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Post by nonrabbit on Sept 14, 2014 19:42:26 GMT
Just realised, you posted after the Homo Erratticus release non-rabbit..... .......doh........ Cleverly done too....... I thank you
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Post by nonrabbit on Oct 18, 2014 17:55:43 GMT
What happened to Francis Wilson - the Weatherman I hear you say.
He went to Sky.
Wonder if it was his singing skills that enticed Ian
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Post by maddogfagin on May 22, 2015 15:47:06 GMT
blogcritics.org/Music Review: Jethro Tull – StormwatchPosted by: David Bowling May 6, 2010 blogcritics.org/music-review-jethro-tull-stormwatch/Stormwatch is the third and final release of what has been labeled as Jethro Tull’s folk/rock trilogy. It also brought to a close a very strong period in the history of the group. Change was in the air. While Stormwatch has similarities to Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses, the music had begun to travel in other directions. The sound was heavier and the lyrics were much darker as they explored a number of environmental themes. Today, given all the worry about Global Warming, I am amused by the concern for a new ice age. This would be the final album for Tull’s longest lasting and arguably best group of musicians. It would serve as the final hurrah for drummer Barriemore Barlow, keyboardist John Evan, arranger/keyboardist David Palmer, and bassist John Glascock. Only band leader Ian Anderson and guitarist Martin Barre would be around for the next album. Glascock would die of a heart condition and would only play on three of the ten tracks. Anderson would play the bass parts on the rest of the album. Stormwatch is a consistent album with no real highs or lows. It is a little weaker than its two predecessors, but still remains a solid if not spectacular listen. I have found the two longest tracks the most interesting. “Flying Dutchman,” at just under eight minutes, has a number of tempo changes as it ebbs and flows away. Anderson contributes some fine flute solos which give this song about boat people an elegance. “Dark Ages” clocks in at over nine minutes and while it may be a few minutes too long, it remains a powerful performance. “Orion” is one of the three songs which feature John Glascock on bass, and is the one I consider his farewell as his playing is excellent throughout. “Something’s On The Move” is a nice rocker which is driven by Martin Barre’s guitar. “Old Ghosts” is the fusion of an acoustic and electric sound which they were so good at creating. “Dun Ringill” is a wonderful little acoustic piece. The album was released during September of 1979 and would be the final release in one of the best catalogs of the decade. While it may not be their best album, it is still very good.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2015 13:39:06 GMT
This Day in Rock History: September 14Album Anniversaries: The Byrds, Untitled (1970) Supertramp, Crisis? What Crisis? (1975) Jethro Tull, Stormwatch (1979) Meat Loaf, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell (1993) Jethro Tull put out Stormwatch, the last release containing the original lineup. Original lineup? Hell, I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely. The original band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which one's Jethro? And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? We call it Riding the Gravy Tull.
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Post by rockodyssey on Aug 31, 2016 19:52:27 GMT
We're going back to the mezzanine floor of Tamworth Public Library. This was one of the first albums I took out and certainly the first Jethro Tull album. I was attracted by the two word, 3 syllable name I think, but I was not yet ready for Uriah Heep or Amon Duul (and indeed, I don't think I ever will be). They won me over first time I played it. It doesn't start promisingly though. I always found the opening line of North Sea Oil to be a bit clunky. "Black and viscous, bound to cure blue lethargy", but in the end that is part of its charm. Allegedly this is the third of the 'folk trilogy', but by now they are moving remorselessly into heavy rock. In fact you have to wonder that my old standby of rock cliché - Spinal Tap wasn't based almost entirely on the style of music on Stormwatch. 'Orion' and 'Dark Ages' in particular are very Tappish. But who cares? I love it all. 'Dark Ages' in particular is a magnificent mish-mash of doomy lyrics, and epic musical arrangements. I'm sure it's all very satirical, but Anderson makes it too good a musical experience to worry about what he's singing. 'Home' is a nice piece of introspection and 'Warm Sporran' is a rather oddly pleasing instrumental, somewhere between a Scottish march-time reel and a Gregorian chant. By the time we get to 'Something On The Move' we have a full on rock guitar riff perfectly knitting with the percussion of the drums and Anderson's flute. Probably my favourite track on the album, and possibly my favourite Tull song of all, is 'Dun Ringill'. When reminiscing about student days before Christmas I discovered a performance on You Tube at the Sunderland Empire in 1990, a performance I actually attended. The opening words are spoken by BBC Breakfast Time weatherman Francis Wilson, who used to diffidently tell us that there was 'haar' coming in off the North Sea. As far as I recall, haar is kind of mizzly, crappy fog that suits the North-East coast of England down to a T. I love the line "A concert of Kings, as the white sea snaps" Don't know why, just beautifully lyrical. There are hints of 'Locomotive Breath' in the opening to 'Flying Dutchman' but it never develops into the headlong frenzy of that song. The bonus tracks on Spotify includes 'Kelpie', which I could have sworn was on the original album, but Wikipedia says no. It was on the 20 Years Of.. collection, so maybe I know it from there. The artwork always made me think it was a 3-D picture and you needed a pair of cardboard specs to see it properly.
