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Post by jtul07 on Nov 4, 2012 15:55:56 GMT -5
Jeff Moehlis: Ian Anderson’s ‘Thick as a Brick’ — Then and Now www.noozhawk.com/article/102312_jeff_moehlis_ian_andersons_thick_as_brick/Ian Anderson and lead guitarist Florian Opahle in concert Thursday night at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez. (Gary Lambert / Noozhawk photo)In a way, the story begins with Aqualung. That was the album released in 1971 by Jethro Tull that mixed hard rock with a singer-songwriter’s touch to produce a true classic that continues to resonate decades after its release. Because Aqualung contained several songs that addressed the topic of religion, it was erroneously labeled as a “concept album,” much to the annoyance of Jethro Tull frontman/singer/songwriter/flautist Ian Anderson. So for the followup, Jethro Tull recorded “Thick as a Brick,” a single song (split onto two album sides) that spoofed the concept album genre, with lyrics supposedly penned by a particularly precocious 8-year-old boy named Gerald Bostock. Incidentally, this turned out to be one of the greatest “concept albums” ever committed to tape, and reached No. 1 in the U.S. charts in 1972. For the 40th anniversary of “Thick as a Brick,” Anderson (billed as Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson) recorded the album Thick as a Brick 2, not technically a sequel, rather an exploration of what might have become of the young Bostock. More on that later. Anderson also launched a tour to perform both Thick as a Brick albums in their entirety, and to our great fortune, the tour stopped at the Chumash Casino Resort on Thursday night. At the Chumash, after a short movie, Anderson came in with the familiar opening of the original Thick as a Brick — “Really don’t mind if you sit this one out,” to loud cheers from the crowd. He was soon joined by the rest of the band — Florian Opahle (guitar), John O’Hara (keyboard), David Goodier (bass) and Scott Hammond (drums) — who started out dressed as chimney sweeps but slowly shed those costumes to reveal more classic rock garb. Notably, Anderson’s somewhat world-weary vocals were supplemented by Ryan O’Donnell, whose voice has an almost uncanny resemblance to the voice of Anderson in the 1970s, although delivered in a more of a musical theater style. Anderson and O’Donnell often traded off verses, and O’Donnell’s contributions helped things sound closer to the recorded version, plus it allowed Anderson to play more flute in his wonderfully unique style. In the middle of “Side 1” of Thick as a Brick, an onstage phone rang loudly and the band abruptly stopped playing, similar to how Jethro Tull performed the song back in the day. On the line was violinist Anna Phoebe, who was asked to Skype in her contributions to the song. Incidentally, while she played, one caught a few glimpses in the background of a person in scuba gear — a reference, of course, to another meaning of the term “aqualung.” When “Side 1” ended, there was a fake weather report that morphed into an amusing public service announcement stressing the importance of men getting prostate exams. Then, as for the original album, “Side 2” continued many of the lyrical and musical themes of “Side 1,” plus had some of the more out-there lyrics like “We walked through the maternity ward and saw 218 babies wearing nylons.” Overall, I have to say that the band absolutely nailed it on this classic album. After an intermission and a fake YouTube video of a cranky old coot (Anderson) touring his manor, the music continued with the performance of Thick as a Brick 2. As mentioned above, this explores different possible life paths that Bostock might have taken, namely a businessman who serves time in jail for his misdeeds, a homeless gay man coping with having been abused by his headmaster, a soldier in the War on Terror, a Christian tele-vangelist or the proprietor of a corner store. The music of Thick as a Brick 2 really rocks, with some stylistic inspiration from the original but also plenty of new prog rock awesomeness. Toward the end of Thick as a Brick 2, the scuba guy in the video finally made it to the ocean, where an “aqualung” belongs. And for an encore, the band played “Locomotive Breath,” one of the best-known songs off the Aqualung album. So the story that, in a way, started with Aqualung also, in a way, ended there. And what a story it is.
