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Post by maddogfagin on Apr 6, 2021 6:19:59 GMT
www.fifetoday.co.uk/The day Fifer Ian Anderson brought rock band Jethro Tull to Kirkcaldy YMCALegendary musician Ian Anderson was born in Dunfermline, but his parents settled in Blackpool before an accent developed. By John Murray Monday, 5th April 2021, 5:25 pm He would return to Fife with his newly formed band with Mick Abrahams on guitar, Glenn Comick on bass and Clive Bunker on drums in their first year as Jethro Tull. With some dates at the Marquee in London they ventured north to play Kirkcaldy YMCA in 1968 when having examined the venue elected to play upstairs in the small room for some better acoustics and for the intimacy. That was a busy year for them when they played 108 shows in total around the release of the first album This Was. The following year their Stand Up album would top the charts, play the massive Isle of Wight Festival, and took the US by storm reaching the top there also and playing 45 shows. In 1972 the concept album Thick As A Brick accompanied by a full local spoof newspaper was a 43-minute suite over two sides of the LP. This week author Laura Shenton, a music historian, has published Jethro Tull Thick As A Brick In-depth (Wymer Publishing, £14.99). A great companion to the music she has examined the variations of releases, the groundbreaking artwork, an international discography and even tour dates surrounding the release. Still a favourite though and from what was a stable line up for Tull in a long career of changes. She examines how they approached the piece in their many concert tours and even how the newspaper content took longer to make than recording the music took Laura has published three other books this week and all in depth critical appraisals of favourite albums like The Kick Inside – Kate Bush (what a debut), The Gathering – Tears For Fears (innovating synth with dark lyrics) and Stormbringer Deep Purple; the latter perhaps a surprising choice considering the output of the band and the various line ups. link
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Post by maddogfagin on Apr 8, 2021 13:58:40 GMT
www.itv.com/news/anglia/2021-04-07/the-rock-legend-who-started-out-as-a-cleaner-in-lutonThe rock legend who started out as a cleaner in LutonANGLIA Thursday 8 April 2021 Watch a report by ITV Anglia's Matthew Hudson hereThe Legendary rock band Jethro Tull have topped the album charts in the UK and US for decades. However, many fans don't realise it all started in Luton back in the 1960s. Drummer Clive Bunker and guitarist Mick Abrahams were born and bred in the Bedfordshire town. Frontman, Ian Anderson, migrated from the north and found fame while working as a cleaner in a Luton cinema in 1967. He earned a modest five pounds a week for his endevours at the Ritz cinema. The lockdown has given him plenty of time to reflect on those humble beginnings and a chance to use some of those cleaning skills honed in the 60s in Luton. Anderson told ITV Anglia's Matthew Hudson that the band has a new album due out this year. There'll be an accompanying tour, but that is covid permitting.
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Post by JTull 007 on Apr 9, 2021 0:31:33 GMT
♫ "#021 - Wond'ring Aloud - The Jethro Tull Radio Show (07.04.2021) - A PASSION PLAY" LINK Playlist: Jethro Tull - Audition (The Chateau D'Herouville Sessions) Jethro Tull - Sailor (The Chateau D'Herouville Sessions) Jethro Tull - First Post, Animelee, Tiger Toon (The Chateau D'Herouville Sessions) Jethro Tull - A Silver Cord (A Passion Play, 1973) Jethro Tull - Best Friends (A Passion Play, 1973) Jethro Tull - The Foot Of Our Stairs (A Passion Play, 1973)
Jethro Tull - Prelude (Live at Fort Worth, Texas - Tarrant County Conv. Center, 16/07/1973) Jethro Tull - Wind Up/Critique Oblique (Live at Paris, Palais Des Sports,5/07/1975) Jethro Tull - Flight From Lucifer (Live at Fort Worth, Texas - Tarrant County Conv. Center, 16/07/1973)
Stewart Wood - Overseer Overture
Ian Anderson - Cosy Corner/Shunt and Shuffle" (TAAB2, 2012) Ian Anderson - A Week of Moments (Rupi's Dance, 2003)
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Post by maddogfagin on Apr 9, 2021 6:30:14 GMT
ultimateclassicrock.com/ian-anderson-jethro-tull-cowrite-songs/WHY 'SHY' IAN ANDERSON AVOIDS COWRITING SONGSMARTIN KIELTY APRIL 8 2021 Jethro Tull leader Ian Anderson reflected on the two occasions where he cowrote songs with others, saying he was too shy to collaborate effectively and joking that he didn’t like to share the income. His book of Tull lyrics, Silent Singing, will be published in June. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, he called it a work of “putting on the record the correct, accurately transcribed, entire catalog of songs.” “Only twice in my life have I collaborated in writing a song,” Anderson explained. “Once was with my first wife Jennie, who provided the photographic visuals and lyric text inspiration for the development of the rest of the [1971] song ‘Aqualung.’ The other occasion was with [former Tull guitarist] Martin Barre on the [1999] free-form ‘Hot Mango Flush.’ … Great result in the first case; not so good in the second.” Anderson noted that "otherwise, I fly solo. I don’t think I have it in me to be a good collaborator. I can’t readily loosen up emotionally with another person in that creative process. I am shy, repressed, insecure, inclined to self-loathing and prefer to keep all of the royalties.” He also described song lyrics as “tricky buggers” and distanced himself from the idea that they bore a direct comparison to poetry. “I am a descriptive writer, not so often a storyteller and almost never a heart-on-sleeve love rat,” he said. “Social documentary that you can hum along to. I see something, I want to share it in word and music. That’s about the size of it.” Looking back, he added, "there are references and stereotypes in some songs that would be rightly perceived as politically incorrect and insensitive in today’s world. That was then, and this is now. I wouldn’t wish to change the essence of the song if writing it today, but I might exercise discreet adjectival discretion!”
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Post by maddogfagin on Apr 10, 2021 6:26:19 GMT
loudwire.com/1970s-songs-recognize-first-few-notes/15 Songs From the 1970s You’ll Recognize From the First Few NotesJordan Blum Published: April 8, 2021 Although the roots of rock and metal go back further, the 1970s is when the genres truly rose to prominence, with many of their most enjoyable and influential tunes arriving within the decade. While there are several reasons for why those classic tunes endure — memorable lyrics, captivating melodies, iconic vocals, groundbreaking instrumentation — their openings are almost always the main factor. After all, there are countless examples of songs whose first few measures are so essential that even the most casual listeners will recognize them (even if they don’t know where the tracks go afterward). Whether it’s the simplicity of a killer guitar riff, the emotional eloquence of an acoustic arpeggio, or something equally appealing, the following fifteen picks — most of which are stylistic standards by now — will definitely grab you from the start. ---------- Jethro Tull, "Aqualung" (1971)Guitarist Martin Barre’s aggressively dingy six-note climb perfectly complements both singer Ian Anderson’s gravely bellows and the song’s perverse subject matter. Thus, it’s arguably the most exciting and legendary opening on Aqualung (an album that saw the English troupe continuing to transition from their blues rock origins into their folk/prog rock peak).
