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Post by maddogfagin on Sept 22, 2008 13:18:41 GMT
Just received the latest edition of "This Is Not The Way Ian Planned It" which is the in-house magazine of the Dutch Tull fanclub. A very good "inky" which is now on its 53rd edition and is a jolly good read. In the past it has reviewed bootlegs, concert tours, photos and other interesting bits 'n' pieces which should keep people happy. The guy who runs it is Bert Maessen and his address is RIJKSWEG NOORD 270-SITTARD 6136 AG, THE NETHERLANDS. Email: bemajetu4@yahoo.com
Subscriptions are The Netherlands: 15 Euro for 5 issues Europe: 15 Euro for 4 issues Rest of the world: 20 Euro for 5 issues
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Post by admin on Sept 22, 2008 17:26:52 GMT
I might well drop him a line and subscribe to that, cheers maddog. I remember reading of the existence of Thats Not The Way Ian Planned It but I never knew it was still going strong.
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Post by maddogfagin on Sept 22, 2008 18:41:10 GMT
Still going strong and a bit more regular than, dare I say it, A New Day. B****r, I have done.
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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 13, 2008 10:52:25 GMT
In no particular order and to start off this discussion, here are my very brief thoughts on the Tull books that I have. Pocket Essentials by Raymond Benson (2002). A no frills paperback with reviews of albums and the author’s comments. Each album is rated out of five (for example Bursting Out gets 3/5 whilst Stand Up gets 5/5). Solo and compilation albums together with DVDs are also featured and a worthy book to have. I like his one liner at the end of the introduction “There is no other band quite like Jethro Tull”. Aqualung by Allen Moore (2004). Quite a heavy read. It takes each individual piece of music from the album and dissects it and attempts to show it in relation with not only other musical ideas on the album but also how the music is formed. For example there are many references to other artists and their music, many source references and detailed conjecture (my italics) as to the meaning of the songs. You will need to read the book more than once! Driving In Diverse by Barbara Espinoza (1999). Many interesting interviews not only Ian Anderson but with Glenn Cornick, Tony Williams, Clive Bunker, Mick Abrahams and Jeffrey Hammond. A critical review of each album, a black and white photo section at the back of the book and a good bibliography worth exploring via the internet. Could have done with some proofreading but having said that a worthy read. Minstrels In The Gallery by David Rees (1998). A good scholarly read and a book that I feel sets out the parameters for all others. David Rees has a dry sense of humour, which you will already know about if you subscribe to A New Day, and he has included many quotes from band members, both past and present. A very detailed discography and gigography (both now out of date as the book was written in 1998) and a must for fans and general readers who want to know about the band. Jethro Tull Complete Lyrics by Karl Schramm and Gerald Burns (1993). As the title states, the lyrics to the songs (up until 1993) with black and white photos, a preface which has Ian Anderson talking about each album and a must for all fans. Interestingly the book was originally going to be called “Gutter Rhymes”. Flying Colours by Greg Russo (2000). This is not only a history of the band, from an American viewpoint, but it also contains black and white photos of the band and also memorabilia which from my point of view adds to the story. A comprehensive bibliography and discography which goes into great detail with regard to issue dates, personnel who played on each song, etc., and a listing of songs either played on tour and not recorded or unreleased. I believe that this book has been updated but I have no details of it. Okay, there are others which I don’t have so if you have these please feel free to add them to this thread and to air your comments on each book.
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 15, 2008 4:12:55 GMT
'To Be The Play'....ordered from a teeny ad at the back of Rolling Stone or similar mags of the era, about , 75 or 76...was a real letdown to me, as a young fan, expecting a book about Tull. A obvious 'vanity press '( pay to publish) project...some spacey dude typed ( as opposed to 'wrote') an endless, obviously personal meditation about his innermost, phantasmagoric responses to Ian Anderson's lyrics. hard to get through, even once ( I remember dribble about 'the pirate' or something like that)...it ended up in a box of Tull memorabilia, not on the bookshelf. Hope the author isn't reading this but I suspect he's been put away or maybe missed the online boat...otherwise...apologies for the harsh review!
Besides the lyric book and the Rees book,,,which was fine but nothing I hadn't already read in 'New Day', which is not surprising nor unfair, I haven't seen any of the above but plan to visit Amazon soon and buy/read in order of madog's preference! Thanks.
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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 15, 2008 7:42:27 GMT
That's ok steelmonkey. Reviews, however brief, are always subjective and open to an individuals interpretation. For myself I feel that there is still a story to be written about the band from a writer such as Patrick Humphries et al who wrote a very good book on Fairport Convention if memory serves me well. In my humble "anorak" opinion there is also room for an illustrated book of Tull picture sleeves/labels/albums etc from around the world. There have been enough interviews and fan reminiscences in Tull books and maybe enough is enough? What do others think.