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Post by TM on Nov 6, 2012 8:44:29 GMT -5
Jethro Tull's Anderson Returns to 'Thick as Brick'By DAVID WEINER November 05, 2012 It was intended to be a bit of a spoof, actually -- a send-up of the pretentiousness of progressive rock. Four decades later, people are still taking Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick seriously as a musical masterpiece, and Tull founder and frontman Ian Anderson has returned to his classic, twisted tale with a brand-new sequel album and tour. Ian took the time to talk to ETonline about his inspiration for writing an entire album from the perspective of a confused little boy named Gerald Bostock; why he finally decided to write Thick as a Brick 2; the sorry state of the music industry today -- plus his salmon farming days and his unique connection to The Walking Dead. The 40th Anniversary edition of Thick as a Brick will be available November 6 from EMI with a special set containing both Thick as a Brick and Thick as a Brick 2 on vinyl packaged with a special 72-page book containing new interviews, rare photos and tour mementos, and a reproduction of the complete, original St. Cleve Chronicle newspaper featured on the album cover. A 40th Anniversary Set containing the original Thick album remixed on 5.1 stereo CD and DVD along with the book is also available. Related: What's with 'The Walking Dead' and Jethro Tull? ETonline: How did the idea first come about for Thick as a Brick?Ian Anderson: I didn't want to make another album that just was Aqualung Part II, but do something different. It felt the right time to do something that was in part spoof, parody if you like, of the prog rock genre of the day, and partly was a serious endeavor to extend both lyric writing and music writing to a higher level of technique and detail than I'd done before. ETonline: What prompted you to write an album from the point of view of Gerald Bostock, an 8-year-old boy, and even credit the lyrics to him?Ian Anderson: Well probably there was a little bit of autobiographical stuff going on from my own school days and pre-school days, really. Definitely in the pre-teen years from seven to ten, that was a period when I suppose a lot of us get some ideas about things, which turn out quite often to be really quite horribly wrong, and we discover that in our mid-teens that we were just sold a lie, or we misconstrued certain notions -- perhaps of gallantry, bravery, responsibility. So yes, there's quite a lot of autobiographical little elements on Thick as a Brick 1, and as indeed on Thick as a Brick 2, a certain amount of the manifestations of Gerald as a grown up, I'm drawing upon my own experiences as well as experiences of friends, acquaintances, and putting together those different characters. ETonline: Since it was sort of meant to be somewhat of a satire of the pretentiousness of rock, do you look back in retrospect and take the first album pretty seriously? Or do you still see it more from the humor point of view?Ian Anderson: Well I think the whole point of the album was that they had to work on both levels. It had to be both parody and have an element of seriousness as well. And I tried to strike, back then, that right balance, and hopefully the performance today, that's the way we do it. There is an element of seriousness, as well as that slight fun-and-games, tongue-in-cheek element there too, so it's kind of important for me to have those things going on side-by-side, both with Thick as a Brick 1 and Thick as a Brick 2, which is more serious and less parody -- but still has its upbeat humorous moments and I try and balance out the serious, thoughtful bits with the more whimsical, amusing bits. It's part of trying to write with some light and shade, some dramatic content, a degree of entertaining complexity. Related: McCartney: Yoko Didn't Break Up Beatles ETonline: Is there a certain amount of freedom by not being limited by the two or three-minute song structure? And was it difficult to pull it off?Ian Anderson: There is a degree of freedom, but when I started off … I ran the restrictions of a vinyl album, and back then that's all we had. Nowadays, of course, we have various different forms of media and we don't have necessarily the same restrictions. You could shoehorn 80 minutes onto a CD if you want, but you can only shoehorn realistically about 25 minutes a side onto a vinyl album. … I'm not a vinyl fan. I loathe the stuff, but that doesn't mean that other people who do like it aren't meant to [be served by the format] -- just as I'm not a Christian, but every year I do charity concerts in churches and cathedrals for the benefit of those who enjoy being in those buildings, to be served by their notions of the Christian religion and the Christian God, so I'm an easy going guy, I'm just there to please. ETonline: I like that. You're equal opportunity