A NEW DAY YESTERDAY - THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION

3.5 stars tops!!

This DVD has for main interest the Tull videoclips throughout their carreer (if you can call the 70 TV sessions videoclips) but most of the time is spent at the 25th anniversary of Jethro Tull where a good deal of the musicians that came and went in the group are present. There are a few glaring absences (most notably the deceased John Glascock and Mrs dee Palmer as he likes to be called that nowadays) but it is very pleasing to see all of those old chaps in fine forms (excepet for maybe Abrahams who seems a bit burdened by the age) reminiscing about the good and bad times.

The format is really a Rockumentary mixing interviews with concert excerpts (seldom is there a complete live track) and the afore-mentioned videoclips. If Teacher and Witch's Promise are the real gems, there is also a 77 TV special (BBC) of Aqualung. I am not a fan of later tull video tracks presented here. However the rather long and not very funny (and certainly silly) Hare Who Lost His Spetacles video is fun to watch once but will certainly not stand repeated viewings.

As a matter of fact , the same remark can be said about the whole DVD! Quite enjoyable viewing (I would even say it is a must-see) once , I doubt that you will want to play this DVD very often.

".Owl loved to rest quietly, whilst no one was watching. Sitting on a fence one day, he was surprised when suddenly a Kangaroo ran close by."

This 2003 release is a VIDEO DOCUMENTARY on the then (1994) 25 years from the Jethro Tull classic A New Day Yesterday. The epicentre of the scenes is settled in a London pub (Westmoreland Arms I think) and it's a reunion of many JT members during all that years with the important absences of (now) Dee (then David) Palmer, John Glascock (my favourite bass player, member also of the stunning flamenco-prog Carmen, died during heart surgery - requiescat in pace), Peter-John Vettese (the charismatic keyboard player during the firs half of the 80s), Eddie Jobson (never a JT member, but a marvellous special guest for the 1980 year!!), Gerry Conway (great drummer of the 80s) etc.

Interviews and members' recallings are wisely mixed with excerpts from the tons of live shows and also from the videos released during all that years: the interesting and (complete) nice video of The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles, with the main contribution from a mythic "devilish" Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond - now bonus track on the 2004 A Passion Play remastered edition; then excerprts from the famous 1980 Slipstream video with the appearance of Jerry Conway and of the great Eddie Jobson in all his virtuousity in playing 2 keyboards and electric violin - Slipstream is really a masterpiece-5 stars DVD, now findable in the 2005 A remastered edition. Hope to have it as an autonomous DVD/video on PA to review it!!!

There are also some complete video: the strong Kissing Willie (JT transported directly into the 18th century!!!!!), and the video of the beautiful Rocks On The Road.

As a JT DVD I'll give 3 stars (good) because the most part of the videos are not integral.

As a JT "rockumentary" (I quote the word from Hugues Chantraine, the previous reviewer) I would say it is a masterpiece of the genre!!!

And so.".bee wanted to help, and thinking he had the answer began."

You were in Jethro Tull? No kidding, me too!

The main focus of this DVD is a 50 minute documentary, made to celebrate Jethro Tull's 25th anniversary in 1994, which superficially covers the history of the band. More than a dozen current and former band members are gathered together in a pub for a Tull reunion. As Anderson tactfully puts it, there are many long term friendships, although he'd rather not share a stage with some of them again!

Even today, some clearly still harbour grudges about the events surrounding their leaving the band, preferring not to discuss such things. The stark contrast between the scruffy long haired hippies in the archive footage and the group of 50 something conservatively dressed pillars of society who meet in the pub is wonderful. They even wear name badges to re-introduce themselves.

The real meat of this production though is the plethora of archive film and video, both in the documentary and the lengthy "bonus" section. We have "Thick as brick" at Madison Square Garden, the first ever live transatlantic broadcast. We have the so bad it's funny miming on Top of the Pops to "Witches promise", we have the predictably debauched video to "Kissing Willy", plus the Dire straights imitation of "Rocks on the road", to name but a few.

One of the best or worst moments is the bizarre film of "The hare who lost his spectacles" made for the "Passion play" tour. Personally, I have never got to grips with that particular indulgence and the video, mildly amusing as it is, does nothing to change that.

Most of the songs included here are not played in their entirety (other than those in the bonus section), but the extracts are of a decent length, with a good mixture of both live performances and studio recordings dating from 1970 through to the mid 1990s.

The common denominator throughout is Ian Anderson of course, but even he emphasises that in the band's early days they were very much a group of equals.

For fans of the band, there's nothing new here in terms of the music, but this is more than compensated for by a real treasure trove of rare film. For those who do not know Jethro Tull well, this is a fine overview of the band's music and history.

As far as being a fan of Jethro Tull, I think this is a "should have" documentation. Why do I call it as documentation? It's because of there is no such thing as full concert here. The DVD menu is quite confusing because I think that the song sequence is like what listed above - but it is not. I did try to understand how the menu works but still I repeat the same thing.

