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Post by nonrabbit on Sept 3, 2016 19:01:08 GMT
I have always liked his deescription of Ian as the kind of guy you would love to meet in a small town but might have to ditch in the big city. spot on
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Post by nonrabbit on Sept 3, 2016 15:49:13 GMT
Don't think we've ever done this- in a thread anyway. It's interesting to read the negative as well as the gushing. I just came across the music critic Robert Christgau WikiHe's never really had much good to say about Tull over the years but then he says he's not a fan of prog so I suppose it kind of follows. He also has a scoring system. "Stand Up [Reprise, 1969] People who like the group think this is a great album. I don't like the group. I think it is an adequate album. B" More here from a 1972 article; www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Jethro+Tull The Tull Perplex- 1972" If Jethro Tull can be categorized at all, it is as a supercommercial Mothers of Invention." www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-aow/tull.php
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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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Post by nonrabbit on Sept 1, 2016 19:58:19 GMT
Hello, My Dad really loves Jethro Tull and I would like to take him to see Ian Anderson play in person. He saw Jethro Tull play when he was younger and I would love him to get to see Ian Anderson play again. The only location he can make it to is the Worcester Christmas performance. Does anyone in the community have 2 tickets spare or available to purchase? I know this is a long shot but I have got to try everything. Thank you for any help you can provide. Leigh Turner Hi Leigh, I checked out the Worcester cathedral web page worcestercathedral.co.uk/Wed 14 December, 7.30pm Concert by Jethro Tull Tickets are now on sale at Worcester Live Box Office 01905 611427 Good Luck and I hope your Dad enjoys the concert - let us know.
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Post by nonrabbit on Sept 1, 2016 9:03:53 GMT
and just to remind you what Howard Jones was getting up to in 1983
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Post by nonrabbit on Sept 1, 2016 9:00:18 GMT
“In 1981 or 1982, this digital technology was creeping in and it was clear a sea change was occurring. It would roll over everything and everyone, so you had to be part of it or not. I wanted to give it a go, but no-one else in the band did. It was exciting, musically enjoyable and very quick, but it wasn’t what people expected of JETHRO TULL. I was influenced by THOMAS DOLBY. He fitted the bill perfectly. He had that credibility… That electronic world was very exciting. HOWARD JONES was good and GARY NUMAN was amazing. He nailed it… I saw him on ‘Top Of The Pops’ and wanted to hate him, but I realised how important he was. And he was British!” – IAN ANDERSON, Word Magazine (April 2012) Recent article here on Walk Into The Light. www.electricity-club.co.uk/lost-albums-ian-anderson-walk-into-light/" Different Germany’ especially embraces both the electronic and progressive sides of Anderson’s career perfectly with a marvelous middle section featuring a bristling keyboard solo. The end result is not unlike JETHRO TULL fronting ULTRAVOX; of course, the circle was completed when MIDGE URE covered Tull’s ‘Living In The Past’ in 1985." So Gary in his jump suit appearing at a cathedral near you? i63.images obliterated by tinypic/20hvr5.jpg[/IMG] i68.images obliterated by tinypic/161mcfd.jpg[/IMG]
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 31, 2016 21:56:30 GMT
Ramblings from a Tullfan...
As Bernie says this Tull fan thing is for life. With the output over the years that's jumped about the place in terms of music, theme and lyrics you could be discussing, analisying and enjoying this for years.
And that's not including the concerts that the seasoned minstrel is still playing.
God bless you Sir!