to the Luddites as well as the high-tech. I was pleasantly surprised to know that Thick as a Brick 2 was even coming out. How long has this been kicking around in your head? From the moment you finished the first Thick as a Brick in '72, did you think you would ever be coming back to this?Ian Anderson: No, no. I was all determined for 39-40 years that I would never make a sequel to Thick as a Brick, because it just seemed to be a stand-alone, one-off thing that was best left where it was. But it was the challenge, I supposed, laid down to me a few times by people in media, fans, record company guys, you know? Several times over the years I've been asked to seriously consider making a sequel, and finally, of course after 39 years, I suddenly thought, 'Okay, well now I have a way to do this through the very simple question: Whatever happened to Gerald Bostock, and what might've happened to the St. Cleve Chronicle, the fictitious newspaper that's on the cover of the original album?' And so those two questions demanded an answer, and the answer was in February of last year I sat down and wrote between 15 and 20 different scenarios that might reflect what young Gerald Bostock might've become, and decided to go out and pick five of them and extrapolate on those. … I suddenly had a concept, if you like, that made sense to write an album for today, not an album for the nostalgic way that was a sequel set in '72 or '73. I really didn't want to go back there. I wanted to do something that was about today and the world in which we live in today, which in many ways is very different than the one of 40 years ago. ETonline: Have you closed the book on Gerald?Ian Anderson: I really thought I had until about two weeks ago, and I woke up in the middle of the night with another thought. It's certainly not Thick as a Brick 3, but I just thought maybe Gerald has a little life in him yet. I just kind of like the more or less weekly newsletters called The Bostock Diaries which appear on our web site and on Facebook. … I rather like the rather cantankerous, failed politician and middle-aged, getting a bit kind of angry -- I quite like the angry Gerald, so I actually think I might possibly have just another Gerald moment in 2013, but a very different one to this. Related: Celebrities Lend Their Star Power to Sandy Victims ETonline: I was watching a vintage clip from Letterman of you smoking a pipe, talking about salmon farming and the Loch Ness Monster. Are you still in the salmon farming business?Ian Anderson: No, that was 20 years of my life, really, between '78 and 2001-2002, and I decided it was probably time in my life to step back from doing things other than music, because I felt I really had to make a choice, and I didn't feel like I could possibly carry on with the responsibility of running a company employing 400 people -- and with quite often difficult decisions to make regarding not only the commercial side of running a company, but the ethical side of running a company. And so some things about the intensive nature of fin fish farming and some of the environmental issues, they kind of helped me decide that it was probably time to get out of that. If I was going to have a carbon footprint in life, I'd rather it came from a musical direction than through the increasing industrial scale of agriculture. ETonline: For this social media generation, why do you think Jethro Tull's music endures? What is it about the music that is timeless to this day?Ian Anderson: I think that it works on two levels. I think that there are those who come to Jethro Tull music either as adults or as teenagers because they hear it and they like it. Intrinsically, it's the music, but there are also those that perhaps hear it because they have diligently sought it out, because they're interested in the historical perspective of rock music. And particularly for younger people, it helps identify who you are in the context of your parents if you listen to the music they listened to, if you watch the movies they watched, if you read the books that they read. I think that we find out about ourselves by finding out about our parents. … I think that's why people will often discover the music of the previous generation by checking out what their parents listened to and wondering about it. … It's easy enough to go to Mr. Google or Mr. Amazon or Mr. iTunes and hit the button and download a track or just listen to it for free. In fact, all they really have to do is just go to JethroTull.com where 24 hours a day Jethro Tull repertoire is playing on the live streaming Tull Radio, which is on the home page. ETonline: Do you have strong opinions about the access to free music these days compared to going to a traditional brick and mortar store or buying music on Amazon or iTunes. The fact that so much is free now, have you given in to this new territory, or does it bother you?
