Tull Was An 18th Century Agriculturist
Joan Sadowsky, Crawdaddy, 6/8/70
Fillmore audiences are usually comprised of a motley bunch, but May 23rd’s early show had one of the youngest audiences ever assembled there. I’d place the average age at fourteen. Obviously these darling teeny buggers had come to groove on the sights and sounds of John Sebastian (more about him later). Others that performed were Jethro Tull and Clouds.
Sorry I missed Clouds’ first one or two numbers, but I did arrive in time to hear Billie Ritchie’s piano solo. Consisting of various classical, jazz and honky-tonk breaks, Ritchie’s performance was relatively cohesive and professional. Clouds’ final number “Gypsy” proved Harry Hughes to be an above-average drummer.
Twirling sticks and always catching them, Harry did a cymbal and tom-tom improvisation. Later he gave us visions of Hong Kong with rat-a-tat-tats on the mike equipment. Finally enjoined by bassist Ian Ellis, Harry drummed away on the strings while Ian fingered. The Ventures were the first ones that I can recollect who did this successfully. Clouds is now touring with Jethro Tull.
After they went off stage, Kip Cohen (Fillmore’s managing director) delivered a simple speech on dope which naturally got a big hand. Meanwhile two kids in front of me were blowing their minds out. Enough of that.
Almost every day someone is coming up with some new sort of gimmick. A few of them work and others don’t. Not knowing a darn thing about a complicated instrument such as the flute, and after a year and a half of producing unbelievably good music with it, it is a definite gimmick that works. So it is with Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull. Outrageous show-stopper that he is, adorned in a checked maxi Edwardian coat with Robin Hood boots and a big mop of Brillo hair, Ian is the driving force in this group’s many albums. I was surprised that he did allot an unusual amount of freedom to his other musicians.
After introducing the first number, “Nothing Is Easy,” Ian immediately took his familiar statuesque pose with his left foot placed on top of his right knee. This phenomenon diminishes when Ian starts singing. I imagine he must have gotten his white stretch-pants dirty that evening.
The next number, “My God!” started off slow with Ian on guitar and vocals. Then the rest of the group integrated their instruments to produce and effective blues/jazz number. A new member of the group named John (forgot his last name) was featured in “With You There To Help Me.”
John is an excellent keyboard man who utilizes basic classical and baroque styles with the blues. After the audience acknowledged his performance, the rest of the group ended the number in a hard rock blues-sound which is similar to many of their other songs. You could tell these first two numbers were rehearsed to the hilt. Every break or single note was impeccably memorized. It was only later they started to immerse themselves in a bit of free form improvisation.
Their next number had a Turkish or Middle-East flavor to it with congo-drumming, tambourines, and eerie chanting vocals. There was a sharp pause, and then Glenn Cornick delved into a decent bass solo. During this number the highlight of the evening came forth and captured everyone’s attention completely., It was Clive Bunker’s fifteen-minute drum solo. Clive literally transformed his drums into instruments of mystifying power. After hearing him I would have to place him in the Ginger Baker category, if not better.
For their encore number, Jethro Tull played “We Used To Know.” Incorporated into the song was a marvelous lead guitar solo with Martin indulging in a bit of bluegrass music. Naturally Ian’s magic flute, with the rest of the members joining in, completed the act. Their entire performance was a success.
By the way, in case someone is asking himself where the hell is Jethro Tull in the group, he’s not. Tull was an eighteenth-century agriculturalist whose name Ian and the boys merely cultivated.
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