www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article/Ian-Anderson-brings-flute-and-ideas-to-San-Antonio-5774657.phpIan Anderson brings flute and ideas to San AntonioDean Lockwood
San Antonio Express-News
Sep. 23, 2014Updated: Sep. 24, 2014 7:17 p.m.
SAN ANTONIO — Being a god appears to suit Ian Anderson.
The flute-playing founder of Jethro Tull was musically deified last year when he was named “Prog God” at the Progressive Music Awards.
Winning mostly for a decadeslong body of work that includes classic songs like “Aqualung,” “Locomotive Breath” and “Songs From the Wood,” Anderson — who performs in San Antonio on Saturday at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts — also had captured fresh critical cred in 2013 for a surprise sequel to 1972's progressive rock masterpiece “Thick as a Brick.”
In receiving the award, Anderson said of the oft-insulted genre: “The innocent voyage of restless souls: That's prog rock. Sometimes bombastic, self-indulgent and worse, it is also an honest, gut-felt reaction to the often simplistic and repetitive nature of much of pop and rock.”
Perhaps anticipating his coming god-dom, Anderson purposefully sat down on New Year's Day 2013 to write and record a full-on, no-holds-barred concept album, “Homo Erraticus” (Wandering Man). Released this year to the most critical acclaim he has enjoyed in years, the album briefly shot into the Top 10 on British rock charts.
The concept? Migration, in a very broad sense. While oddly sidestepping plentiful examples in current events, Anderson uses 15 songs to take a longer view, with a lens focused mostly through the history of the British Isles.
“But it's not just the political migration of people I'm talking about,” he said. “I'm talking about the migration of aesthetic; the migration of culture, of art, of entertainment; the migration of commerce and industry, science and invention. And the migration of spirituality as religions, particularly Christianity, swept across the world, hotly pursed by Islam.
Some samples of songs and subjects:
“Doggerland”: A hard-rocking romp through the recently rediscovered land bridge that once connected Britain to the rest of Europe. When it was submerged, Britain literally and culturally became “island, alone, aloof.”
“Heavy Metals”: The strongest acoustic piece on the disc, the song traces the tragic history of man-killing weaponry, from first forged steel to nuclear overkill. (And bonus points to anyone who can make a genuinely powerful lyric simply by stringing together the names of well-known makers of warplanes and firearms.)
“Enter the Uninvited”: A pastiche of pop-culture references (well, dating back to the Roman legions), Anderson addresses the constant invasion of our senses, everything from “Elvis hips and Monroe lips” to “bold Londinium” and “Willy Conker” (William The Conqueror).
Anderson appreciates his part in helping break in the new Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.
“There are some splendid new facilities being built and, bearing in mind just gone through a few years of recession, it's nice to know the confidence in the market place ultimately is there,” he said. “Many of these new venues are much more intelligently and thoughtfully designed than they would have been in years gone by.”
In planning tours, it turns out Anderson is a bit of a logistics freak. These days, he proudly handles all of the band's travel and accommodations.
“I know exactly where (the Tobin Center) is on the map,” he said. “I've done Google street view, I know where the ramp is for the truck to go down. I know where my hotel is. I know which way to walk down to the backstage entrance. ... Back in the '70s, we actually had to send a guy out there for about a month before a tour.”
“Now, I'm a Sunday afternoon travel agent. It's one of my hobbies.”