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Post by JTull 007 on Apr 14, 2021 0:53:50 GMT
New episode... to celebrate HEAVY HORSES! LINK ► WEDNES April 14, 2021 the special episode on 🐎🐎 HEAVY HORSES 🐎🐎 Wond'ring Aloud- The Jethro Tull Radio Show ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Thank you Alessandro Ferrari and Alessandro Bersezio for choosing the tunes. On the set list we'll hear a song from the Jethro Tull Italian Community Band and Stewart Wood's acoustic proposal ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 19:00 PM (CEST, UTC + 2, ITALY) on RadioTsunami (https://www.radiotsunami.org) A program produced and conducted by Daniele Massimi Powered by Exhimusic - Percorsi nella musica With the collaboration of Jethro Tull Italian Community
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Post by JTull 007 on Apr 15, 2021 1:24:25 GMT
Wond'ring Aloud @ The Foot of Our Stairs
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Post by JTull 007 on Apr 18, 2021 1:39:48 GMT
#022 - Wond'ring Aloud - The Jethro Tull Radio Show (14.04.2021) - HEAVY HORSES Playlist: LINK Jethro Tull - Journeyman (Heavy Horses, 1978) Jethro Tull - Jack-A-Lynn (Heavy Horses, 2018 Sp. Ed.) Jethro Tull - Botanic Man (Heavy Horses, 2018 Sp. Ed.) Jethro Tull - Beltane (Songs From The Wood, remastered ed. 2003) Jethro Tull - Rover (Heavy Horses, 2018 Sp. Ed.)
Jethro Tull - No Lullaby (Live from: Bursting Out, 1978) Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses (Live at Royal Albert Hall, 1980) Jethro Tull - Weathercock (Live at Lugano Estival Jazz, 9/07/2005)
Jethro Tull Italian Community Band - Acres Wild (2021) Gianni Mocchetti - Silvia Perlini - One Brown Mouse Stewart Wood - ...And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps
Martin Barre - At First Light/Moths (Away With Words, 2013)
Bonus Track: Botanic Man Theme/A Town In England
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Post by JTull 007 on Apr 19, 2021 1:36:59 GMT
► WEDNES April 21, 2021 the special episode on 🅰️ by Wond'ring Aloud-The Jethro Tull Radio Show ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: We thank Alessandro Ferrari for the suggestions (batteries included). ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 19:00 PM (CEST, UTC + 2, ITALY) on RadioTsunami (https://www.radiotsunami.org) A program produced and conducted by Daniele Massimi
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Post by JTull 007 on Apr 21, 2021 1:08:55 GMT
What will we be talking about on the next episode of Wond'ring Aloud - The Jethro Tull Radio Show? LINK 19:00 PM (CEST, UTC + 2, ITALY) on RadioTsunami (https://www.radiotsunami.org) A program produced and conducted by Daniele Massimi Powered by Exhimusic - Percorsi nella musica With the collaboration of the Jethro Tull Italian Community
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Post by adospencer on Apr 29, 2021 7:13:34 GMT
Is there a chance that "The Jethro tull Radio show "could be given its own page to advertise itself? Or a new separate page for "Press and internet"? It is frustrating when trying to catch up on press updates here, to wade through pages of the Radio show promotions! A seperate heading would solve this.
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Post by maddogfagin on May 13, 2021 8:36:23 GMT
faroutmagazine.co.uk/5-songs-pixies-frank-black-wishes-he-wrote/12 hours ago Jack Whatley 5 songs Pixies' Frank Black wishes he wroteFrank Black isn’t just the leading man of the Pixies, he is a bonafide icon. The singer has long been heralded as one of the alternative rock scenes founding fathers. Nirvana knew it, David Bowie knew it, it just took the public a few decades to actually catch on to just how brilliant the band were. Soon enough, the group were given the accolades and appreciation they deserved and were headlining festivals and selling vast quantities of their back catalogue.
Much of that fandom was centred around Black’s unique viewpoint on the world around them. He brought with him a casual yet visceral edge to rock music. His lyrics were sharp and unguarded, and musically he pushed the band into new avant-garde spaces. But, even someone as original as Frank Black can find themselves feeling envious about the work of those icons who have come before him.
Black did just that when he stepped up to speak to Rolling Stone where he selected five songs that he wishes he had written. It provides a beautiful reflection of his inspirations and wider influences. The first selection comes from one of the most gifted songwriters of all time, Neil Young and his song ‘Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)’: “It sounds iconic from the first moment. It’s like he’s standing on a mountain peak delivering a sermon that’s 100 years old.”
Another song on Black’s list comes from quite possibly the most influential band of all time — The Beatles. The Fab Four may have a lot of iconic songs, but Black loves the little known White Album ditty written about Eric Clapton’s poor dental hygiene. Black says of the track: “There’s a riddle to it. It’s names of candies from a fancy box, but the punchline is that you’ve pulled out your teeth. It’s way darker than it appears.” From the heights of pop stardom to one of the most underrated bands of their generation, Jethro Tull. Black picked out the classic track from their catalogue, ‘Aqualung’ and noted the huge impact the song had on him as a burgeoning songwriter himself: “This was very influential on me. I’ve tried to write it over and over again in my career. I love where the character is speaking from. It’s riveting.” “It’s a kickass punk song,” noted Black when picking out The Damned’s magnificent number ‘Neat Neat Neat’. It’s a track that has long since been rightly regarded as one of the most sincere reflections of the burning punk movement. But it has a hidden secret too, as Black elucidates: “There’s something about it that feels tongue-in-cheek. It almost has a Dean Martin kind of cockiness to it.”
Sticking with punk rock, here’s a spot for Aussie legends The Saints and their song ‘(I’m) Stranded’, which pulses with some serious punk attitude: “This reeks of youth,” claims Black, “the sort of punky song I was never able to achieve when I was young. I had too much psychedelia and prog-rock in my DNA.”
While it would be unfair to say that Black couldn’t have written these songs, but it is unlikely he could have achieved them in the same way. It is also unlikely that any of the groups mentioned could achieve the stylistic panache that Black employed with the Pixies. The truth is, we’re all an amalgamation of our most sincere influences, and even an icon like Black can take inspiration from the music he loved.
There’s no doubt that Black is one of the more gifted songwriters of his generation and, like the rest of us, he still wishes he could be like his favourite idols.5 songs Pixies’ Frank Black wishes he had written: ‘Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)’ – Neil Young ‘Savoy Truffle’ – The Beatles ‘Aqualung’ – Jethro Tull ‘Neat Neat Neat’ – The Damned ‘(I’m) Stranded’ – The Saints
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Post by maddogfagin on May 14, 2021 8:00:14 GMT
www.wsj.com/articles/if-were-doing-vote-recounts-a-few-are-overdue-11620928190If We’re Doing Vote Recounts, a Few Are OverdueI’ve got beefs with the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame and those ‘best place to live’ lists. By Joe Queenan Updated May 13, 2021 3:25 pm ET Vote recounts are much in the news today, but there’s no good reason they should be limited to politics. This is where Jethro Tull comes in. Tull was a fabulously successful band that sold tens of millions of records in the 1970s and ’80s. Yet, for some mysterious reason, they’re still not in the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Yes, they were arty and pretentious, but so were Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd and Yes, and those bands are in the Hall. It doesn’t add up. One possibility is that the voting for new inductees has deliberately been rigged to keep Tull from entering the Pantheon of the Immortals. One theory I’ve heard posits that the ballots submitted by rock critics are replaced in the dead of night by bogus ballots shipped in by jealous fans from places like Hawaii and Idaho, where there are no great rock bands. There is an easy way to settle this controversy: Check the ballots to see if they smell of taters or pineapple. An honest recount of Hall of Fame ballots would also ensure that heavy metal titans Iron Maiden—just snubbed again this week—finally get the honors they so richly deserve. I personally suspect that lots of the ballots cast in favor of those stars were altered by miffed fans of bands like Echo & the Bunnymen and the Psychedelic Furs because they loathe headbangers. And only widespread ballot tampering can explain why the great ’60s band Paul Revere & the Raiders is not in the Hall. Talk about getting taken for a ride.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 5, 2021 6:25:46 GMT
wmmr.com/galleries/wmmr-essential-200-a-h/Rock and Roll has shaped history, pop culture and countless lives. Many might even say that rock and roll saved their life. So, if someone were to approach you and ask which songs are most important to the genre, where would you start? “Aqualung” – Jethro TullWere Jethro Tull prog-rock? Folk-rock? Proto-metal? They were kind of all of the above, and they mixed everything into their opus, “Aqualung.” The late ‘60s and early ‘70s were a great time for epic songs with multiple movements, but while their peers in Emerson Lake & Palmer invited fans to the “show that never ends” and Yes sang of “all good people,” Tull was growing and hissing about a truly vile character who was “eyeing little girls with bad intent.” (BI)
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Post by rredmond on Jun 6, 2021 20:20:40 GMT
My home rock station!!
