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Post by steelmonkey on May 20, 2017 16:27:18 GMT
Got mine yesterday. The new song is beyond expectations great. really a 'BIG" Tull song. Other very first impressions: I like this version of Working Joe better. I think this country set is going to convince me that SFTW/HH/Stormwatch era really does belong only the teeniest bit below TAAB/APP. Everything sounds SO GOOD.
I have listened to 'Old Aces' three times and it has already grown on me exponentially. What a GIFT.
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Post by maddogfagin on May 21, 2017 7:48:46 GMT
Courtesy of the vinyl vault here at Launceston Villas
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2017 12:35:44 GMT
I have listened to 'Old Aces' three times and it has already grown on me exponentially. Still waiting for the postman (grrrrrr...). Could you hum it for me?
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Post by maddogfagin on May 21, 2017 13:53:55 GMT
I have listened to 'Old Aces' three times and it has already grown on me exponentially. Still waiting for the postman (grrrrrr...). Could you hum it for me? Check your email
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Post by maddogfagin on May 21, 2017 14:08:29 GMT
Anyone know the provenance of the item below ? I have seen it claimed to be a match holder. Thanks to Old Charlie from Tooting for the image.
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Post by maddogfagin on May 23, 2017 7:36:27 GMT
americansongwriter.com/2017/05/jethro-tull-songs-wood-40th-anniversary-edition/Jethro Tull: Songs From The Wood — 40th Anniversary EditionWritten By Hal Horowitz // May 22, 2017 Jethro Tull Songs From the Wood — 40th Anniversary Edition (Parlophone/Rhino) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars The term “prog-folk” might seem like an oxymoron but it adequately describes the sound Jethro Tull gravitated to in the mid- to late-’70s. Although acoustic music had been an integral element of the band’s style since as far back as 1969’s Stand Up, it became more of a focal point on 1975’s Minstrel in the Gallery, likely due to Tull frontman/founder/singer-songwriter Ian Anderson’s production of traditional UK folksters Steeleye Span’s 1974 album Now We Are Six. Anderson’s own relocation to a more rural area in the UK might also have been involved in this back-to-the-roots approach. Regardless, Songs from the Wood heralded an artistic rebirth of sorts for Jethro Tull, especially after the somewhat tepid reception given to the group’s previous release, 1974’s Too Old To Rock ‘n Roll, whose acoustic musings were already leaning towards what the group consolidated around in next year’s Songs ... Lyrically the rustic themes are typically obtuse, Anderson’s often growling voice is an acquired taste and with dense music that included hard rock, classical and time/tempos twisting and turning, often within the same song, this wasn’t going to be Aqualung Part 2 in terms of commercial potential. But there is plenty to like here for those willing to take the plunge into Tull’s musical experimentation. From the opening a cappella voices of the title track to the complex arrangements that show this particular Tull lineup to be especially nimble by juggling these caffeinated acoustic/electric excursions, this is an often entrancing, always fascinating sonic experience. Song titles such as “Jack-In-The-Green,” “Hunting Girl,” “Velvet Green” and “Pibroch (Cap in Hand)” (pibroch is a piece of music for bagpipes), speak to the bucolic and rootsy influences running through the material. Additionally, Anderson as producer layers intricate, creative overdubs that enhance rather than distract from the music. Each selection is a multifaceted puzzle of demanding drum lines and unusual percussion (drummer Barriemore Barlow is credited with glockenspiel, marimba, naker and tabor), the occasional squall of Martin Barre’s electric guitar, and of course Anderson’s ever-present fluttering flute piled atop traditionally influenced UK folk melodies turned inside out with progressive weirdness and intensity. It’s a lot to chew on; perhaps too much for the 1977 market where Tull’s tenth release in ten years wasn’t going to make them any new fans in a culture more welcoming of the edgy and artsy punk explosion meant to diminish the classic rock arena acts of the era. Over the years though, Songs from the Wood and its similarly themed follow-up Heavy Horses have proved remarkably durable. That makes diving into this sumptuous remixed/remastered and expanded 3 CD/2 DVD anniversary version which includes previously unreleased cuts, single mixes, excerpts from 1977 concerts (one video/one audio) and a 5.1 surround sound reimagining of songs that always felt like they should be heard in that format, a particularly rich, immersive and often dizzyingly inventive hour. It’s only going to appeal to a cult audience, but considering the 40 years that have passed since its inception, Songs from the Wood has not only held up unusually well, it stands as one of the freshest and most inspired works in the bulging Jethro Tull catalog.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2017 14:25:48 GMT
Cracking collection. Can only add to STFW's reputation and its justifiable status near the very top of the Tull tree (!!). The remix is nicely judged (though I need to listen in detail much more, of course), the gig is great and the booklet makes for a decent read. Slightly underwhelmed by 'Old Aces', if anything, but I'm sure it's a grower!
