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Post by Nonfatman on Feb 28, 2013 14:56:47 GMT -5
LOL. I was thinking the same thing, i.e., that Brick 3 could be a case of The Brick jumping the shark, unless, or especially if, it's tied into some crazy story where Gerald croaks and then all of a sudden we're into his afterlife, in which case Brick 3 morphs into APP 2. Jeff Yes well so much for trying to stay positive. My initial reaction was exactly the same as yours Jeff as I mentioned the same thing to Kai in another thread. But thinking about it from a musical perspective; Ian has stated that he wants to do a hard rock album, and he seems to be dropping hints that this may be that album. While Greg's synopsis is very funny, perhaps this album may be about the struggle to stay young. Let's face it, most of us are dealing with that now and the younger folks amongst us will be there soon enough. Just a thought... There is also the possibility that Ian's comment in the Janice Long interview about a "TAAB trilogy" was just a joke. It didn't sound that way to me, but given's Ian wry sense of humor I think there is a good chance he was saying that in jest. That would make sense to me because the idea of a TAAB3 is just so ridiculous. I don't doubt he is writing new lyrics and music, though, because he has said that his next project will be a hard rock album, and perhaps that will pave the way for Martin to return. Jeff
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2013 15:54:01 GMT -5
I like TaaB 2, but tend to think of it as a stand alone album, to me it is not consistant musically or lyrically with the style of TaaB. I have never had the inclintion after listening to TaaB to slap on TaaB 2 to find out whatever happened to Gerald Bostock. Nice idea, and well executed but I still don't subscribe to the 40 year old sequel. More like a pleasent reminisce down some strange avenue.
I'm with Erin, and similarly, who am I to question or critique such small elements of Ian's artistry, but Pebbles and the end piece drive me to distraction, Unnecessary IMO, and spoil two decent pieces of music, I tend to skip Pebble and am always tempted to click 'end' before the end.
However, nearly a year on I can say that I still really enjoy the album, something that I couldn't honestly say about Rupi's Dance.
As for what form TaaB3 will take I am sure that it doesn't matter really and since Ian is a pretty damned shrewd businessman he will tap into whichever rich vein he needs to in order to allow him to participate in and deliver the goods of his art and skill. And, I am certain that there is more return for him, as if he hasn't already reached that conclusion, that a planned and constructed concept built around an existing best seller with his band of minstrels is the way to go, so 'TaaB3', 'APP2' or even 'CoaK - The Metallica Wars', is the way to go in later years. Maybe a couple of these will fund that acoustic album or the string quartet album we heard lots of noises about in the past
I also suspect that any future shows or recordings using the name Tull will be fewer and further between than many hope for, certainly in relation to new material or Martin's involvement. I like to think I am wrong, but my feelings [and that's all this is based on] are that we will see more of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson for the foreseeable. I also suspect that the Tull name and former contingent, if utilised again, will be more the flexible membership that many of us have expected it to be since the announcement of TaaB 2 and Ian's current band structure.
As for the potential concept for a possible TaaB3?
Again I have to paraphrase some of Erin's points and IMO conclude that it will be heavy metal, despite Ian's past views about 'metal' music; It will be classed as prog, complete with a concept of sorts, despite Ian's past comments on the genre and concepts; It is unlikley to be branded Tull with Martin if the current formula works and secures a bigger 'metal' audience and commercial return, and finally there's little doubt it will be bought in shedloads by us all.
I'm beginning to wonder whatever happened to Ray Lomas after he got that telegram.....
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2013 4:32:16 GMT -5
The Bostock Diaries
Sticking Some Pins in the Sphere for Barbados Postcard Days - Part 14
Latest news from the lyric writer of the original "Thick as a Brick."
Well - I have been a busy body. Busy, busy, that is - not necessarily a mere pain in the veritable sagbutt. Unless, of course, you happen to be The Old Bag. She has hardly stopped complaining these last four weeks. We had a windfall: the lottery provided a chance intervention by British Airways, who had decided, in their infinite wisdom, that I should be upgraded to a Silver Card and given a few thousand extra air-miles after all the travelling last year with Anderson and his wayward tribe. So - at incredibly short notice - we embarked on a foolish vacation week to sultry Barbados where a lacklustre Winter season had provided for a substantial last-minute discount at a rather nice West Coast paradise including rental car and a flight with Premium Economy ticket.
