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Post by stormmonkey on Feb 3, 2009 12:48:25 GMT
I thought I would create a new poll specifically just for the three folk rock albums.
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Post by tjtull on Feb 3, 2009 13:53:29 GMT
Heavy Horses is my all time favorite album by any artist.
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Post by fatman on Feb 16, 2009 16:18:39 GMT
Heavy Horses is my all time favorite album by any artist. I can understand why. It is beautiful, brilliant record. I love every song on the album. Jeff
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orion
Prentice Jack
Posts: 13
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Post by orion on Mar 18, 2009 18:26:54 GMT
I love all three, but there's something special about Stormwatch--it has very solid flow (to coin an oxymoron). In terms of thematic songwriting, I think it's Ian's strongest.
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Post by steelmonkey on Mar 18, 2009 21:38:23 GMT
I liked and still like Stormwatch a lot....the two very folky albums (SFTW, HH) are great and, retroactively form an important part of the Tull universe, but at the time of Stormwatch's release I was quite relieved to hear Tull be good old Tull again instead of continuing on the path to permanant Fairport/Steeleye/Pentangle land. Dark Ages, Orion and Dun Ringhill are classics, Old Ghosts is also good...still a lot of folk influence but a nice return of testicles which had been shrinking since 'Too Old'. Too bad 'Something's on the Move' is so generic.
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Post by bluehare on Mar 19, 2009 17:28:48 GMT
Boy, this is a tough question. A year ago, it would easily have been SFTW. While I do like all of Tull's manly bits (steelmonkey ), I also like that they are so versatile with musical styles it's difficult for them to ever sound like "boring, same old Tull" - like some groups get. Even if some of their musical forays were not as "virile" as others. I know IA once said that Stormwatch was dated material, and sort of irrelevant nowadays so they don't play much of the material on tour. But that was a few years ago. I actually think the songs have great messages, and weren't outdated at all. Right now, I think they could play them in any set and people would find them relevant to today. Of the three, I listened to Heavy Horses the least, though I liked it. Well as of this posting today I have been listening to Heavy Horses more than the other two! I just fell into re-discovering all these songs in the past few weeks. I don't know. I really like all three, but at this moment, I think I am going to have to go with HH.
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Post by fatman on Mar 19, 2009 17:52:52 GMT
Boy, this is a tough question. A year ago, it would easily have been SFTW. While I do like all of Tull's manly bits (steelmonkey ), I also like that they are so versatile with musical styles it's difficult for them to ever sound like "boring, same old Tull" - like some groups get. Even if some of their musical forays were not as "virile" as others. I know IA once said that Stormwatch was dated material, and sort of irrelevant nowadays so they don't play much of the material on tour. But that was a few years ago. I actually think the songs have great messages, and weren't outdated at all. Right now, I think they could play them in any set and people would find them relevant to today. Of the three, I listened to Heavy Horses the least, though I liked it. Well as of this posting today I have been listening to Heavy Horses more than the other two! I just fell into re-discovering all these songs in the past few weeks. I don't know. I really like all three, but at this moment, I think I am going to have to go with HH. It's kind of a futile exercise because all three albums are great, but I would definitely place SFTW and HH slightly ahead of SW. Between those two I have gone back and forth on SFTW and HH many times myself, but lately I'm giving a very slight edge to Horses as well. I think it's because I just like Martin's electric guitar more on HH than on SFTW, where it seems just a little out of place, not really out of place, but kind of grafted into the mix in a way that makes it seem to stick out more, in a less integrated way than on HH. I can't explain it very well I guess. I also like the gruff, rustic feel of HH...Ian's vocals are extremely strong on this album. Jeff
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Post by kaibailey on Nov 1, 2009 8:27:53 GMT
I'd have to agree with orion. I love all three in a very big way, and wouldn't usually prefer picking a favorite since they are all so different, but something about Stormwatch has kept me coming back to listen to it again and again.
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Post by shindizzler on Dec 12, 2009 7:21:58 GMT
I dig all three of course, but I went with Stormwatch. In the recent years I have been rather struck by the timeliness of the lyrical message in a few songs--North Sea Oil, Dark Ages, and the implied lyrical message of Elegy. Being a watchdog on the matter of Peak Oil, I have been sometimes rather bittersweetly delighted that those concerns about our heavy footprint on the earth were so lovingly lifted up in song 30 years ago now. It is a shame of course that the album is one that was made sort of a non-starter in popular music at the time, but all the more tragic that it didn't have the stature in the public awareness to motivate swifter and more committed action. Politicians and "leadership" can only do so much to motivate people by deals and policies and laws; economists can only illustrate a fraction of what really is entailed in the economics of environmental degradation and ecological collapse, but the real change that is necessary at a time like this is really brought about by an emotional connection to art and music. I find a song like Heavy Horses to be vastly stimulating of my imagination around the issue of life with less oil, or none for that matter. I find the appeal to a better time with less technology to be far nicer to take in when wrapped in such great music. Ian's lyrics and his concerns have given me many great new things to look into and some of that has been key to my world view. Stormwatch does paint a bleak picture, but such a picture only disappoints the folks who are invested in the status quo. Others of us realize that sometimes these things need to collapse so that other better things can be birthed. Good art fires up the imagination, and for that I have to be grateful for the things that I have been exposed to in this band's musical output.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2009 21:45:20 GMT
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Post by maxquad on Jan 1, 2010 1:19:39 GMT
::)Tough to pick one, but I vote for SFTW partly because it gave us not only a great, and radio friendly, title track but one of the all time best Tull "Rock" songs, Huntng Girl. Also because I heard Ian say at a Rubbing Elbows show in 2003 that if forced to pick a favorite Tull album SFTW would probably be it.