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Post by nonrabbit on May 24, 2017 15:25:47 GMT
Weirdest surprise just happened. I had a delivery from Amazon - didn't order anything. Opened box and there is SFTW The Country Set - brilliant!! But who sent it?
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Post by steelmonkey on May 24, 2017 15:46:38 GMT
Wait till you hear 'Old Aces'...that's your second surprise. And to whomever saw to Non-Rabbit getting this release ( It wasn't me), thanks from me too...I'm glad it's in her bunny paws.
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stevep
Master Craftsman
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Post by stevep on May 24, 2017 18:51:20 GMT
Really enjoying the updated version of SFTW. Highlights for me are the concert DVD and the new mixes by Steven Wilson. Quite like "Old Aces" as it is a new Tull song from that era. Strangely I much prefer Magic Bells to Solstice Bells (though I would prefer if it had been issued with the Solstice lyrics). The Magic Bells version just sounds heavier with more keyboards and with a female voice helping out. Think it may be Maddy Prior though I could not see her name written anywhere. A great edition to the Tull collection... keep them coming... even better if you get them without ordering them!
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Post by nonrabbit on May 24, 2017 19:29:53 GMT
Wait till you hear 'Old Aces'...that's your second surprise. And to whomever saw to Non-Rabbit getting this release ( It wasn't me), thanks from me too...I'm glad it's in her bunny paws. It was youngest son! The one who's studying music production in London - he knows his stuff I showed him your post - he smiled in a 'Well yes' way
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Post by steelmonkey on May 25, 2017 17:25:58 GMT
'Old Aces'. really takes off to Tull heaven in between 3:08 and 4:55. Another nice surprise is the 'Tomorrow was Today' reprise at 5:55. There is something unfinished or missing about it but the pieces are gold bricks. The live CDs are gonna send a lot of boots to the back of the closet....maybe the best Velvet Green EVER.
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Post by jackinthegreen on May 25, 2017 20:10:42 GMT
'Old Aces'. really takes off to Tull heaven in between 3:08 and 4:55. Another nice surprise is the 'Tomorrow was Today' reprise at 5:55. There is something unfinished or missing about it but the pieces are gold bricks. The live CDs are gonna send a lot of boots to the back of the closet....maybe the best Velvet Green EVER. I agree about the Old Aces 3.08 - 4.55 passage.. ...brilliant. ....very "Passion Play" methinks.....
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2017 15:43:02 GMT
Here's a thing. Back in '76 I was on a family holiday down near the New Forest (in the south of England) at a farmhouse B&B-type place. My room had a bunch of books on a shelf and one of them completely grabbed my 14-year-old imagination. Basically, it was a Reader's Digest gazetteer of British folklore - full of fascinating stuff. I loved it so much that, at Christmas, I blew my inevitable haul of book tokens (or was it WH Smith vouchers??) on that very tome. In fact, when SFTW came out a few weeks later, it made for a brilliant evening avoiding homework - rummaging through the book while listening to the LP. Perfect combination! Still got it - it's on the shelf behind me as I write. And b*gger me if the SFTW souvenir booklet in the Country Set doesn't have a picture of the self-same book on page 13: 'Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain' - cited as key inspiration behind SFTW itself! Has my life come full circle or what? I love a bit of joined-up destiny!
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Post by nonrabbit on May 26, 2017 15:55:22 GMT
Here's a thing. Back in '76 I was on a family holiday down near the New Forest (in the south of England) at a farmhouse B&B-type place. My room had a bunch of books on a shelf and one of them completely grabbed my 14-year-old imagination. Basically, it was a Reader's Digest gazetteer of British folklore - full of fascinating stuff. I loved it so much that, at Christmas, I blew my inevitable haul of book tokens (or was it WH Smith vouchers??) on that very tome. In fact, when SFTW came out a few weeks later, it made for a brilliant evening avoiding homework - rummaging through the book while listening to the LP. Perfect combination! Still got it - it's on the shelf behind me as I write. And b*gger me if the SFTW souvenir booklet in the Country Set doesn't have a picture of the self-same book on page 13: 'Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain' - cited as key inspiration behind SFTW itself! Has my life come full circle or what? I love a bit of joined-up destiny! That's really interesting and a great coincidence - lucky you
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Post by nonrabbit on May 26, 2017 15:56:09 GMT
Just been gadding about for a couple of days will listen tonight
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Post by maddogfagin on May 26, 2017 16:13:15 GMT
Here's a thing. Back in '76 I was on a family holiday down near the New Forest (in the south of England) at a farmhouse B&B-type place. My room had a bunch of books on a shelf and one of them completely grabbed my 14-year-old imagination. Basically, it was a Reader's Digest gazetteer of British folklore - full of fascinating stuff. I loved it so much that, at Christmas, I blew my inevitable haul of book tokens (or was it WH Smith vouchers??) on that very tome. In fact, when SFTW came out a few weeks later, it made for a brilliant evening avoiding homework - rummaging through the book while listening to the LP. Perfect combination! Still got it - it's on the shelf behind me as I write. And b*gger me if the SFTW souvenir booklet in the Country Set doesn't have a picture of the self-same book on page 13: 'Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain' - cited as key inspiration behind SFTW itself! Has my life come full circle or what? I love a bit of joined-up destiny! We've got the book as well although I haven't read it for some time but I'll start again tonight. It was first published in this RD edition in 1973 and I seem to remember IA mentioning it before in an interview some time ago.