Ian Anderson: It doesn't strictly bother me in regards to people who have made a ton of money selling records over the last twenty, thirty, or forty years. It doesn't bother me. What bothers me is really the artists trying to make a go of it today -- young musicians struggling to find an outlet for the music find it very, very difficult to be rewarded for their effort. … You had a fighting chance 40, 50 years ago making a living as a musician. These days the odds against you are overwhelming that you're ever going to get paid for what you do, and it's really a tough world. I'm quite angry about the fact that people have gotten used to the idea that they simply don't have to bother paying for anything. It doesn't seem to be an ethical question -- it's just almost like you're stupid if you actually pay for it -- but somebody has to make the records. They don't make themselves. Somebody has to publish them, somebody has to make them available in its physical content, and to market and promote what you're doing costs just as much money -- arguably even more -- than it did back in the days when physical product was all there was. … You can go and look at the reality: record companies and airlines are in deep shit, and to some extent, for kind of similar reasons. It has to do with enormous difficulty in competing. … You have very few record companies left on planet Earth, and they're all fighting for survival in a very difficult economic climate. ETonline: That topic surely requires a very long conversation, and I appreciate your bite about that. I'll just wrap it up by asking, what's next for Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull?
Ian Anderson: All of this year, apart from the Christmas concerts that I do a few of each year, everything else is the Thick as a Brick tour. … There will be, during the course of 2013, some shows that will play other repertoire. In essence it'll have ended up being close to a two-year run of that Thick as a Brick material -- but if it wasn't going well, I wouldn't keep doing it. For even more of Ian's interview -- in which he extolls the virtues of being step-dad to The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln -- CLICK HERE. www.etonline.com/music/126535_Jethro_Tull_s_Ian_Anderson_Returns_to_Thick_as_Brick/
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Post by TM on Nov 7, 2012 22:31:51 GMT -5
Arguing with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull—by Mike Greenblatt, November 7, 2012 Jethro Tull has been around now for 45 years. 28 musicians have been in the band but only one calls the shots: Ian Anderson. The image of Anderson, on one foot, playing the flute, is one of the more iconic images in all of progressive rock. He’s incorporated jazz, folk, blues and classical into his seamless mix and continues to tour globally with fans—Grateful Dead style—following him around the world. The current album, Thick As A Brick 2, imagines what might have happened to its original 1972 protagonist, Gerald Bostock, decades later. The conversation below was almost adversarial in that I had interviewed beloved Tull guitarist Martin Barre earlier in the year, and he was clearly upset over not being asked to participate in TAAB2. I knew Anderson, who is one of the more articulate, intelligent, philosophical and literate rock stars, could take my incessant grilling, so I went in with a mission. To his credit, he was a good sport and handled me with patience, professionalism and with a profound zen-like wisdom. How do you know when to get rid of certain guys and get other guys? You’re a crafty individual both in business and music, no?Well, it’s not as cynical or crafty as “getting rid” of guys. I have relationships. You come to enjoy oftentimes passionate friendships with other musicians whom you find productive for a while but sometimes you go into it knowing this is not going to be forever. It’s exciting—intellectually and emotionally—to play with certain people. No one is under any long-term marriage contract to make it a union for life so it’s not really a question of deciding when to get rid of them. It’s mutual. To drag on beyond the point to where it’s not fun and productive is not the best thing to do. Working with me, you can use that relationship to further your career. But then move on and do other things! Don’t get stuck in a rut by thinking you have to stick around me forever because I can manage quite well without you. I’ve given that advice to more than a few people. I’m not a guy who hires and fires like buying a new member of a football team. I’m a band leader in the tradition of Frank Zappa or John Mayall. I don’t think it’s fair to say we “get rid” of people just because they play a wrong note or something. We’re not that mean. Unless you’re James Brown.You’ll notice I didn’t mention James Brown amongst the good band leaders. He had a very bad reputation amongst his musicians for being exactly the kind of guy that maybe you’re alluding to. Another one very much in that vein is Van Morrison. He fires people when he gets bored with them! I love the lineup from ’95 to ’05 of you with Martin Barre, Jon Noyce, Andrew Giddings and Doane Perry.I think on a purely musical basis, it was a more flexible and adept lineup. Martin was at his best, continuing to develop. They were polished on stage, too. I don’t think, though, they quite had the fire in the belly for recording. At least a couple of them were never at their best in the studio. I think the pressure got to them. Who?
