I fixed the problem. When I merged the single MP3 files, there seemed to be a little part missing at the end of each ID point. I then came to the idea of merging the WAV files and exporting them into an MP3 and it worked. A seamless 53:45 minute song.
Thanks for that! I've been trying to work that one out for ages. Always a problem for prog rock fans on albums where the songs flow together (and live albums). Not a problem for fans of 3 minute pop songs. There's always a blip when you merge mp3s which never goes away. Obvious really. Merge the wav and then convert. Cheers, Adrian
I fixed the problem. When I merged the single MP3 files, there seemed to be a little part missing at the end of each ID point. I then came to the idea of merging the WAV files and exporting them into an MP3 and it worked. A seamless 53:45 minute song.
Thanks for that! I've been trying to work that one out for ages. Always a problem for prog rock fans on albums where the songs flow together (and live albums). Not a problem for fans of 3 minute pop songs. There's always a blip when you merge mp3s which never goes away. Obvious really. Merge the wav and then convert. Cheers, Adrian
You're welcome! It was some kind of flash of genius that I had. Why not try with the wav files?
Robin One of the Youngest of the Family member is offline
Joined: Apr 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 55
Re: TAAB2 « Reply #462 on May 22, 2012, 7:43am »
Damn, in the last track the words "a puritan of moral fibre" really make a glimpse of Ian's old voice shine through; especially the "of". Anyone else hearing this?
Ophelia Stimpson speaks to Ian Anderson, lead singer of Jethro Tull and veteran musician…
‘Ian Anderson. Now he’ll be an interesting bloke to talk to.’ So said some of the more mature regulars at the pub when I told them I’d been offered an interview with the charismatic frontman of Jethro Tull. As far as I knew, he was ‘that one’ who successfully managed to incorporate the flute into rock music, with an appearance which wouldn’t look out of place if he were playing some sort of Keith Richard’s-esque cameo in Pirates of the Caribbean. So I gathered that there’d be a fair bit to him, but that was as far as it went. Apparently, though, if you don’t know about Ian Anderson then you ought to; in retrospect of the interview, I can vouch for this.
It was in 1972 that Jethro Tull released Thick as a Brick (TAAB) – a concept album based on the fictitious schoolboy Gerald Bostock which humorously records his day-to-day shenanigans in one continuous 44-minute burst of progressive rock. And now, 40 years on, Anderson has returned with his creation of Thick as a Brick 2, which in a nutshell delves back into the concept of Gerald Bostock who would now be aged 50. So what’s changed? The first TAAB instantly became a number one Billboard Chart album; is it really worth trying to recapture Gerald’s fictional life so rooted in its context of 1972?
It was at the end of 2010 that Anderson was experiencing a sort of ‘private meltdown’ as regards to the resurrection of Gerald Bostock. Having been asked to create a follow up album on numerous occasions, and having rejected all previous approaches, Anderson finally felt it was time to resurrect the character which generated much of the acclaim still associated with his career today. But how to make it relevant? It perhaps takes less effort than one would think, hints Anderson – imagining how a life has developed over the course of a few decades is perhaps, in fact, perfectly natural. “As we baby-boomers look back on our own lives, we must often feel an occasional ‘what-if’ moment. Might we, like Gerald, have become instead preacher, soldier, down-and-out, shopkeeper or finance tycoon?,”
That’s all very well for our parents, I said, because they can map their own ‘what-if’ moments against the release of the original TAAB album. How can we young’uns relate to this sort of thing when we’re yet to know where our paths will take us? ‘Well, it can do you a lot of good, in fact’, says Ian. ‘Kids these days are bombarded with huge decisions at a very young age – all you need do is pick your A-level choices and already you’re sort of narrowing life down. The sooner you start to realise that, the sooner you can keep your options open or establish your preferences.’ This all sounds suspiciously similar to the speech from my 6th form open day. ‘I’m not trying to preach, and I’m not aiming my music at the youth alone. The point of this record is not to feed you a quaint little tale of a fictional person, the point is exactly to make many different people think.’
I said I found Ian’s reference to ‘thinking’ quite interesting; you can argue significant degrees of mental engagement seem like a foreign concept in today’s Top 40, where messages can be, well, insultingly literal. Ian picked up on this; “people don’t deserve to be spoon-fed – we’re an intellectual species, and if we dumb down music or any kind of art we become numb. You’re probably thinking “who is this silly old codger, making us think about stuff”, but someone needs to provide the antidote to all things ‘X factor’. None of us are stupid; I’ve had letters from prisoners in the USA telling me about how a certain nuance in my music has brought about a change in their intellectual outlook. If I can make people boxed into the label of ‘convict’ expand their mental horizons, I must be getting something right.”
