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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 5, 2011 18:10:51 GMT
Arguably one of the top five Iconic Tull album covers or, in some folks eyes, a complete mess.
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Post by onewhiteduck on Oct 5, 2011 20:33:14 GMT
Stormwatch along with Rock Island are my favourite Tull album covers. Flying Dutchman is a superb track - one of my very faves.
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Post by oksauce on Oct 5, 2011 21:41:53 GMT
Marvellous album, great dark nautical atmosphere
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Post by nonrabbit on Oct 6, 2011 7:31:51 GMT
You're in danger of running out of adjectives when describing all things Tull Stormwatch - dark lands...great white waves plundering towards the shore... washing over the sea wall. This is my Stormwatch place - winter at the Ship Inn Porthleven Cornwall - a pub built into the rocks complete with a history of shipwrecks. i53.images obliterated by tinypic/vzyjab.jpg[/IMG] i55.images obliterated by tinypic/i3ezix.jpg[/IMG] sitting inside looking outside and listening to i53.images obliterated by tinypic/24465mv.jpg[/IMG] surely the best Tull video on youtube!! Stormwatch touri52.images obliterated by tinypic/v7s61g.jpg[/IMG]
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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 6, 2011 7:54:09 GMT
An album which has as many supporters but also its detractors, although I suspect with the latter maybe for the wrong reasons. I loved the album from the very first listen and rate the cover as being one of Tull's best but I for one have never thought of it as a triology along with Heavy Horses and Songs From The Wood - for me it stands on its own.
Stand out tracks imo are Dark Ages, Dun Ringill, Flying Dutchman and Orion although in truth I would rate all the songs as being quality IA compositions from that particular era, including Dee Palmer's composition Elegy which beautifully completes the album.
A landmark Tull release.
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Post by onewhiteduck on Oct 6, 2011 14:26:16 GMT
Totally agree Maddog. A Landmark Release indeed and one which I think may ( for here and for now "quote from the dressing" room tapes?) have made in to my top 5. John Glascock played on a few tracks and I think Flying Dutchman was one of them ... sounds like him. Been listening to Bursting Out on VINYL on a stupidly expensive system and Glascocks bass playing live is something else. Starting to ramble so till next time........
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 6, 2011 15:27:16 GMT
I remember how much I liked Stormwatch when it was new...sorta relieved that the trend started on SFTW and HH wouldn't continue on a straight path to Fairport-ville...though I loved SFTW and HH...just glad to have them circle back to rock and roll...Drak Ages, Dun Ringhil and Orion remain in the top category of Tull masterpieces.....North Sea Oil and Something's on the Move have not aged so well to my ears.....
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Post by nonrabbit on Oct 6, 2011 16:04:15 GMT
Stormwatch - Ian's Liner Notes
Stormwatch was to prove to be the last Tull release for four of the band members.
Bassist John Glascock had suffered congenital heart problems the year before and, following surgery, had taken time off from the band to convalesce. The live album, Bursting Out, had featured his temporary stand-in, Tony Williams, and John rejoined the band for tours and the recording of the new record in 1979.
The songs were to be a mixture of moody and dark pieces reflecting the troubled state of the economy. The oil price escalation, energy crises and other depressing world events influenced my writing and thinking.
The album was difficult to record as John’s health had taken a turn for the worse and, after three tracks had been completed, I took the difficult decision to lay him off again with the strong advice to cut down the partying and to adopt a more healthy and relaxed lifestyle. John was a happy, fun-loving individual and found it impossible to adjust. But his health seemed too precarious to allow him to continue with the late nights and heavy recording schedule.
So, much of the record was made with me playing bass and a grey cloud hanging over the whole affair. “Stormwatch” became the apt title, in a foreboding sort of way, and the end result, while being musically satisfying and embodying some of the band members best playing, left us all emotionally drained.
The subsequent tour utilised a stage set of piratical and Disneyesque proportions. A broken-down two-masted sailing ship became our stage every night and it sailed stormy waters (and freeways) across the length and breadth of the USA. Then, one night, came the sad news that John Glascock had died at home in the UK.
New bassist, David Pegg, of Fairport Convention fame, had brought new blood to the touring line-up and a new enthusiasm to match. He was to become the longest-serving Tull bassist with 16 years and the Porsche to show for it!
Barrie Barlow’s disillusionment with touring and the impact of Glascock’s death made for an increasingly difficult relationship with me although we had worked so well together on the record. But then, I am not the easiest fellow to get along with – being a bit of a bugger sometimes, in fact.
Some of Barrie’s best performances are to be found on this record and, since I had the task of playing bass, we bonded in a musical way quite different to usual. Bass-players and drummers have to have that special musical thing going and we found that extra dimension quite easily. But of course, we all would rather have had the healthy presence of John throughout the recording.
So let’s dedicate this re-mastered Stormwatch to Barrie Barlow who, in his eight years with the band, brought his dynamism, loyalty, humour and musical dedication to the 70’s band line-up and left his final and fitting mark on this great collection of songs and performances.
