Mouse" It's no secret that I am a huge Echolyn fan, so I was drawn to their version of this work. While it kind of sounds like Echolyn, there's a lot of differences from their original sound (for one, Ray Weston seems uncomfortably low for his range). That said, this song has a Seven Nations feel to it (that's a little known Celtic rock band I love dearly), and so this really appeals to me.

"Cat's Squirrel" Numerous screeching guitars play over each other in the introduction until the main riff comes in, and even that is dominated by multiple electrics. While the piece is meant to be a fun jam, it's actually quite irritating and harsh on the ears.

"To Cry You a Song" As would be expected, Glenn Hughes (of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple fame) turns this tune into a delightful work of heavy progressive rock, full of gritty guitar and a mean organ solo in the middle.

"New Day Yesterday" Along with the Echolyn contribution, this is what piqued my interest in this tribute album: Master violinist Robby Steinhardt, the voice of such Kansas foot-stomping numbers as "Down the Road" and "Bringing it Back," takes a stab at this excellent blues song from Jethro Tull's Stand Up. Expect not only a great, modern version of this riff-based song, but some of his fantastic violin playing throughout.

"Teacher" Scottish rock band Wolfstone gives a decent rendition of this Jethro Tull classic. The vocals are a little weak (not bad, but literally weak- almost anemic). Otherwise, this is a fun, competent reworking with some additional instrumental flourishes.

"Living in the Past" It isn't difficult to imagine Keith Emerson playing in 5/4, but it was a stretch to consider him covering this gem. Surprisingly, he keeps it low key (no pun intended), rendering it an instrumental smoothly fueled by percussive organ and occasional flashes of Moog.

"Locomotive Breath" The introduction gets an unbelievable, Celtic makeover- simply stunning. The song proper is a solid, hard-hitting rocker- as well it should be. In addition to a robust flute solo, there's some amazing violin work and even a lead guitar solo- this one has it all in one bundle.

"Life's a Long Song" This feathery song retains its acoustic flair, as only the vocals are lazy and don't maintain a pleasing sound or cadence.

My only major complaint about this tribute is that it is weighted far too heavily on the first few albums. In fact, except for Minstrel In The Gallery and One Brown Mouse, everything is from This Was, Stand Up, Benefit, Aqualung and Living In The Past. A minor complaint is that most of the songs stay too close to the originals. But this is a tribute album, not a reimagining of the songs, so I can live with that.

A Tull Tale makes a nice opening. It's an original piece that uses musical quotes from assorted Tull songs. Aqualung, played by Magellan ramps up the metal aspect of the song, but a weak bass line by Wayne Gardner is distracting. Roy Harper's Up The Pool is a treat, as is Nothing Is Easy with John Wetton (sounding amazingly un-mooselike), Ian McDonald, Phil Manzanera and Robert Berry, playing with three original Tull members (Abrahams, Bunker & Cornick).

Lief Sorbye, solo on Mother Goose and with Tempest on Locomotive Breath does a fine job arranging the songs, but his nasal voice weakens the tracks. Robert Berry's Minstrel In The Gallery is not bad, and I really wish Echolyn had made One Brown Mouse into a song of their style. Cat's Squirrel is much better than the original (not that that was hard to do), even with most of the original Tull on the track. To Cry You A Song and A New Day Yesterday are both tasty, with Robbie Steinhardt of Kansas adding nice violin on the latter.

Teacher, with members of Wolfstone, along with Derek Sherinian and original Tull members, is done folkier than usual, and works well. And Keith Emerson (again with the original Tull trio) doesn't take Living In The Past far from it's original arrangement until he jazzes it up with a nice solo. And Life's A Long Song is nice, but Dave Pegg's voice, like Sorbye's is too nasal for my tastes.

To sum it up, it's nice to hear different artists' takes on these songs, but I wouldn't call it essential.

This album is pleasantly surprising. For the most part, the album catches the spirit of Tull, and no wonder, as there are four former members of the band guesting here. Not a single note for note renditon, and each song is lovingly reworked in the idiom of the guest artist while keeping the flavor of the composition.

