Jethro Tull are a Grammy
Award winning English
rock
band that formed in 1967-1968.
Their music is marked by the distinctive vocal style and lead flute work of front
man Ian Anderson.
Initially playing blues rock with an experimental flavour, they have,
over the years, incorporated elements of classical, folk and
'ethnic' musics, jazz
and art
rock. Eclectic influences, diverse instrumentation, and often elaborate
song construction led them to be labelled as an archetypal "progressive
rock" band. Contrary to popular belief, Jethro Tull was not the
name of a famous flautist.
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Contents
- 1 History
- 1.1 1963–1967:
Origins
- 1.2 1968:
Progressive Blues
- 1.3 1969–1971:
Developing their own style
- 1.4 1972–1976:
Progressive rock
- 1.5 1977–1979:
Folk rock trilogy
- 1.5.1 Evolution of live shows during the 1970s
- 1.6 1980–1984:
Electronic rock
- 1.7 1987–1991:
Hard rock
- 1.8 1992–1994:
Touring and Compiling
- 1.9 1995-present:
World music influences
- 2 Band
member history
- 3 In
popular culture
- 4 Lineups
- 5 Discography
- 5.1 Albums
- 5.2 EPs
- 5.3 Compilations
- 5.4 Additional
live recordings
- 5.5 Videos
- 6 References
- 7 External
links
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History
1963–1967: Origins
Ian Anderson's first band, started in 1963 in Blackpool,
was known as The Blades. It had developed by 1966 into a seven-piece white soul
band called the John Evan Band (later the John Evan Smash), named for
pianist/drummer John Evans, who dropped the
final "s" from his name to make it sound less ordinary.
At this point, Barriemore Barlow was the band's drummer, as he would
later be for Tull itself.
The band moved to the London area in search of more bookings,
basing themselves in nearby Luton. However, money remained short and
within days of the move most of the band quit and headed back North,
leaving Anderson and bassist Glenn Cornick to join forces
with blues guitarist Mick Abrahams and his
friend, drummer Clive Bunker, both from the
Luton-based band "McGregor's Engine".
At first, the new band had trouble getting repeat bookings and they
took to changing their name frequently to continue playing the London
club circuit. Band names were often supplied by the staff of their
booking agents, one of whom, a history buff, eventually christened them
Jethro Tull after the
18th-century agriculturist who invented the seed
drill. This name stuck simply by virtue of the fact that they were
using it the first time a club manager (namely, John Gee of the Marquee
Club, London) liked their show enough to invite them to return. They
were signed to the blossoming Ellis-Wright agency, and became the third
band managed by the soon-to-be Chrysalis empire.
1968: Progressive Blues
After an unsuccessful single produced by Derek
Lawrence (an Abrahams-penned pop tune called "Sunshine Day" on which
the band's name was misspelled "Jethro Toe", making it a collector's
item), they released the bluesy album This Was
in 1968. In addition to music written by Anderson and Abrahams the
album included the traditional "Cat's Squirrel", which highlighted
Abraham's blues-rock style. The Rahsaan
Roland Kirk-penned jazz piece "Serenade to a Cuckoo" gave Anderson a
showcase for his growing talents on the flute, an instrument which he
started learning to play only half a year before the release of the
album. The overall sound of the group at this time was described in the
Record
Mirror by Anderson in 1968 as "a sort of progressive blues with a bit
of jazz".
Following this album, Abrahams left, forming his own band, Blodwyn
Pig. There were a number of reasons for his departure: he was a blues
purist, while Anderson wanted to branch out into other forms of music,
Abrahams and Cornick did not get along, and Abrahams was unwilling to
travel internationally or play more than three nights a week, while the
others wanted to be successful by playing as often as possible and
building an international fan base.
Earth/Black Sabbath guitarist Tony
Iommi took on guitar duties for a short time after the
departure of Abrahams, appearing in The Rolling
Stones Rock and Roll Circus (in which the group
mimed "A Song For Jeffrey") in 1968, but returned to Earth/Black
Sabbath after the performance.
1969–1971: Developing their own
style
After auditions for a replacement guitarist, Anderson chose Martin
Barre, a former member of Motivation, Penny Peeps, and Gethsemane,
who was playing with Noel Redding's Fat Mattress at the time. Barre
impressed Anderson with his persistence more than anything else: he was
so nervous at his first audition that he could hardly play at all, and
then showed up for a second audition without a cable to connect his
guitar to an amplifier. Nevertheless, Barre would become Abrahams'
permanent replacement on guitar and the second longest-standing member
of the band after Anderson.
This new line-up released Stand Up
in 1969, the band's only UK number-one album. Written entirely by
Anderson — with the exception of the jazzy rearrangement of J.
