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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 22, 2021 6:50:13 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 21, 2021 16:10:18 GMT
Just noticed there is a box set for sale on eBay UK at present. Auction finishes on Tuesday and current highest bid is £87. Fabulous - thanks! Yes - go for it
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 21, 2021 16:08:36 GMT
I too have mixed feelings about TOTRnR; as you say a couple of ok tracks but the rest "filler". I maybe being a bit harsh but the quality of the vinyl when it first came out was crap and hearing the title track in concert so many times over the years has been really off-putting for me. Yes MD....I like From a Dead Beat, and The Chequered Flag. Salamander is ok, nice sounding acoustic guitars. David Palmer's sax solo in "From a Dead Beat.." is sublime. For someone not renowned for playing the sax, it's awesome I took my initial copy back to Landau's in Sutton and got a replacement copy which wasn't much better ; I think that '76 was a bad era for the plastics industry. Or I could have just been plain unlucky
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 21, 2021 7:11:49 GMT
I love all the albums, maybe the one I didn't love when it came out, and still is not a favourite is Too Old......it's not one I listen to but has a couple of tracks I like.. I too have mixed feelings about TOTRnR; as you say a couple of ok tracks but the rest "filler". I maybe being a bit harsh but the quality of the vinyl when it first came out was crap and hearing the title track in concert so many times over the years has been really off-putting for me.
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 21, 2021 6:59:54 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 21, 2021 6:57:30 GMT
tidal.com/magazine/article/jethro-tull-50-tour/1-54355Jethro Tull on the State of the Whole WorldIan Anderson talks our planet and its troubles before the band goes on tour. March 8, 2019 by Brenna Ehrlich Jethro Tull may not have existed as we know it today without a relatively unknown Chicago blues singer: J.B. Lenoir. To hear frontman Ian Anderson tell it, seeing Lenoir play in the mid ‘60s taught the aspiring musician that music could have an impact; that it could mean more. Anderson recalls hearing Lenoir perform two songs about the 1965 marches from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery that sought to secure voting rights and other civil liberties for African Americans: “Alabama Blues” and “Alabama March.” “I wasn’t really in touch with what was happening [in Alabama], but that had a profound impact on me in terms of a clarion cry,” Anderson tells TIDAL. “I didn’t have those experiences, so I couldn’t sing about those things, but what I could do was take it as an example and try to find my own experiences and things that I could sing about.” More than 50 years later, and Anderson and his British prog-rock band Tull are still gung-ho about their causes of choice: nature and conservation. From the simple joys of the pastoral English countryside (1978’s Heavy Horses) to wider ruminations on the environment (1979’s Stormwatch), Jethro Tull has always been concerned with the preservation of our planet. And they’re still making music that incorporates those ideas — both onstage and off. The band is kicking off the second leg of its 50th anniversary tour on March 9 in Atlantic City, and plan to hit up cities around the world until the year’s end. Fittingly, Anderson is more apt to chat about the state of the world today — compared to 50 years ago — than his upcoming tour. “Memorable? I don’t know. That’s like asking which one of my children is the most memorable or which one of my cats is the most memorable,” he replies when asked about the dates he played in 2018. And, when probed about what video projections and onstage visual wizardry fans can expect come this weekend, there’s a shrug in his voice “I think that audiences these days probably expect a little bit more of a show that just you wandering on to the stage in a T-shirt and jeans and hacking away through a few old favorites and wandering off again into the night.” What follows, then, is not so much an interview about the legacy of an iconic band responsible for bringing the flute to rock fans the world over (not to mention classic tracks like “Thick as a Brick). Instead, Anderson took the reins, galloping from topics as diverse as our over-lusty meat consumption to what he sees as the talent show tackiness of modern music. I heard that Tull was working on new music. Can you share anything about what’s in store? I just completed four songs and I have another three, which the band has done backing tracks on, but I have yet to do flute and vocals on. And then there are another five songs, which I will record during the next three or four months, that are more acoustic tracks — not full-band rock songs. It’s thematic and conceptual; I don’t want to talk about what it is, because it would be giving the game away. Tull has experimented in its share of