My first Tull was the Broadsword tour, Edinburgh Playhouse (they skipped the Glasgow Apollo for some reason ). Then Glasgow Apollo for the Under Wraps tour, and Edinburgh Usher Hall for the 25th Anniversary Tour.
My first Tull was the Broadsword tour, Edinburgh Playhouse (they skipped the Glasgow Apollo for some reason ). Then Glasgow Apollo for the Under Wraps tour, and Edinburgh Usher Hall for the 25th Anniversary Tour.
None of my pals listened to Tull in high school (or even college for that matter), so I was largely unaware of Ian's music. Around 1997 or 98, I was reading online how *proggy* they were, so I purchased Thick/Brick and Minstrel on cd. They instantly became one of my fav bands and remain top 5 carved in marble. The run of records from Stand Up to ________ (fill in the blank) remains one of the strongest I have ever heard (yes, I am a huge fan of both WarChild and Too Old) in rock/prog. I place Ian in the musical genius category personally.
I first heard Tull on early 80's MTV when they had live videos of "Aqualung" and "Sweet Dream" in rotation.
The Ice Cream Lady Wet her drawers........To see you in the Passion Playyyy eeee - I. Anderson
"It's kind of like deciding not to date a beautiful blonde anymore because she farted." - Top Cat
I was expecting to be kinda meh, but it made my nips stiffen - Jerjo
(Zamran) "that fucking thing man . . . it sits there on my wall like a broken clock " - Helix
Social Media is the "Toilet" of the Internet - Lady Gaga
You've essentially answered your own question. You're in the minority because the majority of listeners don't like Rock Island, don't feel there it has "a lot of really strong tracks," and don't like it better than Crest. I think it's a major disappointment after Crest, which I acknowledge has its flaws, but at least it nods favorably toward the Proggier side of 70s Tull, the last time that would happen in their recording history. Rock Island is just flaccid. It would have been improved by eliminating a few songs and including "Part of the Machine" from 20 Years, but even that wouldn't have saved it. Whatever momentum they had coming out of Crest was lost with Rock Island, though the tour was pretty good.
Bill
My first Tull album was Benefit in 1970 (I was 14), the third LP I owned back then (the first two were Led Zeppelin I and II). Benefit is still my favourite JT album, followed by Aqualung and Minstrel etc.
It had escaped me that Don Airey toured with Tull. Man, that dude is incredible! I've been listening to his Deep Purple albums the past couple of weeks and think he adds a nice spice to the broth. I like him better as a player than Jon Lord; I know that's heresy, but so be it! He seems like a normal guy, too. Very humble. Apparently, he was the only witness to the Randy Rhoads plane accident? The DVD "Perihelion" shows him trading solos and harmonizing lines with Steve Morse. Top notch stuff!
Here's an essay that someone wrote to refute a couple of the published Tull bios of Airey. https://intergalacticstrut.wordpress...-of-don-airey/
Don Airey a heavy metal player? I wouldn't consider his work with Colosseum II as heavy metal, nor his presence on Andrew Lloyd Webber - Variations. Yes he plays in heavy metal, or hard-rock bands, but he has also experience with other genres. So being out of his game with Jethro Tull? Don't think so.
Players only lasting one tour with Tull seems to have been a trend in the 80's.
Don Airey was in Rainbow for a while after Colosseum II. As a session guy he worked with Sabbath, Ozzy (pretty sure he wrote the intro to Mr Crowley), Cozy Powell, Brian May, Gary Moore, Whitesnake, MSG and others. He's only credited as a guest on 20 Years of Jethro Tull.
JG
"MARKLAR!"
Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
Benefit for me also in '70 while a waiter at summer camp (was 16), bought TW and SU after camp ended, still have a special spot for Benefit having heard it on a reel-to-reel tape deck with no pics or cover to gaze at. When I bought the first two albums and saw band pics I was like "those scruffy dudes are the ones making that amazing music, no way!"
I interviewed Don Airey in 2018 and briefly asked him about Tull at one point:
LM: A somewhat unexpected turn in your career came in the late 80s when you joined Jethro Tull. How did that come about?
DA: I auditioned! (Laughing) It was an interesting audition. We played Songs From The Wood and it went pretty well. And Ian went, "Hmmm, right, hmmm, very good, you've played some of our music, we're going to play some of yours now. What have you got?" So I had some little piece I'd been working on, and we started playing that. So I taught Jethro Tull how to play... whatever it was. (Laughing) They were great, Ian Anderson is an amazing guy. I found him quite difficult to work with in some ways, and really the music wasn't absolutely my cup of tea, but you know, I was with them for a year and I enjoyed working with them, I must say. The funny thing about Jethro Tull is that nothing ever happened. Everything went exactly to plan, because Ian was such a genius at planning. They never seemed to touch the sides - I mean, there wasn't much banter in the dressing room, and nobody seemed to come back to see them, there were no hangers-on or anything like that. It was a bit... different.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 4 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
So does anyone else find the photo reproduction in the new set kind of underwhelming? Particularly the black & white shots?
Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
I have that and 4 others Airey releases. As a keyboardist, I'm naturally a fan!
I had forgotten he was on Cozy's albums too, which i love.
But I need to figure out what he did on the 20 Years Tull release. Not sure i still have the book that came with it.
JG
"MARKLAR!"
I have 3 of his albums, but not the one mentioned here.
Cozy's first is the one I still like best. That version of "Theme One" kicks!
Dang, I don't remember and I don't have the boxset handy.
https://jethrotull.com/the-attic/pas...sts/don-airey/
Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
The Ice Cream Lady Wet her drawers........To see you in the Passion Playyyy eeee - I. Anderson
"It's kind of like deciding not to date a beautiful blonde anymore because she farted." - Top Cat
I was expecting to be kinda meh, but it made my nips stiffen - Jerjo
(Zamran) "that fucking thing man . . . it sits there on my wall like a broken clock " - Helix
Social Media is the "Toilet" of the Internet - Lady Gaga
IMG_2918.jpg
Got mine. I’ve done a rushed order of fave. Hardly anything between the first 10 to the right though
Instead of writing all my thoughts across various messages I decided to compress them all down into this long winded, enthusiastic and rambling review. I hope you enjoy !
Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...m/bakers-dozen
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...-and-holland-3
colouratura.bandcamp.com
Bookmarks