That’s not something I feel I would want to say because it would suggest somebody wasn’t up to the mark. I never betray my friends, musicians or otherwise, by criticizing them. Some people enjoy the stage but tremble at the knees when they walk into a studio where it’s for real—a test, if you will—with the resultant pressure. I feel the pressure too as a producer, musician, composer and arranger. The buck stops with me. But, nonetheless, the adrenaline rush of building momentum is one that overcomes the trepidation. So I can see it from both sides. Why wasn’t Barre or Perry part of TAAB2? The fans were up in arms about it and it caused no small amount of controversy. You told Pat Prince of Goldmine magazine it was a scheduling conflict but Martin told me that…I did not use the phrase “scheduling conflict.” Back in June of 2011, on a few occasions, I met with Martin and Doane to talk to them about 2012. I explained I had been working on a new project which was probably going to take up most of my 2012 time, that it was a conceptual project; that I did not want to pursue it under the Jethro Tull banner. We then discussed what those guys might be doing in 2012. The talks were well-scheduled and we all agreed they would pursue other avenues that they had, mind you, already been thinking of. That’s hardly a “scheduling conflict.” It was a plus, a bonus; it was finally time to do some other things on a personal basis. Particularly for Martin. He’s actually a year older than me. We’re not guys who can go on forever. Martin and I have talked over the last few years about him pursuing some solo projects. It’s not anything unusual or even particularly new. Look, I have no intention of being drawn into a sparring match here. There is no conflict. It’s just people doing their own thing. Maybe Martin might have felt, in some way, snubbed, not to be asked to do Thick As A Brick 2 and, if so, I can understand that, but there was plenty of notice for Martin and Doane to think about pursuing actively their alternative personal plans. Martin, as you probably know, is out and about doing tours as we speak. Doane is recovering from a health issues. How often do you keep in touch with them and other ex-Tull musicians?We’re in regular touch and chat about this and that. In fact, I’m sort of disappointed if a couple of days go by and I don’t get an email from one of the 28 musicians I’ve played with over the years in Jethro Tull. I’d like to think I’m on pretty good terms with most of them. In fact, looking down my emails as I speak to you now, I can see yet another email from an ex-musician who was once in Jethro Tull. Ooh, he’s inviting me to a, well, I should have a degree of discretion; let’s just say it’s an important private function. I rather like when I get these… Wait, hang on, let’s see, here’s one… Two, two ex-musicians, three, another musician who once came to work with me very briefly and decided not to pursue, ooh, hold on, here’s another two, and this is just today’s emails. I kind of like the fact that we have this big extended family thing going on that I’m a part of. Speaking of family, I’m a paid-up member and supporter of an entity called “Population Matters.” I’m very concerned about people’s attitudes towards birth control. I’m one of those people who believe we all should be entitled to have a child or two… But stop at two! Let’s try and put the lid on population expansion. We’re already at a point where we can’t feed the planet. There’s no real possibility of increasing our food production for years to come in this topsy-turvy climate change world. This is something that actually matters to me. I have two children. I have two grandchildren whom I hope to have a hand in fostering. So that’s okay. I’m on target. I’m a responsible inhabitant of the planet Earth. I’m in that place where we can see minimal or no population growth as a direct result of my personal seminal fluid. But I have my extended family, 28, wait, two of them, sadly, have passed on, so 26 surviving Jethro Tull mates who I’m kind of proud of. So you would not be adverse, then, in the future, to possibly playing again with Martin Barre?Absolutely not. In fact, in one of the last conversations I had with Martin, I was talking to him of doing a little acoustic outing with just the two of us! We’ve never done that before. We’re all too used to the media-whipped frenzy of a Jagger-Richards will they/won’t they kind of thing…