genres. What can we expect from the band in 2019? In many ways, we’re pretty much as we were in 1969 when we got off the plane for the first time in the USA. We are generally what was referred to in 1969 in the British music press a progressive rock band. I think what that was supposed to signify was music that was a little more eclectic, that drew upon other influences, not just the traditional American rock & roll or rhythm and blues. That might have been fine for the Rolling Stones, but we were more ambitious as far as drawing on influences outside the kind of obvious ones. It really kicked off, in inspirational terms, with the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album and Pink Floyd’s debut album Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which was kind of wanky, psychedelic, progressive rock. Two years later, I think progressive rock was sort of born as a title — a designation for music that was more experimental and more… I don’t like to use the word ‘intellectual,’ but it was about stuff, as opposed to throwing musical paint at the wall. I’m happy being part of that era of music that is, to this day, still something that is dear to the hearts of a lot of people, young and old, who want a little more challenge in listening enjoyment. You’re reissuing Stormwatch, which in many way deals with conservation. Is that still a going concern for the band these days? We are entering into a very different world, compared to the one that even you were born into. When I look back to the changes since 1947, not in terms of global warming, but in population terms, there’s slightly more than three times as many people living on planet Earth as there were the day that I was born. That in it itself should give pause for thought. That’s a very, very scary scenario when you think of having to feed an ever-increasing planetary population. We can look at disastrous effects of climate change on food production, while nations of the world, who shall remain nameless, continue to eat meat three times per day and expensively produce cattle, and, in the ongoing destruction of rainforests, the crops we use as cattle feed. We should be planting crops for us to eat, not cattle. If you were growing up in the ’50s and the ‘60s as a child, you were witnessing a lot of changes in the world in terms of agriculture, for example. Since I was born, the tiny little three-cylinder Massey Ferguson tractor gave way to bigger Massey Ferguson tractors and then to the colossal beasts that today trundle up and down the fields The whole world is so different now. But I watched this develop as a child, and I suppose my generation would be finding it a little easier to see these changes than perhaps someone born into it only 10 or 20 years ago. Will issues like this factor into new music? I think that, in many ways, issues of ethical matters — whether it’s to do with conservation or animal welfare or climate change or just plain old politics, the prattling of the world, the steady swing toward populism and extremism in politics and the very divisive nature of politics, increasingly so throughout Europe and certainly in the USA — of course it’s going to be fodder for songs and music. But it’s not something that I’m doing as a crusade. I just have a natural inclination to reflect things around me. In some ways, of course, as musicians in the latter part of the 20th century, we were not only reflecting what was around us, but we also played a small, but I think significant, role in changing that world around us. Bands like us were part of what represented a quest for freedom, artistic freedom and cultural freedom. … I think we can all look back on that time [the ‘60s and ‘70s] as being a time when the reach of western music was such that it did illuminate and bring about cultural change. That said, I think the chances of Jethro Tull music being released in North Korea are pretty slim. And in Iran, it’s a flat zero. Do you think music has the power to impact cultural change today? I don’t think it can quite have the effect that it did back then, partly because it’s so universal and taken for granted. In terms of cultural change, there’s so many musical formats that are just so up their own asses — they’re just unbelievably repetitive and derivative. All these awful talent shows where people just copy other people. It’s just really quite dreary and mindless. I don’t think you can say that that’s changing culture; it’s just become so mass-oriented, so immediate and so taken for granted. I don’t think it has quite the spark that it did back in the ‘50s through to the turn of the century — it was 50 years of jazz, blues, rock & roll. These were the things that had a huge impact, not only in the USA and the UK, but throughout Europe and throughout the world. Also paralleled by the changes in culture, like the relative growth of freedom for women to play a part in society beyond simple childbearing and cooking dinner. The beginnings of the development of equality for those of other races and other religious beliefs. Things really, really changed.
