From
www.classicrockmagazine.comWhile the rest of us were quaffing Kraken (a lip-smacking rum-style beverage) at the awards, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, plus presenter Roy Harper, were occupied with a different kind of spirit: namely the Spirit Of Prog Award.
The Spirit Of Prog (sponsored by EMI)
Winners: Jethro Tull, presented by Roy Harper
Gentlemen, we trust that your evening is proceeding swimmingly?
Ian Anderson: Yes, immensely so. I’m really enjoying Roy’s company.
Roy Harper: Likewise.
Anderson: I’ve spent most of my time marveling at the impossibly tight-trousered people around us. And also at those sporting such incredibly exotic hair. In many instances I thought it had to be fake but now I’m up close to one of them I can see that yours is real.
[Your correspondent laughs with embarrassment and moves on]. Unless I’m mistaken this is a first time at the Classic Rock Awards for you both.
Harper: It’s much, much bigger than I thought it was going to be. I expected some homely little party, but it’s a very big deal.
Anderson: I’ve been very, very impressed by the mutual sense of support from everybody that I’ve spoken to; from fellow musicians, to those employed by the magazine, also those from the print media and radio stations. In these troubled economic times there’s a sense of everybody pulling together and saying: ‘Listen, we need each other in order to keep music going on at this level’. It feels like a family affair, but in very glossy circumstances. I’m glad that I’m not footing the bill for it all [laughs]. Let me ask you a question.
Go on.
Anderson: This year you have Gene Simmons but who was the genial host at the last event?
Alice Cooper.
Anderson: So you have a habit of picking Americans?
They tend to have a superior gift of the gab, but if you’re putting yourself forward then for 2012 then get in the application as early as possible. Anyway, let’s talk about the Spirit Of Prog. Why has it undergone such a spectacular renaissance?
Anderson: I couldn’t begin to explain it, but that’s definitely the case. During the last five years there’s been such a transformation of the audience, especially in Latin America. Whereas before it was mainly men in their fifties, now we get late teens to early twenties and even some girls – clearly with the money to pay for expensive tickets, but still having their vinyl copies of Thick As A Brick. It’s quite a sea change. We also noticed it in Italy and Spain, all throughout Southern Europe and the Mediterranean countries.
And in the UK?
Anderson: Here and in America the demographic is still skewed towards the geriatrics, but in the Latin counties there are kids buzzing for what is to them a whole different kind of music… not what their parents or even their grandparents listened to.
Harper: Things are coming round again, in a repercolated manner. In my own case, a lot of young American artists are claiming me as an influence – and we’re talking about some household names – which is creating a younger audience for the kind of things that I was doing thirty or forty years ago. I think this thing is going to carry on for some time yet.
(Interview: Dave Ling)CR AWARDS: “Prog Didn’t Exist Before Ian Anderson” Folk hero Roy Harper pays tribute Ian Anderson, the leader of Jethro Tull, the winner of the Classic Rock Spirit Of Prog Award.
Roy Harper: “It’s all a myth that Ian and I knew each other when we both lived near Blackpool in the ‘60s. I certainly didn’t know him but he might have been aware of me. The first time I really noticed him was at Hyde Park [June 1968]. Jethro Tull were only very small then but they were one of the many in our corner of the revolution.
“That first free Hyde Park concert was Pink Floyd, me, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Jethro Tull, in that order. But the first time they really took off was at the Sunbury Festival [August ‘68]. I heard Jethro Tull go on stage and the level of applause after the first couple of songs made me realise they were never going to look back from this. They’d actually made it, to the point where they’d broken through. It was obviously quite a moment for them. Actually I was stood there thinking, ‘There but for fortune…’
“But you can’t really think those things. Eventually you say to yourself, ‘Come on Roy, you idiot. This is Ian Anderson, who’s managed to get his thing together in such a professional way that he’s cracked through to a big market.’ And that’s because he’s accessible. Not all of his music is, but his image as a showman is very accessible.
“Ian brought a new and different instrument into the musical canon and helped create a fusion that eventually became known as prog rock. It was a different take than the usual guitar-drums-keyboard-voice line-up; Tull were totally unique. That style they brought in just didn’t exist before Ian. And he’s a different kind of showman to someone like David Bowie; he’s more connected to traditional British forces and folk music in particular. He’s like a bridge between prog and Fairport Convention and it’s an important one. Because for some people that was an introduction to a different life brand.
“Jethro Tull were huge in America, where they translated very well. It was sort of what I would have done if I’d have had a band. But I would have been very different anyway, with me being more jazz-influenced. The thing is that Jethro Tull were doing what I should have been doing, in effect, by actually taking a more traditional English feel to things. And they exported that to the USA. For many Americans their music was very exotically English.
“Ian was honest enough to credit me with being an influence. He was the first person to really do that, probably because he wanted to give credit where it’s due. Whereas people like Roger Waters and Bowie preferred to keep that kind of thing hidden. Which leaves a very important point really, in that Ian is basically a very proud and honest man. He’s very careful and private too. And he’s not willing to compromise. He’s very professional and doesn’t allow anything to come between him and his goal, and that in itself keeps him private.
“I think the last time I actually saw him, before the Classic Rock Awards of course, was years ago in Los Angeles. But we’ve spoken on the phone since then and he’s put parts on my records. We do all our correspondence by email now. It really doesn’t matter whether or not we physically see each other again; we’ll still always be friends.
(Interview: Rob Hughes)oneclick.indiatimes.com/photo/0fcYfQOeSXbQ6