Ian Anderson, 2003.
Wonder if he feels the same about the album/s now?
Ian do you feel the same about the albums?
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 6, 2011 16:41:08 GMT
Wouldn't Barlow on TAAB tour be a great thing?
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Post by nonrabbit on Oct 6, 2011 17:09:26 GMT
Wouldn't Barlow on TAAB tour be a great thing? "You never know you never know" as said to me every year when I asked if Santa would be bring me a puppy and it stil sounds feckin annoying now.
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Post by nonrabbit on Oct 6, 2011 17:14:18 GMT
Whats the criticism against the album?
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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 6, 2011 18:13:14 GMT
Whats the criticism against the album? Well I think anyone who is not a Tull fan would find the album dark and depressing not realising the quality of the song writing. Certainly the people I worked with at the time of the album’s release were, in the main part, anti the album. Being the only Tullie in a drawing office full of Simple Minds and Ultravox fans was not my idea of heaven. There is also the view held by some Tull fans that as this was the album before the big split, and as John’s death had happened at the same time, that this was all IA’s fault and that he should be the scapegoat for what occurred. It’s a view that, with reservations, I don’t hold. OK so he messed up with the photocopied letters to the band announcing the “sackings”, but the idea that somehow he didn’t fully deal with the aspects of John’s death is fanciful. IA would have been dumb struck at his passing in the same way as everyone else connected with the band - it was IA who attended the funeral and stood quietly at the back of the cemetery while the committal was taking place. No “Hello” style press release or photo shoot which lesser “celebrities” would have signed up for. IA’s been criticised for his “up front” bass playing on the tracks of the album where he deputised for the ailing John G. Doesn’t wash with me. Had John played on all the tracks of the album I don’t think that there would have been much difference in the final mix. It’s certainly not an album to listen to on a hot sunny day, sunbathing in your back garden with plenty of alcoholic beverages around, for that you’d want Songs From The Wood or Crest Of A Knave. But for cold wintry evenings, sitting in front of a log fire with the wind howling outside, it would be ideal.
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Post by nonrabbit on Oct 6, 2011 18:32:41 GMT
It's most definately not a diddley diddley romp around the forest It does what it says on the cover- foreboding and brewing with slight pathos - don't think it's that dark though more a murky grey As far as the stories around the album and what may or may not have occurred doesn't concern me really I know that the mood can affect the music but it's all part of the emotion and the reasons for it are not important.
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 6, 2011 19:00:59 GMT
Dark Ages alone, however, after three albums without any outstanding epic songs on the level of TAAB, APP, Baker St Muse or even Back Door Angels, gave Tull fans hope that Ian still had more in him than 3-5 minute songs about woodland creatures, woodsmen themselves and the odd countrified S/M fantasy ( Hunting Girl) Not to discount great songs like both SFTW and HH title cuts or Pibroch.....but Dark Ages connected back to Big Tull...certainly absent on TOTRARTYTD.
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Post by nonrabbit on Oct 6, 2011 19:26:43 GMT
with the exception of Weathercock which was maybe a precursor? a darkening in the Forest. On the subject of a possible linking of a thought, emotion or even an influence from one album/song to another - Stormmonkey (think it was him) once said something along these lines about who was the man in in Pibroch that looked into the house. I remembered that cause it struck a chord if you like that maybe a character can reappear in another guise in another song. Aqualung's too obvious
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 6, 2011 19:47:53 GMT
The guy looking in the window was either me or Charlie Brown.
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Post by hawkmoth on Oct 6, 2011 21:59:53 GMT
Stormwatch is one of my fav Tull albums,love most of the songs espec Dark Ages,Old Ghosts,Flying Dutchman. Fine songwriting from Ian some very good Bassplaying also. Thought Martin had a great guitar tone around that time ,very different from previuos Tull stuff ,very sharp and biting,absolutely superb. Real shame about John Glascock which this album always reminds me off.
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zendad
Prentice Jack
Posts: 28
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Post by zendad on Nov 17, 2011 23:28:00 GMT
Stormwatch is the first Tull album I ever owned and I still love it. I asked my brother if he'd get it me for Xmas 1979 and when I opened it I was expecting to see the front cover image of Ian Anderson holding binoculars, but when I ripped the wrapping paper I could only see the faint image of an angel surrounded by white birds, oh no, I thought, wrong album . My heart sank. Then as I took all the wrapping paper off I saw the big polar bear image and knew he'd bought me Stormwatch, thank God !! Of course the angel image is on the top right of the back of the album. Happy days indeed. It's a geat album and Ian, Martin and Barrie never sounded better, just a shame John Glascock didn't get to play on all of the tracks. I then purchased 'Live Bursting Out' on Boxing day and have never looked back. I will always love my brother for buying me Stormwatch all those years ago, and I am taking him to his first Tull gig next year (I have seen them many times.) Stormwatch is the last Tull album of the seventies and features their best line-up in my opinion, great stuff !!