So, off we went, having had barely time to pack a Y-fronted underpant or fresh buttock-clefting knicker. Baggy shorts and sunscreen. Sandals and brown socks. Knotted hankie and native-repellent. Of course, I'm kidding there. Awfully nice chaps the Bajans. Smiley and always game for a laugh at the expense of the Germans and the Yanks.
Been to B'dos a couple of times before, of course. Once for a "business meeting" involving cricket, courtesy of the Party bosses. And once for an incredibly dirty weekend with The Young Bag, back then when she was filled with zest and go. Saucy minx. I have the polaroids, still. Want to see them? I'll bet you do. I'll bet you do.
We checked in at the Coral Reef Club, to a basic but cheerfully furnished garden room. Still luxurious compared to the South Coast cheap-and-cheerfuls. Far from the beach but mercifully peaceful and were met at check-in by the house staff who remembered they had hosted Anderson, Wife and family on an occasion or two. How they made the connection, I can't imagine, but The O'Hara family who own and run the place seem to know everything. Splendid and relaxing was the prospect of a week in Paradise, even without Phil Collins. Until the worst thing imaginable happened.
TOB picked up a nasty gastro-bug from the road-side shack along the way which she insisted on visiting, having heard that it was full of inglorious ex-pats and undesirables. Just because Michael Winner might have supped there without gastric consequence says little, given that the man must have had a cast-iron constitution to repel the additions un-lovingly bestowed upon his critical palate and reputation as the world's legendary gastronomic snob and critic by many a rancoured chef and maitre D. Whether in retribution for a malicious review or in mere anticipation of the same.
So, a few nights of projectile vomiting and moaning of the third kind ensued. I dined alone at the Coral Reef restaurant - deliciously and relentlessly. His Royal Lowness, Fatasapig, I became known to the waiters and water carriers. Other couples and families shunned the solo male weirdo with the iPad and the sandals-and-socks ensemble. An O'Hara - forget the first name - offered a night-cap in the bar but TOB wouldn't hear of me having so much as a half-way decent time in her sickly absence. Supping on the occasional milk and scrambled egg she whinged, moaned and regurgitated into her self-pitying madness. No TV to soothe the pain. And, since she has yet to master the delights of the internet and email, there was little for her to do except sit on the balcony, within a fast quick twenty feet of the lavvy-loo and pray for salvation in the form of sunshine, warmth and an empty bowel.
I, having had the temerity to bring a small travel guitar, loaned by Flo the Axe-man of evil repute, spent a few lazy mornings honing some songs and lyrics for the new project. I seriously think I might be getting the hang of this. I have downloaded, at vast expense, a computer audio-recording programme called Logic Express which promises to bring me closer to the consummate song-writing and recording experience. My rather slow Mac laptop, of some vintage, threatens to grind to a backward halt from time to time but there is a duty-free shop in Bridgetown, so I am told, that will grace my middle-aged palm and back-pack with a shiny new Macbook Air. 8Gb of RAM and a 500 Gb solid state drive. Whatever they might be. Might be worth a thought.
And then, TOB can then learn to wrestle with the old Macbook Neanderthal. Given to me by a grateful department, little-known in government circles, The Resources And Deployment Committee. A think tank, assembled from cross-party academics and intellectuals, barnstorming the longer-term potential actions of the Treasury. Fat lot of notice G. Brown ever took of us, I have to say. Lunched and blethered his way through a few meetings and findings and then went his own way with the advice only of The Few. Democracy starts and ends down Westminster Way.
But all over, all too soon for me, although TOB couldn't wait to board the BA flight home and forget the whole sordid and painful business. But the negative eating experience was not yet over... The catering (boarded in Barbados, I was informed) included Salmon Gravlax and Tenderloin Fillet of beef. Which we both duly ordered, TOB having decided that the plumbing was back on line and ready for solids. And solids was what we got. The Gravlax, which should have a translucent marinated appearance must have been in the freezer for months. Opaque and tasteless save for a fishy tang and leathery texture. Pacific species fish it was, so much less succulent and rich in Omega 3 oils than Atlantic Salmon. I know about these things, having been on the receiving end of a lecture or two from his flutey nibs, the ex-Salmon Farmer.
