Write a Rx for Ian.

[Nonfatman]

What, if anything, ails Ian's songwriting and performances lately? Something is clearly not right, and we all know he can do much better. If you were a Music Doctor, what would you prescribe for him to recover and move forward in a viable way?

I'd be interesting in hearing suggestions, because I think he is not using his talent to its full potential these past couple of years, and I think his ideas of how best to move forward given his vocal limitations are misguided. There are better options to address the vocal problems than, for instance, how Ian chose to address it this time around.

Let's leave Martin out of our prescription, though, because that seems to be over, and to be fair, Martin was clearly disillusioned with Jethro Tull long before things officially came to an end. Ian told Paul and I that he had a lot of problems contacting Martin, and there were long periods of time when Martin was incommunicado or otherwise inaccessible. This seems credible to us, because we know from our own experience that, much as we love him, he is not great at "keeping in touch."

Here are three suggestions I have which I feel would have a beneficial effect.

1) Get back to writing individual songs about various topics, including the tried and true love song. Brick 2 was not a bad idea at all, but the concept could have been executed a lot better, in my view. I am not talking about the music, which was pretty good for the most part, or the show, which was excellent, but Gerald's story line. Homo Erraticus was kind of a half-baked idea, yes there were a few good songs, but most of it really fell flat, including the show. And let's not even talk about the current abomination of a live show, much of which is not so live. I cannot think of a more ill-conceived concept and show. So, enough already with the grandiose prog concepts....keep it simple next time!

2) Enough already too with the lazy lyric writing, the cluttered, overly complicated verbiage that does not fit the meter of the music and the terrible rhymes. Look back over your vast catalog of songs and see how great your lyrics used to be compared to what you are writing now, and get back to great songwriting again! Pay attention to the songs and lyrics you wrote on Secret Language of Birds, truly height of powers stuff, and go back to doing that. Because frankly, Ian, some of your new songs really suck.

3) After completing Steps 1 and 2, ditch Ryan and enlist the aid of either Paul Forrest or Tony Garone, the top two Ian Anderson impressionists on the planet, both of whom can replicate your youthful vocals almost to a tee, and both of whom also play a mean flute. You can still sing along to much of the material, but with someone who actually sounds like you once did, rather than with the nails-on-chalkboard voice of whoever this female vocalist is singing with you (actually, for you) on Witches Promise and other songs in the JT Rock Opera shows. The Paul Forrest/Tony Garrone way forward sets up the delightfully ironic possibility of a Young Ian and Old Ian dueling with each other on stage, both on vocals and on flute. If you have any doubts as to how this might work, check out the video on youtube of Paul Forrest's guest appearance with Tull in 2007 or 2008, you remember, the one where you ran out on stage with him, as your younger self, at the end of the medley. Now that was really fun!

That, in my opinion, is the way forward.

Jeff

P.S. Also ditch Florian already and replace him with a more subtle and nuanced electric guitarist. Florian's electric guitar shredding and guitar god antics were never really suited for Tull material, in my view.

[Mix]

Oct 14, 2015 11:59:53 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

1) Get back to writing individual songs about various topics, including the tried and true love song. Brick 2 was not a bad idea at all, but the concept could have been executed a lot better, in my view. I am not talking about the music, which was pretty good for the most part, or the show, which was excellent, but Gerald's story line. Homo Erraticus was kind of a half-baked idea, yes there were a few good songs, but most of it really fell flat, including the show. And let's not even talk about the current abomination of a live show, much of which is not so live. I cannot think of a more ill-conceived concept and show. So, enough already with the grandiose prog concepts....keep it simple next time!

I do think it's time to park the concepts and go back to an album of individual songs based on Ian's observations. The concepts have been fun but it's time for a change. I don't agree with you on Homo, I thought it was a great album and it also happen to be Ian's best seller in decades!

2) Enough already too with the lazy lyric writing, the cluttered, overly complicated verbiage that does not fit the meter of the music and the terrible rhymes. Look back over your vast catalog of songs and see how great your lyrics used to be compared to what you are writing now, and get back to great songwriting again! Pay attention to the songs and lyrics you wrote on Secret Language of Birds, truly height of powers stuff, and go back to doing that. Because frankly, Ian, some of your new songs really suck.