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Post by maddogfagin on Jan 1, 2010 10:35:35 GMT
If I have to pick one it would be Heavy Horses. To my way of thinking the songs flow together really well and, along with "Songs . . ." and "Stormwatch", IA's songwriting had hit a purple patch at the end of the 70's.
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Post by steelmonkey on Jan 1, 2010 22:50:38 GMT
I give up dog...is purple good ( the royal color) or bad ( purple prose means a little wet, doesn't it) or something else....like the legendary purple helmet? I'm still the smartest guy I know...
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Post by maddogfagin on Jan 2, 2010 8:51:06 GMT
I give up dog...is purple good ( the royal color) or bad ( purple prose means a little wet, doesn't it) or something else....like the legendary purple helmet? I'm still the smartest guy I know... Purple is good. Let's hope IA has hit a purple patch and with the evidence of the two new songs I'm hoping that at this moment he's at his desk writing even more for a new album in the summer. Now wouldn't that be good
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kleynan
Journeyman
Thick as a Brick
Posts: 89
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Post by kleynan on Mar 6, 2010 22:08:37 GMT
Tough one But SftW is just a magical record... Even more magical than HH and SW In my oppinion
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jason
Prentice Jack
Posts: 35
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Post by jason on Mar 20, 2010 18:47:28 GMT
SFTW sets the pace but I think of them as kind of a trilogy of sorts and tend to listen to SFTW dring the Early Spring through Summer. Late Summer and Autumn brings me to HH, Stormwatch in my Winter album.
Silly old ritual of mine.
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Post by volospian on Mar 25, 2010 8:50:49 GMT
Tough one, SFTW is a great album. The whistler is probably the first JT song I really loved. I remember asking a friend what the album was and buying it the next day. However, a couple of decades down the line and when I think of a great Tull album, I think of HH.
I'm really into strong lyrics as well as good music. I'm not a fan of lazy lyrics that are there just to fill the vocal section. Remember that song "life" by Desiree "I don't wanna see a ghost, it's the sight that I fear most, I'd rather have a piece of toast" Dreadful!
IMO HH has some of the best lyrics of any album. Moths is an incredibly rich poem. Weathercock is also wonderfully crafted. The narrative of Acres Wild paints a vivid scene, the countryside and mean urban streets both come to life. Rover, Journeyman, One Brown Mouse, No Lulaby... all stand up to scrutiny in their own right. HH is one of the few albums, from any band, where I really enjoy every single track.
Thinking about it, God this is a good album... I'll have to remember to put the disc in the car!
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Post by earsoftin on Mar 31, 2010 16:32:25 GMT
I want to speak up in support of Stormwatch. This is often the relatively neglected member of the 'folk' trilogy but it has lots to recommend it. I'm going to say first that this is not to downplay the merits of the other two – indeed, if I were pushed to it Heavy Horses would be my favourite individual track.
Stormwatch is where the rock element of folk rock really kicks back in. It is often seen as the darkest of the three albums, something attributed by Anderson to the strains within the band. But I think it's also when he comes back out of the rural idyll and tackles the social and political nature of Britain at the end of the 1970s. We often forget the somewhat apocalyptic nature of the times. In hindsight we may remember it for the demise of flares and the rise of punk, but the end of the decade saw the 'Winter of Discontent' and real social polarisation. This is especially evident in the flawed epics Dark Ages and Flying Dutchman, especially the former. The disjointed musical form of Dark Ages, which seems to lurch between different passages is initially off-putting, but it matches the anger of the lyrics. These reflect on the political and industrial unrest of the time, but are also underpinned by Anderson's continuing concern about the corrosive impact of consumerism. This theme which starts with Slipstream and is to culminate (I think) with Part of the Machine is continued in Flying Dutchman. There's lots which deserves to be said about Dark Ages as a commentary of the death of the dreams of the 70s and which might usefully be set against Anderson's increasing business operations, but that would take up a lot more space! (I thought it was interesting though that the song was played on tour before being recorded and that a verse seems to have been changed to emphasise the problems with consumerism – as far as I can make out on the YouTube version).
