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Topic ClosedJethro Tull: hopeless devotion or hatred

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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Jethro Tull: hopeless devotion or hatred
    Posted: June 14 2009 at 13:52
Hopeless devotion. Although I don't listen to their mainstream stuff (Aqualung, Loco Breath etc..)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 13 2009 at 00:36
Since I haven't got past Stormwatch yet, I cannot say if I am one whose lot is that of hopeless devotion, i.e, whether I will suffer albums widely considered average/bad gladly just because they are Tull albums.  But what I have heard I love to death.  I only dislike Too Old To Rock N Roll and I am not particularly chuffed about Stormwatch either.  Having said that, it seems to me that Anderson peaked in terms of his musical ideas on TAAB.  I don't think Tull's music got significantly better after that and I also cannot perceive any drastic changes from TAAB through to Heavy Horses.  If I were to make a comparison, I would say Octopus and Free Hand hardly sound like each other; I don't think Tull changed THAT much at least during the 70s.  Since I love all those albums, it doesn't matter to me but I can see how it might be held against the band - re: micky's point about finite ideas and prolific output.  

Coming to the subject of hatred, it wouldn't surprise me if people hated Tull outright and utterly because it can happen with any band, that's why tastes are subjective.  But I don't really understand where people who consider Aqualung/TAAB/APP desert island and then say that the rest of their output is terrible and they wouldn't want to have anything to do with are coming from. Surely they have their valid reasons for such an opinion, I am just saying I can't relate to it because I am not able to perceive such sharp fluctuations in quality  - if you love one of those to death, it seems odd that you'd intensely dislike the rest because they aren't all that different.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 12 2009 at 21:56
Originally posted by prog4evr prog4evr wrote:

Only certain JT albums of the 1970s make them notable (IMO) and, of those, only Minstrel in the Gallery and Songs from the Wood stand out.  Generally, JT lost a lot when Glascock died of cancer.  They also lost something when Barlow moved on to a metal band in the 1980s.  Even Jobson joining them on the "A" album didn't rekindle the magic of those two great albums.  When a band like that can also put out Living in the Past with "Bungle in the Jungle," I can see why certain prog fans "hate" them...
 
Living in the past is a great tune. One of the most advanced sounding tunes of the 60s, but Bungle is too pop for me LOL. I don't agree with Minstrel. Not a big fan. Tull put out excellent EP's, some excellent albums and several patchy albums. I don't rate tull by albums, I rate them by the amount of quality songs they wrote each separate year. eg 1971- Life is a long song is an excellent EP of 5 or 6 songs and Aqualung the album is a good album(overrated) with a very good Side 1 and a pretty blande Side 2 imo. So I rate Tull as a great band in 1971 and I put Side 2 of Aqualung down to tull trying to sound commercial to gain more success. But the quality of that EP and Side 1 of Aqualung says that tull are capapable of writing many elite rock songs and when I listen to Side 2 of Aqualung, I say to myself 'tull are better than this and if they weren't looking for extra success they wouldn't have written some of these tune'.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 12 2009 at 20:41
Originally posted by prog4evr prog4evr wrote:

Only certain JT albums of the 1970s make them notable (IMO) and, of those, only Minstrel in the Gallery and Songs from the Wood stand out.  Generally, JT lost a lot when Glascock died of cancer.  They also lost something when Barlow moved on to a metal band in the 1980s.  Even Jobson joining them on the "A" album didn't rekindle the magic of those two great albums.  When a band like that can also put out Living in the Past with "Bungle in the Jungle," I can see why certain prog fans "hate" them...


ooh, fightin' words Wink

Minstrel
and Songs the only 70s standouts for JT ?   Yeeeah, I don't think so, I mean Brick and Horses are just as good in all the ways that make those other albums good.  Makes no sense.  True, 'Bungle' is a shameless pop tune but not bad (as pop goes) and on a very underrated album as Warchild.  Plus it got 'em a bunch of new fans.