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 31, 2016 21:27:21 GMT
We're going back to the mezzanine floor of Tamworth Public Library. This was one of the first albums I took out and certainly the first Jethro Tull album. I was attracted by the two word, 3 syllable name I think, but I was not yet ready for Uriah Heep or Amon Duul (and indeed, I don't think I ever will be). They won me over first time I played it. It doesn't start promisingly though. I always found the opening line of North Sea Oil to be a bit clunky. "Black and viscous, bound to cure blue lethargy", but in the end that is part of its charm. Allegedly this is the third of the 'folk trilogy', but by now they are moving remorselessly into heavy rock. In fact you have to wonder that my old standby of rock cliché - Spinal Tap wasn't based almost entirely on the style of music on Stormwatch. 'Orion' and 'Dark Ages' in particular are very Tappish. But who cares? I love it all. 'Dark Ages' in particular is a magnificent mish-mash of doomy lyrics, and epic musical arrangements. I'm sure it's all very satirical, but Anderson makes it too good a musical experience to worry about what he's singing. 'Home' is a nice piece of introspection and 'Warm Sporran' is a rather oddly pleasing instrumental, somewhere between a Scottish march-time reel and a Gregorian chant. By the time we get to 'Something On The Move' we have a full on rock guitar riff perfectly knitting with the percussion of the drums and Anderson's flute. Probably my favourite track on the album, and possibly my favourite Tull song of all, is 'Dun Ringill'. When reminiscing about student days before Christmas I discovered a performance on You Tube at the Sunderland Empire in 1990, a performance I actually attended. The opening words are spoken by BBC Breakfast Time weatherman Francis Wilson, who used to diffidently tell us that there was 'haar' coming in off the North Sea. As far as I recall, haar is kind of mizzly, crappy fog that suits the North-East coast of England down to a T. I love the line "A concert of Kings, as the white sea snaps" Don't know why, just beautifully lyrical. There are hints of 'Locomotive Breath' in the opening to 'Flying Dutchman' but it never develops into the headlong frenzy of that song. The bonus tracks on Spotify includes 'Kelpie', which I could have sworn was on the original album, but Wikipedia says no. It was on the 20 Years Of.. collection, so maybe I know it from there. The artwork always made me think it was a 3-D picture and you needed a pair of cardboard specs to see it properly. I thought I was good at geography but now I know that Tamworth isn't somewhere in America - sorry. Great review ( as the others) on the album especially the link between Loco and Flying Dutchman. I was late to the Stormwatch party but I love a lot of the songs on it. Some of the images that the songs/lyrics show to me have stayed and always will. Dun Ringill - epic - love the idea of Ian being inspired by this iron age hill fort at the bottom of his garden. He mentioned the long, quite dark walk that he made with the dog to get to it and how it was one of the very few times if not the only time that he felt a presence with him ( other than the dog!) Flying Dutchman - I always thought of a NE Scotland/English fishing village but I only realised recently that " wee girl with a straw hat, from far east warring" that he's talking about is likely to be in the Pacific or Indian sea. These things are important The Haar is indeed a dreich, crappy fog that seeps into Edinburgh among other places on the east coast. I'm from the west - it's best!
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Post by JTull 007 on Sept 1, 2016 0:41:13 GMT
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Post by steelmonkey on Sept 1, 2016 17:33:08 GMT
I think Flying Dutchman is about Boat People...the unfortunate refugees generated at the end of the Viet Nam War....unwelcome in many ports....often at a cost of their lives...
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Post by rockodyssey on Sept 2, 2016 20:50:43 GMT
I thought I was good at geography but now I know that Tamworth isn't somewhere in America - sorry. Ha! No problem it's the biggest place in England that no-one has ever heard of. At the arse end of Staffordshire and populated by the Birmingham overspill. The record library was a wonderful thing. I think you weren't allowed up there until you were 14. Quite right too. The album choice wasn't extensive but whoever was responsible for getting them in had eclectic tastes. There was plenty of Tull, Budgie and Yellow Magic Orchestra. The vinyl albums came with a little chart attached showing you where all the scratches were located on the surface.