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 20, 2021 7:20:16 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 20, 2021 7:13:00 GMT
Hello Fairporters, We’re delighted to tell you that Fairport’s Cropredy Convention has been awarded a further £120,000 in Round Three of the government’s Cultural Relief Fund (CRF) programme enabling us to continue to be #HereForCulture. Festival Organiser Gareth Williams says: "Postponing Cropredy for a second year really strained our resources and those of our suppliers. The funding we received in CRF Rounds One and Two was invaluable in keeping the festival office open and supporting the businesses we need to be there for us next August. In fact, without the funding I’m not sure we could have survived. But now we can look forward with confidence to welcoming you all back to the field next summer." Cropredy updatesTalking of Cropredy, Richard Digance can’t make it next year (he’s at The Edinburgh Festival) but we’ll be announcing his replacement for the Saturday lunchtime slot very soon. The rest of the line-up, including The Trevor Horn Band, Steve Hackett’s Genesis Revisited and Clannad, remains the same. Cropredy Tickets are on sale now and with Christmas in sight now is a good time to buy - full details here. www.fairportconvention.com/Cropredy warm-up showsAs some of you may have heard, Banbury Trades and Labour Club is closing down. That means we’ve had to find an alternative venue for our pre-Cropredy warm-up concerts. We can now announce that the two shows will be held on Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th August 2021 at Hook Norton Brewery. We’ll be installing a marquee with seating for the concerts and there’ll be a licensed bar of course! If you want to book dinner before the show the brewery’s own Malt House Kitchen serves excellent food and so does the Pear Tree Inn at the foot of the lane. For those who’d like to book accommodation near the brewery, the following local Hook Norton Village pubs do beautiful rooms – The Pear Tree Inn, The Sun Inn and The Gate Hangs High. There’s more good news -- the new venue means increased capacity so we’ll have more tickets available for each night. Don’t forget that on the Monday Dave Mattacks will join us on drums and on Tuesday we’ll have both DM and Richard Thompson with us to perform Full House. Both nights will sell out really quickly so don’t miss out – book now to catch the Cropredy warm-ups in this idyllic setting. Tickets on sale here! For further information regarding the Warm-Up shows, please check out the FAQs on the website. Christmas is coming…
What could be better than a Fairport stocking-filler to go with your warm-up tickets? We have a couple of T-shirts that may interest you. First, the popular Farewell, Farewell design, originally printed for Fairport’s Cropredy concert in 1979. We also have a Fairport seasonal offering portraying us outside our favourite pub. Both shirts will be limited in numbers so don’t hang about - pre-order them from our online store here.https://www.fairportconvention.com/ On the roadDon’t forget that in the run-up to Christmas, Fairport members are out with their other projects. Simon with The Albion Christmas Band, Chris with St Agnes Fountain and Peggy with Anthony John Clarke. All the tour details are on our gigs page here.https://www.fairportconvention.com/ Finally...We wish you all the very best for the forthcoming festive season and we look forward to meeting up again in the New Year. Stay safe everyone. Love from Simon, Peggy, Ric, Chris and Gerry
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 20, 2021 6:55:43 GMT
I've never liked that performance, Ian sounds nervous or something..the vocal is not great..... Agreed, it's not a great performance, and Ian looks way older than his age at the time (especially when you compare him to Phil Collins who has actual hair!) I was just surprised that it had ever happened 07-Jul-1982, Princes Trust Rock Gala, England - Jethro Tull With Phil Collins
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 19, 2021 7:08:38 GMT
Screen shots from the Swing In documentary, 1969 JETHRO TULL - "Swing In" Full Documentary Nov 27th 1969 HD131,439 views Jan 30, 2014 RemyTena2 4.62K subscribers
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 19, 2021 6:52:37 GMT
www.loudersound.com/features/kip-winger-10-records-that-changed-my-lifeKip Winger: 10 records that changed my lifeBy Fraser Lewry ( Classic Rock ) about 1 hour ago As Kip Winger heads to London for his 7th annual acoustic show, he picks 10 records that changed his life Jethro Tull - The Broadsword and the Beast"From the age of 21 I listened to this record non-stop for a period of about three years. Amazing vibe on this record. Jethro Tull were always a big influence on me and had a lot to do with my learning classical music. I think this is one of their best and went unfairly unnoticed."