S. Bach's Bourée (fifth movement from Suite
for Lute in E minor BWV 996 (BC L166)) — it branched out further from
the blues, clearly evidencing a new direction for the group, which
would come to be categorised as progressive rock alongside such
diverse groups as King Crimson, Genesis,
The
Nice and Yes. Stand Up
feels, instrumentally, not entirely unlike a jazz-tinged early Led
Zeppelin album, with a heavy and slightly dark sound. The
"Living in the Past" single of the same year reached number three in
the UK chart, and though most other progressive groups actively
resisted issuing singles at the time, Tull had further success with
their other singles, "Sweet Dream" (1969) and "The Witch's Promise"
(1970), and a five-track EP, Life Is a Long Song
(1971), all of which made the top twenty. In 1970, they added keyboardist
John
Evan (initially as a guest musician) and released the album Benefit.
Bassist Cornick left following Benefit,
replaced by Jeffrey Hammond, a
childhood friend of Anderson whose name appeared in the songs "A Song
for Jeffrey", "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square", "For Michael Collins,
Jeffrey, and Me", and who also is the writer and narrator of "The Story
of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" featured in the A
Passion Play album. Jeffrey was often credited
on Tull albums as "Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond", but the extra "Hammond"
was an inside joke regarding the fact that Hammond's mother's maiden
name was also "Hammond", no relation to his father.
This line-up released Tull's best-known work, Aqualung
in 1971. On this album, Anderson's writing voiced strong opinions about
religion and society. The title character of Aqualung
is a disreputable tramp, wandering the streets and
"eyeing little girls with bad intent"; the focus of the song
"Cross-Eyed Mary" is an underage prostitute. "My God" - written before Benefit
and already a staple of the band's live act before Aqualung's
release
- is a full-frontal assault on ecclesiastic excesses: "People what have
you done/locked Him in His golden cage/Made Him bend to your
religion/Him resurrected from the grave..." In contrast, the gentle
acoustic "Wond'ring Aloud" is a love song. The title track and
"Locomotive Breath" remain staples of US classic rock stations.
1972–1976: Progressive rock
Thick as a Brick
concept album.
Because of the heavy touring schedule and his wish to spend
more time with his family, drummer Bunker left the band after the Aqualung
album, and was replaced by Barriemore Barlow in
early 1971. Barlow first recorded with the band for the EP Life
Is a Long Song and made his first appearance on a Jethro Tull
album with 1972's Thick as a Brick.
This was conceived as a concept album consisting of a single
track running 43:28 (an innovation previously unheard of in rock music),
split over the two sides of the LP, with a number of movements melded
together and some repeating themes. The first movement with its
distinctive acoustic guitar riff received some airplay on rock stations
at the time (and occasionally turns up in modern classic-rock
programming as a "deep" or "rare" cut). Thick
as a Brick was the first true progrock
offering by the band, as well as the first Jethro Tull album to reach
number one on the (U.S.) Billboard Pop Albums chart (the following
year's A Passion Play
being the only other). This album's quintet – Anderson, Barre, Evan,
Hammond, and Barlow – endured until the end of 1975.
1972 also saw the release of Living
in the Past, a double-album compilation of
remixed singles, B-sides and outtakes (including the entirety of the Life
Is a Long Song EP, which closes the album), with a single
side recorded live in 1970 at New York's Carnegie Hall. Fans regard the
album as arguably the band's best compilation. The title track remains
one of their more enduring singles, though Anderson reportedly wrote it
in 5/4 time with the intent of preventing its ascent to the pop charts.
In 1973, the band attempted to record a double album in tax
exile at Château d'Hérouville studios
(something the Rolling Stones and Elton
John among others were doing at the time), but supposedly
they were unhappy with the quality of the recording studio and
abandoned the effort, subsequently mocking the studio as the "Chateau
d'Isaster." (An 11-minute excerpt from these recordings was released on
the 1988 20 Years of Jethro Tull boxed set, and the
complete sessions were finally released on the 1993 compilation Nightcap,
with the contemporarily overdubbed flute lines where the vocal parts
were missing.) Instead they quickly recorded and released A
Passion Play, another single-track concept
album, and their second pure prog release, with very allegorical
lyrics focusing on the afterlife. A Passion Play
continued the diverse instrumentation introduced in Thick As
a Brick, and added saxophones to the mix. A Passion
Play sold well but received generally poor reviews, including
a particularly damning review of its live performance by Chris Welch of
Melody Maker.
Around this time, the band's popularity with critics began to
wane, but their popularity with the public remained strong. 1974's War
Child, an album originally intended to be a
companion piece for a film, reached number two on the Billboard charts
and received some critical acclaim, and produced the radio mainstays
"Bungle in the Jungle" and "Skating Away (On the Thin Ice of the New
Day)". It also included a song, "Only Solitaire", allegedly aimed at
L.A. Times rock music critic Robert Hilburn, who was one of Anderson's
harsher critics.
In 1975, the band released Minstrel in the Gallery,
an album which resembled Aqualung in that it
contrasted softer, acoustic guitar-based pieces with lengthier, more
bombastic works headlined by Barre's electric guitar. Written and
recorded during Anderson's divorce from his first wife Jenny, the album
is characterised by introspective, cynical, and sometimes bitter
lyrics. Critics gave it mixed reviews, but the album came to be
acknowledged as one of the band's best by longtime Tull fans, even as
it generally fell under the radar to listeners familiar only with Aqualung.