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 16, 2021 6:18:11 GMT
i95rock.com/my-top-ten-tull-list/I discovered the greatness of Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull the same way I discovered most of the classic rock artists played every day on i95 and that's through my older brother Marty. Marty is as big a Jethro Tull fan as there is. He's probably been to about 20 Tull concerts over the last three decades and a handful or so of Ian Anderson solo shows including those hosted by our friends at The Ridgefield Playhouse. When I was just a kid Marty and his buddies from St. Thomas Junior High School in Southington formed their own Tull fan club you could say. I would see "Jethro Tull" written on my brother's book covers, he wore Jethro Tull concert t-shirts and had all his Jethro Tull albums propped up on display in front of the record player ready to be played at any time. The sound of the needle dropping on vinyl followed by the elegant piano opening of "Locomotive Breath" or the crunching guitar riff of "Aqualung" is permanently etched into my memory. On many weekends Marty would throw a party at our house on Berkley Ave. He and his buddies would watch a Bruins game while cranking out Tull albums on the stereo. When a classic Ian Anderson flute solo kicked in Mart would usually go into his classic Ian impression. That's where he pretended to play a flute on one leg much like the great Ian Anderson would do in concert. I swear he was as into it as if it were Ian himself! It always led to a round of laughs and cheers from the guys. Of course, as with most kids who first heard of Jethro Tull, I thought the guy with the flute was a guy named Jethro. Eventually, as I grew into my teen years, I not only got that his name wasn't Jethro but I also realized he was an amazing musician who created a slew of amazing songs. And so that leads me to this list. P.S. I wrote this list while I was….SIT-TING ON A PARK BENCH!!! 10 "A New Day Yesterday" (1969) This is Jethro Tull at their British Bluesy best. From 1969's 'Stand Up' album it is the first to feature Ian Anderson's long-time lead guitarist Martin Barre. The two had just begun their magical musical journey together and what a stellar way to begin. 9 "Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll, Too Young To Die" (1976) Approaching the age of 30, Ian Anderson was already thinking about his future in the here today/gone tomorrow music business. He wrote this concept song about a character named Ray Lomas who was too old to rock 'n' roll but too young to die. 8 "Living In The Past" (1969) Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull have always taken pride in being different. Forget writing predictable music for the masses, choose the path least traveled. "Living In The Past" is a great example of that mindset. Written in an unusual 5/4 time signature, the song defied the odds and climbed all the way to #11 on the US charts in the spring of '69. 7 "Skating Away (On The Thin Ice Of A New Day)" (1974) Some amazing acoustic guitar work on this track but the goose-bump time comes at the point you hear the "rabbit on the run" lyric. That's when the driving bass line kicks in and the song takes off. 6 "Teacher" (1972) Ian Anderson has admitted to writing this song with the sole purpose of creating a hit single. A very "un-Tull" like thing to do but, hey, if you're gonna write a pop song and it ends up sounding like this you can write all the pop songs you want Ian! 5 "Hymn 43" (1971) The Jethro Tull album 'Aqualung' dominates the upper half of this top 10 list and for good reason. It is an undeniable classic. This is one of Tull's most aggressive songs in their catalogue thanks to Ian Anderson's gritty vocals and Martin Barre's angst-filled guitar riffs. 4 "Thick As A Brick" (1972) Ian Anderson calls 1972's 'Thick As A Brick' the "mother of all concept albums". The album is made up entirely of one song clocking in at 43:46. There is, however, this three-minute radio single version which is one of Jethro Tull's sweetest-sounding moments. 3 "Cross-Eyed Mary" (1971) The next track on this list from the 'Aqualung' album includes my favorite Jethro Tull song-opener. About a school-girl prostitute, Anderson and his band lead in with a dark and devious arrangement followed by a killer Martin Barre riff. 2 "Locomotive Breath" (1971) "Locomotive Breath" is a progressive rock classic. The classical piano opening, the menacing guitar riff and a flute solo by Ian Anderson that defies human logic. How can a flute possibly be considered rock and roll? Just listen to this song and you'll hear how. 1 "Aqualung" (1971) This is the defining song of Ian Anderson's career. From the soft, contemplative moments of "Aqualung my friend don't you start away uneasy" to the aggressive muscle of "Sit-ting on a park bench!" Ian is masterful. Add the amazing musicianship of the classic Jethro Tull lineup and you have a masterpiece. There are those few classic rock songs that have become as iconic as the band themselves. The Eagles have "Hotel California", Led Zeppelin has "Stairway To Heaven", Lynyrd Skynyrd has "Freebird" and Jethro Tull has "Aqualung".
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 16, 2021 6:27:40 GMT
www.rockcellarmagazine.com/cheap-trick-interview-tom-petersson-another-world/Cheap Trick’s Tom Petersson on ‘Another World,’ the Band’s Incredible Work Ethic and BeyondKEN SHARP ON JUNE 14, 2021 Cheap Trick is one of the hardest working bands in rock and roll. Almost 50 years since they formed in Rockford, Illinois, Cheap Trick achieved everything the hard way. -------------- We went to the marquee club every night to see bands. The first band we saw at The Marquee was Jethro Tull. I think their first album had just come out. We’d never heard it before. We thought these guys were hilarious with that album cover where looked like they were 200 years old. You know, it was so funny to us. You had all these bands trying to look as cool as possible and here was this band that looked like as terrible as possible. (laughs)
But we felt these guys had got the right idea, it seemed funny to us. They were hopefully humorous. We also saw the group Family and these other bands. They were just friggin’ great. But when we first started people always said to me, “Is this what you wanted to do since you were a kid?” Well, no, because it was just a hobby and something that was fun. We weren’t thinking of ourselves on the level with the Rolling Stones or the Beatles or Hendrix or whatever. No, we did not.
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Post by rredmond on Jun 16, 2021 13:28:08 GMT
The photo looks like he's playing air flute!!!
Sorry, sorry, I'll show myself out...