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 31, 2016 21:49:11 GMT
Hi, I'm sorry to up such an old thread, though it's a really interressing analysis, and it came on the first page on google resaerch about Witch's Promise. That's why I'm here. I have nothing to say about the very good musical analysis, but I think the lyrics are misunderstood. Actually, the meaning is clear when we understand that the witch is a man, talking to the woman he loved. You can tell by the words "He" or "Him" used in the song. (The witch may be Ian himself). He made a promise to the woman, ( a promise of love, of a life together, something like that ... ) and she said that her feelings were true. But she didn't care about him that much, thinking she owned him yet, searching for something else, for more, a selfish woman, and he was in pain. Finally, time goes by and he decides that it's over, his promise won't happen and he won't be back tonight, she has nothing to wait anymore. It's a break up song. More broadly, it can be heard as the way ones loses his chances, too blind to see. I just wanted to share this with you, though I won't stay on this forum. I'm french you know, so writing in english isn't easy to me. Just let you know how much I love Jethro Tull too, for sure some of the very best musicians on Earth, IMO. Thank you for your interesting analysis billenplum. I hope you change your mind and come back to share your love of Jethro Tull in the future. Thanks from me too billenplum. I always thought that there were two theories for the lyrics. One of them being that it was about Terry Ellis - I haven't analysed the lyrics word for word on that one. The other one - the one I always went for was a relationship that finished because the woman didn't want it to continue. The bloke was very bitter about it and called her a witch or more precisely a witch who had made promises to him when the relationship was in full bloom. The only other abstract meaning of "Witches Promise" that I can find is from the book "Organisations of Witches In Great Britain" (from Google - not on my bedside table) where they say that a leading witch in covens, mainly American covens had a "Promise" to be the "Queen of Hell" but I don't think that fits into the song. " Lend me your ear while I call you a fool. You were kissed by a witch one night in the wood, and later insisted your feelings were true. The witch's promise was coming, believing he listened while laughing you flew." I think he's talking to himself however the use of the word "he" throws that out a bit but it could always be a mistake.
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 31, 2016 21:33:09 GMT
Photographed outside a school down here in Cornwall - Truro to be exact I recognise that school - it's Truro Girls School. You know whats been distracting the workers saw at least a hundred schoolgirls...
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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 nonrabbit on Aug 31, 2016 21:10:57 GMT
As I worked my way through Tull albums on the mezzanine floor of Tamworth Public library, none had a more appealing cover to an early-teenage boy than Broadsword And The Beast. Anderson represents himself as some kind of malevolent gnome, clutching the titular weapon. By this age I was into epic fantasy and had read Lord Of The Rings at least twice. The content is very appealing to that mindset too. All macho, epic stuff. Anderson was always looking for an excuse to dress up in quasi-mediaeval garb on stage and this provides plenty of opportunity. I’ve always assumed that the opening ‘Beastie’ is about fear and depression. I used to play this album in advance of my ‘O’Level exams. I found ‘Beastie’ (“Stare that Beastie in the face and really give him hell”), ‘Broadsword’ (“Bring me my Broadsword and clear understanding”) and ‘Slow Marching Band’ (“Walk on slowly, and keep on going”) very inspiring as ways of convincing me to have no fear and have confidence in myself (self-confidence had ebbed away during my time at secondary school). Tull have moved largely away from the more keyboard/electronic-led sound of ‘A’ (although ‘Watching You, Watching Me’ bucks the trend), this is definitely a rock album, which might explain the style of the cover, which does mirror the kind of stuff Iron Maiden and co were putting on their albums. On ‘Broadsword’ it took me a long time to work out that instead of “Childless Man”, Anderson was singing “Talisman”, either sort of makes sense in context although “Talisman” is clearly the right one. ‘Pussy Willow’ might be quite rude. I’m not sure. And ‘Seal Driver’ is a great fat lump of pompous rock. Nothing wrong with that though. It all ends with the low-key (and short) ‘Cheerio’. As hinted above, this is an important album from my youth, and it still sounds great. I love reading about how people made the same great discovery that I did all those years ago ie a new Tull album. It's well documented here about my love of Broadsword and like you say rockodyssey it's a rock album with a fantasy cover and that brought a lot of people back to the fold - myself included. Pirate, Nordic, swashbuckling Ian was rather sexy and his humour ( a feature of just about every album - maybe apart from Stormwatch?) stops it becoming naff* Seal Driver is a stonker!* *naff - cheesy *stonker - brilliant
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 31, 2016 20:54:26 GMT
The SFTW reissue will blow our minds, I tell you... Seconded
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 27, 2016 13:43:24 GMT
Not sure if we've put this up before however it should be in this thread. A very interesting interview with a very talented and genial gentleman. John teaches at Bristol and Bath Spa universities. I like how a good part of the start of that interview is given over to weight allowance for touring. I can just see Ian's face if John wanted to add perhaps a urinal or a stuffed cat onto the 20 kilos (?) allowed for travelling. OverviewMusician John O'Hara trained at the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied contemporary percussion, drums and piano. He subsequently joined the Rambert Dance Company in London, working as a percussionist there, before becoming Composer and Musical Director for the Bristol Old Vic. He joined the band Rubbing Elbows, with which he has toured extensively. In 2004, the Welsh National Opera commissioned him to compose a children’s opera. Its success led to further commissions, as well as frequent compositions for wildlife, drama, and documentary television. As a guest tutor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, he worked adapting and scoring Quadrophenia for the stage.
