Jethro Tull: hopeless devotion or hatred

PROGMONSTER2008 wrote: I was always a bit disappointed with Warchild and thought, Tull are better than this. But when I got the remaster I listened to the 7 bonus tracks and realised the band were still producing the same great music, but the original 11 songs were done for sound track purposes for a movie. So if you want to hear the real Tull of 1974, just listen to the bonus tracks. Don't forget that Skating away and Solitaire were written in 1973 for the Chateau sessions. So what we have newly written in 1974 is 7 tull songs(bonus tracks) and 9 playful soundtrack songs(not really tull, made purposely for a movie). But I must say Queen and Country and Warchild(title track) are pretty damn cool soundtrack songs

those extras are superb, 'Paradise Steakhouse' for one not to mention 'Kelpie' from Stormwatch, and if you really wanna indulge in extras try something like the Flawed Gems and the Other Sides of Tull CD from the 20 Years set

they deserve every bit of devotion they get, to continue on so long and continue to do great things, amazing

PROGMONSTER2008 wrote: American Khatru wrote: They do have a high amount of very good-to-great albums.  I just listened to Stand Up at work today.  Just thinking, following Lucas' post, I get a picture pretty well unmatched by any other band in the genre.  If I count what I consider to be the "very good-to-great" albums I get a solid 14 years, 1969-1982.  Within that period, excepting the two year wait before Broadsword, an album was released every year!  (I leave out This Was because it's not really yet the Tull sound, and the all-important Barre isn't there; and for me the machine comes to a stop with Broadsword, though there are of course some things of merit after that.)  Throw in the stupendous Life Is A Long Song E.P. of 1971 (thank you progmonster2008) and you have 14 studio releases and very little to complain about.  You have to admit, that beez impressive.  More than most bands can say.  I love King Crimson just as much as Tull, but their prolific output does admittedly travel through quite different line ups, with of course some big gaps in there for other projects and whatever. Edit:  Shouldn't forget the songs Sweet Dream and Witche's Promise, released 1969.  Amazing and immediate Grand sound from a band that just started!   Well you must include all remastered versions of each album   Even This Was has some real cool tunes, expecially the bonus tracks Love story, xmas song   I'm surprised you haven't mentioned the 90s remasters and relative outtakes   Dotcom + it all trickles down(outtake) Roots to branches Catfish rising remaster( with bonus track 'night in the wilderness') + silver river turning, truck stop runner(outtakes)   If you have the remasters of these 3 and you add those 3 extra outtakes, then you trim those 3 albums down to the 10 best songs (including the bonus tracks and outtakes) then you have 3 very good albums which are even better than some of the 70s albums(or even revised 70s albums using the bonus tracks)

Holy smokes!  You seem like a respectable chappy (or lass, I don't know), so if you're saying this and that means that there's even a possibility that I could agree if I heard it all, then I am one happy Tull fan to know that there is yet more material to hear!

Forgive me: though I do have cd transfers or cds bought years back (which were not then blessed with extras), my familiarity is almost all from my collection of these odd and somewhat cumbersome flat black objects which are gingerly placed on a form-fitting rotatable surface to then receive a needle to their face.  In other words, bit of an old fart here I guess (ah, I don't guess).  Anyway, I am grateful and eager, when I can afford it, to get me paws on these extra tracks.  This music in waiting, though a small thing to some, just made life more deee-licious.



Edited by American Khatru - May 23 2009 at 06:13

They're incredibly hit and miss really.

Thick as a Brick and Aqualung are two stone cold five star classics, without question.

Yet albums like Passion Play and Minstrel are simply above average.

And some of the later stuff is dire.

Hopeless devotion?  No.  Hatred?  Never.  Not even Rock Island, which is merely disappointing.  Well, very disappointing.

These days, I like when Ian writes clever songs and melodies in the limited range he can comfortably sing, especially Secret Language of Birds but also Roots to Branches.  The 70s stuff was my favorite.  Most of Stormwatch and Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll (just not the title track) still sound great to me.

Yes, Under Wraps.  Not my career highlight either!  Still, the tour was good.  I stood on my chair and was very excited. 

Edited by Bufo - June 08 2009 at 01:04

I saw Tull several times after 1984 too, but they never had as much energy.  When I saw them in 1995, Ian had virtually no singing voice that night and could barely utter a sound, so the audience talked over the entire show, except for the loud rocky bits.

Living with the Past is a good example, I think, of the band still sounding great but being none too energetic.  Comes with age, I know, but Ian looked like he'd aged 20 years between the Under Wraps and Crest of a Knave tours, IMO.


Edited by Bufo - June 08 2009 at 01:19

Bufo wrote: ...But the flute playing.  That's become simply stunning.

I'm glad you brought this up.  I was just thinking the other day, listening more intently to later Tull than I usually do, followed by a listen to Secret Language, that Anderson's flute playing seems to be greatly improving; as his voice has lost its shine and range, his flute tone has surely gained a deepened humanity.  I found myself seeking out the flute passages.  I haven't heard it more than three times so far, but I believe this may be the key to listening to Secret Language: it sounded, last listening, like Anderson himself probably wrote it more by flute passage than vocal melody, in terms of how one gets from event to event.

Fluting ?

But what about the fluting?

Vibrationbaby wrote: But what about the fluting?