I also like it because for me it is the most Scottish album. I don't think it has the best Scottish song – that honour is contested between Mountain Men and Ears of Tin – but it has the most influence of Anderson's discovery of Skye – Dun Ringell, Old Ghosts.
There's also real beauty in the arrangement of Home, which continues the ambience of After Midnight and shows another (much hidden!) side of Anderson.
So there's good reason to think this is one of the neglected classics – be interested to hear other opinions on this.
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Post by maddogfagin on Mar 31, 2010 17:39:09 GMT
So there's good reason to think this is one of the neglected classics – be interested to hear other opinions on this. I think you're spot on. I've never thought of it as part of a trilogy with HH and SFTW but as a stand alone statement of the era in which it was born. I love Flying Dutchman, for example, and could listen to it all day and as the album marks the end of an era with the subsequent "sackings" at the end of the tour it is an underrated classic.
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Post by nonrabbit on Mar 31, 2010 22:30:46 GMT
So there's good reason to think this is one of the neglected classics – be interested to hear other opinions on this. I think you're spot on. I've never thought of it as part of a trilogy with HH and SFTW but as a stand alone statement of the era in which it was born. I love Flying Dutchman, for example, and could listen to it all day and as the album marks the end of an era with the subsequent "sackings" at the end of the tour it is an underrated classic. It's really hard to describe Stormwatch. It was on the "needs a good few listens list " but the fact it had Dutchman and Dun Ringill I kept listening. I also thought it sounded Scottish when I heard it as if he had left the Shires of SFTW/HH Some songs like North Sea Oil irked me a little a bit too busy in places and not coming together enough- for me. Love the mood and vocals of Dark Ages and the title Warm Sporran. I couldn't choose any of the trilogy as fav albums only songs from each - I was one of the Tull fans who didn't take to folky Tull for a long while. Like everyone says sometimes a song just comes into your head and stays there for a while - Weathercock is doing that just now ;D
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Post by conundrum on Apr 6, 2010 6:18:20 GMT
Excellent poll! Just joined here, but this place rocks! Man! Where to start?! All are amongst my favorite Jethro Tull albums. Songs From The Wood is simply one of the most uplifting albums in history! I love it. Folk it may be but it still rocks! Ian Anderson sounds so full of joy on this one! Heavy Horses was one of the first Jethro Tull albums I got. I love it, but find it kind of melancholic at times; Moths is an example. Something sad about that one. But I love One Brown Mouse! Very cheerful! And I really do feel sorry for horses that are forced to do all that work. I am very much for Animal Rights. Stormwatch is the end of an era. We all know what era that is. The last era where Jethro Tull were at their strongest IMO. Even then you can hear that change is in the air. Elegy is really almost like saying "this is the end." With John Glascock's passing this song really gets to me. It is a very "wintery" album. One of the least cheerful Tull albums no doubt. Somewhat of a dark album. But still a great one. So I went with Songs From The Wood.
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Post by hawkmoth on Jun 21, 2010 12:30:33 GMT
Stormwatch edges it out of these 3 ,other 2 fantastic ,but 'Dark Ages'what a song -killer.
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Post by simpthepimp on Aug 4, 2010 17:18:16 GMT
All three ar magnificent albums but darkness on stormwatch really blows me away.
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Post by futureshock on Oct 31, 2010 7:47:17 GMT
I think I'm sure when I vote for SFTW, but it breaks my heart and smashes my kneecaps and puts my liver in an industrial clamp to vote against Heavy Horses. Both albums are great accomplishments in many ways; lyrics, music, album song collection being a match to a theme and being well selected, respecting a deep history of musical and cultural history and great studio engineering work. Both albums had great album covers.
I'm giving SFTW the edge because it's amazingly positive in performance; the mood in most of the songs is explosively so. That makes it much more RARE of an accomplishment, to provide such an emotional involvement, clarity and power throughout the entire creative process where such moods affect the entirety of the musical style, instrument choice, tones, well, it's just stunning to listen to.
Some songs on HH are also like that, like Rover, and some songs on HH are just diamond gems like the title song, One Brown Mouse, No Lullaby and Journeyman, but while HH is this idea of folk rock taken to high accomplishment, SFTW gets there and just went further into "magic touch" level. I don't think either album can be faulted for anything except as disco albums they suck.
Now, Stormwatch attempts something different and goes somewhere else. More flute work. More reliance on hard sounding guitar riffs with less studio or arrangement work to make the album sound rootsy. I like the flute work on Stormwatch quite a bit. The whole band plays well. Clearly an album more easily transferred to live performance than much of the other two. More reverb on that album than on most, since way back in the Stand Up days perhaps.
With the ongoing archeological revelations about the Sphinx (being created likely at least 10,500 BC), and the alignment of the three Giza pyramids being a match for the belt of Orion (for fascinating reasons), and related to the direction the Sphinx faces, by such people as Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval and John West, I have to wonder what Ian was informing himself about while writing that song. Why focus on Orion, of all the possible choices of constellations?
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