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Post by admin on Oct 21, 2008 9:03:37 GMT
I think we are lacking a random thread just to talk Tull so here it is....... As it's joint leader of our best albums poll this morning I shook the cobwebs out of my ears by going back to Tull's dim and distant past. So long ago in fact in was damn near * da da dada da da dum*....the year 1970! One of my favourite tull albums too, maybe a wee bit darker and lacking some of the lighter touches of Stand Up but a great album. maybe this was the record that should have got Tull a hard rock/metal grammy!!
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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 21, 2008 9:11:44 GMT
Benefit is always the album I come back to after listening to all the others. Not only is it IMO their finest collection of songs overall but evokes memories for me of the era when it was issued. If I was ever cast away on the proverbial desert island it would be the one I would want with me. Knowing my luck however I wouldn't have a cd player or a record deck.
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Post by tullistray on Oct 21, 2008 16:25:33 GMT
Benefit is always the album I come back to after listening to all the others. Not only is it IMO their finest collection of songs overall but evokes memories for me of the era when it was issued. If I was ever cast away on the proverbial desert island it would be the one I would want with me. Knowing my luck however I wouldn't have a cd player or a record deck. I will bet Benefit is the avenue through which alot of Tullies in the 51-55 y.o. age group came to know and love the band. I had an awareness and liking of A New Day Yesterday and possibly others (though no recollection of This Was) prior to Benefit, I recall the Cream had broken up, and my 13 y.o brain thought they sounded kind of cool and "heavy" like the Cream and were a possible replacement for me. But Benefit is the first one I knew by heart, and received heavy airplay on underground FM at the time.
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Post by nonrabbit on Oct 22, 2008 11:11:21 GMT
My first post on the Live Chat on the front page of the official Tull website was... I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Benefit - it changed my life! You're right Tullistray - I'm in that category that you mentioned above. Aqualung was my first and Benefit was my second and the album that I consider to be my all time fav ever. It was/ is a sheer delight in discovery! Every song sounded different not only on the album but to whatever else I happened to be listening too at the time . It was dark and it probably suited me at the time as I was going through dark times too. I listened to it everyday and took the lyrics... driving through London town crying a song..literally I left for London and lived in what was affectionately known as a commune then in Earl's Court I often wonder if I would have become such a fervant Tull fan if it wasn't for Benefit.
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Post by madflutist on Oct 22, 2008 12:55:53 GMT
I love Benefit as I love all Tull. "A Time For Everything" was the first song I learned to play on the flute. Ahhh, those were the days. Even though I'm a relatively young fan (34), and Benefit came out four years before I was even born, I find that it does evoke some vicarious nostalgia in me. Nostalgia is a strange thing sometimes. It can remind someone of a time that they weren't even around for. I think that's the mark of good musicianship. Creating moods that are both dated and timeless. Of course, Tull has always felt so medieval, folksy, and minstrel-ish to me anyway. One of the reasons I like them so much (that and Ian's flute).
In recent years, A Passion Play has gotten a lot of overtime in my CD player. It took me (dark) ages and umpteen million listens to get into it, but upon the recommendations of several Tull fans who called it their all-time favorite, I dived into that task with relish and gusto. Now I see it as the masterpiece it truly is. And talk about ahead of its time!
One album that I have gone back to repeatedly over the years is Under Wraps, which is one of their most oft-maligned efforts. Yes, it's weird and cheesy at times, but I find that cheesiness appealing (depending, as always, on my present state of mind). Give Automotive Science a listen with open mind and unburdened heart and you might find yourself appreciating it for the quirky gem that it is.
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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 22, 2008 13:04:12 GMT
Yes I agree re. Benefit but being a tad older I do remember the clincher for me was watching Top Of The Pops sometime early 1969 having bought This Was a few months previously and my dear old Dad exclaiming "what is that"? when Tull came to do LITP. It was of course the generation gap thingy which we all go through . At that time in the UK there was only a few musical outlets for us younger folks (does 21 count as younger in 1969?) as Radio Caroline and the other offshore stations had been closed down by Harold Wilson's government and there was only BBC Radio 1 to listen to. I strongly hold the belief that had it not been for Radio's Caroline, London, England and the other offshore stations that the vibrant musical tradition of British music would not be what it is today. And in case you're not old enough to remember the little rusty boats that broadcast to the nation all those years ago have a gander at this Looks so dated now with the old American jingles, non BBC ways of radio presentation and a very young John Peel but before that we'd only had Radio Luxembourg and two hours a week from the BBC Light programme. Okay, today's rant over with ;D By the way, I'm mostly listening to this today
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Post by bluehare on Oct 22, 2008 13:33:28 GMT
Coming late to the party as I've mentioned, the first two CDs I was able to find at our local music store were Songs From The Wood, and The Secret Language Of Birds. I almost wore those out while waiting for other CDs to arrive that I'd ordered. So those are still my sentimental favorites.
But right now the CDs that are programmed to play on the old iPod are: Crest Of A Knave, Catfish Rising, Stormwatch, and Nightcap 1 & 2.