Following this album, bassist Hammond left the band, retiring from
music altogether to pursue painting (which had always been his
intention). John Glascock, who earlier was playing
with flamenco-rock
band Carmen, a support band on the
previous Jethro Tull tour, was tabbed as the band's new bassist.
1976's Too Old
to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! was another
concept album, this time about the life of an aging rocker. Anderson,
stung by critical reviews (particularly of A Passion Play),
responded with more sharply-barbed lyrics. The press seemed oblivious
to the ploy, and instead asked if the title track was autobiographical
— a charge Anderson hotly denied. Curiously, the sleeve for the album
featured a comic strip with a lead character (Ray Lomas) that looked
very similar to Anderson.
1977–1979: Folk rock trilogy
The band closed the decade with a trio of folk rock
albums, Songs from the Wood,
Heavy
Horses, and Stormwatch.
Songs from the Wood was the first Tull album to
receive unanimously positive reviews since the release of Benefit
and Living in the Past.
The band had long had ties to folk rockers Steeleye
Span. Although not formally considered a part of the folk rock movement
(which had actually begun nearly a decade earlier with the advent of Fairport
Convention), there was clearly an exchange of musical ideas among Tull
and the folk rockers. Also, by this time Anderson had moved to a farm
in the countryside, and his new bucolic lifestyle is clearly reflected
on these albums. A stellar example is the title track of Heavy
Horses, a paean to draft horses.
The band continued to tour, and released a live double album
in 1978. Entitled Bursting Out it
featured dynamic live performances from the lineup that many Tull fans
consider comprising the golden era of the band. It also features
Anderson's often-ribald stage banter with the audience and band
members. ("David's gone for a piss. Ah, he's back. Did you give it a
good shake?") The vinyl LP contains three tracks not found on the
initial U.S. single-disc CD edition: Martin Barre's guitar solo tracks
"Quatrain" and "Conundrum" (which had an extended drum solo from
drummer Barriemore Barlow) and a version of the 1969 UK single hit,
"Sweet Dream". (These tracks were included on the original two-CD U.K.
edition, and were restored in a globally released re-mastered two-CD
edition released in 2004.) During the USA tour, because of health
problems, John Glascock was replaced by Anderson's friend and former
Stealers Wheel bassist Tony Williams.
During this time, David Palmer (now known as Dee
Palmer), who had long been the band's orchestra arranger,
formally joined the band on keyboards. Bassist Glascock died in 1979
following heart surgery and Stormwatch was
completed without him (Anderson contributed bass on most tracks). The
following tour featured Dave Pegg of Fairport
Convention on bass guitar. After this tour, Anderson decided to record
his first solo album.
Evolution of live shows during
the 1970s
During the early 1970s Tull went from a progressive blues band
to one of the largest concert draws in the world. In concert, the band
was known for theatricality and long medleys with brief
instrumental interludes. While early Tull shows featured a manic
Anderson with bushy hair and beard dressed in tattered overcoats and
ragged clothes, as the band became bigger he moved towards varied
costumes. This culminated with the War Child tour's oversized codpiece and
colourful costume.
Jethro Tull in concert in Naples, 1998.
Other band-members joined in the dress-up and developed stage
personae. Bassist Glenn Cornick always
appeared in vest and headband; his successor Jeffrey
Hammond eventually adopted a black and white diagonally
striped suit (and similarly striped bass guitar, electric guitar, and
string bass); both performed while moving forcefully around their stage
areas. John
Evan dressed in an all-white suit with a neck-scarf of
scarlet with white polka-dots; described as a "sad clown" type, he
joined in the theatrics by galumphing back and forth between Hammond
Organ and grand piano (placed on opposite sides of the stage in the Thick
as a Brick tour) or by such sight-gags as pulling out a flask
and pretending to drink from it during a rest in the music. Barriemore
Barlow's stage attire was a crimson tank-top and matching
runner's shorts with rugby footgear, and his solos were marked by
smoke-machines and enormous drumsticks. Martin
Barre was the island of calm amongst the madmen, with
Anderson (and sometimes Evan) crowding him and making faces during his
solos.
The band's stage theatrics peaked during the Thick
As A Brick tour, a performance distinguished by stage hands
wearing the tan trench-coat/madras cap ensemble from the album art,
extras in rabbit suits running across stage and an extended interlude
during which Barre and Barlow entered a beach-tent onstage and swapped
pants.
A Passion Play was planned to have a
full-length film to go with the stage theatrics; of this effort, it
seems that only a few excerpts have survived to be re-released on
recent commemorative videos of the band, including the interlude "The
Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles."