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Post by nonrabbit on Sept 3, 2016 15:09:55 GMT
There was plenty of Tull, Budgie and Yellow Magic Orchestra. The vinyl albums came with a little chart attached showing you where all the scratches were located on the surface. I remember all that
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2016 19:51:39 GMT
more talk of Tull, eh“Steven [Wilson] played me a late Jethro Tull record, Stormwatch, that I didn’t have,” Åkerfeldt tells us in a velvety, very Swedish accent, over beers just round the corner from Prog HQ. “He was like, ‘Have you heard this record? There’s a song you have to hear – it’s called Dun Ringill.’ It’s late-70s Jethro Tull. I generally have a limit around ’75, ’76, because production went downhill after that. But that record made me want to write a song with a capo, up high on the fretboard, because it brings a nice ‘ringy’ sound to the guitar.”
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argentull
Journeyman
Live Detective
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Post by argentull on Sept 27, 2016 19:55:12 GMT
more talk of Tull, eh“Steven [Wilson] played me a late Jethro Tull record, Stormwatch, that I didn’t have,” Åkerfeldt tells us in a velvety, very Swedish accent, over beers just round the corner from Prog HQ. “He was like, ‘Have you heard this record? There’s a song you have to hear – it’s called Dun Ringill.’ It’s late-70s Jethro Tull. I generally have a limit around ’75, ’76, because production went downhill after that. But that record made me want to write a song with a capo, up high on the fretboard, because it brings a nice ‘ringy’ sound to the guitar.” That is exactly why SW is going to remix up to Stormwatch, but most probably no further. Seems Dun Ringill is his favorite Tull track...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2016 19:59:30 GMT
more talk of Tull, eh“Steven [Wilson] played me a late Jethro Tull record, Stormwatch, that I didn’t have,” Åkerfeldt tells us in a velvety, very Swedish accent, over beers just round the corner from Prog HQ. “He was like, ‘Have you heard this record? There’s a song you have to hear – it’s called Dun Ringill.’ It’s late-70s Jethro Tull. I generally have a limit around ’75, ’76, because production went downhill after that. But that record made me want to write a song with a capo, up high on the fretboard, because it brings a nice ‘ringy’ sound to the guitar.” That is exactly why SW is going to remix up to Stormwatch, but most probably no further. Seems Dun Ringill is his favorite Tull track... True enough. Songs From the Wood, HH & Stormwatch in 5.1 (by Steven Wilson). I won't demand much more. Just whispering Broadsword.
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argentull
Journeyman
Live Detective
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Post by argentull on Dec 12, 2016 13:13:40 GMT
Is it really confirmed that JOhn Glascock played only on 3 tracks? The BBC Lively Arts documentary clearly shows the band recording Dark Ages in teh studio with JOhn present. the track was also played in the 1979 tour leg that Glascock played in so....
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Post by maddogfagin on Dec 12, 2016 15:59:52 GMT
Is it really confirmed that JOhn Glascock played only on 3 tracks? The BBC Lively Arts documentary clearly shows the band recording Dark Ages in teh studio with JOhn present. the track was also played in the 1979 tour leg that Glascock played in so.... This seems to be the "official line" as can be seen from the wikipedia entry although it appears he played on two of the bonus tracks of the remastered edition of the album: Stormwatch would be the last Tull album to feature the classic line-up of the 1970s. Bassist John Glascock, suffering at this point from the effects of a cardiac infection that eventually led to his death, is only featured on three tracks ("Flying Dutchman", "Orion", and "Elegy"). Ian Anderson played bass elsewhere on the album while Dave Pegg played on the subsequent tour.
and further down: Track listing[edit] All tracks written by Ian Anderson except where noted.
Side one No. Title Length 1. "North Sea Oil" 3:12 2. "Orion" 3:58 3. "Home" 2:46 4. "Dark Ages" 9:13 5. "Warm Sporran" (instrumental) 3:33 Side two No. Title Length 1. "Something's on the Move" 4:27 2. "Old Ghosts" 4:23 3. "Dun Ringill" 2:41 4. "Flying Dutchman" 7:46 5. "Elegy" (instrumental, David Palmer) 3:38 Bonus tracks[edit] [hide]The remastered CD added bonus tracks that were on the 20 Years of Jethro Tull boxed set and extensive liner notes: No. Title Length 1. "A Stitch in Time" 3:40 2. "Crossword" 3:38 3. "Kelpie" 3:37 4. "King Henry's Madrigal" (instrumental, King Henry VIII) 3:01 Personnel[edit] Jethro Tull Ian Anderson – vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, bass guitar (except tracks 2, 9, 10, bonus tracks 12, 13, 14) Martin Barre – electric guitar, mandolin, classical guitar Barriemore Barlow – drums, percussion John Evan – piano, organ David Palmer – synthesizers, portable organ and orchestral arrangements John Glascock – bass guitar on tracks 2, 9, 10, bonus tracks 12, 13 Additional personnel Francis Wilson – spoken voice on track 1 (the Shipping Forecast), and the spoken introduction to track 8. Dave Pegg – bass guitar on bonus track 14 Robin Black - Sound engineer David Jackson - Artwork Peter Wragg - Art Direction
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reiff
Prentice Jack
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Post by reiff on Dec 24, 2016 23:51:51 GMT
Guys (and in full apprehension of being non-PC, I suspect it is mostly guys who love this album), I agree with most of what you say, but there’s so much more to be said about this album—especially as it’s strangely low-profile in Tull and rock chronicles. Crank it on your big speakers (preferably from vinyl)—it is not trying to be low-profile; it’s “shaking the dead,” as the lyric says. This is a big band at the top of its powers, and on this album they create the best sound they (or pretty much any other band) ever made: the icy, naturalistic synthesizers; the reverberant string quartet; the powerful but tonal, almost melodic drumming; the searing guitar which presaged U2; and most irreplaceable, Anderson’s roaring, rasping vocals, with which he manages to simultaneously spoof and epitomize feral rock singing. How could this album be as close as it is to being forgotten?