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 27, 2016 13:26:13 GMT
As mentioned on the Blackpool thread, I've just finished reading Bill Bryson's new book - The Road To Little Dribbling. I do like him, his Des Moines viewpoint which is now well sprinkled with a British one,he's been living here for decades now, his talent for spotting the ridiculous eccentrics of the UK and his love of travelling always works for me. I've earmarked a few places that he visited in this book for my trips around Britain when I'm old and in receipt of a discount railcard however apart from him liking Ian's old haunt of Lytham St Annes he can't find fault with our John's place - Durham. As Bill says; "perfect little city" and described the North East as "one of the friendliest corners of the planet" Also his description of Durham cathedral makes me want to see it that and the pics that John has put up over the years! i65.images obliterated by tinypic/2i9i9zp.jpg[/IMG] It's a good book and worth a read with lots of "laugh out loud" bits ....as they say. Wish Ian had "done" Durham this Christmas and then I could have seen it all and popped into John's for tea i66.images obliterated by tinypic/aerzbb.jpg[/IMG]
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 27, 2016 13:07:00 GMT
I had to check to see if that was from across the pond and yes it was *eyes to ceiling* ....... Whats annoying is the gigantic leap from "medieval" to "Tolkien" to "Jethro Tull" The leap from medieval to Tull might be permissible and medieval rock is one description for Tull but medieval and Tolkien are two completely different things. I'm not just discussing words either I don't think that there is any Tolkienism in Ian's work - please correct me if I'm wrong. The only tentative link I've ever seen is the likeness between the Wandering Man with his pitchfork and Gandalf with his wand and that's pushing it. The topic is "Fantasy" and even then Ian's fantasy influences were never like Jimmy Page's eg Alistair Crowley ie black magic, it was always a bit more rustic based. Might be a good idea for a thread we could call it Ian's Fantasy Anyway, the annoyed nonrabbit is crawling back into her lair. psst don't get me started on "medievaliZing"
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 27, 2016 12:49:25 GMT
Hello Steve! Thanks for that. Hope you enjoyed Edinburgh. I'll be over there soon however I'll miss the Festival this year. My daughter lives in Edinburgh and as a matter of fact teaches in Ian's old school - I have indeed searched around the classrooms looking for evidence "Ian Scott Anderson woz here" or something much more eloquent I was looking around for details on John's composing for Troilus and Cressida - this production seems to have only good/great reviews, and found a link via this interview John gave while in Italy this year or last. See question/answers on composing at 17.53 and at 22.38 John's soundcloud page with excerpts form Troilus and Cressida. soundcloud.com/john_oharatrailer for Troilus and Cressida - Edinburgh (and elsewhere) production
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 26, 2016 7:57:47 GMT
Not so much an added extra but . . . anyone found Martin's wrong guitar cord in LITP ? No but I heard a wrong chord in another song recently but I can't remember which one.
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 26, 2016 7:56:09 GMT
Ok, Ian has a little joke in "Ladies". I never heard it mentioned here. Took me over 20 years till I got it. Anyone know what I'm talking about? I think I maybe know what you mean Is it what someone says very quickly at the very end of the song after a pause? It doesn't sound like Ian. At the start of the song in what sounds like a restaurant, I can hear conversations and a woman asking "coffee darling?" before a loud "shhh"
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 21:31:10 GMT
Man with cap i68.images obliterated by tinypic/10xudfn.jpg[/IMG] Man thinks he has cap i64.images obliterated by tinypic/166xhch.jpg[/IMG] "Wyatt Earp" looks better than man with cap. i65.images obliterated by tinypic/wmhysm.jpg[/IMG]
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 21:04:18 GMT
Random teenager " dad is blasting Jethro Tull so loud in the car and I can't tell him to turn it down because of what he had to deal with for 18 yrs from me"
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 20:02:20 GMT
I think John might have it The only other one I can think of is Alf Garnett - but was he in the army? Hello snaffler Hope alls well! I'm actually returning to the Homeland in a few weeks - for good well until I get fed up with weather there too and then I'll head south.