A similar multi-media effort had been planned for Too
Old To Rock and Roll... but was not completed. Thereafter,
the emphasis on theatrics was reduced but never eliminated. Anderson
often dressed as a country squire on tours in the late 1970s, with the
rest of the band adopting the style during their folk phase. The A
tour featured the same white jumpsuit uniforms worn by the band on the
album cover. Certain routines from the 1970s have recently become
ensconced in concerts, such as having a song interrupted by a phone
call for an audience member (which Anderson now takes on a cell) and
the climactic conclusion of shows including bombastic instrumentals and
the giant balloons which Anderson would carry over his head and toss
into the crowd.
1980–1984: Electronic rock
Tull's first album of the 1980s, A,
was originally intended to be Ian Anderson's first solo album. Anderson
retained Barre on electric guitar, and added Dave
Pegg (Fairport Convention) on bass, Mark
Craney on drums, and special guest keyboardist/violinist Eddie
Jobson (ex-Roxy Music, UK, Frank
Zappa). Highlighted by the prominent use of synthesisers, it contrasted
sharply with the established "Tull sound". After pressure from Chrysalis
Records, Anderson decided to release it as a Jethro Tull album.
Entitled A (taken from the
labels on the master tapes for his scrapped solo album, marked simply
"A for Anderson"), it was released in mid-1980.
In keeping with the mood of innovation surrounding the album,
Tull made an early foray into the emerging genre of music video with Slipstream,
a film which takes place at London's Hammersmith
Odeon (which was used for exterior scenes). However, the main concert
footage was actually from an American performance in Los Angeles,
California at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (as heard on the Magic Piper
ROIO) featuring the A lineup filmed in November of
1980. The video was directed by David Mallet, who has directed numerous
music videos including the pioneering "Ashes to Ashes" video for David
Bowie. The electronic style of the album was even more pronounced in
these live performances and was used to striking effect on some of the
older songs, including "Locomotive Breath". The more familiar Tull
sound was brought to the fore in an all acoustic version of "Skating
Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day" featuring Pegg on mandolin.
"Slipstream", long a rarity on VHS, was included as a bonus DVD with
the 2004 remastered edition of the A album.
Jobson and Craney departed following the A
tour and Tull entered a period of revolving drummers: Gerry Conway, Phil
Collins (who played with the band at the first Prince's Trust
concert in 1982 as a fill-in drummer for the then recent departed Gerry
Conway), Paul Burgess (for the US leg
of the Broadsword and the Beast tour), and Doane
Perry. The year of 1981 was the first year in their album career that
the band did not release an album; however some recording sessions took
place (Anderson, Barre, Pegg, and Conway, with Anderson playing the
keyboards). Some of these tracks were released on the Nightcap
compilation in 1993. In 1982, Peter-John Vettese
joined on keyboards, and the band returned to a somewhat folkier sound
– albeit with synthesisers – for 1982's Broadsword and the Beast.
The ensuing concert tour for the album was well-attended and the shows
featured what was to be one of the group's last indulgences in full
dress theatricality: the stage was built to resemble a Viking longship
and the band performed in traditional medieval regalia.
An Anderson solo album (which was in fact an Anderson-Vettese
effort) appeared in 1983, in the form of the heavily electronic Walk
into Light. Although the album featured
electronic soundscapes and synthesiser voicings advanced for its time,
as well as cerebral lyrics about the alienating effects of technology,
the release failed to resonate with longtime fans or with new
listeners. However, as with later solo efforts by Anderson and Barre,
some of the Walk Into Light songs, such as "Fly By Night", "Made in
England" and "Different Germany", later made their way into Tull live
sets.
In 1984, Tull released Under
Wraps, a heavily electronic album with no
"live" drummer (instead, as on Walk into Light, a
drum-machine was used). Although the band was reportedly proud of the
sound, the album was not well-received, particularly in North America.
However, the video for "Lap of Luxury" did manage to earn moderate
rotation on the newly influential MTV music video channel. Also, the acoustic
version of the title track, Under Wraps 2, found some favour over the
years and a live instrumental version of the song was included on the
"A Little Light Music" concert CD of 1992. Some longtime Tull fans
regard Under Wraps as one of the band's weaker efforts; however, Martin
Barre considers it his favourite. As a result of the throat problems
Anderson developed singing the demanding Under Wraps
material on tour, Tull took a three-year break, during which Anderson
continued to oversee his salmon farm which he founded in 1978.
1987–1991: Hard rock
Tull returned strongly with 1987's Crest
of a Knave. With Vettese absent (Anderson
contributed the synth programming) and the band relying more heavily on
Barre's electric guitar than they had since the early 1970s, the album
was a critical and commercial success. Shades of their earlier
electronic excursions were still present, however, as three of the
album's songs again utilised a drum machine. The band won the 1989 Grammy
Award for Best
Hard Rock/Metal Performance, beating the favourite Metallica
and their ...And Justice For
All album. The award was particularly controversial as many did not
consider Jethro Tull hard rock, much less heavy metal. Under advisement
from their manager, who told them they had no chance of winning, no one
from the band turned up to the award ceremony.
In response to the criticism they received over the award, the band
then took out an advert in a British music periodical with a picture of
a flute lying amid a pile of iron re-bars and the line, "THE FLUTE IS A
HEAVY METAL INSTRUMENT."