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 12 2009 at 20:27
Only certain JT albums of the 1970s make them notable (IMO) and, of those, only Minstrel in the Gallery and Songs from the Wood stand out.  Generally, JT lost a lot when Glascock died of cancer.  They also lost something when Barlow moved on to a metal band in the 1980s.  Even Jobson joining them on the "A" album didn't rekindle the magic of those two great albums.  When a band like that can also put out Living in the Past with "Bungle in the Jungle," I can see why certain prog fans "hate" them...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 10 2009 at 18:51
Originally posted by American Khatru American Khatru wrote:

^
 
Progmonster you old devil! Clap   I've been meaning to write you but hadn't made the time.  I'll get into a little public adoration though, and say that you did a bang up job with the posts I've heard so far (all the bonus tracks from Aqualung through Heavy Horses, the rest with have to wait a bit).  That "Life's a Long Song", did you add those drum tracks (and others)?  In any event, thanks a thousand times!  (I can't remember the site's address off-hand since I'm on a different computer now; if it's cool by the rules, and if I have any say as thread starter, I don't mind if you self-promote it here).  I'll write more another time, but I'll say briefly here that I do definitely love the many Warchild extras.  I didn't know the Sealion's name was Cecil.  Like I said, I'll add more another time.
 
Regards,
AK
 
 
 
Yeah the bonus tracks are quite often tulls best songs. If I had to choose Tulls 100 best songs, 50 of them would be songs that didn't even make original albums lol. Warchild bonus tracks are the type of songs tull would have released any day of the week in 1974 because they were the natural style of songs they'd write. But being a soundtrack, the album had songs with a more commercial feel. You've probably heard most of the bonus stuff from albums up until mid 70s. Stormwatch, Broadsword, Heavy horses, Catfish, Dotcom has some great bonus stuff too. But the bonus material on each remaster is mainly the best songs or among the best 5 songs on every remastered album. Going back to This Was, my favorite tracks are Love story, One for John Gee, Christmas song and Move on alone. 3 of  those are bonus tracks. Same goes for Stand up where my fave songs are Living in the past, Look into the sun, Sweet dream, Jeffrey goes to Leicester square and Driving song. Same with Benefit, where Witches promise, Teacher, Just trying to be are mainly my faves too. 7 of my fave 10 songs on Warchild are bonus tracks. My fave songs on Minstrel and Too old are, you guessed right, the bonus tracks LOL. The 4 Stormwatch bonus tracks are are among the best 7 or 8 songs on that album too. Some goodies on Broadsword also. The version of Jackalynn on my site is pretty hard to find and it's way better than the other version Wink. Check out Blues instrumental under heavy horses also, that's hard to find too. The last 6 songs on LITP would have made a much better Side of an album than Side 2 of Aqualung. Life is a long is a remix tull did. The drums were very quiet on the old version and it sounded like a rough demo recording lol. Tell me what you think of dotcom songs such as awol, wicked windows, dog ear years, dotcom, hot mango flush, far alaska, it all trickles down(bonus). I reckon it';s the best stuff they have done since the late 70s


Edited by PROGMONSTER2008 - June 10 2009 at 22:44
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 10 2009 at 18:39
^
 
Progmonster you old devil! Clap   I've been meaning to write you but hadn't made the time.  I'll get into a little public adoration though, and say that you did a bang up job with the posts I've heard so far (all the bonus tracks from Aqualung through Heavy Horses, the rest with have to wait a bit).  That "Life's a Long Song", did you add those drum tracks (and others)?  In any event, thanks a thousand times!  (I can't remember the site's address off-hand since I'm on a different computer now; if it's cool by the rules, and if I have any say as thread starter, I don't mind if you self-promote it here).  I'll write more another time, but I'll say briefly here that I do definitely love the many Warchild extras.  I didn't know the Sealion's name was Cecil.  Like I said, I'll add more another time.
 
Regards,
AK
 
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2009 at 19:40
Originally posted by American Khatru American Khatru wrote:

Originally posted by Bufo Bufo wrote:

...But the flute playing.  That's become simply stunning.


I'm glad you brought this up.  I was just thinking the other day, listening more intently to later Tull than I usually do, followed by a listen to Secret Language, that Anderson's flute playing seems to be greatly improving; as his voice has lost its shine and range, his flute tone has surely gained a deepened humanity.  I found myself seeking out the flute passages.  I haven't heard it more than three times so far, but I believe this may be the key to listening to Secret Language: it sounded, last listening, like Anderson himself probably wrote it more by flute passage than vocal melody, in terms of how one gets from event to event.
 