Not sure I agree with that, Jeff. I found the lyrics fitted the music fine. I don't like the 're-writing' of lyrics to bend them to fit another project as has been done on the current tour. It just doesn't feel right to me, or rather cheap at least.

3) After completing Steps 1 and 2, ditch Ryan and enlist the aid of either Paul Forrest or Tony Garone, the top two Ian Anderson impressionists on the planet, both of whom can replicate your youthful vocals almost to a tee, and both of whom also play a mean flute. You can still sing along to much of the material, but with someone who actually sounds like you once did, rather than with the nails-on-chalkboard voice of whoever this female vocalist is singing with you (actually, for you) on Witches Promise and other songs in the JT Rock Opera shows. The Paul Forrest/Tony Garrone way forward sets up the delightfully ironic possibility of a Young Ian and Old Ian dueling with each other on stage, both on vocals and on flute. If you have any doubts as to how this might work, check out the video on youtube of Paul Forrest's guest appearance with Tull in 2007 or 2008, you remember, the one where you ran out on stage with him, as your younger self, at the end of the medley.

Na, I don't like that idea. That's living in the past. I'd prefer Ian to change direction completely. He does need a full time vocalist and he should limit his own vocals to backing/harmony. I'd like to see him do something completely different like he did with Walk Into Light & Divinities.

P.S. Also ditch Florian already and replace him with a more subtle and nuanced electric guitarist. Florian's electric guitar shredding and guitar god antics were never really suited for Tull material, in my view.

I really do not rate Florian as a Guitarist. Sure he can play but there is so much energy missing that Martin provided. This is quite interesting in that you can have a technically perfect and brilliant musician but lack that something special.
Having said that, you also have to take into account the personality. Florian clearly fits Ian's needs and we have to respect that, it's just the Guitar is now a weak element in Ian's band which has never been the case.

[TM]

I would love to see Ian go back to an acoustic style like he did with SLOB. 

[Mix]

Yeah, if he decides not to retire at 70, he ought to do something different. I hate to be ageist but rock is a younger man's game.
One thing I wish Ian would stop now is the standing on one leg, why does he feel he needs to do that now? It's ok to grow old.

[TM]

Keith Richards in 1969:

"We picked up on them quickly. Mick had their first album and we featured the group on the Rock and Roll Circus TV show we taped last December (which still hasn't come out, but hope remains).

"I really liked the band then but I haven't heard it recently. I hope Ian Anderson doesn't get into a cliché thing with his leg routine. You have to work so goddam hard to make it in America, and it's very easy to end up being a parody of yourself. But he plays a nice flute and the guitar player he had with him was good. I think he left and started his own group, Blodwyn Pig. I haven't heard that lot yet."

Read more: www.rollingstone.com/music/news/keith-richards-a-1969-rant-19691115#ixzz3ofVi715I

[Biggles]

Start calling in favors from former band members. They know how your music works and may be able to help. I prescribe BAND CHEMISTRY.

Bzzz.. t!

[LJG]

Oct 15, 2015 13:37:07 GMT -5 TM said:

I would love to see Ian go back to an acoustic style like he did with SLOB. 

Agreed... or Divinities. I love that disc. And taking a break from the vocals may not be a bad idea.

[Nonfatman]

Oct 15, 2015 12:58:47 GMT -5 Mix said:

Oct 14, 2015 11:59:53 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

1) Get back to writing individual songs about various topics, including the tried and true love song. Brick 2 was not a bad idea at all, but the concept could have been executed a lot better, in my view. I am not talking about the music, which was pretty good for the most part, or the show, which was excellent, but Gerald's story line. Homo Erraticus was kind of a half-baked idea, yes there were a few good songs, but most of it really fell flat, including the show. And let's not even talk about the current abomination of a live show, much of which is not so live. I cannot think of a more ill-conceived concept and show. So, enough already with the grandiose prog concepts....keep it simple next time!

I do think it's time to park the concepts and go back to an album of individual songs based on Ian's observations. The concepts have been fun but it's time for a change. I don't agree with you on Homo, I thought it was a great album and it also happen to be Ian's best seller in decades!