It’s good from the very first notes: the descending minor-key three-note motif that opens ‘North Sea Oil’ has a plaintive tone which, enwrapped in the song’s busy clanking of industry, expresses the yearning inherent in an exploratory industry, and also the yearning for wealth, for a return to economic strength, or (for the working joes on the rigs) just a good-paying job, that the oil bonanza evoked. The five-beat makes a welcome return, Anderson and the band making it seamless and natural-sounding (which Rush, likable though they are, never could). The final flourish has Tull’s signature precision, power and panache, better than ever. Quite a good start.
Stormwatch is indeed the third of a (perhaps unplanned) trilogy, but it’s not a ‘folk’ trilogy; the thread that unites them is the theme of man and nature. Songs From The Wood starts from an atavistic point, with little modernity and indeed little taming of nature, hearkening to when forests pressed against hand-cleared fields; Heavy Horses dwells on nature tamed by artisanal means which themselves are threatened by mechanization; and Stormwatch describes the rape of nature—and nature’s inclination to return the favor (fast forward to ‘Wounded, Old and Treacherous’ from 1995’s Roots to Branches for an even starker statement on this)—and while we’re at it, man’s inhumanity to man. You can’t describe that with mandolins; so Tull’s unleashing of the full-bore rock sound is the consequence of the theme. Not commerciality.
This is not a perfect album (as Songs From The Wood is, and Heavy Horses comes close to), so let’s get the criticisms out of the way. ‘Home’ doesn’t quite cut it; the album did need a slower quieter song at that stage of the proceedings, but ‘Home’ is not inventive, its emotion feels slightly contrived, and its point is not clear. ‘Warm Sporran’ is charming, it’s consistent with the album’s musical landscape, and (like the whole album) brilliantly produced, but its triviality breaks the album’s tremendous dark momentum. If they had to have a light-hearted change of pace in that spot, the unreleased ‘Strip Cartoon’ would have been better. Better yet though not light-hearted would have been the also-unreleased and contemporaneous ‘Blues Instrumental,’ first heard years later on the ’20 Years Of’ collection: its slow, stalking bolero pace and crescendo, its ambiguity between light and shade, thought and feeling would have been a great conclusion to side 1. ‘Old Ghosts’ sounds intriguing at first but doesn’t develop. And ‘Elegy’ is too saccharine; if its formal composition had been matched by a playing with tight emotional reserve, it might have concluded the album on an appropriate note of emotional exhaustion. As it is, played with sententious sweetness, it just dissipates the album’s force. Well, we’ve heard the stories of how hard it was to cut this album, with a band member sick and Anderson being Anderson, so these shortcomings are understandable, and they don’t submerge the album’s high points and overall force. Now, let’s peruse those high points.
Has anyone noticed that the ascending, minor-key, three-note motif in ‘Something’s On The Move’ is the reverse of that in ‘North Sea Oil’? And that theme of Something’s on the Move—nature striking back at man—is the reverse of that of North Sea Oil—man pillaging nature? Quite a coincidence. I can forgive the fact that Something’s on the Move is so clearly the album’s designated hit-single release; it deserved to be a hit. Boiling over with energy and syncopation; how Barre lets his low-string tuning go a little sharp in the opening and recurring riff, suggesting something ominously disconnected and under its own control; an epitome of the album’s great sound and reverberating production, where the guitar grinds, the piano pounds, the flute shrieks, and the percussion lashes from high to low tones, yet it all somehow sounds elegant. And Anderson’s lyrics rise to the task of imagining nature’s onslaught against civilization: “Driving all before her, unstoppable unstraining, the cold creaking mass follows reindeer down... Thin spreading fingers seek to embrace the still-warm bundles...that huddle on the doorsteps of a white London town.” Does he imagine this perhaps a bit gleefully? Could it be that our beloved Ian has a misanthropic streak? We report, you decide.