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 18, 2021 7:09:14 GMT
justlistentothis.co.uk/reviews/mick-abrahams-long-long-gone/Mick Abrahams – Long Long GonePosted by Pete Sargeant | Jan 29, 2017 Earlier this year, some of us made sure we got to the tribute show for Mick Abrahams at The Borderline, with various Rhythm Kings, Nine Below’s, Mungo Jerry’s and Elliott Randall, Clive Bunker and more. Mick himself, post-stroke was able to perform a few numbers, to the delight of the audience. If any more proof were needed of the industry respect for this original Jethro Tull and Blodwyn Pig guitarist, this fine double-disc release provides it. Taking the form of a CD of instrumentals plus a Live DVD of electric and acoustic shows, Long Long Gone is quite a treat for Brit Blues followers. On the Instrumentals album, all the cuts seem to have two titles – e.g. Chuck Brick aka ‘Berry Drive’, which sounds like an old Chess B-side by the man himself, throbbing bassline and fluid guitar. ‘Forty Three’ has soaring slide and should be opening a bounty hunter adventure film. ‘Lassoo’ has mean stalking axe and claves in the mix whilst ‘Nee Par’ nods to Bert Jansch and Davey Graham, intricate tumbling notes with an elegant delivery. The Acoustic footage on the DVD takes in stage favourites like ‘Billy The Kid’, the chilling ‘Black Night’, ‘Going Down Slow’ and the jaunty ‘Jesus On The Mainline’. The electric set includes the meaty ‘The Victim’, Muddy’s ‘I Wonder Who’ and a roaring and freewheeling ‘Cats Squirrel’. The crowd at Bishops Stortford Blues Club that night were certainly at the right gig. As an overview of this master muso and an enjoyable set of songs well-delivered this is pretty much an essential purchase and not just for long-time fans of Abrahams. Pete Sargeant
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 18, 2021 7:05:04 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 17, 2021 17:37:15 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 17, 2021 7:02:17 GMT
www.rockantenne.de/programm/podcasts/whole-lotta-talk/episode-36-ian-anderson-jethro-tull09/26/2019 | Whole Lotta Talk: Interviews that rock! Whole Lotta Talk - Episode 36: Ian Anderson / Jethro TullHe revolutionized rock music with the flute - and even at over 70 he still has it all: Ian Anderson! For the upcoming tour we were able to call the prog grandmaster. He's written thousands of notes and still gets them to the point on stage: Ian Anderson ! The 72-year-old Scot is a living legend. With his band Jethro Tull, Anderson shaped not only progressive rock, but the rock world as a whole forever. And even if Jethro Tull no longer exists in this form, Anderson keeps the whole thing going under his name and is busy touring the globe. In November we welcome Ian Anderson back to the rock republic and were allowed to ask him a little bit in advance for you. In an exclusive ROCK ANTENNE interview, Ian Anderson tells us what we can expect from the concerts, how long it should go on for him and what he thinks about the future, world politics, Brexit and the climate. Have fun listening! Listen to episode #36
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 17, 2021 6:50:19 GMT
www.pattayamail.com/arts-entertainment/life-at-33-13-living-in-the-glorious-past-27978Life at 33⅓: Living in the glorious pastBy Carl MeyerNovember 17, 2021 Jethro Tull: Living In The Past (Chrysalis) A better package than this was hard to imagine in 1972. The double album covers all bases. It’s a single-collection, it‘s a best of, it’s outtakes, it’s alive, it’s a gorgeous sample of the band’s output – two long playing records in an elaborate gate-fold “leather bound” sleeve that contains a large colour photo booklet with over 50 photos of the band. However, the ambitious project has one drawback: Compromise. The four sides are split up in themes leaving almost no room for B-sides. They also picked the wrong version of “Teacher” (the one from “Benefit” rather than the single-version). But these slight flaws do not stop “Living In The Past” from being an impressive journey through the band’s career up to that point. They flew in on the coattails of the British blues boom in