2) Enough already too with the lazy lyric writing, the cluttered, overly complicated verbiage that does not fit the meter of the music and the terrible rhymes. Look back over your vast catalog of songs and see how great your lyrics used to be compared to what you are writing now, and get back to great songwriting again! Pay attention to the songs and lyrics you wrote on Secret Language of Birds, truly height of powers stuff, and go back to doing that. Because frankly, Ian, some of your new songs really suck.

Not sure I agree with that, Jeff. I found the lyrics fitted the music fine. I don't like the 're-writing' of lyrics to bend them to fit another project as has been done on the current tour. It just doesn't feel right to me, or rather cheap at least.

3) After completing Steps 1 and 2, ditch Ryan and enlist the aid of either Paul Forrest or Tony Garone, the top two Ian Anderson impressionists on the planet, both of whom can replicate your youthful vocals almost to a tee, and both of whom also play a mean flute. You can still sing along to much of the material, but with someone who actually sounds like you once did, rather than with the nails-on-chalkboard voice of whoever this female vocalist is singing with you (actually, for you) on Witches Promise and other songs in the JT Rock Opera shows. The Paul Forrest/Tony Garrone way forward sets up the delightfully ironic possibility of a Young Ian and Old Ian dueling with each other on stage, both on vocals and on flute. If you have any doubts as to how this might work, check out the video on youtube of Paul Forrest's guest appearance with Tull in 2007 or 2008, you remember, the one where you ran out on stage with him, as your younger self, at the end of the medley.

Na, I don't like that idea. That's living in the past. I'd prefer Ian to change direction completely. He does need a full time vocalist and he should limit his own vocals to backing/harmony. I'd like to see him do something completely different like he did with Walk Into Light & Divinities.

P.S. Also ditch Florian already and replace him with a more subtle and nuanced electric guitarist. Florian's electric guitar shredding and guitar god antics were never really suited for Tull material, in my view.

I really do not rate Florian as a Guitarist. Sure he can play but there is so much energy missing that Martin provided. This is quite interesting in that you can have a technically perfect and brilliant musician but lack that something special.
Having said that, you also have to take into account the personality. Florian clearly fits Ian's needs and we have to respect that, it's just the Guitar is now a weak element in Ian's band which has never been the case.

So we agree that it's time to ditch the grandiose concept albums and to get a new guitarist, and also we both don't like rewritten lyrics to classic Tull songs. That's not too bad, for us.

Homo Erraticus had some excellent songs, my favorites being Doggerland, The Engineer, Cold Dead Recogning and, especially Puer Ferox Adventus, which I thought was Ian's best song in many years. I also like Meliora Sequamur and the instrumental number, and the little acoustic numbers like Heavy Metals and In for a Pound were okay. But the rest were retreads of earlier Tull songs and several were marred by horrible multisyllabic rhymes (one example is coroner/foreigner from New Blood/Old Veins) or from overly cluttered verbosity (e.g., After These Wars). Ian wanted to do a prog album, but this was not prog, and the live show did not work as a conceptual piece nearly as well as Brick 2. In fact, three or four H.E. numbers were dropped from the set as the tour went on.

Ian really should have taken the prog idea and run with it, maybe turn it into a double album to expand on the history of human migration theme, hire some prog heavyweights like Eddie Jobson and Rick Wakeman as guests, and add some extended instrumental passages. That would have been the full realization of the theme, something that could legitimately be considered prog rock. What we got instead was 10,000 years of human history crammed into 12 or so individual songs, suffering from a sameness in production and giving the feeling, at least to me, of a rushed project. I do think that the theme itself was pretty good, and I loved the way he wove Roman History and Latin into the storyline. I predicted he would do something like that about five years ago, with my TogaTull and Odes of Catullus threads on the board.

Regarding Ian's future direction, I would love for Ian to do something completely different, but as long as he wants to continue to play Tull songs, and even his solo stuff live, he's going to need vocal help. With Ryan, I think the idea was to find a younger alter ego whose voice bears a resemblance to Ian in his prime, and that worked fairly well for the last two tours before this one. But it could have been so much better with a guy like Paul Forrest or Tony Garone, because both of them sound even more like Ian than Ryan does, and both play flute as well.