Dun Ringill serves as title track as the lyrics work in the phrase ‘stormwatch.’ As we first heard on Songs From The Wood, Anderson is unsurpassed at depicting nature in music. The song’s unstable, undulating key represents the ceaselessly moving ocean (Dun Ringill is a ruined Celtic fort on a promontory overlooking the sea); the low finger-picked notes are the deeply rolling waves, the high notes are their wind-frothed caps. Anderson’s restless musical progressivism shows itself even in this minimalist all-acoustic song: he plays with electronic effects to give his vocal lines strange pre-echoes, which give you a disorienting sense of time itself sloshing back and forth. And the final dissonant chord on the twelve-string implies some wariness or dismay at nature’s indifference and potential cruelty.
And lastly, I’m going to go way out on a limb here and say that Dark Ages is the best-ever Tull song. (Can’t understand why more people don’t think so.) The opening swirl of naturalistic synthesizer sounds; the gradually-paced exposition with the strong, chilling, doomsday lyrics (“Darlings are you ready…for the long winter’s fall? said the lady in her parlour; said the butler in the hall. Is there time for another? cried the drunkard in his sleep. Not likely, said the little child—what’s done the Lord can keep. And the vicar stands a-praying…and the television dies…as the white dot flickers and is gone—and no one stops to cry”). And then… Tull became famous for unforewarned tempo changes with Aqualung. Here they take it to a new level. The heavy stutter-step to which the slow opening has built now suddenly breaks in an instant to a full gallop, like a race horse from its gate, like a long volley of machine-gun fire as Martin Barre hammers his low Gs. A touch of Philip Glass minimalism comes in: the guitar’s machine-gun monotone solo goes on alone a bit longer than expected; it sheds the expected symmetry. Barrie Barlow comes in with a lick, waits, then another, waits some more, then a beautiful long flurry that ends up finally locking in the 6/8 time. All this, and things are just getting started. Well, I could go on, but I’ve taken this much space to describe only the first third of the song. Suffice it to say, the 6/8 gallop of the long middle section deserves a fair comparison to the scherzo of Beethoven’s Ninth. One more little thing to mention: at the end of the guitar solo towards the end of the fast section, listen for the guitar growling low getting ready to wind up its solo, then the flute rolls up into a high-pitched, plaintive harmony for the solo’s final chops, descending as the guitar notes ascend. It’s a small moment of surpassingly intense ensemble playing, and poignant considering that the band was by that stage fatally fractious.
And—really my last point on Dark Ages—just in case I didn’t make my opinion clear before: in the slow opening and repeated at the slow closing, when Anderson sings “SHAKING THE DEAD” on a high E in a rasping roar, there is no more thrilling rock singing to be heard before or since.
Well, so—as you can tell, this album really gets me. If they could have filled in the holes that I mentioned, it could have been the best Tull album ever (which is to say pretty much the best rock album ever). As it is, it’s a magnificent not-quite (a bit like Apocalypse Now), but with enough peerless moments and sound and a deeply serious theme (now more so than ever—the price of raping nature, how politics become brutal when stress levels rise) to make it a great album. And in retrospect, a poignant one, because Tull hit an apotheosis with Stormwatch, indeed took rock to an apotheosis, and then was never the same (and I think never as good) after.
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Post by Equus on Dec 25, 2016 8:25:54 GMT
Guys (and in full apprehension of being non-PC, I suspect it is mostly guys who love this album), I agree with most of what you say, but there’s so much more to be said about this album—especially as it’s strangely low-profile in Tull and rock chronicles. Crank it on your big speakers (preferably from vinyl)—it is not trying to be low-profile; it’s “shaking the dead,” as the lyric says. This is a big band at the top of its powers, and on this album they create the best sound they (or pretty much any other band) ever made: the icy, naturalistic synthesizers; the reverberant string quartet; the powerful but tonal, almost melodic drumming; the searing guitar which presaged U2; and most irreplaceable, Anderson’s roaring, rasping vocals, with which he manages to simultaneously spoof and epitomize feral rock singing. How could this album be as close as it is to being forgotten? It’s good from the very first notes: the descending minor-key three-note motif that opens ‘North Sea Oil’ has a plaintive tone which, enwrapped in the song’s busy clanking of industry, expresses the yearning inherent in an exploratory industry, and also the yearning for wealth, for a return to economic strength, or (for the working joes on the rigs) just a good-paying job, that the oil bonanza evoked. The five-beat makes a welcome return, Anderson and the band making it seamless and natural-sounding (which Rush, likable though they are, never could). The final flourish has Tull’s signature precision, power and panache, better than ever. Quite a good start. Stormwatch is indeed the third of a (perhaps unplanned) trilogy, but it’s not a ‘folk’ trilogy; the thread that unites them is the theme of man and nature. Songs