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Eka
Prentice Jack
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Post by Eka on May 26, 2017 19:55:38 GMT
But where's Beltane? Should be it's from the same year, no?
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Post by maddogfagin on May 27, 2017 7:48:42 GMT
Well that's my weekend sorted
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2017 15:02:59 GMT
Now THAT's a book. (Page 66 is the best one...) I suggest rounding proceedings off with a quick viewing of 'The Wicker Man'.
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Post by maddogfagin on May 27, 2017 15:26:09 GMT
Now THAT's a book. (Page 66 is the best one...) I suggest rounding proceedings off with a quick viewing of 'The Wicker Man'. Haven't got that far yet. I'd forgotten what a heavy book, though not in the content sense, it is. It weighs quite a bit and doubles up as a weightlifting tool. We got the tome when members of a book club back in the 70s and I wonder how many now languish in charity shops and on bric-a-brac stalls at local fetes. For anyone interested in the book, it's available, at a price, on the amazon site of your choice
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Post by steelmonkey on May 27, 2017 15:56:25 GMT
All this book club talk somehow reminds me of a long ago headline, I think during Aqualung era: 'Now Jethro Wants us to Think'
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Post by maddogfagin on May 31, 2017 7:22:51 GMT
progarchy.com/2017/05/28/ricks-retroarchy-songs-from-the-wood-by-jethro-tull/Rick’s Retroarchy: Songs from the Wood by Jethro TullON MAY 28, 2017 BY BRADBIRZERIN PROGRESSIVE ROCK By Richard Krueger Retrenching after the thwarted theatrical ambitions of A Passion Play, War Child and Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die, Ian Anderson moved from London to Buckinghamshire in 1976. The Jethro Tull album that followed Anderson’s country retreat, Songs from the Wood, showcased a fruitful new path for both the writer and the band. With Anderson’s withering cynicism relaxing (ever so slightly) into amused, skeptical acceptance of human folly, David Palmer’s energetic keyboard counterpoint refreshing the group’s core sound, and a focus on traditional British folklore and festivity (courtesy of PR guy/manager Jo Lustig and Anderson’s production work with Steeleye Span), the surprising results included increased record sales, higher chart positions, and expanded tour dates, especially in America. Parlophone’s latest reissue box, released for the 40th anniversary of Songs from the Wood, ably showcases this incarnation of Tull’s appeal. Whether observing the world around him or sharing a fictional narrator’s thoughts, Ian Anderson’s lyrics before Songs from the Wood typically engaged his audience by confronting them –with human suffering (“Aqualung,” “Cross-Eyed Mary”), clueless authority (“Wind Up,” “Thick as A Brick”), or even the seductive attractions of a dangerous liaison (“Bungle in the Jungle”). Contrast that perspective with the beginning of Songs from the Wood’s title track: For once, Anderson invites us– to pull up a chair and “join the chorus if you can” in “Songs from the Wood,” to connect with the natural world in “Cup of Wonder” and “Ring Out, Solstice Bells.” The knowingly bawdy takes on the ways of man and maid like “Velvet Green” and “The Whistler” are more genial, too – invitations to love (well, maybe lust) that downplay darker undercurrents. The only human predator on the album, the title character of “Hunting Girl,” is the one character who brings out Anderson’s mockery, and the final two songs depict genuine heartbreak in “Pibroch (Cap in Hand)” and genuine contentment in the gorgeous “Fires at Midnight.” (It should be said that Anderson’s more jaundiced outlook is alive and well on album outtakes like the epic “Old Aces Die Hard,” an early version of “Working John, Working Joe” and the B-side “Strip Cartoon.”) The band responds to Anderson’s mellower sentiments with an expanded musical palette. David Palmer, on his first album as a full member of Tull, drives much of this with fresh keyboard colors (portativ pipe organ, given its own picture in the box set book, and harpsichord) and a penchant for insistent interplay with Anderson’s flute, John Evans’ Hammond B-3, and Martin Barre’s stinging guitar. Stir in Barriemore Barlow’s Renaissance percussion kit with his usual piledriver drumming, add John Glascock’s nimble bass work, and, voila — an airier group sound that still packs a lot of punch! Beyond the album and the aforementioned outtakes, the alternate versions included here are fun – although it’s good that Anderson played the 4/4, heavy guitar version of “Solstice Bells” (retitled “Magic Bells” for a Christmas single? Come