the late 60s, breaking away from it almost before they landed (say goodbye to Mick Abrahams), leaving Ian Anderson completely in charge. His sources of musical inspirations were numerous and with Jethro Tull he tried to blend them all together. The electric blues was joined by electric British folk, acoustic folk, classical music, hard rock and soft rock, singer-songwriter stuff, elements of pure pop. There were even glimpses of the concept-album monster – and a touch of jazz. By their second album “Stand Up” (1969), Jethro Tull already sounded like nothing else in rock. That album became the foundation from where they evolved. At a time when rock groups were confusing greatness with loudness, Anderson steered his band through organic, subdued arrangements that grew on the listener rather than punch him in the face. It was bold music with strong hints of what we now call prog-rock. Anderson’s focus on timing, his relentless demands on the musicians, his almost mathematical calculations in concept works like “Thick As A Brick” and “A Passion Play” gives him a certain kinship to Frank Zappa. “Living In The Past” sums up the band just before they entered a pretentious phase that was a wee bit too inaccessible for some (me included). Sides 1 and 2 are chock-full of wonderful singles. They are playful and adventurous, but always built round strong choruses and quite often guitar riffs that nails them to your brain. Anderson’s merry flute gives the songs their distinctive fingerprints. Personal favourites are “Living In The Past”, the double A-side “Teacher” / “The Witch’s Promise” and the melancholic and beautiful “Inside”. Side 3 captures the band live at Carnegie Hall, 1970, working their way through two long tracks with lots of space for improvisations that are not that interesting to be honest. But as a time piece I accept it willingly. Side 4 delivers the amazingly cool “Locomotive Breath” (what a riff!) from “Aqualung” and the complete five-track EP “Life’s A Long Song” which shows the band from a subdued, almost unplugged side performing some of the finest ballads Anderson ever wrote. The album is an excellent summary of Jethro Tull’s first and most immediate phase. Phase two, the concept albums, had already started a few months earlier with “Thick As A Brick” and would be somewhat more difficult to deal with.
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 17, 2021 6:36:03 GMT
Happy Birthday Martin
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 17, 2021 6:26:40 GMT
somethingelsereviews.com/2021/11/15/animals-reimagined-a-tribute-to-pink-floyd/The original album was sort of like that: It was dark and venomous. Melody Maker called it “punk Floyd.” And, indeed, it’s an album that tore into rock grooves which certainly juxtaposed much of the band’s spacey history – and, perhaps, agreed with that “I hate Pink Floyd” T-shirt worn by the Sex Pistols guy, Johnny Rotten. Dave Gilmore got unleashed!
But to get all literary again, British poet William Blake redeemed Milton (in his epic of the same name) and suggested his Satan was, in truth, an energized voice of rebellion and liberty. The new multi-act Animals Reimagined: A Tribute to Pink Floyd follows Blake’s muse and contorts that dark venom into a sonic and colorful prog-rock celebration.The forthcoming LP’s initial tune, “Pigs on the Wing,” is a brief melodic bit, but it allows Cutting Crew’s Nick van Eede a short cameo vocal. Jethro Tull legend Martin Barre also plays a dancing acoustic guitar, and both performances serve to enhance the original.
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 16, 2021 7:18:28 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 16, 2021 7:13:21 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 15, 2021 17:20:11 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 15, 2021 7:14:30 GMT
Ian Anderson Christmas Shows 2nd December 2021 Lichfield Lichfield Cathedral United Kingdom Time: 7:30pm. Age restrictions: All Ages. SOLD OUT 3rd December 2021 Coventry Coventry Cathedral United Kingdom Time: 7:30pm. 4th December 2021 Bury St Edmunds St Edmundsbury Cathedral United Kingdom Time: 7:30pm. More tickets just released.