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chea
Master Craftsman
Posts: 356
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Post by chea on Nov 22, 2011 9:44:17 GMT
Stormwatch along with Rock Island are my favourite Tull album covers. Flying Dutchman is a superb track - one of my very faves. Yes, great song. Certainly superb also the interpretation of Ian in that piece of music... not easy I think. I also really love in the DVD " Slipstream", the video i of " Dun Ringill", in which Ian is singing and walking along a North Sea beach, it seems to me,wearing something that can be an army cloth . A video I consider as a part of the Jethro Tull history. A different song seen in that Album context, can be, i think, " Something on the move ". I love it. Looks like a rock song, more than a folk one. M.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2012 13:49:08 GMT
I vividly remember buying this with some birthday money on the day it came out, rushing home and then being bitterly disappointed with it. I'm not sure it's the sort of album you can genuinely appreciate when you're in your teens - definitely one for when you've got a few more miles on the clock. I really like the album now and its air of melancholy is beautifully crafted. This album does definitely sound like the end of something rather than the beginning of something (and is none the worse for it).
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 23, 2013 18:27:37 GMT
A question for our Polish members here on the Forum. I have a Polish copy of Stormwatch, pressed on the Tonpress label which has a small label on the back which indicates that its cost price back in 1979 was 300 złoty which seems a rather large amount for an album. By today's rates, 300 złoty is just over £59 which I can't imagine anyone paying for a brand new album. So was there some kind of hyper inflation or currency problems back in '79 or was the złoty revalued at some time ?
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Post by futureshock on Dec 22, 2013 1:17:15 GMT
How many people noticed that there is something non-Tullish about this album; that there is no song called "Stormwatch" on it. The closest it gets is the word "stormwatch" being used in Dun Ringill. Many Tull albums have a song by the same name as the album.
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Post by steelmonkey on Dec 22, 2013 4:36:32 GMT
whoops
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Post by steelmonkey on Dec 22, 2013 4:40:29 GMT
In 1979 the zloty was still make believe money...the government insisted it was worth around 20 or 30 for a dollar...on the streets you could get closer to 200 for a dollar....300 zloty was not cheap for a Pole earning official currency...but it was nowhere near nor had nothing to do with the current value of the zloty...now a real currency that 'floats' vs other money rather than having an official and black market value like all second world funny moneys had at that time.
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Post by onewhiteduck on Jun 18, 2014 20:39:31 GMT
Going completely off on a tangent to recent posts I dusted down Stormwatch and had a blast last night. Great album. Some fantastic playing and Flying Dutchman is immense.( John Glascock on Bass ) Wow.
OneblackandviscousDuck
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Post by nonrabbit on Jun 18, 2014 21:50:55 GMT
Going completely off on a tangent to recent posts I dusted down Stormwatch and had a blast last night. Great album. Some fantastic playing and Flying Dutchman is immense.( John Glascock on Bass ) Wow. OneblackandviscousDuck Incredible. Where else would you get classics like that? I just don't know. Just thinking if there was a place - a pub maybe called The Tullpike Inn where we could all wander into of a evening and sit and chew the Tull fat, throwing in album names at random and nodding in agreement and then as the night wore on and the pint glasses gathered a few mild disagreements would ensue .......and then we'd all get barred
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underwraps60
Prentice Jack
"and some of them own little sportscars..."
Posts: 8
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Post by underwraps60 on Jun 20, 2014 10:11:34 GMT
I usually nominate STORMWATCH as my favourite Tull album, although in truth there are probably half a dozen more that run it close for me. I always feel that there is a deftly controlled underlying power to this album, a passion and strength that sells the individual songs to me on a visceral level. Each song conjures up vivid images that build on the previous ones and create an atmospheric environment that provides a visual context for the album as a whole. I always feel a little wrung-out (in a good way) after a listen. This album absolutely blew me away on first listening (many years ago) and still has the same effect today. The opening instrumental of North Sea Oil has been my ring-tone for years and always gets attention. Some people say "Oh, you're into Irish music". I say "No - I'm into Jethro Tull" They don't know what I'm talking about.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2014 13:21:53 GMT
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Post by jackinthegreen on Sept 14, 2014 18:57:34 GMT
Going completely off on a tangent to recent posts I dusted down Stormwatch and had a blast last night. Great album. Some fantastic playing and Flying Dutchman is immense.( John Glascock on Bass ) Wow. OneblackandviscousDuck Incredible. Where else would you get classics like that? I just don't know. Just thinking if there was a place - a pub maybe called The Tullpike Inn where we could all wander into of a evening and sit and chew the Tull fat, throwing in album names at random and nodding in agreement and then as the night wore on and the pint glasses gathered a few mild disagreements would ensue .......and then we'd all get barred I was sure you had written The Turnpike Inn....... Thought you must be psychic Anyhoo...great idea..I'll get the first round in...........
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Post by jackinthegreen on Sept 14, 2014 19:00:08 GMT
Just realised, you posted after the Homo Erratticus release non-rabbit..... .......doh........ Cleverly done too.......
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