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 18, 2021 6:21:56 GMT
www.dunstabletoday.co.uk/Rock stars' party house in Dunstable goes up for saleA luxury five-bedroom house in Dunstable which has hosted the likes of Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, Paul Young and Jethro Tull has gone on the market for £675,000. By Stewart Carr Thursday, 17th June 2021, 6:29 pm The house in Great Northern Road has hosted the likes of Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, Paul Young and Jethro TullDozen of other big name musicians have also treaded its fine oak floors and performed in its recording studio. So is this much-loved family home in Great Northern Road (see pictures here) the most rock and roll house in Dunstable? For its owners – record producer Charley Foskett and his wife, singer-songwriter Lauren Field – it’s a question worth pondering. link
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 20, 2021 6:34:32 GMT
www.telegraphindia.com/Once in a lifetimeOn the eve of World Music Day, The Telegraph time travels to 1971 — the year that saw the birth of a soundtrack of not just a generation but a musical call to fight for anything worth standing up for, even 50 years later Elton John performs on the Muppet Show at Elstree Studios. Picture: David DagleyMathures Paul, Published 20.06.21, 01:40 AM Is there a secret to a good marriage? No idea. Does anyone know? It’s a happy accident... like the I-do moment between music and 1971. Frank Sinatra was moving into a semi-retirement mode and Elvis Presley’s comeback phase was slipping into ‘fried peanut butter and banana sandwich’ existence while the world was waking up to music of gladiatorial proportions. What’s Going On from Marvin Gaye, Blue from Joni Mitchell, Hunky Dory from David Bowie, Tapestry from Carole King, Teaser and the Firecat from Cat Stevens, L.A. Woman from The Doors, Just as I Am from Bill Withers, Aqualung from Jethro Tull, Every Picture Tells A Story from Rod Stewart and, of course, Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV). This wasn’t the era of pressed trousers and tea gowns; this was the time to experience a hailstorm of rock. Fifty years later — when we are bang in the middle of an era when DJs are pressing buttons to see people respond — nothing is more relevant than 1971. Call me a grey-haired dinosaur with gut hanging out but I still like to revel in music that’s not uptight, songs that are liberating, poetry that’s set to music and musicians who believe that the world is big enough for everyone — a place where women could influence government and change domestic policies, a world where colour of the skin shouldn’t determine one’s fate and an age when new technology was not frowned upon. Not that 1973 or 1975 was less perfect but 1971 was the year of transition, a time when singles gave way to albums that define classic rock. There’s nothing new there, for the David Hepworth book 1971 — Never a Dull Moment: Rock’s Golden Year (2016) has already said it all. It’s just that we are 50 years into the landmark year when award-winning director Asif Kapadia is seeking (and finding) answers with his Apple TV+ docuseries 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything. And oh boy, we are still caught in the dilemma John Lennon expressed in his 1971 song — How? from the album Imagine: How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing?/ How can I go forward when I don’t know which way to turn?/ How can I go forward into something I’m not sure of? Soundtrack of friendship and empowerment TV broadcasting companies were fine-tuning ways to keep people locked up inside houses, watching what’s considered the first “reality” series, An American Family, with cameras following Bill and Pat Loud and their good-looking family to the point when their marriage was being pushed to breaking point. Not everyone was hypnotised, not the youth. Young women had heroes to look up to — Carole King and Joni Mitchell. King’s Tapestry remains the soundtrack of friendship and empowerment. It came at a time when women were supposed to move from their father’s house to that of their husband’s by the time they were around 20 years old. Yes, the birth control pill was already approved but its use among unmarried women was unthinkable. In a brilliant essay, Elizabeth Keenan had pointed out that King’s life reflected this reality. She met Gerry Goffin at Queens College and they soon married, becoming pregnant when she was 17. The two became in-demand songwriters, giving hits to artistes like Aretha Franklin, The Drifters and The Chiffons but their marriage was also falling apart. Her life and music merged on Tapestry, piercing through a male-dominated music industry. Clean, crisp vocals accompanied by the piano helped surface a deeper sense of truth, offering a close look at the private experiences of women. It was a moment when women finally found praise for writing music that reflected their lives. Tapestry is not just a soundtrack of a generation but a celebration of love, resilience and messages that could be passed from mothers to daughters. Even in 2021, we can’t help but sing along (at least in our heads) with King: Winter, spring summer or fall,/ All you’ve got to do is call/ And I’ll be right there/ Ain’t it good to know, you’ve got a friend. Or share her frustration when she sings: So faraway/ Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore/ It would be so fine to see your face at my door/ Doesn’t help to know you’re just time away. And she sings it like she feels it, minus exaggeration in the heartbreaking It’s Too Late: But it’s too late, baby, now it’s too late/ Though we really did try to make it (we can’t make it)/ Somethin’ inside has died/ And I can’t hide and I just can’t fake it. Women still long for a world where they can pour into the mould seen on the cover of Tapestry — enjoying a make-up-free life, at ease curled up near the window without having to worry about the judgemental world outside. Also unwrapping a sense of intimacy is Joni Mitchell. Instead of excavating her discography for nuggets of her personal life, look at the way her music connects with the audience. On the 1971 album Blue, she becomes a friend and a teacher, a fellow sufferer and a painter with words. Each time River is played, it’s okay if misty eyes greet you: It’s coming on Christmas/ They’re cutting down trees/ They’re putting up reindeer/ And singing songs of joy and peace/ Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on. She had described her emotional state while working on Blue to be “like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes”. Decades later, British singer-songwriter Sam Smith while covering River confessed: “Joni Mitchell is one of the reasons why I write music.” The 28 years of her life leading up to Blue, saw her survive polio, put her baby up for adoption and witnessed one of her greatest compositions — Both Sides Now — turning out to be a hit for someone else. It was also the time two forces in the music industry were shaping up —Elton John and David Bowie. The nothing-is-impossible message of the two Englishmen was defining popular culture across the pond, in the US. After leaving England in August 1970, events unfolded quickly for John — his self-titled second album arrived containing Your Song, America fell in love with him, so did the likes of Leon Russell, Bob Dylan and The Band, he lost his virginity to a man (John Reid, who later became his manager) and then in 1971 arrived the song Tiny Dancer on the album Madman Across the Water. The song captured the free-spiritedness of California in the early ’70s, of Los Angeles which, many believe, took over as the music capital from New York. The song captures a defining moment in pop culture, something that’s well documented in Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous. Also flying in from Britain was David Bowie in January 1971. “It really was a pudding. It was a pudding of new ideas. And we were terribly excited, and I think we took it on our shoulders that we were creating the 21st century in 1971. That was the idea,” said Bowie in a 2002 interview with NPR. His first US visit was spent promoting the album The Man Who Sold The World and finding inspiration for his 1971 masterpiece, Hunky Dory. Identity-morphing Bowie hit the streets in America in a flowing velvet frock. “It’s a pretty dress,” the singer thought. But some people had an extreme reaction to offer: “Kiss my ass!” yelled a pedestrian while pulling a gun from his belt and waving at the man in a dress. It was while travelling by bus from Washington D.C. to California, he penned some of the songs in the 1971 album — Andy Warhol, Song for Bob Dylan and the Lou Reed-inspired Queen Bitch. Later, he came up with the anthemic Changes, which was a way of saying, “Look, I’m going to be so fast, you’re not going to keep up with me”, and the song Life on Mars?. Of course, it paved the way for one of the greatest albums ever, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Three other Brit voices were also being heard. John Lennon — already a star in America because of his Beatles tag — was at the start of his long fight to sought permission to remain in the country as a permanent resident. The second was Marc Bolan, the mastermind of the English rock group T. Rex. Like Bowie, he portrayed an androgynous look that continues to influence people like Lenny Kravitz and Kate Moss. In 1971, his group gave the world Electric Warrior, a flamboyant album. “I am my own fantasy. I am the ‘Cosmic Dancer’ who dances his way out of the womb and into the tomb on Electric Warrior,” the singer had told Record Mirror. And there’s Rod Stewart with his Every Picture Tells a Story, an album that rocks as hard as any from the era and is unabashedly personal, more so on the track, Maggie May. “I met an older woman who was something of a sexual predator. One thing led to the next, and we ended up nearby on a secluded patch of lawn. I was a virgin, and all I could think is, ‘This is it, Rod Stewart, you’d better put on a good performance here or else your reputation will be ruined all over North London.’ But it was all over in a few seconds,” he described the encounter in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. A few years later, he made the US his home for some decades. Though a number of musicians moved to the US in the 1970s, Europe was witnessing pockets of youth revolution, fuelling a new era of music. Berlin was becoming the unlikely address for artistes and musicians from around the world. After decades of repression and scars of Nazism, the underground scene was suddenly thriving, at least in West Germany and the industrial new generation was discovering new sounds. Kraftwerk (“electric power plant” in German) was at the forefront, abandoning traditional rock instrumentation for what still was experimental synthesiser/electronic technology. In Britain, Pete Townshend was ensuring that the history of music remained inseparable from the history of technology. The synth-driven intro of The Who’s Baba O’Riley heralded a new chapter in music. Meanwhile, the young in England were on a new journey when the Oz magazine trial brought musicians like John Lennon and Yoko Ono to the streets. The British edition of the magazine started in 1967, a darling of the underground press. By August 1971, it became the target of the longest obscenity trial in British history. At the heart of was the ‘School Kids’ issue of the publication. Three of its editors — Richard Neville, Jim Anderson and Felix Dennis — were charged (and arrested) for conspiring to corrupt the morals of the young. Ultimately released, but they gave birth to the dark Yoko-Lennon song Do The Oz. At the same time, youngsters were tuning into another revolutionary musician while “Keep Britain White” graffiti was being painted — Bob Marley. It was music that educated the people to not remain silent. Hidden inside 1971’s Soul Revolution is Sun Is Shining, which is said to have come to Marley after listening to Eleanor Rigby. Also from the same album comes Fussing and Fighting. But the other 1971 track we can’t forget is the scorching Trenchtown Rock (non-album single). The revolution was also continuing in the United States where people between gulps of Coca-Cola were made to think of a world that was fractious in the 1971 advertisement featuring the New Seekers turning in a bubbly version of I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony). On the one hand were Ike and Tina Turner, turning in outstanding interpretations of Proud Mary and I Want To Take You Higher while on the other were the Staple Singers, which evolved from a gospel group into a pop-protest group. The Turners wanted to see the influence Black American music was having on newly independent nations like Ghana, a country the duo travelled to in 1971 with Wilson Pickett, Roberta Flack, Voices of East Harlem, the Staple Singers, Les McCann and Eddie Harris. The trip increased Tina’s confidence in herself and her music… enough confidence to walk out on Ike in 1975 after years of physical abuse at his hands. While James Brown was living a rags-to-riches story, inspiring a new generation of musicians and taking his presence beyond the US with songs like Hot Pants and Make It Funky, Marvin Gaye was making a political statement with What’s Going On. The message in the track is timeless: Picket lines and picket signs/ Don’t punish me with brutality/ Talk to me/ So you can see. And there was Bill Withers, who never wanted a few trumpets and three girls as backup singers. He was a working man when music came his way. Had he been forced to bow to pressures of music labels, Withers was more than happy to go back to his job of making toilets for 747s. What he has left behind is a treasure trove of music that spells timelessness, like Ain’t No Sunshine. Though record label executives stereotyped him and even suggested covering Elvis Presley’s In The Ghetto, Withers decided to walk on with his gritty lyrics. Keeping them company was Isaac Hayes — Stax Records’ most prominent voice — who wrote Theme from Shaft, which ultimately won the best original song Oscar the following year, making him the first African-American composer to win the award. In 1972, Curtis Mayfield pushed the boundaries with the soundtrack of Super Fly. No, 1971 is not the be-all and end-all of the best in rock but it certainly evoked a cross-cultural Venn diagram. My father is 70 and is only snob about afternoon siestas. As a 20-year-old he was incapable of restraining himself from applauding the timelessness of the music he was listening to then. Fifty years later, he continues to find that music relevant and subversive, hoping it gets passed down generations. Instead of making it a scholarly exercise like wine-drinking, 1971 remains the box Joni Mitchell spoke about in A Case of You: Oh, I am a lonely painter/ I live in a box of paints/ I’m frightened by the devil/ And I’m drawn to those ones that ain’t afraid. Dive in, for 1971 will always remain a refuge and a reward for those who care to fight for anything that matters. Music to stream Elton John: Madman Across The Water Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells A Story Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin IV Carole King: Tapestry Joni Mitchell: Blue David Bowie: Hunky Dory Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On John Lennon: Imagine Bill Withers: Just as I Am Jethro Tull: Aqualung Fleetwood Mac: Future Games Cat Stevens: Teaser and the Firecat T. Rex: Electric Warrior The Doors: L.A. Woman link
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jun 22, 2021 21:17:43 GMT
www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/2019/09/more-witchcraft-pagan-trivia/More Witchcraft & Pagan TriviaSEPTEMBER 27, 2019 BY JASON MANKEY Here they are, fifty more questions to test your knowledge of Paganisms past and present! The answers are at the bottom, and any mistakes are my own, please let me know (nicely) in the comments if you find one. The following questions range from super-easy to extremely difficult. Some of them contain some silly possible answers, while others are designed to confuse. Whatever you do with them, I hope you enjoy. (And please feel free to use these for whatever you wish, no credit is required.) . . . ~ ~ @ ~ ~ . . . 18. The songs from 1973’s occult masterpiece The Wicker Man are credited to what band? A. Magnet B. Jethro Tull C. Summerisle D. Uncle Howie & The Deadbeats Wicker Man (1973) was an incredibly suspenseful and downright frightening film. The music was terrific and 90% of the story was very interesting, the other 10% was the horror aspect of it. But, it was their way of life I fell in love with. I remember when I watched this movie, having found myself fantasizing about living on an island and being amongst a 1000 villagers who practiced the old ways and forever leaving my farm under the freeway. I imagine I would get laughed at by the missus if I told her we were moving to some island and worshipping the god Lugh and the goddess Cailleach Bheur, but it's a romantic thought.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 23, 2021 6:12:00 GMT
www.cowichanvalleycitizen.com/opinion/robert-barron-column-looking-forward-to-39-days-of-summer/Robert Barron column: Looking forward to 39 Days of Summer I have always been a big fan of live music. When I was young(er), music was a major part of my life and I would pay big money and travel long distances to wherever any one of my favourite bands would be playing. When I was living in Toronto while I was in my 20s, a friend of mine and I took a bus to Kitchener, which was about 100 kilometres away, to check out a Jethro Tull concert. We were so excited to see the English band (I had all their records) that we didn’t even consider how we were going to get back to Toronto after the concert, or arrange for somewhere to stay in Kitchener for the night. But we didn’t care. We had bought two tickets just three rows back from the stage and, after lead singer Ian Anderson had finished his last song for the evening, we spent the night wandering around Kitchener talking about what a great show it was until 6 a.m. when the first bus of the day headed back to Toronto. We were committed (or committable) fans and loved the adventure of it all.
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jun 23, 2021 13:59:24 GMT
10 Rock Stars Who Didn’t Play Woodstock – And Whyby Nick DeRiso ultimateclassicrock.com/woodstock-who-didnt-play/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=referralWoodstock was a legend-making moment for a number of the participants, including Santana and Crosby Stills and Nash — both of whom could look back to the 1969 festival as a launching pad for the legendary careers that followed. Still, for all of its famous participants, the number of people who didn’t perform — and the reasons they chose to skip this epic event — has come to hold just as much intrigue. Here are 10 of the more memorable stars who didn’t play Woodstock, and why … 1. Jethro Tull Reason: Fear of Naked Ladies "I asked our manager Terry Ellis, 'Well, who else is going to be there?' And he listed a large number of groups who were reputedly going to play, and that it was going to be a hippie festival," Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson once told SongFacts, "and I said, 'Will there be lots of naked ladies? And will there be taking drugs and drinking lots of beer, and fooling around in the mud?' Because rain was forecast. And he said, 'Oh, yeah.' So I said, 'Right. I don't want to go.' Because I don't like hippies, and I'm usually rather put off by naked ladies unless the time is right." You just have to respect a man who was part of the culture of the late 60's, yet stayed true to himself and made statements that were counter to the culture. Many hippies bought Tull's first couple albums, yet Ian goes right on the record stating that he doesn't like hippies. LOVE HIM! I never met a major rock star, but if there was one I would like to just stand face-to-face with, it'd be him.