From The Wood starts from an atavistic point, with little modernity and indeed little taming of nature, hearkening to when forests pressed against hand-cleared fields; Heavy Horses dwells on nature tamed by artisanal means which themselves are threatened by mechanization; and Stormwatch describes the rape of nature—and nature’s inclination to return the favor (fast forward to ‘Wounded, Old and Treacherous’ from 1995’s Roots to Branches for an even starker statement on this)—and while we’re at it, man’s inhumanity to man. You can’t describe that with mandolins; so Tull’s unleashing of the full-bore rock sound is the consequence of the theme. Not commerciality. This is not a perfect album (as Songs From The Wood is, and Heavy Horses comes close to), so let’s get the criticisms out of the way. ‘Home’ doesn’t quite cut it; the album did need a slower quieter song at that stage of the proceedings, but ‘Home’ is not inventive, its emotion feels slightly contrived, and its point is not clear. ‘Warm Sporran’ is charming, it’s consistent with the album’s musical landscape, and (like the whole album) brilliantly produced, but its triviality breaks the album’s tremendous dark momentum. If they had to have a light-hearted change of pace in that spot, the unreleased ‘Strip Cartoon’ would have been better. Better yet though not light-hearted would have been the also-unreleased and contemporaneous ‘Blues Instrumental,’ first heard years later on the ’20 Years Of’ collection: its slow, stalking bolero pace and crescendo, its ambiguity between light and shade, thought and feeling would have been a great conclusion to side 1. ‘Old Ghosts’ sounds intriguing at first but doesn’t develop. And ‘Elegy’ is too saccharine; if its formal composition had been matched by a playing with tight emotional reserve, it might have concluded the album on an appropriate note of emotional exhaustion. As it is, played with sententious sweetness, it just dissipates the album’s force. Well, we’ve heard the stories of how hard it was to cut this album, with a band member sick and Anderson being Anderson, so these shortcomings are understandable, and they don’t submerge the album’s high points and overall force. Now, let’s peruse those high points. Has anyone noticed that the ascending, minor-key, three-note motif in ‘Something’s On The Move’ is the reverse of that in ‘North Sea Oil’? And that theme of Something’s on the Move—nature striking back at man—is the reverse of that of North Sea Oil—man pillaging nature? Quite a coincidence. I can forgive the fact that Something’s on the Move is so clearly the album’s designated hit-single release; it deserved to be a hit. Boiling over with energy and syncopation; how Barre lets his low-string tuning go a little sharp in the opening and recurring riff, suggesting something ominously disconnected and under its own control; an epitome of the album’s great sound and reverberating production, where the guitar grinds, the piano pounds, the flute shrieks, and the percussion lashes from high to low tones, yet it all somehow sounds elegant. And Anderson’s lyrics rise to the task of imagining nature’s onslaught against civilization: “Driving all before her, unstoppable unstraining, the cold creaking mass follows reindeer down... Thin spreading fingers seek to embrace the still-warm bundles...that huddle on the doorsteps of a white London town.” Does he imagine this perhaps a bit gleefully? Could it be that our beloved Ian has a misanthropic streak? We report, you decide. Dun Ringill serves as title track as the lyrics work in the phrase ‘stormwatch.’ As we first heard on Songs From The Wood, Anderson is unsurpassed at depicting nature in music. The song’s unstable, undulating key represents the ceaselessly moving ocean (Dun Ringill is a ruined Celtic fort on a promontory overlooking the sea); the low finger-picked notes are the deeply rolling waves, the high notes are their wind-frothed caps. Anderson’s restless musical progressivism shows itself even in this minimalist all-acoustic song: he plays with electronic effects to give his vocal lines strange pre-echoes, which give you a disorienting sense of time itself sloshing back and forth. And the final dissonant chord on the twelve-string implies some wariness or dismay at nature’s indifference and potential cruelty. And lastly, I’m going to go way out on a limb here and say that Dark Ages is the best-ever Tull song. (Can’t understand why more people don’t think so.) The opening swirl of naturalistic synthesizer sounds; the gradually-paced exposition with the strong, chilling, doomsday lyrics (“Darlings are you ready…for the long winter’s fall? said the lady in her parlour; said the butler in the hall. Is there time for another? cried the drunkard in his sleep. Not likely, said the little child—what’s done the Lord can keep. And the vicar stands a-praying…and the television dies…as the white dot flickers and is gone—and no one stops to cry”). And then… Tull became famous for unforewarned tempo changes with Aqualung. Here they take it to a new level. The heavy stutter-step to which the slow opening has built now suddenly breaks in an instant to a full gallop, like a race horse from its gate, like a long volley of machine-gun fire as Martin Barre hammers his low Gs. A touch of Philip Glass minimalism comes in: the guitar’s machine-gun monotone solo goes on alone a bit longer than expected; it sheds the expected symmetry. Barrie Barlow comes in with a lick, waits, then another, waits some