Well, this then, is the Jethro Tull equivalent. There’s a magic when you and Martin play…My point was going to be that it’s not the Jethro Tull equivalent! There isn’t that kind of a friction or bust-up. Jagger and Richards have had longstanding bad blood between them. No no, I don’t see it as an equivalent at all. Can we move on? We’ve done this one to death. On the new album, you almost go back to the original two Jethro Tull albums: less rock and more of other genres like jazz and folk.Well, there are some elements of jazz and blues at work in much of what I’ve written over the years. I’m a very eclectic musician who draws upon a number of different musical genres to try and integrate them into the musical mix. Jazz and blues are certainly part of that mix. What they have in common is improvisation. That’s the element that I think I take with me through my musical life. But I’m more drawn instinctively towards folk music and classical music. By folk, I don’t just mean the music of Great Britain or the United States; I’m talking about ethnic music of different cultures in different parts of the world. I’m more drawn to that as being something earthy, [heartfelt], built upon tradition, never changing. I’m less concerned with recreating historic folk themes or identities in the way we imagine they were done originally. I’m more passionate about folk music as an evolution based upon tradition of a culture. As far as classical music is concerned, classical is music of the head! It is the conscious skilled authority of learned musicians plying their trade. I’m drawn to that: The potential marriage of heart and mind, which seems the ideal music to pursue, combining the intellectual part of the process with the emotional. Finally, would you consider TAAB2 a metaphor for how our generation has changed through the years never knowing the kind of person we’re ultimately going to be?Not only would I consider it a metaphor, but it was designed and written very specifically to be, if you like, a metaphor for the lives of all of us who might look back and think how we might have done this life differently. “Oh, if I’d only married the girl next door. Oh, if only I’d taken up that offer of a full-time position. Oh, if only I’d have been a football player or professional bungee jumper.” Still, that said, TAAB2 is not just for us old folks. I really try to put in there some of the notion that it might amuse or kick-start a little thought for people in their teens or early 20s who are very much in that firing line of decision making where things are coming thick and fast with potential changes in life. It’s easy just to go with the flow, and some people do. Nothing wrong with that if you want to be relatively passive and let things wash over you and end up on whatever beach the tide and wind take you to. Some of us, though, want to swim against the tide. It’s good to encourage people to do that: taking seriously responsibilities not only for their own future but for friends and family who have played and will hopefully continue to play a part in their lives. Sometimes you have to make decisions on doing the right thing and sometimes that might mean accommodating the wishes of your parents! The album, in the end, is all light-hearted conjecture, really, but one can take out of it what one will. There’s a good chance I’ll be showing up on your doorstep to perform it within the next few months but, if you’re talking a few years down the road, you’ll just have to talk to my doctor. www.theaquarian.com/2012/11/07/arguing-with-ian-anderson-of-jethro-tull/
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Post by Chea on Nov 8, 2012 2:09:05 GMT -5
Hi Tm, and thank you for this interview which I find very interesting. Explains many things about each other "TaaB 2 project", Martin, Doane, and removes any space fantasy about a return by Ian Martin, definitely. In the meantime, I look forward to the next concert TaaB 2 me in a few weeks, and later the Christmas concert at St. Bride's Church with both my kids.
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Post by jtul07 on Nov 8, 2012 8:37:33 GMT -5
Thanks for this insightful interview. If there are some who wish Martin was still in the group, I can sympathize with those feelings. One can always dream of the ultimate Tull line-up as though you were putting together a "Dream Team". The team we have now is doing something in a fresh positive way which is designed by Ian Anderson. His talents and writing skills are beyond anyone I consider relevant in today's music scene. You don't have to worship someone to enjoy what they do. I worship my family and a higher power. I do enjoy the musical creativity and artistic expression of others besides Ian Anderson. But, when a Tull show comes this way, I'll be camping out again. ;D Or Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson.
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Post by TM on Nov 8, 2012 20:54:16 GMT -5
Hi Tm, and thank you for this interview which I find very interesting. Explains many things about each other "TaaB 2 project", Martin, Doane, and removes any space fantasy about a return by Ian Martin, definitely. In the meantime, I look forward to the next concert TaaB 2 me in a few weeks, and later the Christmas concert at St. Bride's Church with both my kids. Hi Chea, I think we will see Martin and Ian back together again at some point. In the mean time enjoy the show and the Christmas Shows! And plan for my attendance for the Christmas shows in 2013!
