Ian Anderson's voice

Anderson got a throat surgery some years ago that's the main reason.

PabstRibbon wrote: Anderson got a throat surgery some years ago that's the main reason.

First of all, I love your avatar! I saw Gabes with Genesis in 1974.

Thanks so much to you both for replying. I figured it was something like that. Many singers develop nodules, i.e., "nodes", on their vocal cords. And they require surgery or can possibly turn into throat cancer. I was married many years to a very good singer (female). So, I know a bit about singing.

Julie Andrews had surgery for nodes in the 90's and never sang again, to this day. She sued her doctor, but I never heard how that turned out.

I suppose we should all be grateful that we have Ian's voice in fine form on record to listen to anytime we wish, eh? He was great!

I'm genuinely sorry if Anderson has been afflicted with some sort of physical malady that affects his singing BUT:

Notwithstanding the excellent musical materials prepared by himself and his fellow minstrels in merriment, I find all his vocal quirks, tics, affectations and techniques grievously irritating to the extent  that I can never accede to Tull being a 1st generation prog pioneer (which they are dammit)

humor4u1959 wrote: First of all, I love your avatar! I saw Gabes with Genesis in 1974.

Saw Tull live five or six times (mid'90-mid'00) and I really can't complain about it (is it the same guy who sang on Aqualung?). He gave its best each and everytime I saw them.

Might be a good reason for him to start making instrumental music 

A good diet and healthy living habits really help keep a singing voice intact for many, many years. Some people are blessed with an amazing voice that not only sounds amazing, but continues to do so for decades. Unfortunately, not all singers are this lucky, so if they pursue the life of heavy drinking and/or smoking, there are great risks down the road. I remember reading an article/interview with James LaBrie of Dream Theater on this topic, and him explaining what he does to keep his voice in top shape.

As for what is going on with Ian Anderson's voice, I haven't a clue. I haven't listened to anything he's sung after the early 90's studio stuff. If he is/was a heavy chain smoker as some have stated here, than I don't find it at all surprising that lifestyle has come back to bite him.

John Wetton's voice seems to be better than ever.
(Can't say the same for his songwriting, though.)

I saw Tull many times, from the mid seventies to the J-Tull Dot Com tour.  While his voice was deteriorating noticably through the years, it wasn't until the Roots To Branches tour that his straining to hit high notes became painful to watch.

Even though his voice hasn't been the same, I can't say it bothers me much on his latest live albums either. I got the Live at Montreux and Living with the past (or don't remember exactly the name, but it's the 90's 00's live album with songs from shows from this two decades). As a matter of fact, I like many of the songs on this albums much better than the 70's versions... mainly because flute and guitar are so much cooler, and perhaps in some cases even the drums sounding kind of harder and louder helps a bit too (though surely there are many fans of the 70's drummers on Tull that wouldn't agree with me).