Musically, the playing is inspired and no quibles to the musicianship. My only quibble is with Glen Hughes singing on "To Cry You a Song." The producers needed to get at least one more take, IMO.

Highlights are Aqualung(Magellen), Up the 'Pool(Roy Harper), Teacher(Wolfstone), and Lifes a Long Song(David Pegg).

Liner notes are thorough and interesting anecdotes are given as to the person's exposure to Tull and/or Ian Anderson.

If you like Tull and are open minded, you will enjoy this disc as I do.

Living in the past

I am not a big fan of tribute albums, but the series of such albums released by the Magna Carta label in the 1990's is interesting enough for me to sit up and take notice. As I have mentioned in previous reviews of other entries in the same series (which includes tributes to Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Rush, and Emerson Lake & Palmer), these tributes are special in that they do not only include a bunch of younger generation bands and artists paying tribute to their childhood heroes, but also involve some contemporaries and peers of the celebrated bands, and in some cases even former band members themselves! Examples from the series include Annie Haslam of Renaissance singing a Yes song, Peter Bardens of Camel doing Genesis, and on the present album we have such luminaries as John Wetton and Ian McDonald of King Crimson (among other bands), Keith Emerson, Roy Harper, and Robbie Steinhardt of Kansas, interpreting Jethro Tull! We even have several members of Jethro Tull itself contributing, including no less than three of the original members of the band! This adds a legitimacy to the proceedings unusual of tribute projects.

From the younger generation artists we have Tempest and their main man Lief Sorbye contributing to several songs. Sorbye sounds quite a lot like Ian Anderson! Tempest was singed to Magna Carta at the time and their masterpiece album Turn Of The Wheel (featuring a guest performance by Keith Emerson) was released in the same year as this tribute album. Also appearing is Tempest collaborator Robert Berry who also was part of all the other tribute albums in the series. Magellan is another band present and that band's Trent Gardner even contributes some original material on the opener A Tull Tale.

In my review of the Genesis tribute Supper's Ready, I complained that the song selection was slanted towards albums from past that band's peak. To Cry You A Song actually suffers from the very opposite; this song selection is heavily slanted towards the very earliest period(s) of Jethro Tull's long career. The focus is almost exclusively on the Blues Rock/Folk Rock/Hard Rock that characterised Jethro Tull in the late 60's and very early 70's before they became a fully progressive Rock band. With the exception of the title track from 1975's Minstrel In The Gallery and One Brown Mouse from 1978's Heavy Horses all of the songs covered here are from the band's very early days: from 1968 to 1971. (My personal favourite period of Jethro Tull is from 1971 to 1982.) Having this said, however, some of these old songs are "updated" to sound a bit more like later Jethro Tull, and to be honest I actually enjoy this tribute album more than I do Jethro Tull's first couple of albums!

Overall, To Cry You A Song is better than the Genesis tribute Supper's Ready, but not quite as good as the Yes tribute Tales From Yesterday.

Review Nº 60

I bought this CD a couple of years. Honestly, I picked it up, mainly because of two reasons. The names of the artists involved in this project and because this is a tribute to one of the best and most important bands, but also because they're one of my favorite progressive groups of ever. Sincerely, I must confess that I gave only a very small importance to this album, when I bought it, and because of that, I just listened to it a few months ago.