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 22, 2008 17:01:23 GMT
Got my lazy butt and stubborn kid out of bed this morning with help from medium loud support courtesy of: Secret language I, Pussy Willow and Montserrat. Noticed the great acoustic guitar on SLOB and Montserrat and excellent Bass on PW. Have a good day, Tullies!
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Post by harrowman on Oct 23, 2008 22:34:23 GMT
I too am a victim of that initial appearance on TOTP. Previously had only heard We Used To Know from the Island sampler Nice Enough To Eat. Comments From parents of What The Hell!!!! only made an 15 year old want to investigate further. Favourite and most played album will alwaysd be TAAB but can I make a plea for greater recognition for Baker St Muse From MITG imho a much underrated piece of Tull music
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 28, 2008 23:53:36 GMT
a recent MOJO said that Paul Macs 'Blackbird' was heavily influenced by Bach's Bouree...never noticed before but gave a listen to the original ' Stand Up' cut and then 'Blackbird....and kind of/sorta heard the connection....was i too easily led or do you hear it too?
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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 29, 2008 8:34:54 GMT
a recent MOJO said that Paul Macs 'Blackbird' was heavily influenced by Bach's Bouree...never noticed before but gave a listen to the original ' Stand Up' cut and then 'Blackbird....and kind of/sorta heard the connection....was i too easily led or do you hear it too? Can't say I've heard the connection myself but will listen out when I next play it. Reminds me of the similarities between Led Zep's "Stairway to heaven" intro and the Spirit/Randy California track "Taurus". Have a listen sometime if you can and spot the similarity
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quizzkid
Master Craftsman
Spin me back down the years...
Posts: 297
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Post by quizzkid on Oct 29, 2008 14:08:28 GMT
There was a TV special on a few years ago with Mccartney in the Abbey Road studios with a small audience and he was doing a Q&A on how he writes his songs, at one point he talks about the Bouree/Blackbird connection and demonstrates it on an acoustic.
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 29, 2008 16:51:12 GMT
MOJO never lies...nor do they ever put Tull on the cover!....Lots of bands wrangled riffs from the great Randy California and Spirit...their cover of 'Like a Rolling Stone'...around 1976-78, is mind-blowing, by the way.
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Post by admin on Oct 30, 2008 21:45:29 GMT
Hmmm, maybe? It doesn't jump right out at me but on the other hand they do sound like they have something in common.
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 31, 2008 1:21:51 GMT
Hate to dis a beatle but who dressed paul that day?
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Post by maddogfagin on Nov 9, 2008 18:41:52 GMT
IMO one of the finest live albums ever. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give it at least 50, if not more. OK so I'm biased ;D
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Post by steelmonkey on Nov 9, 2008 21:39:19 GMT
I decided to invest a few extra pennies in more Tull CDs so I offered Amazon 30 bucks to find me the 4CD box ( the one with beacon's bottom, the full 1970 gig that the stuff on LITP came from and a bunch of random live stuff, featuring the 1975 Wind-Up/Passion Play opener) So now i just wait by the mailbox and see what happens...the box is out of print...i have the music scattered on cassettes in drawers somewhere and figure my life will improve if i get the CDs....maybe by Xmas, if I'm good!
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Post by admin on Nov 10, 2008 20:42:55 GMT
IMO one of the finest live albums ever. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give it at least 50, if not more. OK so I'm biased ;D Definitely, Tull at the peak of their powers. That storming riff at the start makes it a 10 out of 10 live album before we even get into the first song! I wish it would be re released without the annoying bleep outs though! I decided to invest a few extra pennies in more Tull CDs so I offered Amazon 30 bucks to find me the 4CD box ( the one with beacon's bottom, the full 1970 gig that the stuff on LITP came from and a bunch of random live stuff, featuring the 1975 Wind-Up/Passion Play opener) So now i just wait by the mailbox and see what happens...the box is out of print...i have the music scattered on cassettes in drawers somewhere and figure my life will improve if i get the CDs....maybe by Xmas, if I'm good! Good luck, hope you get it. It's an excellent set. The Carnegie hall concert is stunning (although putting my Tull nerd hat on makes me wish the LITP live songs were included!) I really like the remixes too, Black Sunday and Cross Eyed Mary are soo much better than the originals I think.
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Post by cbwaltzer on Nov 21, 2008 3:41:35 GMT
I've been bouncing around a lot lately, Tull-wise. Been a toss-up between late 70's live stuff, early and late 80's studio stuff (meaning: not Under Wraps, basically), and Stormwatch specifically. Oddly, i think, i've always thought of the 'trinity' as being composed of MitG, SftW, and HH - rather than SftW, HH, and SW. Dunno why, but those three always felt linked to me. Possibly a matter of the order in which i was exposed to them? I don't know. I completely agree w/ maddogfagin regarding Bursting Out - the 78 (and 79, for that matter) shows were fantastic. I love the SftW tour as well, but the songs were so difficult to reproduce live that i think the performances, in subtle ways, suffered a bit. I love the shows, but they are just a bit tight, imo. By 78/79, they seemed more comfortable with the road-tested material, and it shows in the playing [plus, of course, the HH material arrives ]. Truly fantastic stuff. If i were forced to come up with a complaint abut Bursting Out, it would be the lack of Heavy Horses [the song]. Had that been included, it would have been absolutely perfect. hear hear!
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