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Post by Budding Stately Hero on Jun 23, 2021 14:15:22 GMT
Wise words, Jim...For me it wasn't easy being a Deadhead whose favorite group was hippie hating Tull. Ian's superficial dismissal of the whole hippie ethos is a soundbite, not a full formed philosophy.....His path....no drugs. many traditional values...is admirable and sincere but does not diminish my gratitude for my hippie path, cosmic explorations with chemical help and more comprehensive rejection of my parent's world. I'm just glad Ian's way and my way have merged, here in the twenty-teens: Happy, healthy, beating the odds and trying to do our best work ! In N.E. Philadelphia in the early 70's and throughout the 70's (up to just about the time Go To Heaven was released), the Dead were a constant on our turntables, tape decks, and on WMMR. Trading boots and sitting around talking about the band between neighbors that ranged from 8 to 25 years of age. Yet, most of us were clean cut and some had hair down past his shoulders. The great thing about being the fan of several rock bands was that you didn't need to take on the particular image of the band....but some did (yes, I knew a neighbor who dressed up as a nun to see them at the Spectrum). I just respect Ian for being firm about how he feels. Had I have known, when I was a kid, Ian's feelings for hippies, I would have shown that quote to my Father (who, being from WWII, was very annoyed at hippies). Because my brother and I could not get him to see any positive qualities to JT's music, though we certainly tried. Though, he never told us what to listen to and what not to listen to. He simply asked us to "for the last time, turn it down!".
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Post by Equus on Jun 23, 2021 15:57:22 GMT
10 Rock Stars Who Didn’t Play Woodstock – And Whyby Nick DeRiso ultimateclassicrock.com/woodstock-who-didnt-play/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=referralWoodstock was a legend-making moment for a number of the participants, including Santana and Crosby Stills and Nash — both of whom could look back to the 1969 festival as a launching pad for the legendary careers that followed. Still, for all of its famous participants, the number of people who didn’t perform — and the reasons they chose to skip this epic event — has come to hold just as much intrigue. Here are 10 of the more memorable stars who didn’t play Woodstock, and why … 1. Jethro Tull Reason: Fear of Naked Ladies "I asked our manager Terry Ellis, 'Well, who else is going to be there?' And he listed a large number of groups who were reputedly going to play, and that it was going to be a hippie festival," Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson once told SongFacts, "and I said, 'Will there be lots of naked ladies? And will there be taking drugs and drinking lots of beer, and fooling around in the mud?' Because rain was forecast. And he said, 'Oh, yeah.' So I said, 'Right. I don't want to go.' Because I don't like hippies, and I'm usually rather put off by naked ladies unless the time is right." You just have to respect a man who was part of the culture of the late 60's, yet stayed true to himself and made statements that were counter to the culture. Many hippies bought Tull's first couple albums, yet Ian goes right on the record stating that he doesn't like hippies. LOVE HIM! I never met a major rock star, but if there was one I would like to just stand face-to-face with, it'd be him. Strange... Ian used his flute like a if he was showing of his cock... but naked ladies... Help! Very funny... Is this a schizophrenic condition?
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 25, 2021 6:11:32 GMT
ultimateclassicrock.com/progressive-rock-albums/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=UCR"We were only talking the other day about the possibility of rock music — in the next 10 years — really developing into a higher art form," Jon Anderson told Sounds in 1971, the year Yes released two prog-rock classics, The Yes Album and Fragile. "Rock musicians will make music that will last a hell of a lot longer in the future." He was right on two levels. As bands like Yes, Genesis and King Crimson flourished in the late '60s and early '70s, adding classical structure and jazz chops to their amplified rock, their compositions began to swell in the literal sense: Epic pieces like "Supper's Ready" and "Close to the Edge" were long enough to warrant bathroom breaks. But that period remains the genre's golden age for a reason: Before go-to prog moves bred tropes, before imitators ran amok and watered everything down, these artists experimented without a rule book. That messiness and wildness makes prog a tricky genre to pin down. Symphonic prog, heavy prog, prog-pop, avant-prog, the Canterbury Scene, RIO, Zeuhl, progressive electronic, folk-prog, jazz-fusion— at a certain point, it's almost easier to say what doesn't qualify. And even as the genre's more traditional sounds have fallen out of fashion, others have emerged from the indie and metal worlds, giving the mutating movement new life. All of this to say: In some ways, it's easy to pick the Top 50 Progressive Rock Albums. Many of the entries toward the top of our list are unimpeachable. But also: It's almost impossible. There's so much, in such varied styles, that you automatically exclude hundreds of essential titles by imposing an arbitrary numerical limit. Even if you disagree with some of these choices — and let's face it, you're gonna — we hope you'll approach our list as a platform for discovery. And isn't "discovery" the point of prog anyway?
39. Jethro Tull - 'Songs From the Wood' (1977) The first of a fan-described "folk-rock trilogy," Jethro Tull's 10th LP was partly influenced by songwriter Ian Anderson embracing country life. "Certainly Songs From the Wood will have been to some degree inspired by my moving into a more rural environment," he wrote in the 2017 box-set liner notes, "and having some leisure time to walk amongst the woods and valleys of Buckinghamshire." Anderson revamped their music, integrating key sounds from mandolin, Martin Barre's lute and Dee Palmer's portative pipe organ. But Songs From the Wood is still prog — standouts like "Cup of Wonder" and "Hunting Girl" are fueled by the complex rhythms of bassist John Glascock and drummer Barrie Barlow.
33. Carmen - 'Fandangos in Space' (1973) From the Canterbury Scene to Zeuhl, the subgenre has been subdivided into hundreds of variants. But there's a reason very few people tried out flamenco prog — what band was audacious and inventive enough to pull off that wild combo? Carmen, for one. Led by singer and guitarist David Allen (and working with David Bowie producer Tony Visconti), the band fused zapateado footwork, Spanish passages and castanets into their swirl of spacey mellotrons, glammy vocal theatrics and pounding low-end. (Bassist John Glascock, who later joined Jethro Tull before his death in 1979, could be the album's MVP.) Fandangos in Space is still a prog obscurity, though it's earned a few famous fans. "It's amazing," Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt told Metal Hammer in 2012. "Everyone I've played it to has been blown away by it."
5. Jethro Tull - 'Thick as a Brick' (1972) Jethro Tull's fifth LP is widely remembered for its intentionally ludicrous lyrics, drawing on the surreal epic poem of a fictional young boy, Gerald Bostock (officially credited on the elaborate sleeve). Bandleader Ian Anderson recalled in 1997 that his concept-album spoof, released at the height of prog mania, was deliberately "complex, confusing and, above all, tongue-in-cheek" — similar to the frenzied humor of giants like Monty Python. The music also had its moments of comic absurdity: endless rave-ups and masturbatory solos clearly winking at the audience. But the title composition — split into two sprawling epics — is also sturdier and more exciting than almost anything in the prog canon, from its flute-adorned opening theme to the triumphant Hammond organ crunch deep into Side Two.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 25, 2021 6:17:45 GMT
wnbf.com/5-best-acts-left-out-of-the-rock-hall-of-fame-again-gallery/This past Wednesday another group of rock royalty was listed for this falls induction ceremony into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, although many feel there were more worthy acts that have waited far too long for their legacy to be recognized. The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame will induct The Go-Go’s, Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Carole King, Todd Rundgren and Tina Turner into the class of 2021. In addition, special honors will be given to Billy Preston, Randy Rhodes, LL Cool J, Kraftwerk, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton. I’m not sure when Rap became Rock, but the hall started inducting rap artists some years ago, and even though it doesn’t make sense, it’s a battle you can’t win. I am a lifelong music lover and I have been a radio personality for over 30 years, I grew up listening to the Beatles, Elvis, and my formative years in the 1970’s, so I can be a little bias when it comes to the some of the lame selections the Rock Hall has picked over the years. Here are my five top picks for induction, see if you agree with any of these.