more, then a beautiful long flurry that ends up finally locking in the 6/8 time. All this, and things are just getting started. Well, I could go on, but I’ve taken this much space to describe only the first third of the song. Suffice it to say, the 6/8 gallop of the long middle section deserves a fair comparison to the scherzo of Beethoven’s Ninth. One more little thing to mention: at the end of the guitar solo towards the end of the fast section, listen for the guitar growling low getting ready to wind up its solo, then the flute rolls up into a high-pitched, plaintive harmony for the solo’s final chops, descending as the guitar notes ascend. It’s a small moment of surpassingly intense ensemble playing, and poignant considering that the band was by that stage fatally fractious. And—really my last point on Dark Ages—just in case I didn’t make my opinion clear before: in the slow opening and repeated at the slow closing, when Anderson sings “SHAKING THE DEAD” on a high E in a rasping roar, there is no more thrilling rock singing to be heard before or since. Well, so—as you can tell, this album really gets me. If they could have filled in the holes that I mentioned, it could have been the best Tull album ever (which is to say pretty much the best rock album ever). As it is, it’s a magnificent not-quite (a bit like Apocalypse Now), but with enough peerless moments and sound and a deeply serious theme (now more so than ever—the price of raping nature, how politics become brutal when stress levels rise) to make it a great album. And in retrospect, a poignant one, because Tull hit an apotheosis with Stormwatch, indeed took rock to an apotheosis, and then was never the same (and I think never as good) after. Stormwatch is a great album! To me it's a master piece... Love it too... My first encounter with Jethro Tull was seeing this album in a local record shop... Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the album!
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Post by maddogfagin on Dec 25, 2016 9:10:47 GMT
Guys (and in full apprehension of being non-PC, I suspect it is mostly guys who love this album), I agree with most of what you say, but there’s so much more to be said about this album—especially as it’s strangely low-profile in Tull and rock chronicles. Crank it on your big speakers (preferably from vinyl)—it is not trying to be low-profile; it’s “shaking the dead,” as the lyric says. This is a big band at the top of its powers, and on this album they create the best sound they (or pretty much any other band) ever made: the icy, naturalistic synthesizers; the reverberant string quartet; the powerful but tonal, almost melodic drumming; the searing guitar which presaged U2; and most irreplaceable, Anderson’s roaring, rasping vocals, with which he manages to simultaneously spoof and epitomize feral rock singing. How could this album be as close as it is to being forgotten? I don't think it's a case of being forgotten, more a case of being possibly overshadowed by the albums that came before it or a certain realisation by fans that it's the final album from one of the classic lineups. Having said that though, there are many admirers of the album here, myself included. Thanks for joining us here at the JT Forum - feel free to jump it at any time and I look forward to reading many more of your "thoughts" about Tull
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Post by nonrabbit on Dec 25, 2016 20:51:08 GMT
Guys (and in full apprehension of being non-PC, I suspect it is mostly guys who love this album)..... Hi reiff and a big Welcome to the Forum Great first post - always a pleasure to read what others think about the music of Tull whether you agree or disagree. I quote your first line as I'm not entirely sure what you mean by it's mostly males who would appreciate Stormwatch. I've always been curious about gender and Tull. Previous thread Are Tull predominately a man's band?
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Post by atomicsynth on Jan 1, 2017 15:14:11 GMT
Dark Ages is a masterwork, as is Dutchman! I listen to these regularly. They may well be my favorites of all.
The Portative organ passage just before the final chorus of Dark Ages still gives me chills. The keyboard team of John Evan and David Palmer were perfect, as they also were on Songs From The Wood.
David Palmer's scoring of strings for Tull was always perfect.
These were the definitive band members and it's never been the same since. Tull stopped sounding like Tull post Stormwatch.
"A" was, well, "A". A strange record that should perhaps been left alone as an IA solo album, but there would have been no tour without the Tull money name attached to it.
I had hopes that it would all be back to "normal" with "Broadsword And The Beast" as it seemed a return of sorts. ("Under Wraps" was a solo album so the oddity was ok).
But "Crest Of A Knave" and everything since under the JT name did not cut it for me. I have the discs but I honestly never play them anymore. I play the others.
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Post by tullpress on Jan 14, 2018 0:14:11 GMT
A reminder:
"This year we completed an album's worth of material, and then we went away to America — and when we got back, we listened to it again and it wasn't there at all. There was nothing in it. So we all decided to start again."
(Martin Barre: Melody Maker, 20 Oct 1979)
Suggesting they recorded an album's worth in Jan-Feb-March of '79, which hasn't seen the light of day.
