Had a great response- brilliant answers from Iain ;
"Hi Patti,
A zillion apologies for taking soooooo long to get back to you with some 'Broadsword and the Beast' memories. My only excuse is that I am currently writing/designing/producing/directing my first feature film--'The Book of Secrets'--an edgy modern day faery tale set in Glasgow... "JETHRO TULL ‘BROADSWORD AND THE BEAST’ Q&A WITH IAIN McCAIG Q. Were you a Tull fan prior to the commission? If not did you become one and are you still?
I am, have been, and always will be a mega-Jethro Tull fan.
I was a young illustrator at the time, and got a message to call my former agent, Artist Partners, about a possible commission. I called them from a pay phone in Charing Cross Station. They told me Brian Froud had been asked to do a record cover, but he was too busy to accept and would I consider the project? When they said the words ‘Jethro Tull’, I whooped so loud I’m sure people thought somebody had fallen under a train.
I have been very fortunate in my career as an artist, with many amazing moments and lucky breaks. Of them all, this is the one that still gives me goosebumps every time I remember it.
Q. Much like Aqualung ended up looking like a certain Musician, the guy on the cover of BatB is obviously Ian...were you given instructions as to how much this 'character' should or should not look like a then current or historical ian or was it your choice or did it take adjusting for satisfaction of all involved?
Here’s how the cover came to be:
Ian Anderson invited me to come to Moulin Rouge Studios in Fulham, South London, to discuss the cover. He was the quintessential gentleman, and so generously collaborative that I can’t honestly remember who thought of what, nor do I care. As far as I’m concerned, every idea on that cover came from Ian’s music.
Ian introduced me to his band—Martin, Gerry, Dave, and Peter—and gave me a scribbled list of song titles and a cassette of his tunes-in-progress (I seem to recall it was just Ian and a guitar, humming over any gap in the lyrics).
‘Broadsword’ wasn’t written yet, but ‘Beastie’ was. I went home and played it endlessly while I sketched. I mocked up a record cover of the original idea—an Ian Anderson-like bard looking in a mirror as a dark Beastie (also Ian Anderson-like) bewitches him with a set of pan pipes. On the shelf on which the mirror sits is Ian’s flute, and several other mysterious items, while in the depths of the mirror there are hints of other spirits and muses lurking nearby.
Of course, I needed a back-cover, so I whipped up one that was largely type. As an afterthought, I added another Ian Anderson faery creature on the back right corner, standing in Ian’s classic one-legged flute-playing pose.
The next meeting, Ian pointed immediately to the faery on the back. “That’s it,” he said, “That’s our front cover.”
Ian had written ‘Broadsword’ by then, and took me in to the recording studio where the band was rehearsing it. I pulled out my sketchbook and, as Ian suggested, drew the faery leaning on a broadsword. I was reading ‘Voyage of the DawnTreader’ at the time, so I put the faery in front of a painting that was coming to life, while Ian sang: “I see a dark sail, on the horizon, set under a black cloud that hides the sun…”
Somehow, the faces of the other four members found their way onto the picture frame—each one transformed into a Beastie—and I inscribed 'secret' words in anglo-saxon runes into the wood.
And voila! A cover was born.
A few other interesting facts about the cover:
I spent fourteen days painting Broadsword and the Beast, non-stop day and night for the last five. I still had a few details left to do the morning I was to deliver it to Ian at Chrysalis Records, so I took my paints and finished it on the London Underground—the passenger in front of me acting as my easel and the one by his side holding my water jar. I completed it just as the train reached the station, the entire compartment cheering as I dashed off to deliver it.
I got engaged during the painting of this picture. Before the commission, I had arranged to take my sweetheart to Paris and propose to her on the banks of the River Seine. The deadline prevented me from going, but she never complained, not once, knowing how much the Tull cover meant to me. I proposed to her on the spot in my studio. We’ve been married now for almost thirty years.
The cover was painted in watercolour. I was still learning the medium, and I suspect I would have made a total mess of this painting if it weren’t for the generous mentoring of Brian (Sandy) Saunders, watercolourist extraordinaire, and who stopped me, in the nick of time, from painting the picture-frame dark brown.
Q. How much did the overall theme of the album, the fantasy or 'sword and sorcery' thing, influence the cover art? and how much freedom were you given around this theme?