The conversation then flowed by seamless association to the subject of challenge. Anderson’s career has spanned a generous 40 years thus far and it is by no means waning. “I think the important thing is to keep your mind open and active at any age. I don’t read music but I’ve played my flute with symphony orchestras in my time – I’d never be able to interpret music in the same way as traditionally professional flautists, but likewise they’d struggle to apply an intricate flute solo to a piece of rock music. When I meet such musicians, it is always fascinating to test each other and see what we can get out of it.”
I wondered about Ian’s thoughts on those making music from downloadable computer software in our current era of music. “I’m not refuting the fact that it takes talent to produce something good from computers. But the thing is, kids today grow up with computers – you lose that magic of taking the time to explore a new instrument. Computers are good because they creatively involve people, and creativity is always good, but I’m suspicious of music being made by people from software which has been assembled by someone else – it seems to me generic, and not music in real time.” There’s a lot to be said for listening to people like Ian Anderson – it’s easy to remain unaware and consign them to the passages of previous decades when actually their music is a lifetime craft. Anderson is an artisan, quietly and humbly producing a sound where he has paid strong attention to quality. He is not a part of history, but a stalwart of the present day.
Thick As A Brick 2 Artist: Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson Label: EMI Price: Rs 395 Rating: ***
Around four decades ago, Ian Anderson of rock veterans Jethro Tull, came up with a concept album. It was the thing to do at the time primarily because — unlike today’s audiences and their attention spans akin to goldfish — listeners were able and willing to invest a certain amount of time on concept albums. So, Tull gave them Thick As a Brick, an epic poem supposedly written by an eight year-old called Gerald Bostock.
Thick As a Brick 2: Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock? revisits the life and times of that mythical schoolboy who is, supposedly, now a 48-year-old with a lot on his mind. It’s an ambitious thing to do, not simply because the words ‘concept album’ will compel most teenagers to run in the opposite direction, but also because fans don’t take kindly to bands messing with a classic. Finally, there’s that tricky production issue — how does one revisit the prog-rock sound of a 40 year-old album without sounding like an idiot in 2012?
Well, he pulls it off, in a little over 50 minutes. ‘Take me on the ghost train,’ he sings on opener From A Pebble Thrown. ‘20p and there you are. Scary in the tunnel night, white knuckle fingers on the safety bar, which way to blue skies? Phantoms pop from cupboard doors, mocking, manic laughter shrieks, dark promises of blood and gore.’ It’s vintage Anderson, starting from where he left off in 1972 when he wrote: ‘Your sperm’s in the gutter, your love’s in the sink.’
As the album progresses, Anderson lets Gerald Bostock live the life of soldier, banker, homeless man and ordinary guy. Lattes make an appearance, as do mortgages and Starbucks muffins. This is an album that bears careful listening to, lyric sheet in hand. And yes, that legendary flute does make its presence felt too.
---
June 7, 2012 A guide to the best (and a bit of the worst) of prog rock http://www.avclub.com/articles/a-guide-t....-of-prog,79776/ The concept album quickly became prog’s liberator and its jailor. While the movement strove to free itself from the single-oriented mindset of pop and treat the LP as a cohesive work of musical narrative, many prog bands wound up becoming equally constrained by the unwieldy format. Case in point: Jethro Tull. The band’s flute-adorned, folk-leaning prog is put to its limit on 1972’s Thick As A Brick, an album comprising a single, 44-minute song. Ironically, an edited segment of Thick As A Brick gained major airplay on radio and became one of the group’s biggest hits. That Jethro Tull made the album partly as a parody of prog—and specifically of ELP—only made it conceptually muddier.
It was in 1972 that Jethro Tull released Thick as a Brick (TAAB) – a concept album based on the fictitious schoolboy Gerald Bostock which humorously records his day-to-day shenanigans in one continuous 44-minute burst of progressive rock.
Something tells me she didn't really listen to the lyrics.
Joined: Oct 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 264 Location: Monza,Italy.
Re: TAAB2 « Reply #467 on Jun 18, 2012, 4:46am »
Hi to All. Ian and the Band were guests of honour at a Festival here in Italy. And it was a success, even this in a short interview before the show :
"Today — says Ian Anderson — the pop is without dynamic, and almost concerts then can become unbearable". For the band Musicultura has prepared something special, . "The group — said Piero Cesanelli — will make a set specifically designed for the Festival and that will not be replicated elsewhere, this is a trip in their music".
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