The album was released in 1996 by Magna Carta and has fourteen tracks. The first track "A Tull Tale" is an instrumental track written specifically for this tribute by Magellan featuring Stan Johnson, Trent Gardner and Roger Patterson. The second track "Aqualung" is the title track of "Aqualung" and is also performed by Magellan featuring Trent Gardner, Wayne Gardner and Roger Patterson. The third track "Up The 'Pool" is a track of "Living In The Past" featuring Roy Harper and Colm O'Sullivan. The fourth track "Nothing Is Easy" is a track of "Stand Up" featuring John Wetton, Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker, Glenn Cornick, Ian McDonald, Phil Manzanera and Robert Berry. The fifth track "Mother Goose" is a track of "Aqualung" featuring Lief Sorbye, Mike Varney and Robert Berry. The sixth track "Minstrel In The Gallery" is the title track of "Minstrel In The Gallery" featuring Robert Berry and Lief Sorbye. The seventh track "One Brown Mouse" is a track of "Heavy Horses" and is performed by Echolyn featuring Brett Kull, Ray Weston and Paul Ramsey. The eighth track "Cat's Squirrel" is a track of "This Was" featuring Charlie Musselwhite, Derek Trucks, Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker, Mike Summerland and Robert Berry. The ninth track "To Cry You A Song" is a track of "Benefit" featuring Glen Hughes, Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker, Glenn Cornick, Derek Sherinian and Robert Berry. The tenth track "A New Day Yesterday" is a song of "Stand Up" featuring Robby Steinhardt, Ian McDonald, Mick Abrahams, Phil Manzanera, Robert Berry, Clive Bunker, Glenn Cornick and Mike Vible. The eleventh track "Teacher" is a track of "Benefit" and is performed by Wolfstone featuring Ivan Drever, Stuart Eaglesham, Duncan Chisholm, Derek Sherinian, Mike Abrahams, Clive Bunker and Glenn Cornick. The twelfth track "Living In The Past" is the title track of "Living In The Past" featuring Keith Emerson, Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker and Glenn Cornick. The thirteenth track "Locomotive Breath" is a track of "Aqualung" and is performed by Tempest featuring Robert Berry, Lief Sorbye, Rob Wullenjohn, Adolfo Lazo, Jay Nania and Michael Mullen. The fourteenth track "Life Is A Long Song" is a track of "Living In The Past" featuring Matt Pegg, Dave Pegg, Tom Mates and Rob Armstrong.

"To Cry You A Song" is a very nice album and very pleasant to listen to. It has a very interesting set of songs from Jethro Tull, despite it comprises almost only tracks from their first albums, but the new versions are in general good. For me, the album has four tracks of quality far above the others, which are "A Tull Tale", "Aqualung", "Minstrel In The Gallery" and "One Brown Mouse". About the remaining tracks, some are more interesting than others, with the exception of "Cat's Squirrel", which is for me, a track which passed by me in relation to the other remaining tracks.

About the four songs mentioned by me, I have to say something more about them. "A Tull Tale" is a great performance of Magellan that fits perfectly well into the music of Jethro Tull and is a great tribute to them that passes through various pieces of their music. The version of "Aqualung" made by Magellan is, in my humble opinion, a perfect choice by this great band, not only because, it's for me, one of the best songs of Jethro Tull, but also because it fits perfectly in the Magellan's music. I've listened to this version many times, and honestly, I don't consider this version inferior to the original. "Minstrel In The Gallery" is also, in my humble opinion, one of the best tracks of Jethro Tull and represents also a great version of the original composition. "One Brown Mouse" is one of the simplest and most beautiful songs of Jethro Tull and to my taste, this startlingly original version of Echolyn is simply brilliant and amazing. This is probably my favorite track of the album. It makes shining the name of this great American band.

Conclusion: Like Gatot, I also think that a tribute album can't be considered as a masterpiece. However, I would like to put the question in another way. Can a tribute album to a band be essential to any progressive musical collection? I think the answer can be yes if it's an album with a bunch of good songs that perfectly represents the band's repertoire, or when the new versions are great and well performed by those artists. However, in this case and unlike Gatot, I don't consider this album essential to any progressive musical collection mainly due to two reasons. First, it isn't fully representative of the repertoire of the band. Second, in general, I don't consider it, an album of great new versions of the original titles. Anyway, in spite of everything I wrote before, "To Cry You A Song", consists in the vast majority, of interesting versions, especially the wonderful versions made by Magellan and Echolyn, of which I'm a big fan.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)