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Post by admin on Oct 16, 2008 8:38:58 GMT
I've got the pocket essentials, the lyrics book & Minstrels in the gallery and enjoyed them all but I'd like to see someone from Tull past or present have a go at writing a book, or even better than that an Ian Anderson autobiography would be great, I wonder if he's ever considered it? Not from a dishing the dirt (if there is any) point of view of course, but just to get an more of an insight on Tull from the inside from the folks who actually made it happen.
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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 21, 2008 8:29:41 GMT
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Post by admin on Oct 21, 2008 8:48:02 GMT
How cool is that, I'd never heard of Google book search before.
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 15, 2008 15:55:19 GMT
Great NME cover. Wouldn't it be great if the band had this amount of publicity these days.
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Post by steelmonkey on Nov 15, 2008 21:29:07 GMT
Since this thread had all those other 'Tull Moments', I'll add a teeny one....this morning the news mentioned a seasonal ice skating rink in San Francisco, open from today till Christmas,,,sure enough, some right thinking producer had 'Skating Away' playing in the background, throughout the report!
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Post by nonrabbit on Nov 15, 2008 22:09:39 GMT
Since this thread had all those other 'Tull Moments', I'll add a teeny one....this morning the news mentioned a seasonal ice skating rink in San Francisco, open from today till Christmas,,,sure enough, some right thinking producer had 'Skating Away' playing in the background, throughout the report! I'm delighted to hear that Not sure if that could happen in Britland ? ;D
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Post by fatman on Nov 16, 2008 7:14:50 GMT
Since this thread had all those other 'Tull Moments', I'll add a teeny one....this morning the news mentioned a seasonal ice skating rink in San Francisco, open from today till Christmas,,,sure enough, some right thinking producer had 'Skating Away' playing in the background, throughout the report! I love when that stuff happens. Like the time I was in a Duane Reade pharmacy during holiday season and they had piped-in Christmas music, but Bing Crosby type stuff, when all of a sudden sandwiched in between all that fuddy-duddy holiday music was..... Another Christmas Song. Not Christmas Song, which maybe I could see, although it still would have been odd in that loop, but Another Christmas Song! Jeff
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Post by maddogfagin on Dec 1, 2008 11:20:16 GMT
I received the following email today from Bert Maessen who is the editor of the Dutch fanclub magazine "That's not the way Ian planned it". If you're interested in subscribing his email address is at the bottom of the mail.
This is an important notice from the fanclubmagazine of the Dutch Jethro Tull Fanclub and your response would be very much appreciated.
In this modern digital world, there is the possibility to send you more than just 4 issues a year. (Currently costing 15 euro for 4 issues).
What would you say if you could get a fanclubmagazine by email AT LEAST once a month?? The membership fees would also be reduced to the rate of 5 euro for the year. The layout would be the same as it is now with no changes. The number of pages would differ every time, depending on the latest news and articles available. It could happen that you receive more than one magazine in a month if there is a lot of news, you will then be brought up to date more or less immediately. You can also decide if you like to print your copy or save it digitally on your computer. Also you would be notified of special offers by email, instead of a flyer in with the magazine. If the majority choice is to keep the magazine as it is now, then unfortunately I will have to raise the contribution for the magazine. The costs of printing and p&p are getting higher and higher
So please send me an email as soon as possible to bemajetu4@yahoo.com with your response:
Would you like to have future issues of your magazine digitally? Yes or No.
Kind regards,
Bert Maessen Chairman of the Dutch Jethro Tull Fanclub
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Post by cbwaltzer on Dec 2, 2008 21:24:32 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Dec 3, 2008 8:54:15 GMT
Martin Webb, writing in A New Day a while back, listed a lot of Tull related books and it's a great shame that the official site have never updated the subject officially. When I get some time I hope to look up the relevent AND issue and post the more unusual book/leaflets and such like that have been published but it will have to wait for a while.
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Post by cbwaltzer on Dec 13, 2008 6:10:48 GMT
Thus far, the only Tull book i've read is 'Jethro Tull: A History of the Band 1968-2001', and while i enjoyed it very much, it didn't contain a lot of the specific recording information i was hoping to find. Can anyone tell me if 'Flying Colours' goes into significant detail regarding the Chateau D'Isaster recordings (".....Enough tracks to fill three sides of a double album were developed when technical problems in the studio, and band members' longing for home, caused all but four tracks to be scrapped [some of this material, like "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day," would appear on "War Child"].....")? I know the basics, but i don't feel like the pieces of music i am aware of really account for 3+ sides - plus i'm just hoping for more info about the sessions in general. Anyone remember if this period gets decent coverage in Flying Colours?