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 15, 2021 6:56:00 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 15, 2021 6:49:07 GMT
Jethro Tull 13 Rock Instrumental unfinished master 5,379 views Oct 29, 2019 ЯR Rinec 400 subscribers
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 15, 2021 6:44:52 GMT
www.themorningsun.com/2021/11/13/column-through-the-past-brightly-14/Column: Through the past brightlyBy DON NEGUS | dhughnegus@gmail.com | November 13, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. I’m not in love with the modern world I’m not in love with the modern world It was a torch driving the savages back to the trees Modern world has modern ways And I don’t mention it since it’s changed -Wolf Parade from “Modern World”We’ll go walking out While others shout of war’s disaster Oh, we won’t give in Let’s go living in the past – Jethro Tull from “Living in the Past” Remus– I hate the Modern World. Except, I guess, for advances in dental surgery. OK, and let’s throw in wider career opportunities for women. But that’s it, other than advances in dental surgery and greater job opportunities for women, I hate the Modern World. And babies not dying from diphtheria. But that’s it, other than advances in dental surgery, opportunities for women and babies not dying from diphtheria, I hate the Modern World.
Alright, and race relations. We have a ways to go but there’s no denying, people of color have made great strides since the Jim Crow laws were in effect in the South back when I was a boy. But that’s it. Other than advances in dental surgery, career opportunities for women, no diphtheria for babies and better race relations, I hate the Modern World.
And well, maybe craft beer. God knows, there are probably more than 300 micro-breweries in Michigan alone these days. Right, but that’s it. Other than advances in dental surgery, job opportunities for women, no babies dying from diphtheria, improved race relations and increased access to good beer, I HATE THE MODERN WORLD.
And what do I hate the most these days or at least for today? Washing machines. More specifically MY washing machine. I do hate it so. I came home from whatever I was doing, besides not having a job, four days ago and threw a load of clothes in our 6-month old, $700 G.E. washing machine. The tub filled, the agitator agitated . . . and as The Boss might say, baby, that was all she wrote. No drain, no spin, no rinse, just a tub full of soapy water and my clothes. For all practical purposes, the beast appears to be on permanent hiatus.
Do you imagine I may have cursed? Yes, yes I did. A lot and with great enthusiasm. You might have heard me if you live closer than Shepherd.
I don’t know what make my mother’s washing machine was when I was growing up but it ran like a champ for over 20 years and while you had to plug it in, the works were all mechanical, you didn’t have a (expletive deleted) computer chip calling the shots.
I tried to be proactive. I turned the dial to specifically drain and spin. Nada. I unplugged it for an hour and plugged it back in. Nada.
The following day, I phoned the local appliance store where I’d purchased the boat anchor last spring and since it’s still under warrantee, they gave me the number for the G.E. hotline. After a half hour dealing with phone annoying prompts, I eventually reached the appropriate department and was informed that a repair technician would be dispatched, with alacrity, to my home in . . . nine days. Really?
Since I want to avoid any charges, I sought out all my purchase paperwork. Owner’s Manual? Check. Laminated Owner’s Reference Guide? Check. Energy Guide? Check. Plastic pouch containing several still unused Tide Power Pods? Check. Purchase and installation receipts? NO. Damn it.
Buddy from ABC Warehouse to the rescue. He pulled my purchase information out of the ether and printed me a copy. Whew.
Yesterday, I hauled two trash bags of sopping wet clothes to the laundromat just like some homeless person. Or a college student. After buying $20 in quarters and spending a quarter of an hour digging them out of the recessed change tray with my gnarly arthritic fingers, I rewashed my laundry and lugged it home to dry. In only five more days, my washer should once again be operational.
The marvelous Modern World.
And so it went.
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 14, 2021 17:46:30 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 14, 2021 17:40:39 GMT
Hello from a new member who, after discovering JT via Songs From the Wood and The Broadsword and the Beast at Uni in the mid 80s, had a bit of a falling out over Under Wraps. However, the Best Of albums (in their various guises) have remained in my playlist for decades. I finally got to see the great Mr Anderson on his Homo Erraticus tour (a good, solid album, but outshone by the classic Tull second half of the concert) but only really dabbled with the later Tull and solo IA albums. I'm not sure whether it's been working from home during the pandemic when I've had more time to listen, but I've been working my way through all of the albums and have rediscovered my, well, passion, I suppose, for all things Tull. Maybe I have the Zealot Gene Anyway, I happened upon this forum and am looking forward to news, updates and interesting discussions Hi smint100 and a warm welcome to The JT Forum.