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Post by Tull50 on Nov 9, 2012 10:39:01 GMT -5
Ian Anderson Return to Barcelona Festival Mil.lenni 6 feb 2013 – 21h Palau de la MúsicaIan Anderson, the brilliant player and the voice of the legendary band Jethro Tull, is known worldwide as the best piper in rock history. So far, there is no real pretender to the throne. Ian plays guitar and mandolin and is accompanied by ethnic flutes and whistles filled the repertoire of richly textured Jehtro Tull. Jethro Tull, one of the most original bands of the British progressive rock was born from the merger of the 'John Evan Band' and 'McGregor'Engine', two well-known British groups locally who based their sound in the blues. They were the last years of the sixties. Throughout its history, the band has crossed the jazz, blues, folk, art rock, electronica and even heavy metal. In these four decades, Jehtro Tull and Ian Anderson have released 30 albums, including those recorded in the studio and that were published direct result of the banda at different locations all over the world. Undoubtedly, despite the variations, each album has the unique sound of the band. With over 60 million copies sold, visited Barcelona in a concert hopes to be one of the jewels of the Fourteenth Millennium Festival and with the band celebrates its 44 anniversary, preparing a special production for this reason: "Jehtro Tull's Ian Anderson Thick as a Brick 2". www.festival-millenni.com/jethro-trull/Palau de la Musica de Barcelona
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Post by jtul07 on Nov 9, 2012 11:10:24 GMT -5
Mucho Gracias Remy! I hope you are able to see this show in such a beautiful location. That is one nice place for any concert. WOW !
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Post by Chea on Nov 9, 2012 11:13:40 GMT -5
Hi Chea, I think we will see Martin and Ian back together again at some point. In the mean time enjoy the show and the Christmas Shows! And plan for my attendance for the Christmas shows in 2013! Hallo Tm. Please, tell me. What it makes you to believe they will have a come back sooner or later ??
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Post by Tull50 on Nov 9, 2012 11:19:03 GMT -5
Mucho Gracias Remy! I hope you are able to see this show in such a beautiful location. That is one nice place for any concert. WOW !Only the great music artists are allowed to play in this special place for orchestras and opera, is a privilege granted to very few rockers
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Post by TM on Nov 9, 2012 21:38:06 GMT -5
Hi Chea, I think we will see Martin and Ian back together again at some point. In the mean time enjoy the show and the Christmas Shows! And plan for my attendance for the Christmas shows in 2013! Hallo Tm. Please, tell me. What it makes you to believe they will have a come back sooner or later ?? Well let me put it this way, Ian wants to tour again with Martin, and I believe he wants to be able to do more 'best of' Jethro Tull shows in the coming years. Whether Martin wants to do the same we should find out in 2013/14.
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Post by Preston Platform on Nov 10, 2012 3:56:38 GMT -5
I wonder whether Martin will give any hints either way during his upcoming Uk tour ?
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Post by jtul07 on Nov 11, 2012 15:15:27 GMT -5
Wow! Fantastic interview with my favorite guitarist. His accent is so cool. Florian Opahle of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson. Kickin' Ass! ;D
Guitarist Florian Opahle, currently on tour with Ian Anderson, takes a few minutes to chat with Mike Preston of psychobabbletv.com on a recent stop in MIlwaukee.
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Mttbsh
Ethnic Piano Accordian-ist
Posts: 115
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Post by Mttbsh on Nov 11, 2012 19:22:51 GMT -5
Florian seems like a real gentleman. Interesting, he cites guitarists (Gary Moore, Jimi) that Martin has stated were 2 of his favorites . I wondered if Florian might have mentioned Martin as one of his influences, but I guess that would sound kind of weird. On a separate note, the footage shown looks professionally filmed, I still hope we get a pro video recording of this magnificent tour.
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Post by Chea on Nov 12, 2012 7:13:47 GMT -5
Well let me put it this way, Ian wants to tour again with Martin, and I believe he wants to be able to do more 'best of' Jethro Tull shows in the coming years. Whether Martin wants to do the same we should find out in 2013/14. Thanks, Tm, for the explanation. I very much hope that this will happen. M.
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Post by TM on Nov 12, 2012 9:13:09 GMT -5
Florian seems like a real gentleman. Interesting, he cites guitarists (Gary Moore, Jimi) that Martin has stated were 2 of his favorites . I wondered if Florian might have mentioned Martin as one of his influences, but I guess that would sound kind of weird. On a separate note, the footage shown looks professionally filmed, I still hope we get a pro video recording of this magnificent tour. Montreaux recorded the show for sure. And yes Florian is a heck of a nice guy and a very good guitarist too.
