Post by FrontDoorAngel on Jul 16, 2015 22:07:35 GMT
This may have been done before, and if so, apologies; but then again, it's fun to talk about such things sometimes, eh?
The way I went about collecting my Tull albums was quite strange, which is why I wanted to open such a thread. I already discussed how I came by my first Tull LP, Songs from the Wood, in a past thread. Just to quickly rehash: It was suggested to my brother by his friend. My brother and I would pool our allowance money to buy one record a week. I was reluctant to spend my three bucks on a record by a group I never heard of.
...skip a little brother...
The rest of that story has already been told, about how the LP was cold and smelled like a campfire, because my brother had gone to a party in the woods (upstate NY, 1979) after he'd purchased the album. Needless to say, I was enchanted, and I instantly fell in love with the album, and with Tull.
However, my second Tull purchase: not so good. It was WarChild, also at the suggestion of a friend. Well, that album was so radically different, so NOT like SFTW, that I hated it at first listen. I was shocked, and literally appalled! What kind of music was this? Saxophones? No flute on the eponymous track? And the end of Ladies, WTF? Was that a squeezebox on Queen and Country?? Who ever heard of such music? Lol. Remember, I was all of 15. Anyway, time passes, and the record grew on me, so much that I began to like it as much as SFTW.
Meanwhile, my brother bought Bursting Out by himself, through one of those mail-in deals where you could get twelve records for a penny as long as you agreed to buy more over time for regular price. I REALLY loved the Bursting Out album, particularly the first two tracks. No Lullaby is still probably my favorite all time Tull song. After Bursting Out I bought Stormwatch. After that I bought Repeat, the second best of collection.
...skip a little brother... (Monty Python humor)
I had some Christmas money saved up, plus money I had gotten elsewhere (don't remember, could have been saved up birthday money). I gave my brother my wad of money and asked him to get as many Tull albums as he could with it, and to save a few dollars for himself for making the effort. These were the days when the Tull bin was stuffed full. He came back with these records:
Stand Up
Benefit
Thick as a Brick
A Passion Play
Too Old to Rock & Roll Too Young to Die
By my reckoning, these purchases would have been upwards of 25 to 30 dollars. Some of the older Tull was cheaper. The albums at the department store we shopped at had stickers indicating their price.
Anyway, I had a bonanza of new Tull to listen to when my brother came home with that lovely bundle. I was shocked to find that TAAB was a single song. Imagine my surprise when I saw that APP was also a single song! Remember, I knew no-one else who was into Tull, and I knew next to nothing about them. I don't think I liked Stand Up and/or Benefit as much as the later Tull, and I am still to this day building my appreciation for TOTRRTOTD.
After that major bundle, my memory is shoddy. I do know that I got Heavy Horses free from a friend who didn't like it (perish the thought!); I got Broadsword and the Beast from that same friend, free. YAY! I bought This Was, and distinctly remember hating it with a passion. I have since grown to love it, of course. I bought A and loved it instantly. At one point Minstrel in the Gallery was the only Tull I didn't have. Eventually I got that from another anti-Tull friend who had purchased it but didn't like it. We had arguments over the virtues and value of Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, and he seemed to think that Ian was someone to be ridiculed rather than admired. I am friends with this man to this day but I will NEVER understand such an attitude towards an obvious musical giant and one of the finest stage performers who ever lived.
Now (or then), my collection was complete. This was around 1982. After that, I got each album as it came out. And that's my Tull collecting story.
**Edit: I forgot Living in the Past! I think I got that some time after buying the Stormwatch LP. How could I forget LITP?
The way I went about collecting my Tull albums was quite strange, which is why I wanted to open such a thread. I already discussed how I came by my first Tull LP, Songs from the Wood, in a past thread. Just to quickly rehash: It was suggested to my brother by his friend. My brother and I would pool our allowance money to buy one record a week. I was reluctant to spend my three bucks on a record by a group I never heard of.
...skip a little brother...
The rest of that story has already been told, about how the LP was cold and smelled like a campfire, because my brother had gone to a party in the woods (upstate NY, 1979) after he'd purchased the album. Needless to say, I was enchanted, and I instantly fell in love with the album, and with Tull.
However, my second Tull purchase: not so good. It was WarChild, also at the suggestion of a friend. Well, that album was so radically different, so NOT like SFTW, that I hated it at first listen. I was shocked, and literally appalled! What kind of music was this? Saxophones? No flute on the eponymous track? And the end of Ladies, WTF? Was that a squeezebox on Queen and Country?? Who ever heard of such music? Lol. Remember, I was all of 15. Anyway, time passes, and the record grew on me, so much that I began to like it as much as SFTW.
Meanwhile, my brother bought Bursting Out by himself, through one of those mail-in deals where you could get twelve records for a penny as long as you agreed to buy more over time for regular price. I REALLY loved the Bursting Out album, particularly the first two tracks. No Lullaby is still probably my favorite all time Tull song. After Bursting Out I bought Stormwatch. After that I bought Repeat, the second best of collection.
...skip a little brother... (Monty Python humor)
I had some Christmas money saved up, plus money I had gotten elsewhere (don't remember, could have been saved up birthday money). I gave my brother my wad of money and asked him to get as many Tull albums as he could with it, and to save a few dollars for himself for making the effort. These were the days when the Tull bin was stuffed full. He came back with these records:
Stand Up
Benefit
Thick as a Brick
A Passion Play
Too Old to Rock & Roll Too Young to Die
By my reckoning, these purchases would have been upwards of 25 to 30 dollars. Some of the older Tull was cheaper. The albums at the department store we shopped at had stickers indicating their price.
Anyway, I had a bonanza of new Tull to listen to when my brother came home with that lovely bundle. I was shocked to find that TAAB was a single song. Imagine my surprise when I saw that APP was also a single song! Remember, I knew no-one else who was into Tull, and I knew next to nothing about them. I don't think I liked Stand Up and/or Benefit as much as the later Tull, and I am still to this day building my appreciation for TOTRRTOTD.
After that major bundle, my memory is shoddy. I do know that I got Heavy Horses free from a friend who didn't like it (perish the thought!); I got Broadsword and the Beast from that same friend, free. YAY! I bought This Was, and distinctly remember hating it with a passion. I have since grown to love it, of course. I bought A and loved it instantly. At one point Minstrel in the Gallery was the only Tull I didn't have. Eventually I got that from another anti-Tull friend who had purchased it but didn't like it. We had arguments over the virtues and value of Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, and he seemed to think that Ian was someone to be ridiculed rather than admired. I am friends with this man to this day but I will NEVER understand such an attitude towards an obvious musical giant and one of the finest stage performers who ever lived.
Now (or then), my collection was complete. This was around 1982. After that, I got each album as it came out. And that's my Tull collecting story.
**Edit: I forgot Living in the Past! I think I got that some time after buying the Stormwatch LP. How could I forget LITP?