A lot of my early commissions were from Ian Livingstone and Games Workshop, which were very much in the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ sword and sorcery realm.
That said, I’ve never thought of this cover as anything other than Jethro Tull’s music in pictures. And Tull, as you know, is a genre unto itself.
Q. The artwork on B&TB is truly iconic, my awareness of you as an artists was a strong combination of this cover (copied many times) and your work on the Fighting Fantasy books. Your use of runes began my more in depth discovery of the LOTR appendices and in a way this album became the soundtrack, for me, to your artwork. I've always felt a strong correlation between the artwork for an album and your relationship with that album. Music is in itself intangible but the heritage of music is not. Music and it’s associated artwork built a shared mystique, in many ways the accompanying artwork was a manual, a map, a palette of instruction for the listening. So.... my question is this: do you feel the standard/importance of artwork has diminished? And do you still have any unfulfilled ambitions in that department? multiple gatefold illustrations based on each song for a re-issue perhaps
Very inspiring work
Thank you for the kind words!
I don’t think the standard or importance of artwork on songs has diminished—quite the opposite! We have an even more sophisticated audience now, art-wise, then when I began illustrating, and the bar for artists creating mythic and fantasmagorical images in particular has risen to dizzying heights. Look at the music videos that have emerged over the last two decades, the amazing films born of the digital revolution, the groundbreaking work done by legions of edgy young designers in all the entertainment industries!
I am writing/designing/directing films these days, so my interest is principally in how music and sound unites with images to tell a story.
Q Do you have Tiger Toon blood, too?
My blood is pure graphite, brother.
I had taken a sabbatical from Tull however I vividly remember going into a record shop in Cambridge Street in Glasgow - just down the hill from the Art School and while perusing and flicking through the albums in the stands I came across B&B.
The cover blew me away and stirred my imagination, the richness of colour - the border like a pirates chest with engravings, the depth of the black sea, the water trickling out the picture and the humour Ian - the Beastie. Well Hello again Tull
So Iain's artwork was initially responsible for bringing me back to Tull. Job well done!
My pleasure (and thank you very much for the kind words)!
Q. Iain did your stay in Europe/ time spent in Glasgow and in particular the colour and light of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's work and the illustrations of Margaret MacDonald play a part in your work and life?
Yes, a much bigger part than most people realize.
I had to leave my heroes behind when I emmigrated from Canada to Scotland in 1974—not many people on the British side of the pond knew who Norman Rockwell, Frank Frazetta, or James Bama were in those days. As a result, I found a brand new set of heroes during my time at Glasgow School of Art: Waterhouse, Rackham, Sargent, and of course, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
The film I am currently making, ‘The Book of Secrets’, is a faerie tale set in present day Glasgow, and a complete homage to those magical days.
Q. Did you have any input over the use of your "Broadsword and the Beast" artwork when it was re-used for a picture disc single issued by Chrysalis ? The main type face for both this and the album is very distinctive - did you design it from scratch or was there a historical basis to its creation?
Alas, I did not have any input into the picture disc issued by Chrysalis—the image on this website is the first I have seen of it! I’m glad you posted it, though—I think it is absolutely gorgeous.
As for the title lettering for the original album, that was not created by me but by a very talented calligrapher named Jim Gibson. I believe Jim based his lettering on the uncial style found in the ‘Book of Kells’.
Q. Finally, what is your music of choice in 2011 ?
I just love music—period.
Rock, folk, bluegrass, punk, rap, jazz, techno, orchestral, movie/game soundtracks, Bulgarian choir and Himalayan throat singers, Celtic-Gypsy-African fusion…you name it. If it inspires me and makes my fingers itch for pencil and paper, well, they're all right by me.
Q. Hello Iain, just wondered was Ian happy with the album and did he commission a full size portrait?
I understand the Tull Faery still appears on the band’s T-Shirts and merchandising, so I sure hope Ian likes it!
Alas, Mr. Anderson has not commissioned a full size portrait—yet—but if he ever wants one, I’d be more than happy to oblige (especially if I get to paint him looking in a mirror with a bewitching pan-pipe-playing beastie on his shoulder, a host of other fiends and muses gibbering in the shadows….)
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