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Post by TM on Nov 12, 2012 11:11:33 GMT -5
Well let me put it this way, Ian wants to tour again with Martin, and I believe he wants to be able to do more 'best of' Jethro Tull shows in the coming years. Whether Martin wants to do the same we should find out in 2013/14. Thanks, Tm, for the explanation. I very much hope that this will happen. M. Me too. I've always loved hearing Martin "answer" Ian's vocal or flute passages. By the way, how are things by you with all the rain? I cannot believe the pictures I'm seeing of Venice! I hope there isn't too much damage. Do you know the last time it flooded like this? Paul
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Post by jtul07 on Nov 12, 2012 15:35:22 GMT -5
Ian Anderson Brings Thick As A Brick, And Its Sequel, To Nashville - October 30th, 2012 By Chris Rutledge November 2nd, 2012 at 2:01 pm www.americansongwriter.com/2012/11/ian-anderson-brings-thick-as-a-brick-and-its-sequel-to-nashville/The first words to come out of Ian Anderson’s mouth at the Ryman Auditorium last Tuesday set the tone for the rest of the show. Or maybe not just the words, but the slithering, breathless voice he rattled them out in: “Really don’t mind if you sit this one out.” Perhaps too old for rock n’ roll, the Jethro Tull front man just doesn’t have the lung capacity or vocal range he used to. When he brought his Thick As A BrickPart 1 and 2 solo tour to Nashville, it was clear he was going to have a hard time making it through the night. But even Anderson out of his prime has his pride, and the people were not to be treated to a lackluster show. Never one to compromise his artistic integrity, instead of lip-synching, Anderson got creative with how to overcome his vocal shortcomings. Those who had seen The Who’s Quadrophenia stage musical might have recognized actor/vocalist Ryan O’Donnell, but those not familiar soon were. Like a spry young squire to Anderson’s aging knight, O’Donnell gifted a much needed vitality to the performance by assisting Anderson in singing many of the parts. He also leapt around on stage with the same theatrical fervor you might expect from a stage actor. The only gripe to be had with O’Donnell is that while he is certainly as animated as Anderson in his prime, he doesn’t quite capture the same raw, manic energy. And that’s where Anderson came back in, leaping around stage to the best of his abilities, and occasionally even lifting a leg for a flute solo. In between some of the songs were short videos starring Anderson, and while the Thick as a Brick story might not have been a Roger Waters presents The Wall-scale production, it was similarly elaborate and strange. But the real star here was the band, who were in fine form as they ripped through Tull’s classic 1972 album. When it came time for an intermission, a portion of the audience left, apparently not interested in hearing Anderson’s 2012 follow-up album. Surprisingly, the new tracks fared much better live than they do on the album, and because of the songs’ freshness, the ghost of 1972 Anderson was not haunting their performance. Anderson might not be in the condition of some of his contemporaries, like Neil Young or Paul McCartney, but his writing chops are as viable today as they ever were, and a double shot of Thick As A Brick is prog-rock paradise for loyal fans.
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Post by jtul07 on Nov 12, 2012 19:30:06 GMT -5
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Post by jtul07 on Nov 18, 2012 22:00:37 GMT -5
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Post by jtul07 on Nov 19, 2012 20:10:15 GMT -5
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Post by Tull50 on Nov 22, 2012 12:44:46 GMT -5
J.Tull's Ian Anderson live in Amsterdam (Melkweg) Thick as a Brick
Banker Bets, Banker Wins
A Change Of Horses
Kismet In Suburbia
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Post by jtul07 on Nov 22, 2012 13:22:35 GMT -5
Thanks for the Amsterdam videos Remy. The audio is superb and the lighting is really nice from the position in the audience. Being up close sometimes means giving up on the total lighting experience. Tull Lights Rule!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2012 14:29:22 GMT -5
Thanks Remy that's my late eveing viewing sorted. Looking forward to seeing and hearing a few more treats soon
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Post by Tull50 on Nov 22, 2012 17:28:09 GMT -5
Jim, Pat thanks for your words
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