Nevertheless, it's a good video for me because I can see clearly how Ian Anderson is one of the best rock singers I have ever seen on stage. He is so dynamic with his singing style - not only his unique voce that matters, but also his facial expression! Look on how he sings and plays flute on "Aqualung" - it's so great. I love to see also a collection of songs where I have never seen them yet on video, like "Minstrel In The Gallery", "Teacher", "The Story of The Hare .", "Thick As a Brick" or "Living In The Past".

The other interesting part this DVD offers is the "Rehearsals for the 25th Anniversary Tour (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)". I think their rehearsal is so cool and well documented. The jazz music combined with rock is really good. I also enjoy interview with the gutarist Mike Abhraham and Martin Barre as well.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

I had this fore some time no on my shelf and pulled it out yesterday.... and hmm the idea to reunite old and new Tull members in a pub to celebrate the 25th birthday of the band and film the whole thing isn't already the greatest idea in the world...it's like old school meetings : it's interesting for a bout two seconds and then you just want to move on...most of the anecdotes are either lame or pathetic or both and even so Anderson seems amused, it's quite embarrassing ....kind of Thick As A Brick with an extra bonus for John Evans explanations about business and popstars...throughout the party we see (and the band members are actually watching it on a VHS in the pub) some clips throughout the Tull history including the famous the heir who lost his spectacles which was already released as a bonus on the passion play CD re-release) intercut by comments etc.....you learn some great news about Eddie Jobson's make-up for ex.... (fortunately some of the clips are as a bonus in complete lenght). All in all, short ( about 50 min) not interesting, and only worth the money for the few full length bonus clips.

Well, I can see why this video should be criticized, although I have to say the DVD version is actually an improvement over the original VHS (not sure if the VHS was ever available in the States, but I know the DVD was because I bought it at a local record dealer). OK, this out of the way: it's a gathering of various past Tull members, including Mick Abrahams, Glenn Cornick, John Evans, Clive Bunker, Barriemore Barlow, and naturally Martin Barre, reminiscing of the past, watching old concert footage. I liked how Mick Abrahams was referred to as "the Pete Best of Jethro Tull". The criticism can be justified when you only see partial concert footage of each song, plus "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" as used during A Passion Play tour. Although I love A Passion Play, it's agreed by just about everyone that "The Story of the Hare..." should have been jettisoned, and to see a bunch of ballerinas and people in a bee and hare costume dancing around to it is just plain ridiculous and throws fuel in the fire to the detractors of A Passion Play. It's strange to see the "A" lineup (Anderson, Barre, Dave Pegg, Eddie Jobson, Mark Craney) syncing to the original recording of "Too Old to Rock 'n Roll, Too Young to Die" (which was obviously recorded by the previous lineup of Anderson, Barre, Evans, Glascock, and Barlow), it's strange to see Eddie Jobson imitating the piano parts (that were played by Evans) with the keyboards he were actually using, a Yamaha CS-80 synth and a Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano (which is what you hear on the UK albums, as well as Tull's "A"), not to mention him using his electric violin to imitate the David Palmer orchestrations.

I think the other complaint was many wished it was more insightful. At least we all know why Mick Abrahams left after one album (and one single, "Love Story"), but everyone knew that anyways.

On the other hand, the bonus features are the real reason to get this, because you get to see full concert footage of all the songs that were featured in the main presentation, and these were all great performances, although one can wish full performances at many of these shows were made available. Plus you get to see seldom seen videos to "Kissing Willie" from Rock Island, and "Rocks on the Road" from Catfish Rising, which neither albums those songs came from were exactly thought of by many fans as a career high point, but on the other hand, if you never saw these videos when they came out in 1989-91, you probably never seen them again, until now (unless you were lucky to tape it on a VCR).

If I only knew the VHS version, I'd say forget it, but with the DVD, thanks to the bonus features, it's the real reason to get this.

As a Tull fan starved of anything Tull on DVD, this was a must get DVD. There's bugger all about Tull in Australia so a DVD like this is a veritable gold mine of treasures and gems from the Tull years. There are interviews with most of the Tullites though John Glascock is mystically absent, as is Dee, but the majority of members are here to give their pennies worth. There are extracts galore from the old live shows and promo clips that one might find hard to get hold of; or impossible to find stuff, but unfortunately they are mostly incomplete excerpts which is a real disappointment when you are as into Tull as I am.

Thankfully, there are some complete clips, namely Teacher, The Witch's Promise, The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles, Aqualung, Kissing Willie, Rocks on the Road and Living in the Past. They are all great except for The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles which I can hear on the album okay but it is a drag watching them prance about in pantomime gear with kangaroos and rabbits, sillier than Monty Python, and that is saying something. A Passion Play enhanced CD features the same clip so its not exactly rare anymore.

The excerpts include unearthed treasures such as Nothing Is Easy (Isle of Wight 1970), Minstrel in the Gallery (Paris 1975), Thick As A Brick (Madison Square Gardens, NY 1978) and Songs from the Wood (LA 1980). Overall the set is a very good insight into the band and how they perform but could have been so much better with full versions of all the clips as they are very difficult to find.