In 2007, the win was named one of the ten biggest upsets in Grammy
history by Entertainment Weekly
(In 1992, when Metallica finally won the Grammy in the category,
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich joked, "First thing we're going to do is
thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year.").
The style of Crest has been compared to
that of Dire Straits, in part because
Anderson no longer seemed to have the vocal range he once possessed.
The album contains the popular live song "Budapest", which depicts a
backstage scene with a shy local female stagehand. Although "Budapest"
was the longest song on that album (longer than ten minutes), "Mountain
Men" became more famous throughout Europe, depicting a scene from World
War II in Africa. Ian Anderson referred to the battles of El Alamain
and the Falkland Islands, drawing historic parallels of the angst that
women left behind by their warrior husbands might feel.
died in the trenches at El Alamain,
died in the Falklands on TV - from Mountain
Men
1988 was notable for the release of 20 Years of Jethro Tull,
a five-LP themed set (also released as an unthemed three-CD set, and as
a truncated single CD version on 20 Years of Jethro Tull:
Highlights) consisting largely of rarities and outtakes from
throughout the band's history as well as a variety of live and
remastered tracks. It also included a booklet outlining the band's
history in detail. Now out of print, it has become a collector's item,
although many (but not all) of the outtakes have been included as bonus
tracks on the remasters of the band's studio albums.
Multi-instrumentalist Martin
(Maart) Allcock, who as a member of Fairport Convention had
played with Tull at Cropredy the previous year, joined the band mainly
as keyboard player, starting with the 20th Anniversary tour.
In 1989, the band released Rock
Island, which met with less commercial and
critical success than Crest of a Knave. The
lead-off track, "Kissing Willie," featured bawdy double entendre lyrics
and over the top heavy metal riffing that seemed to take a satiric view
of the group's recent Grammy award win. The song's accompanying video
found difficulty in receiving rotation because of its sexual imagery.
Although Rock Island was something of a miss for
the group, a couple of fan favourites did emerge from the album. "Big
Riff and Mando" reflects life on the road for the relentlessly touring
musicians, giving a wry account of the theft of Barre's prized mandolin
by a stage-struck fan. "Another Christmas Song", an upbeat number
celebrating the humanitarian spirit of the holiday season, stood out
against the brooding and sombre mood of many of the songs on the album
and was well-received at concerts. It was re-recorded for the 2003 Jethro
Tull Christmas Album release.
1991's Catfish Rising
was a more solid album than Rock Island. Despite
being labelled as a "return to playing the blues," the album actually
is marked by the generous use of mandolin and acoustic guitar and much
less use of keyboards than any Tull album of the Eighties. Notable
tracks included "Rocks on the Road", which highlighted gritty acoustic
guitar work and hard-bitten lyrics about urban life and "Still Loving
You Tonight", a bluesy low-key ballad.
Allcock, who had played on the Catfish Rising
tour although not the album itself, left the band at the end of the
year.
1992–1994: Touring and Compiling
In 1992, Tull embarked on a tour titled A
Little Light Music, with most of the show
focusing on acoustic songs, many of which they had not played live for
years, if at all. A live CD was recorded on this tour and released
under the same title later in that year. This was well received by fans
because of its different takes on many past compositions, as well as a
rendition of the folk song "John Barleycorn". As documented by these
live performances, Ian's voice had clearly improved since his throat
injury in the mid-Eighties. After the CD release, the tour continued as
a show of two halves, the Light and Dark Tour.
1993 was marked as the 25th Anniversary of Jethro Tull by the
release of various new products, as well as an extensive Anniversary
Tour, which started in May 1993 and lasting nearly a year. In keeping
with the anniversary theme, this tour again revived a number of older
songs.
The 25th Anniversary Box was a four-CD set
including new and vintage live recordings, remixed and remastered songs
from earlier albums, and re-recordings of old songs by the 90s band. A
two-CD Anniversary Collection compilation was also
released, containing original tracks remastered, and a video collection
included new interviews, promo videos and archive material. The remixed
single, Living in the (Slightly more Recent) Past,
reached #32 in the UK singles chart. A planned second boxed set of
outtakes and rare tracks was scaled down to 2 discs and released
towards the end of the year under the title Nightcap.
1995-present: World music
influences
After the 1992 tour, Anderson had re-learned how to play the
flute, and begun writing songs that heavily featured world music
influences. Dave Pegg also left the band at this time to concentrate on
his work with Fairport Convention; his replacement was Jonathan Noyce.
1995's Roots to Branches
and 1999's J-Tull Dot Com
are less rock-based than Crest
of a Knave or Catfish
Rising. These most recent original Tull efforts
reflect the musical influences of decades of performing all around the
globe. In songs such as "Out of the Noise" and "Hot Mango Flush",
Anderson paints vivid pictures of third-world street scenes. These
albums have reflected Anderson's coming to grips with being an old
rocker, with songs such as the pensive "Another Harry's Bar", "Wicked
Windows" (a meditation on reading glasses), and the gruff "Wounded,
Old, and Treacherous".