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 14, 2021 8:40:39 GMT
www.prog-sphere.com/interviews/reflection-club-interview/REFLECTION CLUB: Declaration of LoveBy Prog Sphere on May 11, 2021 Jethro Tull‘s 1972 magnum opus ‘Thick as a Brick‘ is considered as one of the cornerstone releases in the progressive rock genre. It is one of those albums that has shaped the genre and put the foundation of what is to come decades later. Berlin-based musician and songwriter Lutz Meinert has launched a progressive rock project Reflection Club in 2017 with one of the goals being paying tribute to the English formation’s mentioned release. In his own words, “Reflection Club picks up the musical style of Jethro Tull during their progressive rock phase between 1972 and 1973, expands on it with elements of jazz and fusion and creates a novel, nearly 48-minute-long, original composition, divided into 11 parts.” This composition, entitled ‘Still Thick as a Brick,’ is available since March this year via Bandcamp. Reflection Club was a part of our recent Progotronics compilation, and for that occasion Meinert answered our questionnaire. Define the mission of Reflection Club. When I founded the project, I was initially only interested in producing a homage to “Thick as a Brick” by Jethro Tull, reviving their sound of that time with my own composition and expanding it with further jazz and prog elements. The band name “Reflection Club” fit perfectly to the project, because “Still Thick as a Brick” is indeed a musical reflection on the progressive rock of the 70s, here in the style of Jethro Tull. The lyrics are also a reflection on events that concern me and are considered more or less central theme in the form of a concept album. After the great response to our debut so far, Reflection Club’s mission is to delight the world with more interesting concept albums of this kind. Tell me about the creative process that informed your recent album “Still Thick as a Brick,” and the themes it covers. When I heard “Thick as a Brick 2″ by Ian Anderson in 2012, I spontaneously came up with the idea of writing a kind of sequel of my own to “Thick as a Brick,” stylistically closer to the original work “Thick as a Brick,” Jethro Tull’s 1972 classic. I immediately thought of the vocal melodies and themes, which I recorded in the studio. I also had the story for the lyrics in my head. However, at that time I was in the middle of working on “Psychedelic Teatime”, the debut album of my other psychedelic-prog project Margin. And I wanted to finish that one first in peace and quiet before I ventured into a new project. The subject matter of “Still Thick as Brick” is quite complex, as it relates to different levels and areas of the concept album. First of all, there are the lyrics, which are about someone who is at a crossroads at the height of his career in the financial sector and looks back critically on his professional and private life. Very dubious practices in the financial world are described, as well as the development of the small town of Rellington from a sleepy fishing village to a hyped scene. If you take a look at the enclosed music magazine “Rellington Stone”, you learn that the main character in the song lyrics is a certain George Bosten, the successful financial mogul who suddenly disappeared completely from the public eye a few years ago and who, according to rumors, co-wrote the song lyrics of “Still Thick as a Brick”. The Rellington Stone has more articles about the album and Rellington, and the DVD also visualizes the complete music with an elaborate slide show. Ultimately, the album story is only fully revealed when you read the lyrics and the Rellington Stone magazine, watch the video, and of course listen to the music while doing so. Everything complements each other, as a good concept album should. What is the message of “Still Thick as a Brick”? Lyrically, it’s about how much of your conscience you’re willing to sacrifice for power and wealth. Musically, it’s a declaration of love to the progressive rock of the early ’70s, especially that in the vein of Jethro Tull. How did you document the music while it was being formulated? When I think of an interesting theme, I just sing it into my smartphone. I regularly listen to these recordings in the studio and immediately record them on an instrumental track if I still like them. That’s how it went with “Still Thick as a Brick.” Is the dynamic flow of the pieces carefully architected? Especially when you’re working on a longer continuous composition, like Still Thick as a Brick, which is almost 48 minutes long, you have to be very careful that the dramaturgy is right. The interplay of quiet and fast parts, of dense and sparsely arranged sections, and of acoustic and electric arrangements must be right, so that the music carries you through the entire composition without you feeling bored or rushed in between. For me, a long track like this is like an exciting journey, where on the