Jethro Tull The vocals and lyrics of Ian Anderson, delivered with a sort of rock renaissance, one of the few progressive rock bands to incorporate the flute as a main instrument, I saw this band live, and they were one of the best sounding live acts I have ever had the pleasure to see in concert. Aqualung my friend, the Rock and Roll Committee are morons
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 25, 2021 6:24:54 GMT
www.loudersound.com/features/doctor-who-editor-andrew-cartmel-lets-us-rummage-through-his-record-collectionDoctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel lets us rummage through his record collectionBy Jo Kendall (Prog) 18 days ago The Vinyl Detective Andrew Cartmel takes us through his favourite Pink Floyd, ELP, Jethro Tull, Zappa and Kate Bush records (Image credit: Kevin Nixon)I was born in London, then I was raised in Canada. I absorbed music mostly from my older brother and sister, and from whatever was on the telly and radio. Jazz was the first thing I listened to because the first piece of music where I took an interest in the composer was after hearing the theme to Mission Impossible, by Lalo Schifrin. The next piece of music was the soundtrack to the original Casino Royale by Burt Bacharach. His stuff is easy to like, so it sounds like simple pop music, but it’s very rich. It’s music with real integrity and depth. Through my siblings I got into Jethro Tull. What’s wonderful about Aqualung is to be able to put it on all these decades later and still get the same emotional hit from it. Two things stood out with Tull and one was crazy cover art. Next, it was the sound of Ian Anderson’s flute. I now know that it echoes the sound of, say, Roland Kirk, but at the time it was amazing and something quite unique to me. It was so beautifully used. Aqualung is also really strong lyrically and musically – it’s challenging, constantly changing and uses all sorts of wonderful sonic tricks.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jul 4, 2021 6:02:42 GMT
wimwords.com/2018/06/11/living-in-the-past-vs-the-beauty-of-live-music/Jethro Tull In A Thunderstorm BY JAMES STAFFORD ON JUNE 11, 2018 “Why would you pay good money to see Jethro Tull?” That’s the first question people asked me when I told them I had tickets for the band’s 50th anniversary tour. Their second: “Isn’t that Jethro guy dead?” Well, technically yes. Jethro Tull died in 1741, but the band that claims him as a namesake is still alive and kicking, sort of. We’ll get to that in a bit. “Why” is a fair question, I guess. Popular musical has always been cyclical, after all, and Jethro Tull’s time on the charts ended decades ago. Asking my kid if he wants to go with me to see Tull is a bit like my father excitedly inviting me to join him for the big Ink Spots show down at the Moose Lodge. Getting psyched about a Jethro Tull gig is synonymous with living in the past, and if you’re a Tull fan you’ll get why that comparison was so damned clever. While living in the past might be problematic, visiting there now and then is pleasant enough. Jethro Tull is stitched pretty deeply into my personal soundtrack, which isn’t particularly unique for a guy my age. If you were a kid during the ’70s, you heard the band’s biggest hits often. They were FM wallpaper, mixed in with Kansas, Styx, Boston, Foreigner, and traffic and weather on the ones. I liked all that stuff (well, not the traffic and weather), but what made Jethro Tull unique was that Jethro Tull was unique. No other band in regular rotation on the FM dial sounded like them, not even the other mainstream prog bands like Yes and ELP. Regardless of whether you loved it or hated it, the band’s sound was all their own. My earliest memory of the band finds me riding my Stingray, transistor radio hanging from my ape hangers and “Bungle In the Jungle” blaring from its tiny speaker. I was certain that the song had something to do with George of the Jungle, so Jethro Tull found a spot among the bands I liked because they sang about kid stuff. That list included the Beatles (“Yellow Submarine,” “Octopus’s Garden”), the Royal Guardsmen (“Snoopy vs. the Red Baron”), and Elton John (“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”) Kid stuff was great, but my little radio was my portal into the big kid universe, too. It wasn’t a vending machine from which I could pick specific songs, but a faucet that ran as long as its weird, square battery lasted (or until I took it out to dare some kid to stick his tongue to it). What flowed out of that tiny speaker was what I listened to, including traffic and weather on the ones. It was just a matter of time before my image of the funny man who sang about George of the Jungle gave way to the dark menace of an old man wandering lonely, greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes. Aqualung, my friend. That song was a sonic nightmare for a young kid, the Pennywise (clown, not band) of its time. Old men weren’t creepy, they were nice–grandpas and Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Hooper. But “Aqualung” was a geriatric horror show on the FM dial, a nightmare tucked between “More Than A Feeling” and “Midnight At the Oasis.” Over time I grew familiar with all of the tracks that the deejays favored: “Bouree,” “My God,” “Thick As a Brick,” Cross Eyed Mary,” “Hymn 43,” “Locomotive Breath.” As soon as the opening chords wiggled the air I knew who the artist was, and it wasn’t just the flute. Ian Anderson’s phrasing was unlike any other singer’s, his blend of folk, blues, prog, and hard rock truly unique among the songwriters of his time. What’s remarkable is that after a half century the band remains without imitators. I can’t think of another 60 million selling band that I can say that about. The band ushered in the ’80s with A, essentially an Ian Anderson solo album released under the Jethro Tull banner. Footage from the accompanying tour found its way onto MTV. Ian Anderson’s bushy hair and bushier beard were anachronisms among the futuristic hair styles of Gary Numan, Duran Duran, and A Flock of Seagulls, his stagecraft too eccentric for the visual language of the music video era. What Adam Ant fan wants to watch an old hippie stand on one leg and play the flute? Like most of the FM stars of the ’60s and ’70s, Jethro Tull simply didn’t fit in the pastel and neon Nagel eighties. I didn’t give them any thought during those years, my time better spent with X, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. And then one summer afternoon while I was listening to the radio, a thunderstorm struck. This wasn’t exactly rare in upstate South Carolina where it rained every afternoon, but I was alone in a trailer filled with explosives parked on the kudzu-choked shoulder of a highway: Mr. T’s Fireworks -N- Peaches–maybe the most southern summer job I ever had. It was one of those storms that turns the sky green and makes the fine hairs on one’s arms stand at attention, the kind of storm that you can smell. I sat inside that metal box full of colorfully wrapped gunpowder and I watched the lightning rip apart the green sheets of sky, waiting to die as the cracks and booms crept closer and closer. “Aqualung” came on the radio, Pennywise crawling through the speaker grille to scare the wits out of me one more time. It fit the scene happening outside so well, the greatest video that Jethro Tull never made. When it was all over, I wrote “Jethro Tull in a thunderstorm” in my notebook, certain I would use that line as a title someday. They cropped up again a year later. I was managing a record store in Savannah, Georgia when Crest of a Knave was released. I loved that album from the first spin. Sure, it sounded like Jethro Tull doing a Dire Straits impersonation, but that was okay. If anything, it just felt like Anderson finally figured out how to remain relevant in the new decade, albeit a new decade that was nearly over. Apparently the Grammy committee though so, too, awarding the first ever trophy in the hard rock/heavy metal category to Crest of a Knave. Rather than an award, the prize proved to be an albatross. Jethro Tull, the old hippie flute band, heavy metal? Overnight the name Jethro Tull became a punchline, and it has remained so in some circles for 30 years. The prog haters turn their noses up at the band as just another herd of self indulgent, noodling dinosaurs that should have been done in by the punk meteor. Metalheads still think of them as the pretenders to Metallica’s Grammy throne. Casual listeners remember the band as the “Aqualung” guys, if they remember them at all. Why would you pay good money to see Jethro