In 1995, Anderson released his second solo album, Divinities:
Twelve Dances with God, an instrumental work
comprised of twelve flute-heavy pieces pursuing varied themes with an
underlying motif. The album was recorded with current Tull keyboard
player Andrew Giddings. Anderson released two further song-based solo
albums, The Secret Language of
Birds and Rupi's
Dance in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
Jethro Tull today. Left to right: Martin Barre, Andrew Giddings,
Jonathan Noyce, Doane Perry, Ian Anderson
2003 saw the release of The Jethro Tull
Christmas Album, a collection of traditional
Christmas songs together with old and new Christmas songs written by
Jethro Tull.
An Ian Anderson live double album and DVD was released in 2005
called Ian
Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull. In
addition, a DVD entitled Nothing
Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 and a
live album Aqualung Live
(recorded in 2004) were released in 2005.
Ian Anderson performed a cover version of the song "The Thin
Ice," on the 2005 Pink Floyd tribute album Back
Against The Wall.
2006 saw the release of a dual boxed set DVD "Collectors
Edition". This contained two DVDs, "Nothing Is Easy", documenting the
previously released Isle Of Wight footage from 1970. Not to be missed
as a classic Tull performance. This is joined with "Living With The
Past", a documentary featuring the band on tour, in Britain and
America, in 2001. It includes great live footage of the period with
band interviews and other bonus features. From a nostalgia point of
view, it has some excelent footage of a reunion line up with Anderson,
Abrahams, Cornick and Bunker filmed in a pub gig environment performing
some early Tull classics.
March 2007 saw the release of The Best of
Acoustic Jethro Tull, a 24-song set of Tull and
Ian Anderson acoustic performances taken from various albums. Included
are a new live acoustic version of "One Brown Mouse" and a live
performance of the traditional song (attributed to Henry
VIII), "Pastime With Good Company."
2007 sees another busy tour schedule but Tull are also in the
studio recording some new material for a new CD which is expected to be
released late Autumn 2007 and will be the band's first proper new album
for 8 years; some of the new songs were performed live during the
recent UK acoustic tour.
Band member history
- Black Sabbath guitarist Tony
Iommi played guitar for Jethro Tull briefly in 1968 following the
departure of Mick Abrahams. The only recording of him with Jethro Tull
is on The
Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus although his guitar is not heard as
all of the music (excepting Ian Anderson's vocals and flute) was dubbed
in afterwards. He had already quit the band before the Rock and Roll
Circus and it was his final performance with the band. He was soon
replaced by Martin Barre.
- After his departure from Jethro Tull in 1971, original
drummer Clive Bunker played in a short-lived group called "Jude" with
former Procol
Harum guitarist Robin Trower.
- Genesis' Phil Collins was Jethro
Tull's drummer at one gig: the Prince's Trust Gala on July 7, 1982 at London's
Dominion Theatre. At this time, Jethro Tull had a problem to solve
since Barriemore Barlow left, and several drummers tried his seat at
the formation in the subsequent months. Phil Collins played a three
songs set, and two of them ("Jack in the Green" and "Pussy Willow") are
on an official video release of the Prince's Trust Gala, though this
may not have been released in all countries.
- A significant number of Jethro Tull former supporting
players like Dave Pegg, Martin Allcock, Dave Mattacks and Gerry Conway
have been in the core of in the influential folk rock
band Fairport Convention. Dave Pegg -
a core member of Convention and the one with longest tenure in Tull
(1979-1995) — alternated his career between the two and in 1987 when
Jethro Tull toured the USA, they had Fairport Convention as support act
with Pegg playing in both bands at each concert.
- Ex-drummer Mark Craney, from the short-lived
1980-81 line-up, died of diabetes and pneumonia on November
26, 2005. He
had suffered through a history of health problems including kidney
ailments, stroke paralysis, and a heart condition. A number of Tull
members contributed to the 1997 charity album, Something
With a Pulse, to help Craney pay medical bills.
- Bassist Tony Williams filled in for the remainder of the
tour when John Glascock's health failed.
- Bassist Matthew Pegg—Dave's son—is credited
with playing bass on Catfish Rising when his father was
"washing hair."
- Bassist Steve Bailey appeared on the Roots
to Branches recording due to Dave Pegg's scheduling conflicts.
In popular culture
Jethro Tull recordings appear in numerous films, including Breaking
the Waves, Jumanji,
Boogie Nights
and Almost Famous.
The song "Aqualung" is briefly joked about in the Will
Ferrell comedy Anchorman.
Ferrell's character, Ron Burgundy, plays a jazz flute solo and suddenly
plays the main riff from "Aqualung" and then shouts, "Hey Aqualung!"
In a season ten episode of Friends, "The One With Ross's Grant", Rachel
and Monica find Jethro Tull listed in Phoebe's black book of men that
she has dated.
Anderson has attributed the marked difference between their
music and the music of their contemporaries to the group's avoidance of
illegal recreational drugs.