one hand you don’t know what’s coming next, but on the other hand every now and then you see something familiar that you can orient yourself by. Describe the approach to recording the album. First I recorded the 11 individual parts one after the other, complete with all instrumental and vocal tracks. Among them were dummy tracks that were later replaced by the other musicians like vocals, flute and guitars. After that, I listened to everything over and over again, tweaked the transitions and arrangements, tried out different timbres until everything was coherent. It was a bit like being in the practice room with the band, when the pieces finally take on the form that everyone feels comfortable with, through frequent playing and trial and error. I then recorded Ulla’s flute in the studio. I sent Paul and Nils the sequenzer tracks with the rough mix so they could record their parts in their studios and they sent me back the finished takes. After that, I was left with the stereo and suround mix and mastering. How long “Still Thick as a Brick” was in the making? Actually, most of the recording was already done in 2017. Most of the work started for me after that, namely the tedious work of mixing. Many Jethro Tull albums were remixed by none other than Steven Wilson, so the hurdle was extremely high, not only musically but also sound-wise. I also had to familiarize myself with the multi-channel material, as I had previously only mixed in stereo. This also required a hardware and software expansion of my studio, which involved a lot of reading and trial and error. Creating the Rellington Stone magazine with all the articles and incorporating them into the newspaper layout also proved to be very labor intensive. The album video also took a lot of time. Just sifting through masses of photos for the approx. 680 images I used for the album video and the album trailer alone took me several weeks. Then to assemble and synchronize all that was another huge job. At the end came the mastering and the integration of the pressing plant. That all took much longer than I had originally thought. The fact that I’m a perfectionist in certain things also made the whole thing take longer. On the other hand, I gained a lot of useful experience from which future productions will certainly benefit. Which bands or artists influenced your work on the album? For our debut, Jethro Tull was of course in the foreground as a source of inspiration, no wonder when you make a homage to “Thick as a Brick”. However, I was also influenced by the progressive rock and jazz rock of the 70s, which you can also hear on our debut. Not every passage here sounds typically like Jethro Tull. And there are many bands that have influenced me, like Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, PFM, Brand X, Pink Floyd and many more. Some of that will definitely shine through in our sound. What is your view on technology in music? Today’s digital technology makes it possible to set up your own professional studio at a reasonably affordable price, which would have cost a considerable fortune back in the 70s to 90s. Without a virtual, arbitrarily expandable mixing console, virtual studio effects and instruments, this debut would never have been possible and, above all, affordable in this quality. The exchange of audio files via the Internet is also part of this. For me, this results in a production paradise. However, I also have the interest and stamina to deal with all the technology besides the music. But without good compositions and good musicians, even the best technology won’t make good music. And medicore, interchangeable music can be made with or without digital technology…. Do you see your music as serving a purpose beyond music? I see our album as a total work of art, where the music is this basis, but lyrics, cover and video also play an important role and clarify the content concept. And this level is also important to me. But first and foremost I’m a musician and I know how limited the possibility is to deal with complex topics in a few song lyrics. If that were my main concern, I would rather write books than make music. What are your plans for the future? Apart from the current pandemic, live gigs are out of the question for the time being, because Paul lives in America and the rest in and around Berlin. Also, Ulla, Nils and I have full-time jobs, with Nils still playing in his main band Crystal Palace. On top of that, we would need three additional musicians to bring the complex arrangements to the stage. At the moment this is not possible for us due to time and financial reasons. That’s why we are concentrating on the next album. This much can be revealed, it will be a concept album again…
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 14, 2021 7:25:55 GMT
The Tanglewood dvd is an absolute revelation.
Enough said
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 14, 2021 7:19:01 GMT
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