askthatguy
Can you think of a more un-rock instrument than the flute? Don‘t tell your Pap-Pap, because it was his generation that made JETHERO TULL millionaires.
Rob Ortenzi on 8/12/05 @ 12:35 PMYEARS OF DECENT EXISTANCE: 1968-'75-followed by a lapse of being interesting-1979-'80
WORST RECORDS:Nearly everything past 1978. Seriously, you could make castles out of the cutout copies back then.
GO DOWNLOAD: "Nothing Is Easy," "Teacher," "Aqualung," "Locomotive Breath," "To Cry You A Song," "A Passion Play," "4 WD (Low Radio)"
FILE UNDER: Smearing The Prog-Fold_Metal Axis For Consecutive Generations
SIMILAR-SOUNDING DINOSAURS: Focus, Marillion and Kansas-relics your bald-with-ponytail uncle plays with in his rusty Saab on his way to the head shop to buy more tie-dye clothes.
THE MUSIC; In the early days, Jethero Tull-led by Ian Anderson, the original flute-wielding maniac-were mining the same blues mineshaft Cream hollowed out and took to the bank (This Was). On their second record, Stand Up, they concentrated on mixing folk elements into their rockin' tunes. It wasn't until 1971's Aqualung that they hit their arena-rock stride, offering dumb riffs (the title track) alongside ambitious arrangement, as well as some attacks on organized religion and, um, flute solos Anderson's next plan was to create two albums, Thick As A Brick and A Passion Play, that were meant to be listened to as one consecutive song. Sold-out arena audiences were with them all the way, nonetheless (the drugs were better back then).
WHAT THEY SAY: "Their mix of hard rock, folk melodies, blues licks, surreal, impossibility dense lyrics, and overall profundity defied easy analysis, that didn't disway fans from giving them 11 gold and five platinum albums" -All Music Guide To Rock
WHAT I SAY: Looking back, a lot of this crap makes the Mars Volta sound like Blink-182 in comparison. In full disclosure, I bought nearly every Jethero Tull album all the though 1980, and just thinking about makes me cringe like I'm trying to pass a Hummer though my colon.
WHY YOUR (GRAND)PARENTS LIKE THEM: Everybody like the get drunk/stoned and bang their heads to dumb riffs ("Aqualung"), to explore the freakiness, of a perfectly executed flute solo ("My God") and to pretend hey understood all of Anderson's tired obliqueness (Thick As A Brick). When Tull were given the first ever Hard Rock/Metal Grammy Award in 1989, metalheads were pissed, and rightfully so-it was the elderly who voted for them. CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: Anderson is the owner of one of Britain's largest salmon farms, so when he needs some "stress relief," he calls his 'ol scalliwags and a booking agent and tours the planet.
Post a Comment