In the 1997 debut album of Blackmore's Night (Shadow of the
Moon), Ian takes the flute solo on "Play Minstrel Play".
In an episode of The Simpsons,
Martin is given the award for best flautist. He plays the flute and
begins to sing "Thick as a Brick" until he's hit on the head with a
chair by Lisa.
In an episode of King
of the Hill entitled "The Incredible Hank",
part of "Aqualung" is played while Hank lifts weights in his garage.
In the song "Virus Alert" by "Weird
Al" Yankovic, one of the effects of the titular virus is to "make your
iPod only play Jethro Tull."
Jewish
folk-punk artist Steve Lieberman, "The Gangsta
Rabbi," is clearly a sardonic Tull fan. His album LIQUIDATIA-455 featured a manic
send-up entitled "Jethro Tull Fantasykamp."
His Bad'lania Rising
featured an even more direct ribbing, "Ian
Anderson," while Jewish Lightning featured "Punk-Rock
Jethro Tull Song." The cover of Desert Fever Brigade mocks
Anderson's trademark "duster coat" pose, and features "And
the Genre Police Never Sleeps," a reference to Tull's "...And
the Mouse Police Never Sleeps" (from Heavy
Horses). In his 2005 album "Punkifier" Lieberman sings about making a
living in a Jethro Tull tribute band in "Poor Man's Ian Anderson".
In an episode of That
'70s Show, the character Steven Hyde says that
if he was rich he'd have Jethro Tull playing in his house.
In the movie "Big Daddy," when Sonny Koufax is asked what he
was doing instead of going to his aunt's funeral he replies, "Jethro
Tull had a reunion concert, so I caught that."
In the movie "Armageddon," Oscar Choi (Owen Wilson) states
that he hates when people think that Jethro Tull is just the name of a
member in the band.
In Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, in the Gunslinger,
Tull is the name of the last city before the desert. Stephen King says
that he took the name from Jethro Tull in the Song of Susannah, when
speaking to Roland Deschain and Eddie Dean.
Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago
Sun-Times called the album The Crane Wife by The
Decemberists "the best Jethro Tull album since Heavy
Horses."
In 2004, the Drum & Bugle Corps the Cadets show was
entitled, "Living With the Past" which featured the music of Jethro
Tull.
Lineups
Jethro Tull Band Members (By Year)
1967 - 1968 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, harmonica,
acoustic guitar, piano
- Mick Abrahams - guitar, vocals
- Glenn Cornick - bass
- Clive Bunker - drums, percussion
|
1968 - 1969 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, harmonica,
acoustic guitar, keyboards, mandolin
- Martin Barre - guitar, flute
- Glenn Cornick - bass
- Clive Bunker - drums, percussion
|
1969 - 1970 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar, vocals
- Glenn Cornick - bass, vocals
- Clive Bunker - drums, percussion, vocals
- John Evan - keyboards, piano, vocals
|
1970 - 1971 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar, flute, recorder
- Jeffrey Hammond - bass, recorder, vocals
- Clive Bunker - drums, percussion
- John Evan - keyboards, piano
|
1971 - 1975 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar,
soprano saxophone, violin
- Martin Barre - guitar, lute
- Jeffrey Hammond - bass, vocals
- Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion
- John Evan - keyboards, piano, synthesiser
|
1975 - 1976 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar
- John Glascock - bass, vocals
- Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion
- John Evan - keyboards, piano
|
1976 - 1978
1978 - 1979 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar,
tin whistle
- Martin Barre - guitar
- John Glascock - bass, vocals
- Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion
- John Evan - keyboards, piano
- David Palmer - keyboards, synthesiser
|
1978 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar,
tin whistle
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Tony Williams - bass
- Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion
- John Evan - keyboards, piano
- David Palmer - keyboards, synthesiser
|
1979 - 1980 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion
- John Evan - keyboards, piano
- David Palmer - keyboards, synthesiser
|
1980 - 1981 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Mark Craney - drums
- Eddie Jobson - keyboards, violin
|
1981 |
- band inactive; musicians taking part in
recording sessions:
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar,
keyboards
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Gerry Conway - drums
|
1982 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Gerry Conway - drums
- Paul Burgess - drums
- Peter - John Vettese - keyboards
|
1984 - 1985 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Gerry Conway - drums
- Doane Perry - drums
- Peter - John Vettese - keyboards
|
1985 - 1987 |
- band inactive; musicians taking part in
occasional appearances and recording sessions:
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, guitar, acoustic
guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Gerry Conway - drums
- Doane Perry - drums
- Peter - John Vettese - keyboards
- Eddie Jobson - keyboard, violin
- Ric Sanders - violin
|
1987 - 1988 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Doane Perry - drums
- Don Airey - keyboards
|
1988 - 1991 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar,
harmonica, mandolin
- Martin Barre - guitar, mandolin
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Doane Perry - drums
- Maartin Allcock - keyboards, acoustic guitar
|
1991 - 1992 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Doane Perry - drums
- Dave Mattacks - drums
- Maartin Allcock - keyboards
- Andrew Giddings - keyboards
|
1992 - 1995 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar,
harmonica
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
- Doane Perry - drums
- Andrew Giddings - keyboards
|
1995 - 2006 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar,
mandolin, mandocello, harmonica, bamboo flute
- Martin Barre - guitar