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 19:56:32 GMT
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 19:49:52 GMT
Ian left leafy, middle class Edinburgh to live in "Edinburgh-on-sea"
He has described his childhood as being like an only child in as far as his siblings were much older and had already gone off to College when he was still young. I have a feeling without going into numbers, that it was probably just Ian and his parents living in Lytham.
His parents were therefore in the older bracket obviously due to age and probably given the decade set in their ways by manner and custom.
I think he must have had a certain amount of loneliness in his younger days and as many have said in similar situations that it can give rise to a higher imagination or use of, and therefore a greater lean towards creativity.
He was sheltered ( from poverty) in the sense of having a comfortable, privileged, middle class upbringing.
I hazard a guess given the 1950's and even when he was allowed to "venture" into deepest, gaudiest Blackpool that he wouldn't have seen much in the way of poverty or hardship not until he went to London.
He probably saw his first homeless person or certainly more than he would ever have seen in Edinburgh or Blackpool, and we know what that achieved.
I wonder how and what part his upbringing influenced him and how different would the lyrics have been if he'd been brought up in something different?
I theorise.
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 19:31:24 GMT
This is what I mean about finding a thread that has more than you think from the title. I'm currently reading Bill Bryson's new book The Road To Little Dribbling his follow up after many years to Notes From A Small Island. Funny man. i67.images obliterated by tinypic/b5qgxj.jpg[/IMG] Well Bill and I were in Lancashire last night - not literally well yes literally as he wrote the chapter and I was reading it. Bill just loves Lytham St Anne the teenage dwelling place of Ian Anderson. Here's what he says; "I travelled by train to Preston" - that got me excited. "Lytham is a tidy little town of rosy red brick: prosperous, neat as a pin, comfortably Victorian.... It has terrific old-fashioned shops. I was particularly taken by George Ripley's Menswear shop (established 1952) that still sold cardigans with stripes and chevrons... Tom Towers Tasty Cheese shop established 1949 and Whelans Fish n Chip shop established 1937. The reason I'm mentioning this is those shops and that description hasn't changed since Ian was running around the place. Bill goes on to say; "On the basis of all this, I nominated Lytham as best small town in the north and in a spirit of celebration I wheeled into a cheery-looking establishment called the Ship and Royal for a quick one before bedtime." i68.images obliterated by tinypic/29djlfp.jpg[/IMG] i67.images obliterated by tinypic/n365j8.jpg[/IMG] i64.images obliterated by tinypic/sm4mqp.jpg[/IMG]
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 18:58:20 GMT
love the little tune that fades out the end of Mother Goose.....it reminds me of another... at 3.44 It's the fading out of "Cheerio!!"
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 18:51:35 GMT
I've been spending much too long looking into this ( from memory) love the little tune that fades out the end of Mother Goose.....it reminds me of another... and this has always been the sexiest " yeah" in one of the most romantic songs ever written - 1.10
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 18:28:58 GMT
Graham and I were at the very beginning of the Forum all those years ago and I don't know about Graham but I'm usually pretty good at remembering every thread that's ever been made on here - I'm not boasting - it just comes naturally I've just spent ages looking for a topic in order to add something to it and I've noticed and not for the first time, that there are threads that run into each other or have the same subject but lots of branches. I was looking for "what influenced Ian" and there's loads of interesting threads about books/music etc that have played their part. Point is - we're a huge Forum stuffed full of Tull. So take the time to discover every section.
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 10:03:00 GMT
My favourite of all added extras is the " typewriter" pinging "bringing dreams down to size again..."
Here around 3.07
Ahhh Pussywillow
"ping" at 0.30
Runs from the train. Hear her typewriter humming, Cutting dreams down to size again.
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 9:49:49 GMT
And talking of Auld Lang Syne he liked to add his Scottishness to songs at various times although only this one springs to mind at the moment.
The famous "Och Aye" at 2.25
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Post by nonrabbit on Aug 25, 2016 9:42:41 GMT
Hi G. Nice to hear such Tullish enthusium. I love what you are saying about always finding little things in Ians songs. That reminds me of one. I listened to "Ladies" for about 20 years when I got the little joke Ian included in the song. Anyone else get it? No one has ever mentioned it here. Are you talking about "Auld Lang Syne" dubbed in on sax at the end??? If so, I thought that I was the only one that caught that! We have a thread for that jethrotull.proboards.com/thread/2968/added-extras-songPlease feel free to add to any threads or to start one - that's what we're all about!
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