Tull? That leaves the fans, the stalwarts: the guys who have been turning out regularly to see the band in its many incarnations over the last 50 years, and the guys like me who have never seen Tull live but own their complete discography. That’s right: I own it all, and I listen to it, too–even the aforementioned A. As I write this, Heavy Horses is spinning on my turntable. I have my favorites, of course, but I know the band’s music well–so much so that I know where each breath falls in some songs. Jethro Tull’s music has been part of my personal soundtrack for over 40 years, but I have never seen them live. “Them” is a slippery word in Tull land. Van Halen fans might argue whether the band was still Van Halen when David Lee Roth left, but three of four original members were still there. KISS fans have never forgiven that four piece for replacing two members with guys who fit the costumes. But aside from front man Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull has never been a personality-driven band in that sense. Tull has consisted of 24-41 members over the years, depending on how you choose to count “members.” Of those roughly two to four dozen musicians, Ian Anderson is the last man standing. For some heritage acts that would be problematic, but Anderson has always been both the voice and the face of Jethro Tull. Without Anderson’s flute there’s no band; without his songs there’s no music. That’s not to say that all of the musicians who have spent time in the Tull camp over the years weren’t valuable members–with exception maybe to Tony Iommi they were–but “them” in the context of Jethro Tull means “Ian Anderson and 24-41 ghosts,” and that’s enough. When I saw that they were stopping in Sacramento on their 50th anniversary tour, I snatched up tickets literally the minute they went on sale, spending way too much money for a second row seat. If this was going to be the one and only time I saw Jethro Tull, I may as well do it right. And then I waited months for concert night, entertaining that same question anytime I dared voice my growing excitement to a friend: Why would you pay good money to see Jethro Tull? It ground on me. Maybe they were right. Maybe I had horrible taste in music. Maybe living in the past was a bad idea. Besides, I have my records. Why the hell should I hassle parking, crowds, and overpriced cocktails? Maybe I should just stay home and spin Songs From the Wood. I went anyway. The show was at the Sacramento Community Center Theater, a 2,400 seat venue. That’s a fraction of the capacity of the sheds the band played in its heyday, but that’s how these things go. There’s only one Stones that can sell out Wembley for five decades. Most artists of that vintage are grinding it out at state fairs or in clubs. Some find slots on festival bills, a lucky few are former Beatles. My point here is that 2,400 seats isn’t bad for a band that hasn’t cracked the top 100 in almost 30 years. Those 2,400 ticket holders were pretty much who you’d expect–lots of gray ponytails, quite a few bellies peeking from beneath tie dye t-shirts. In the long tradition of concert tees, many of those were purchased at previous Tull shows. This is how one establishes his super fan bona fides: The oldest shirt equals the biggest fan. I spotted an old timer in a ’91 tour tee while he stood in the merch line, waiting to drop 50 bucks on a fiftieth anniversary shirt. “Where will he wear it,” I wondered. Ian Anderson is 70 years old. Surely this 50th anniversary tour is a victory lap, a swan song, a valedictory address, the end of the road. They were probably going to have to wheel the old coot onto the stage and hook his flute to his oxygen mask. The chances of a 60th anniversary tour are slim. “We’re all just here to pay tribute,” I thought. There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. You get to a certain age and your pop culture heroes start falling away. We should all get out there and pay tribute while we can–say thank you to the folks who wrote and performed our lives’ soundtracks. Take a couple hours and applaud for the husk of the superhero whose radio voice once accompanied you on Stingray rides or kept you company while you waited to be blown up during a thunderstorm. That’s good enough. Jethro Tull hit the stage with “Love Story,” the band’s 1968 single, and with exception to a short intermission they didn’t stop for another 17 songs. Anderson was as lively as ever, running around and striking his iconic poses. It’s not just the music–the flute and the vocal phrasing–that makes Anderson so unique, but also his stagecraft. Nobody works a stage like he does. It’s a bit like watching some kind of impish character from an English fairy tale: Rumpelstiltskin, a bridge troll, a leprechaun. He conjures them all, and while it may have been out of place on MTV in 1981 it was right at home at the Sacramento Community Center Theater in 2018. Conjures. I think it was with “My God” about halfway through the set that I realized I’d never heard Jethro Tull before. I might be familiar with the Tull catalog, I might have my memories of when and where I first heard this or that composition, but I’d never heard “My God” happen. What I knew as songs were dead butterflies pinned to a board, postcards of the Grand Canyon, light from stars long extinguished. But there in that room on that night, Ian Anderson was conjuring those songs from nothing but air and effort. They drifted through the room in the blink of an ear and then they were gone forever, that moment never to be repeated again. I was watching butterflies dance on the Grand Canyon’s rim. That’s what music is all about, that moment of creation. Anything can happen: the singer’s voice might crack, the drummer might throw in a triplet, the guitarist may take off on a semi-spontaneous tangent. Who knows? But if you weren’t there, you missed it. Recordings are nothing more than facsimiles of a moment when music happened. Hearing my old nemesis Aqualung conjured into life in that room on that night was like feeling lightning raise the hairs on my arms. That’s why I paid good money to see Jethro Tull: to live in the past for a couple hours, to pay my respects, and for the first (and perhaps the only) time in my life to hear songs I only thought I’d heard before. That’s money well spent in my book.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jul 7, 2021 6:05:50 GMT
www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=70407'Raising A Hand' For Cortney: David Clements, Kevin Black and Their Mission of Faith, Friendship, Photos and a Cure For Rett SyndromeBy: Billy Adams | Published 07/05/2021 THE WOODLANDS, TX – “Raising A Hand” is a heartfelt benefit project that not only took three years to make but also included the labor of love in photographing over 200 local, regional and world-renowned artists. The dream of publishing a book focused on raising awareness for Rett syndrome paid off tremendously in 2015 for photographer, David Clements and country musician, Kevin Black. “Raising A Hand” was a bittersweet project because although more than half a million dollars has already been raised from the book and other efforts, the inspiration for pursuing a cure for Rett syndrome was born out of the death of Cortney, Kevin Black’s daughter. She died from Rett syndrome in 2003 at the age of 16. It was devastating to her family and friends, but what is even more impactful is the future blessings to people Cortney had never even met, those little girls and boys diagnosed with the disease that may benefit from the research and future cure her passing has made and will make possible. David and Kevin have spent years raising awareness and funding for research and are dedicated to finding a cure. David said this in an appeal for people to join them on their journey “The research community is making terrific progress towards finding drugs that make a positive difference in these girls’ lives. Will we make an equal difference?” -------------------------------------- What the artists are saying about the book “Hands are raised in anger. Hands are raised in supplication. Hands are raised in salutation. But best, hands are raised in accountability. As in, ‘Count me in.’ Joining the throngs who support – whatever it is. In this case, those with Rett Syndrome. Those whose lives were cut short at an early age. Those whose potential could never be realized. Think of them, their families and friends. Lend a hand. A hand offered, raised or otherwise…”- British singer/songwriter Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)
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