 hegelec wrote:
I'll add something to the "overview" assessment of Tull that's been absent from the discussion so far: the early albums were better because Tull were still a legit band, composed of musos from the scene, who were led by Ian Anderson. Rather than the Ian Anderson orchestra ft. schoolboy chums and session players that Ian could boss around. Like, in a weird way, Tull's fate was sealed the day Mick Abrahams left, because the entire rest of the history of the band can be read along the narrative of Ian consolidating his power.
It's no big surprise TAAB was the smashing success PP was not, because it was the last album Ian solicited significant assistance from his bandmates to stitch together the kernels of his song ideas into a coherent whole. The band dynamic is strong, with lots of fluid playing and spontaneity especially in the interlinking instrumental passages. John Evan in particular doesn't get his due in Tull-land: the interviews with the band (other than Ian) make clear that Evan was a driving force during much of the TAAB sessions.
From PP onward, you get the sense that Ian is increasingly dictating the arrangement rather than deferring to the talents of his colleagues. And Tull's descent into mediocrity correlates directly with a band whose playing becomes progressively more mannered, eventually predictable, and individually less distinctive. |
That's a side of Tull's story I hadn't thought about.
It could be that indeed Ian realized that once he got big with the London-based Tull, and Abe left, than Cornick left two albums later, he maybe then saw the opportunity to get the Blackpool school buddies on the act. I doubt he would've thought about in the Benefit/Aqualung time lapse release, coz Barre is not a Blackpool buddy... Not sure Ian would've tried to get Bunker to leave Tull by "getting onto his case" either, just so he could get Barlow in, though.
Not that he was any easier to work with for his old buddies than he was with the three originals.
Edited by Sean Trane - September 12 2017 at 03:40
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Warchild in the Gallery, Too Young to Die
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