on!) to Chrysalis Records support staff and nipped its release in the bud. It’s also interesting, if not necessarily compelling, to hear “Songs from the Wood” with fewer a cappella breaks and a blues rock intro to “Fires at Midnight.” At this point, the prog community may take the wonders of a Steven Wilson remix for granted; nevertheless, his work here shows that buffing up the Jethro Tull catalogue has been an ongoing labor of love for him, on par with his King Crimson and Yes remixes. The stereo remix of Songs from the Wood is pretty subtle, but it definitely gives the music added clarity and power, with lots of intricate detail to get lost in and a wonderfully integrated soundstage. Despite the complexity of the counterpoint and the overdubs, Wilson’s efforts solidify the impression of Tull as a crack unit, following Anderson’s lead with vigor and a sense of fun. And there’s more: miraculously restored audio and video of a complete 1977 live show from Landover, Maryland (kudos aplenty to Jakko Jakszyk for both his herculean efforts and his charmingly self-deprecating notes). Anderson is eminently watchable in red derby and jodhpurs, hamming it up and puncturing arena rock cliche at every opportunity (introducing the “backing vocalists” on “Songs from the Wood,” he proclaims their work “almost indistinguishable from the master tape playing behind the stage!”) The band locks in on a well-turned mix of greatest hits to date and a sprinkling of Songs from the Wood tracks. This is Jethro Tull in their pomp, playing to the balconies of vast US sports stadiums, stretching solo spots beyond the breaking point, then snapping back into another classic with spirit and enthusiasm. As usual, the notes, essays and recording details included here are informative and thorough – whatever your thoughts on Tull’s output, the deluxe reissue series is consistently good value at a reasonable price. This one definitely brings back fond memories for me – of hearing “Songs from the Wood,” “Cup of Wonder,” and “Hunting Girl” on Detroit rock radio in 1977, of seeing “The Whistler” pop up in the Detroit News’ “Words and Chords” feature right next to the Billboard Top 10 Album chart, and of realizing over the decades that Songs from the Wood is one Jethro Tull album I can get behind and enjoy without reservation.
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Post by steelmonkey on Jun 1, 2017 20:15:59 GMT
'Civilizations' menstrual pains' C'mon Ian, yer killing us. The Curse, Salamander's Ragtime, now this? Apparently the fan who tossed a tampon on you has had a major influence.
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Post by jethrotull on Jun 2, 2017 21:47:38 GMT
Richard Krueger's review above shows remarkable insight into the spirit of Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull and Songs From the Wood. As a long time fan of all things Tull, I have to say this new box set has been one of my favorite releases in many years. Like Richard, it brings back fond memories not only of listening to the album when it came out during my college years, but also of enjoying the two Songs From the Wood concerts I attended shortly after the album's release. What a magnificent time that was!
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Post by maddogfagin on Jun 5, 2017 13:08:35 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Jul 1, 2017 7:41:15 GMT
www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/me-and-mr-jones_us_59563e7fe4b0c85b96c660e6Jethro Tull: Songs from the Wood Jethro Tull’s tenth album, “Songs from the Wood,” gets what’s become the Jethro Tull treatment. What that has come to mean is a first rate remix of the cd by Steve Wilson, plus three cds of outtakes, live performances, q 5:1 remix, a live DVD and a 96 page booklet and some really classy packaging. The latter has first rate sound quality for a non-blu-ray release. It’s from the Capital Center, Landover, Maryland on 21st November 1977 mixed to 16/48, stereo LPCM and 5.1 DTS, AC3 Dolby Digital surround by Jakko Jakszyk, taken from the video that was projected at the show. Rolling Stone said, at the time of its release that “Wood” “may well be the group’s best record ever”. That’s crazy talk. But after Aqualung, Thick as a Brick and Passion Play, it is; which ain’t bad. It’s also, it’s not that expensive for what it is.
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Post by nonrabbit on Jul 14, 2017 17:59:15 GMT
i66.images obliterated by tinypic/2zgrwj7.jpg[/IMG]
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Post by nonrabbit on Jul 14, 2017 18:04:06 GMT
" Supernatural inhabitants of the woodlands"
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Post by maddogfagin on Jul 21, 2017 7:41:26 GMT
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