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Post by maddogfagin on Dec 13, 2008 8:44:19 GMT
Thus far, the only Tull book i've read is 'Jethro Tull: A History of the Band 1968-2001', and while i enjoyed it very much, it didn't contain a lot of the specific recording information i was hoping to find. Can anyone tell me if 'Flying Colours' goes into significant detail regarding the Chateau D'Isaster recordings (".....Enough tracks to fill three sides of a double album were developed when technical problems in the studio, and band members' longing for home, caused all but four tracks to be scrapped [some of this material, like "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day," would appear on "War Child"].....")? I know the basics, but i don't feel like the pieces of music i am aware of really account for 3+ sides - plus i'm just hoping for more info about the sessions in general. Anyone remember if this period gets decent coverage in Flying Colours? To be honest, I don't think that anything I've read or researched about that period of the groups history fully annotates the Chateau D'isaster music. I reckon that anything that didn't come up to scratch was "dumped" leaving only the completed items which appeared on the various compilations/Nightcap etc or the Red House bootleg. Whether there is anything else from those recording sessions I doubt very much. Maybe it's in the Tull archive held by IA but if it is I don't think we'll ever get to hear it.
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Post by cbwaltzer on Dec 14, 2008 6:26:09 GMT
Hmm, okay - thanks Maddog.
Yeah, i fear you're probably right about the recordings - such a shame. I'm so jealous of all those hardcore Zep fans that have endless hours of studio noodling to get into. I love listening to that sort of thing..... Getting to have a small window into the creative process.... Hearing little snippets of what might have been.... Studio chatter amongst the musicians.....All of it.
Maybe someday, after Ian is no longer with us (hopefully many years from now), someone will release a pile of the material that currently makes him cringe. He's such a perfectionist that what he considers 'garbage' is probably some pretty amazing stuff. Even if it isn't what most people would consider worthy of release, it's still important, and shouldn't be allowed to degrade in some drawer or be forgotten on some dusty hard drive.
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Post by maddogfagin on Mar 6, 2009 18:13:10 GMT
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Post by maddogfagin on Dec 23, 2009 8:49:28 GMT
Just received this information from Bert Maesen who edits the Dutch Jethro Tull Fan Club and the email magazine "That's Not The Way Ian Planned It".
A message from Greg Russo...
Hi everyone!
If you ever wondered if I would ever update my book "Flying Colours: The Jethro Tull Reference Manual," it was released on the 17th of July. It's about time, right? No one else that has done a Tull book ever updated theirs, so I wanted to be the first!
"Flying Colours" is now 324 pages (68 pages more than before) with lots more great photos and information. There's also a new section about the recording that Martin Barre did in 1967-1968 before joining Tull - namely his time with The Motivation and The Penny Peeps (the two groups he was in after The Moonrakers). The Penny Peeps became In The Garden Of Gethsemane, which simply became Gethsemane. The whole story is in the latest edition, and there are lots of other new things this time.
For a limited time, I am offering "Flying Colours" at its original price: $22.95 plus shipping. After that, the price of the book goes back to $27.95. I will happily sign any book purchased from Crossfire's site (http://www.crossfirepublications.com). Otherwise, you can buy it at Amazon.com or any other place you like to buy books. A PDF of the book is also available for a limited time for $12 from Crossfire's site.
Since the US shipping system has completely changed, all books outside the US will be sent by air. The shipping costs are: US ($6), Canada ($8) and everywhere else ($20).
Thanks! Greg Russo
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Post by maddogfagin on Feb 9, 2010 9:25:33 GMT
Had the chance to re-read these two books over the weekend and although not entirely about Tull, they both have interesting references to the band. Published in 1997, this is more like a university thesis on prog rock but it does contain useful information on group line-ups, up until the publication date. Groups featured include Tull, ELP, Curved Air, Genesis, King Crimson et al and is quite comprehensive with the members of each band. I'd recommend it if you can find it cheaply in charity shops or on ebay. First published in 1990, it contains some interesting facts about the finances of music millionaires. To quote from the dust jacket of the book: "Money and music in the Rock world have an uneasy, ambivalent relationship. Tremlett lays bare the money side, often seemy and sometimes ruthless, but his love of the music, his belief in its enduring value, and his consciousness of its importance as a cultural phenomenon give the book an entirely original perspective."There are some interesting money facts about the Strathaird business as well as Salamander & Son Music Ltd as well as the interesting fact in the contex of the amount of money IA's music must generate, how little, compared to other musicians with vast personal wealth, he paid himself from his various companies. Again, an interesting read if now out of date and if you can find it is well worth a purchase.