But the beef was the thing to write home about - and to BA Customer Relations Department about too! Impossible to cut let alone chew. TOB and I had to give up after one attempted mouthful each. Better chew on a pair of soon-to-be-retired British Army desert boots than make the futile attempt to derive nourishment and sustenance from the Barbadian Tenderloin Fillet of Boot. The cheese plate, grasped as late salvation since no alternative main meal was offered, had no cutlery, no crackers or biscuits - just a small piece of Cheddar and a few grapes. And this was Business Class! My advice is take your own left-overs doggy-bag from the excellent Coral Reef kitchen and avoid the BA dinner altogether. Until they shake up their catering supplier and teach the rules of culinary acceptability. And Michael Winner was grumpy? I am the man to take his place! Big shoes to fill in the late Winner's grump department? Fill? I might well have eaten them, in preference to the aforementioned BTF-of-B.
So I penned a letter of complaint to BA on my return. See if they reply.
Ah, well - Spring is in the air in West England. Lambs are lambing. Daffodils are daffing. And TOB is TOBbing.... Back on the Fois Gras and the Pork Belly casserole. Iron constitution, that woman. As a rule. Last seen in Hunter Wellies and Barbour Jacket, picking up road-kill on the Clutterbury Southern Bypass. Two badgers, disassembled pheasant and what appeared to be a small deer - Muntjac I am told - all to grace the Sunday lunch table in due course. After they have hung in the larder for a couple months no doubt. She really is taking this country living a bit too seriously. Me, I'm off the the Dirty Duck for a pint of Old Nobble and a kangaroo cutlet. Food you can trust.
Over and Out. GB signing off.
PS: Anyone got a Romanian or Bulgarian phrase-book? We're going to need them.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2013 3:56:44 GMT -5
New entry from Gerald!
"BOSTOCK DIARIES #14 [actually No 15] JULY 4 2013
Am I getting old? Paunchy, punchy and pinchy? Don't answer.
The Old Bag has been increasingly vexing of late. Takes forever to get round Clutterbury Waitrose and leaves her trolley parked where other, older bags collide and skitter. Never seems to be able to make her mind up between the Muesli with the nuts and raisins or the fruit and fibre. Bird food, anyway - all of it. What's wrong with a box of the old cornflakes, I want to know? Half the price and twice the crackle.
But what will be the price of a loaf of bread, a pint of milk or a decent hamburger in the decades to come? As that naive twerp Planning Minister Nick Boles demands that more greenfield sites be granted planning for new houses and the last marginal cropping land disappears beneath the concrete and tarmac, where will we turn in the desperation of times-to-come for more grazing and arable land? It may not be profitable now but in a not-too-distant future of increasing population and food shortage, the option of pressing these acres into useful food production should not be lost. It's all supply and demand. What if new country residents will one day look out on the fields of green to find they are not grazing sheep, cattle or growing wheat, barley, oilseed rape - even at low tonnages - but sprouting an extension to a housing estate of which they are a part? Our national resources are being stretch to the limit and the clarion call to spend our way out of the recession, borrow our way out of debt and to grow the economy regardless of matching our population to our resources will end in tears. Sooner than most of us think.
We can hardly look to Europe to bale us out when the increasing extremes of temperature cause huge fluctuation in the world food market. Of course, with our soon-to-be 70 million residents, the UK can never be self-sufficient in food and energy production but we have to at least try to move in that direction rather than further away from it.
We really have become accustomed, in the last fifty years, to relatively low food prices and availability. We whinge about supermarkets' prices and their big corporate profits but we can all get by on a bit less and learn to decrease our reliance on heavily-packaged and processed food. It requires some new thinking and the willingness to become ethical consumers. Not spending tools of a government hell-bent on re-election at all cost and the future be damned.
Brownfield, industrial and potential redevelopment sites exist a-plenty closer to urban centres and the necessary infrastructure of schools, hospitals, and retail is easier to expand upon on the edge of those towns.