A
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argentull
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Post by argentull on Jan 14, 2018 11:43:18 GMT
Already anticipating the Stormwatch remix? This reads like APP story...certainly the stormwatch bix set is perhaps one of the most intreaguing ones in the series in terms of extras. I am really hoping for more live shows. There are some radio broadcast that sound fine enough.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jan 14, 2018 14:53:06 GMT
Already anticipating the Stormwatch remix? This reads like APP story...certainly the stormwatch bix set is perhaps one of the most intreaguing ones in the series in terms of extras. I am really hoping for more live shows. There are some radio broadcast that sound fine enough. A reminder: "This year we completed an album's worth of material, and then we went away to America — and when we got back, we listened to it again and it wasn't there at all. There was nothing in it. So we all decided to start again." (Martin Barre: Melody Maker, 20 Oct 1979) Suggesting they recorded an album's worth in Jan-Feb-March of '79, which hasn't seen the light of day. A To my knowledge there were a few radio broadcasts aired by the BBC and the post tour Richard Digance programme on Capital Radio in May of 1980 which may still exist even though the station has changed studios a few times. If not there are plenty of decent copies floating about in collector's archives. Whether the BBC tapes still exist is open to question as they may have wiped most of it to re-use the tape. 4/5/80 Capital Radio studios London, UK Radio appearence on 'Richard Digance and Friends'. Jack-In-The-Green, Peggy's Pub, Dun Ringill, Heavy Horseswww.ministry-of-information.co.uk/The release would also be a good place to include the Water's Edge ballet recordings from March '79 and also the BBC Lively Art TV programme. www.mclub.com.ua/vcat.phtml?album=393687
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argentull
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Post by argentull on Jan 14, 2018 15:07:12 GMT
The BBC rado session would be cool. It features a beautiful acoustic version of heavy horses. Not familiar with the Waters edge, but I prefer the BBC documentary. Lets not forget about Den Haag 1980, nor that there is more footage from Portland and Seattle somewhere.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jan 15, 2018 8:38:56 GMT
The BBC rado session would be cool. It features a beautiful acoustic version of heavy horses. Not familiar with the Waters edge, but I prefer the BBC documentary. Lets not forget about Den Haag 1980, nor that there is more footage from Portland and Seattle somewhere. And it will all come down to copyright clearance and the vast amounts of filthy lucre demanded.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jan 15, 2018 8:47:33 GMT
The BBC rado session would be cool. It features a beautiful acoustic version of heavy horses. Not familiar with the Waters edge, but I prefer the BBC documentary. Lets not forget about Den Haag 1980, nor that there is more footage from Portland and Seattle somewhere. And also from Eastern Europe as well. From what I could gather from my former work colleagues from Poland, Stormwatch went down well over there - maybe something to do with the political constraints there at the time and the darker aspects to the music perhaps ?
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argentull
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Post by argentull on Jan 15, 2018 21:20:31 GMT
16/11/79 Civic Auditorium Santa Monica, Ca. USA Live At Santa Monica 11-16-79 or Santa Live UNICEF benefit, broadcast by KMET-FM. Intro/Dark Ages, Home, Orion, Wond'ring Aloud, Dun Ringill, Elegy, Something's On The Move, Aqualung, King Henry's Madrigal/Heavy Horses, One Brown Mouse, Songs From The Wood, Jams O'Donnell's Jigs, Thick As A Brick, Cross-Eyed Mary, Minstrel In The Gallery/Locomotive Breath The Water´s edge www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-qvfoEb8UwNot very appealing IMO.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jan 16, 2018 8:28:58 GMT
16/11/79 Civic Auditorium Santa Monica, Ca. USA Live At Santa Monica 11-16-79 or Santa Live UNICEF benefit, broadcast by KMET-FM. Intro/Dark Ages, Home, Orion, Wond'ring Aloud, Dun Ringill, Elegy, Something's On The Move, Aqualung, King Henry's Madrigal/Heavy Horses, One Brown Mouse, Songs From The Wood, Jams O'Donnell's Jigs, Thick As A Brick, Cross-Eyed Mary, Minstrel In The Gallery/Locomotive Breath The Water´s edge www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-qvfoEb8UwNot very appealing IMO. There's a far better recording of The Water's Edge on this boot, recorded at a later performance:
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Post by 61jtull on Mar 30, 2018 20:41:10 GMT
Any definitive word on when/if this will receive the Steven Wilson remix in either the deluxe or standard edition? I love the "Folk Trilogy" of albums, SW is not as consistent as SFTW and Heavy Horses, but one Tull's better albums.
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Post by maddogfagin on Mar 31, 2018 6:51:55 GMT
Any definitive word on when/if this will receive the Steven Wilson remix in either the deluxe or standard edition? I love the "Folk Trilogy" of albums, SW is not as consistent as SFTW and Heavy Horses, but one Tull's better albums. Not yet Sir. I'd hazard a guess at September 2019 as that would be the anniversary of its original release here in the UK and other parts of the planet.
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