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Post by rockisland on Mar 21, 2010 17:34:35 GMT
Hi everyone! Haven't seen this on the forum so i thought i'd post it: Ian Anderson is featured in issue 20 of R2 which is now on sale. "Another bursting-at-the-seams edition includes interviews with UK rock music legend Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, who menacingly graces our cover. There’s Irish folk in the shape of The Chieftains, plus King Creosote, one of the most prolific members of Scotland’s Fence Collective. The early career of Acid-folk pioneers The Incredible String Band is re-examined with frontman Robin Williamson, while multi-cultural folk ten piece The Imagined Village talk about that difficult second album. Elsewhere you’ll find cutting-edge singer-songwriters in the shape of John Smith, blues maestro Coco Montoya and young pretender for the crown Dani Wilde, plus UK folk heavyweight Kris Drever as well as many more of the most happening acts on the roots, rock, blues, singer-songwriter, country and world music scenes … acts like Danny And The Champions Of The World, David Rovics, Chasing Pandora and Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts." You can buy the magazine from this website: www.rock-n-reel.co.uk/
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Post by nonrabbit on Mar 21, 2010 21:24:21 GMT
Hi everyone! Haven't seen this on the forum so i thought i'd post it: Ian Anderson is featured in issue 20 of R2 which is now on sale. "Another bursting-at-the-seams edition includes interviews with UK rock music legend Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, who menacingly graces our cover. There’s Irish folk in the shape of The Chieftains, plus King Creosote, one of the most prolific members of Scotland’s Fence Collective. The early career of Acid-folk pioneers The Incredible String Band is re-examined with frontman Robin Williamson, while multi-cultural folk ten piece The Imagined Village talk about that difficult second album. Elsewhere you’ll find cutting-edge singer-songwriters in the shape of John Smith, blues maestro Coco Montoya and young pretender for the crown Dani Wilde, plus UK folk heavyweight Kris Drever as well as many more of the most happening acts on the roots, rock, blues, singer-songwriter, country and world music scenes … acts like Danny And The Champions Of The World, David Rovics, Chasing Pandora and Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts." You can buy the magazine from this website: www.rock-n-reel.co.uk/Thanks for that Rockisland I discovered Rock n Reel via myspace but I haven't checked it out in a while - will now Caught any Tull this year yet? ;D
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Post by rockisland on Mar 21, 2010 21:32:25 GMT
Not yet. My first one this year is on Tuesday in Manchester then one in Liverpool on the 31st and then another in Sheffield on the 1st April. ;D
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Post by nonrabbit on Mar 21, 2010 21:48:47 GMT
Not yet. My first one this year is on Tuesday in Manchester then one in Liverpool on the 31st and then another in Sheffield on the 1st April. ;D Be sure to let us know now ;D
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Post by rockisland on Mar 21, 2010 21:55:19 GMT
Sure will. I'll write a review for each one and post it on the board and hopefully i'll take some pics too.
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Post by maddogfagin on Mar 23, 2010 19:31:24 GMT
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tullist
Master Craftsman
Posts: 478
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Post by tullist on Mar 23, 2010 23:39:36 GMT
Although I have not read this in 30 years I read it at least 4 times and my memory holds it as a remarkable piece. A friend who is less Tull smitten than I read it years ago and was less impressed, and I know David Rees positively hates it. I thought the writing style of it was not unlike A Passion Play. But it would be the last place you would look for an actual history of the band, I think I had to read it the second time to even get a grip on what he was talking about, not unlike Tull in that respect. I think Ian had written on the website his memory of the author of this book having travelled around with them, wonder if he is confusing him with the German guy who made the wonderful picture book of them, my memory holds this guy was a 25 year old lawyer from Kansas City which would not preclude him travelling Europe with Tull, but I think he is confusing him with some other guy, I doubt if he has read this book it was more than a little obscure, (I found of it thru a backpage advert in Rolling Stone about 78)I would tend to think he might give it an A for effort at the very least.
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Post by maddogfagin on Mar 29, 2010 8:02:52 GMT
Although I have not read this in 30 years I read it at least 4 times and my memory holds it as a remarkable piece. A friend who is less Tull smitten than I read it years ago and was less impressed, and I know David Rees positively hates it. I thought the writing style of it was not unlike A Passion Play. But it would be the last place you would look for an actual history of the band, I think I had to read it the second time to even get a grip on what he was talking about, not unlike Tull in that respect. I think Ian had written on the website his memory of the author of this book having travelled around with them, wonder if he is confusing him with the German guy who made the wonderful picture book of them, my memory holds this guy was a 25 year old lawyer from Kansas City which would not preclude him travelling Europe with Tull, but I think he is confusing him with some other guy, I doubt if he has read this book it was more than a little obscure, (I found of it thru a backpage advert in Rolling Stone about 78)I would tend to think he might give it an A for effort at the very least. Hell and damnation - missed out in a bidding war on German ebay for this. Will have to continue to make do with a photocopy of the book's contents I was sent years ago
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