- Jonathan Noyce - bass
- Doane Perry - drums
- Andrew Giddings - keyboards
|
2007 |
- Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar,
mandolin, mandocello, harmonica, bamboo flute
- Martin Barre - guitar
- David Goodier - bass
- James Duncan / Doane Perry - drums
- John O'Hara - keyboards
|
Discography
Albums
| Year |
Album |
Info |
Chart Statistics |
Label |
| 1968 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 62
- UK chart peak position: 10
|
Island Records
|
| 1969 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 20
- UK chart peak position: 1
|
Island Records
|
| 1970 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 11
- UK chart peak position: 3
|
Island Records
|
| 1971 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 7
- UK chart peak position: 4
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1972 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 1
- UK chart peak position: 5
|
Island Records
|
| 1972 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 3
- UK chart peak position: 13
|
Island Records
|
| 1973 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 1
- UK chart peak position: 13
|
Island Records
|
| 1974 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 2
- UK chart peak position: 14
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1975 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 7
- UK chart peak position: 20
|
Island Records
|
| 1976 |
- Too Old
to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 14
- UK chart peak position: 25
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1977 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 8
- UK chart peak position: 13
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1978 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 19
- UK chart peak position: 20
|
Island Records
|
| 1978 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 21
- UK chart peak position: 17
|
Island Records
|
| 1979 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 22
- UK chart peak position: 27
|
Island Records
|
| 1980 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 30
- UK chart peak position: 25
|
Island Records
|
| 1982 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 19
- UK chart peak position: 27
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1984 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 76
- UK chart peak position: 18
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1985 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 93
- UK chart peak position: -
|
RCA Records
|
| 1987 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 32
- UK chart peak position: 19
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1989 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 56
- UK chart peak position: 18
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1991 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 88
- UK chart peak position: 27
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1992 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 150
- UK chart peak position: 34
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1993 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: -
- UK chart peak position: -
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1995 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 114
- UK chart peak position: 20
|
Chrysalis Records
|
| 1999 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: 161 (5 in Billboards 'Top
Internet Chart')
- UK chart peak position: 44
|
Fuel
2000
|
| 2002 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: -
- UK chart peak position: -
|
Eagle Records
|
| 2003 |
- The Jethro Tull
Christmas Album
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: -
- UK chart peak position: -
|
Fuel
2000
|
| 2005 |
|
|
- U.S. chart peak position: -
- UK chart peak position: -
|
RandM Records
|
EPs
- Life Is A Long Song (1971)
- Warm Sporran (1979)
Compilations
- M.U. - The Best of
Jethro Tull (1976)
- Repeat -
The Best of Jethro Tull - Vol II (1977)
- Original Masters
(1985)
- 20 Years of Jethro Tull
(1988) (boxed set)
- 20 Years of
Jethro Tull: Highlights (1988)
- 25th
Anniversary boxed set (1993)
- The
Best of Jethro Tull: The Anniversary Collection
(1993) (two-CD compilation)
- Through the Years
(1998)
- The Very Best of Jethro
Tull (2001)
- Essential Jethro Tull
(2003)
- The Best Of
Acoustic Jethro Tull (2007)
Additional live recordings
- Live at Hammersmith '84
(1990) (live)
- In Concert
(1995) (live)
- Nothing
Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 (2004)
(live)
- Live At Montreux 2003
(2007) (live)
Videos
- Slipstream
(1981)
- 20 Years of Jethro
Tull (1988)
- 25th Anniversary Video
(1994)
- Living with the Past
(2002)
- A New Day Yesterday
(2003)
- Nothing
Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 (2005)
- Live
At Montreux 2003 (5.1 DTS DVD) (2007) (live)
References
-
Biography on official Jethro Tull web site.
Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
-
Melody
Maker, 12 July 1969, reproduced on Tullpress.com. Retrieved
on 2007-03-07.
-
Record
Mirror, 12 Oct 1968, reproduced on Tullpress.com. Retrieved
on 2007-02-10.
-
New
Musical Express, 21 Mar 1971, reproduced on Tullpress.com.
Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
-
Smith, Bradley (1997). Billboard
Guide to Progressive Music, First printing, Billboard Books,
p. 113. ISBN
0-8230-7665-2.
-
Crime
of passion. Melody Maker. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
-
Too Old to Rock'n'Roll (cartoon).
Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
-
part 2. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
-
Isle of Skye Business Community. Ian
Anderson. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
-
Artist
Wiki: Jethro Tull
-
Advert.
Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
-
Grammy's 10 Biggest Upsets. Entertainment
Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
-
"Positively prog", Jim DeRogatis,
Chicago Sun-Times, Nov 5, 2006
External links