How did you go with all those tunes I recommended at my site? LOL
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2009 at 14:28
Originally posted by el dingo el dingo wrote:

Originally posted by Vibrationbaby Vibrationbaby wrote:

But what about the fluting?
 
The fluting's quite stylish on my neighbour's champagne glasses

fweeee!!!
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2009 at 14:26
Originally posted by Vibrationbaby Vibrationbaby wrote:

But what about the fluting?
 
The fluting's quite stylish on my neighbour's champagne glasses
It's not that I can't find worth in anything, it's just that I can't find worth in enough.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2009 at 13:41
Originally posted by Roland113 Roland113 wrote:

I place myself firmly in the "eh, don't have an opinion either way"


Me too

I remember making a fairly serious attempt to 'get' Jethro Tull back in, I guess, the late 70's - when they were possibly still pretty much at the top of the game. I felt they were a good-to-decent rock band, with plenty of folk stylings which did nothing for me. The big problem with them, for me, is the vocals - I just can't get on with Ian Anderson's nasal tones.

I hear his voice is a bit shot these days - but it never appealed to me even when he was supposedly in his better days.

But that's just me. I don't hate them or anything, but I just don't find them having much appeal to me
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2009 at 10:09
But what about the fluting?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2009 at 10:06
Eh, I place myself firmly in the "eh, don't have an opinion either way"

Edited by Roland113 - June 09 2009 at 10:07
-------someone please tell him to delete this line, he looks like a noob-------

I don't have an unnatural obsession with Disney Princesses, I have a fourteen year old daughter and coping mechanisms.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2009 at 09:54
Fluting ?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2009 at 06:15
Wow, that could be it.  And if he's writing for his talents and around his shortcomings, then that's the smart thing to do.

Divinities is all flute, but I never found that to be feature the strongest writing or playing.

All those Bouree-type instrumentals on Christmas Album though, those are a blast and the fluting is excellent.
Stuck in the '70s
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2009 at 06:04
Originally posted by Bufo Bufo wrote:

...But the flute playing.  That's become simply stunning.


I'm glad you brought this up.  I was just thinking the other day, listening more intently to later Tull than I usually do, followed by a listen to Secret Language, that Anderson's flute playing seems to be greatly improving; as his voice has lost its shine and range, his flute tone has surely gained a deepened humanity.  I found myself seeking out the flute passages.  I haven't heard it more than three times so far, but I believe this may be the key to listening to Secret Language: it sounded, last listening, like Anderson himself probably wrote it more by flute passage than vocal melody, in terms of how one gets from event to event.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2009 at 01:28
Yes, in the late 90s, his singing started sounding much better, but that could be that he was no longer straining for the high notes he could no longer sing.  I think he can only comfortably handle about half an octave, which isn't much for a songwriter to work with, though what he's done on his recent Tull and solo albums is very good (and better - just so long as it isn't a cover of older material - the cover of Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow on the Christmas Album comes to mind.)

But the flute playing.  That's become simply stunning.  I guess since his daughter showed him how to finger the flute properly (!) he's truly become a master of the instrument, requisite Roland Kirk impression notwithstanding. Smile


Edited by Bufo - June 08 2009 at 01:29
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2009 at 01:18
I saw Tull several times after 1984 too, but they never had as much energy.  When I saw them in 1995, Ian had virtually no singing voice that night and could barely utter a sound, so the audience talked over the entire show, except for the loud rocky bits.

Living with the Past is a good example, I think, of the band still sounding great but being none too energetic.  Comes with age, I know, but Ian looked like he'd aged 20 years between the Under Wraps and Crest of a Knave tours, IMO.


Edited by Bufo - June 08 2009 at 01:19
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2009 at 01:08
I saw that one..I think I enjoyed the 2001 Best Of tour most of the six or so times I've seen them


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2009 at 01:03
Yes, Under Wraps.  Not my career highlight either!  Still, the tour was good.  I stood on my chair and was very excited. Tongue

Edited by Bufo - June 08 2009 at 01:04
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