Building investment is in the doldrums and "kickstarting" the economy by building so-called affordable housing out in the shires and villages may sound enticing, but the margins will be less for the investors and the need to put massive investment into "dormitory" villages to provide schooling and social services for the new residents isn't taken into account. Developers are hit-and-run guys. Goes with the job.
There are plenty of brownfield sites with un-utilised consent for building as things currently stand, we are told. Releasing chunks of farmland to be given planning consent, then sat on, undeveloped, by housing developers staking a claim for now but waiting for a balmier financial climate will mean less land for food production when the real climate, changing as it most certainly is, forces prices up.
Housing developers are not farmers. Farmer are farmers and, while they may be struggling to make a profit at the moment, few will readily abandon the land if a basic living living can be made. Of course, some farmers may relish the opportunity to sell off a few acres for cash in hand where planning can be granted, but I doubt that many would do so willingly. Cereal prices and the value of lamb and beef will improve. Dairy and pigs may a tough call but farmers understand flexibility. Battery chicken and concrete-reared beef and pigs are not the way of the future, many of us feel. Old Jethro Tull had some good ideas in Horse-hoeing Husbandry. Much of it all too applicable in today's world.
Now, poor Boles may be under under instruction from higher up to carry the can for this unpopular move but I think he deserves all that I sincerely hope will be thrown at him for this crazy scheme. Yes we need housing but where it makes sense. Not where it makes nonsense. Young families need jobs. Jobs are not in the rural hamlets. They are in the towns and cities. Our country roads are not built for increased traffic. You can't build new houses in the rural environs unless you also spend disproportionate sums on associated infrastructure.
Problem is, such grand ideas often are formulated in Government years before and, as the economic realities overtake them, no-one has the balls to admit that they are no longer viable, or the best use of limited development funds. The new HS2 high-speed rail link North to Birmingham and beyond is an example. We can't afford it for such marginal benefit in travel time. The ticket prices will be higher than the public can afford and they will, for the most part, simply refuse to be prised from their beloved motor cars as a means to travel. It's not about "nimbys". It's about priorities. Such funds as can be made available in this fragile economic recovery should be spent on improving the existing rail and road networks and not on grandiose, self-serving schemes to show off to both nation and the world. Nice idea, wrong time.
Sorry to bore the knickers off the cousins in the mighty USA but what happens here in the UK is happening everywhere. My grumbles and arguments are international.
Hey - don't get me started - you hear? More on the issues of sustainable population and immigration in the next diary. Dangerous stuff. Dangerous times. Times for ethical consumers and ethical families. What's next? Ethical politicians? Don't get me started.
Bostock..
Angry as Hell."
Ooooh! 'Gerald', now you're hitting on my professional background.
Not a word of the ethical side do I disagree with, but there are a few general-isms in there which should have a response.
Not all developers are 'hit and run guys', I work with plenty of socially and environmentally aware developers, in fact in the main I'm lucky enough to be able to pick and choose who my clients are. Most are clued up in matters of environmental sustainability and have a desire to develop and leave a legacy in terms of adding to communities rather than raping and pillaging their assets. I agree though, there are too many out there are who not that aware and the quick turnaround is all they are after. The continued relaxation and 'dumbing down' of planning laws makes it all to easy for them to flout common sense and reasonableness.
You are right, many existing urban brownfield sites are not being appropriately considered, in many instances because they are not cost viable to develop; years of ground contamination make the transfer of many thousands of cubic metres of 'toxic' topsoil economically un-viable, and the question remains, 'So, where do you dispose of it safely and efficiently at reasonable cost without it affecting other [probably more rural] communities?'
Plus, although brownfield sites are worthy of much greater consideration there remains the issue of appropriate amenity and infrastructure, next time you're up in London or browsing the web-thinghy check out the cost of housing in many urban areas and consider the issue of space allocation within new developments or the chances of getting an NHS dentist or on the schools waiting lists; the support infrastructure shortfall is as acute in urban areas as it is in rural. The constant eating away of regulatory standards and planning laws is resulting in smaller and smaller units, I won't dignify them by calling them homes. Buildings are shoe-horned into any space for a quick return on capital outlay. The London Mayor's change in applied policy to allow a reduction in the number of affordable homes sought as part of any development package means fewer family affordable properties. I suspect that whilst affordable homes is the buzzword out in the shires, more often than not more 'executive' homes are given consent and built. The whole housing programme in this country needs to be reassessed and not driven by party politics but looking at it from a sound, rational demand and supply business case, with a focus on providing what is needed. bringing a family up in an urban tower block with a 2.5m2 balcony to look down on a dual carriageway ring-road can not be the only answer.