Jeff

[Heavy Horse]

Oct 14, 2015 11:59:53 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

1) Get back to writing individual songs about various topics, including the tried and true love song. Brick 2 was not a bad idea at all, but the concept could have been executed a lot better, in my view. I am not talking about the music, which was pretty good for the most part, or the show, which was excellent, but Gerald's story line. Homo Erraticus was kind of a half-baked idea, yes there were a few good songs, but most of it really fell flat, including the show. And let's not even talk about the current abomination of a live show, much of which is not so live. I cannot think of a more ill-conceived concept and show. So, enough already with the grandiose prog concepts....keep it simple next time!

You do know that it's quite bizarre to tell a creative artist what his subject matter should be? "Sorry Pablo, I quite like that whole 'Guernica' thing, but could you paint us a picture of some cats, next time?"...
I thought 'Homo Erraticus' was too long, but the concept was an interesting one and there were some excellent ideas in there. The live show sagged a bit it's true, but I don't think that was to do with the concept - grandiose or not. I'm not bothering with the 'rock opera', mainly because of Ian's vocal issues but also I'd much rather hear some new songs than bloody 'Aqualung' for the millionth bloody time!

Oct 14, 2015 11:59:53 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

2) Enough already too with the lazy lyric writing, the cluttered, overly complicated verbiage that does not fit the meter of the music and the terrible rhymes. Look back over your vast catalog of songs and see how great your lyrics used to be compared to what you are writing now, and get back to great songwriting again! Pay attention to the songs and lyrics you wrote on Secret Language of Birds, truly height of powers stuff, and go back to doing that. Because frankly, Ian, some of your new songs really suck.

Hmm... A tricky one. I agree that the lyrics on HE often seem to be too relentless - a word for every note, beat and chord change! In fact, once I became aware of it, I couldn't not hear it!

Oct 14, 2015 11:59:53 GMT -5 Nonfatman said:

3) After completing Steps 1 and 2, ditch Ryan and enlist the aid of either Paul Forrest or Tony Garone, the top two Ian Anderson impressionists on the planet, both of whom can replicate your youthful vocals almost to a tee, and both of whom also play a mean flute. You can still sing along to much of the material, but with someone who actually sounds like you once did, rather than with the nails-on-chalkboard voice of whoever this female vocalist is singing with you (actually, for you) on Witches Promise and other songs in the JT Rock Opera shows. The Paul Forrest/Tony Garrone way forward sets up the delightfully ironic possibility of a Young Ian and Old Ian dueling with each other on stage, both on vocals and on flute. If you have any doubts as to how this might work, check out the video on youtube of Paul Forrest's guest appearance with Tull in 2007 or 2008, you remember, the one where you ran out on stage with him, as your younger self, at the end of the medley. Now that was really fun!

This is one of the strangest things I've ever read! Getting in an impersonator to sing his songs? Would you like to be constantly reminded of the faded abilities of your youth by being forced to work alongside someone who mimicked the younger you? Ian's 70s persona(s) was a pretty complicated and certainly unique one. Paul Forrest does what he does very well indeed, but watching and hearing him take off Ian (right down to the between-song patter on "Bursting Out") is toe-curling! As bad as Beatles tribute bands who refer to each other as John and Paul on stage. I've been in a Beatles tribute band where that didn't happen and I now co-front Germany's only Tull tribute band and, while it's important to reproduce the songs as faithfully as possible, putting on accents and affecting mannerisms is icky in the extreme and far too far down the 'uncanny valley'!

Assuming that Ian's not mercenary (and I can't quite rule it out sometimes, it's true), he's still going to want to sing as much as possible because his songs mean something to him. Ryan was good in Ian's band because his voice held emotional depth but also distance - a very narrow path to walk! The footage of Forrest and Anderson is really good fun, but it's a joke that would wear pretty thin by the end of a show - not to mention 15 nights into a tour. Ian's addressing the problems he faces by using other vocalists but being a member of his own tribute band? That's just weird! Incidently, isn't the problem people have with Florian just that? That he's trying to channel Martin's guitar lines, but sounding like a boy doing a man's job? Actually, the only time I've thought that was when I heard him play "Farm on the Freeway"...

Ultimately, Ian's not going to change his course unless people stop going to his shows. I would like to see more new studio material from him, and I'll always keep buying that. I've given up on "Live Ian". For the moment, at least!