The constant funding and staff cuts to local government planning and enforcement regimes are partially responsible for this mess, aided by the likes of Mr Pickles and his cohorts succumbing to lobbying and brushing aside, with complete disregard, planning laws which have been developed over many years to protect both rural and urban communities; this is yet another nail in the coffin of that protection and those regulatory safeguards needed to ensure that this swamping of our 'space' [whether it be rural or urban] and the loss of our natural resources doesn't occur. Alas, I think the hurried adoption of the National Planning Policy Framework has seen any hope of common sense being applied in these areas in the future as being a big fat zero.
From my experience the biggest single impactor though is the bank's continued unwillingness to invest or loan in any capital infrastructure, particularly housing. They are probably the single largest reason why housing development has stalled in this country over recent years. They have funds released to them but so far they have not seen fit to release it towarsd the housing construction market.
HS2 is the most farcical waste of money at any time let alone in a time of supposed austerity, not only a waste in transport terms, but in engineering, environmental, and economic terms as well. The money would be better spent on developing improved water supply feeds between areas of good rainfall and areas susceptible to drought or reinstating community linked transport such as urban orbital routes or local rail services.
You say that issues of sustainable population and immigration are dangerous topics, I am sure you mean in the context of if they are only if put forward to support xenophobic or racist arguments. In this case I would think a rational discussion around the current mis-match between between any country's unchecked population growth and a struggling physical and community based infrastructure is a debate which needs very urgent and open consideration giving the likely unrest that it will eventually generate amongst a generally resiliently quiet populace who will feel further and further disenfranchised from it's Government's decisions, as well as the danger of it feeding those factions on the right intent to make something worse of it.
Lots more to say, but like you say....Don't want to bore the pants of the rest of the world.....fancy a pint sometime?
looking forward to the next installment.
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Sparty
One of the Youngest of the Family
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Post by Sparty on Jul 10, 2013 10:36:25 GMT -5
Neither you nor Gerald bore, at least not me; but if you must bore, then please do so ethically and responsibly.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2013 11:58:34 GMT -5
I'm always ethically responsible whilst trying to also be responsibly ethical, from reviews though I can't say some people won't claim that their arses have been bored :-) I suspect it must be their low tolerance thresholds that's the problem either that or they went to the wrong proctologist.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2013 13:50:56 GMT -5
From GB's FB page a few minutes ago
"Spent a delightful day with IA and the boys in the studio while IA tried out the lyrics I have slaved over these last months. All going well but we changed a couple of words here and there to, as he puts it, "sing" better. Ryan O'Donnell has some parts too but will record them in January after the backing tracks and IA vocals are complete.
They have some new recording equipment installed and are working with the new Apple Logic X recording software for the first time. Whatever that means...
Florian Opahle and engineer Mike Downs are in charge of setting up all the systems and preparing everything for the start of recording on Tuesday 10th Dec.
47 minutes of real time music now rehearsed as of end of play today, they told me. Brains are well fried and all are a bit exhausted after 10 days of hard work and long hours. But it looks an exiting prospect from the bits I heard.
My words are wry, witty in a dark sort of way and sometimes challenging. A bit of Latin thrown in for good measure.
I hoped I might be asked to stay on into the evening for Anderson's take-away curry tonight but he seemed to want to eat alone. Unfriendly bugger. So off in my own good company to the Dirty Duck, for me. Bangers and mash. Or maybe the Donkey Kiev. Parrot off the menu tonight, I am told. Shame. Low fat, succulent and with just a hint of fishy je ne sais quoi on account of the brine shrimp they get to eat in the intensive farm in Venezuela where they come from.
All right - making that last bit up."
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