Feature article, post-Benefit.
Review of Fillmore 5/23/70 concert.
Review, very positive.
Cover story/interview, fairly lengthy and quite good. This and the Rolling Stone interview of the same week capture Ian just over the verge of stardom and just before relations with the press went badly askew.
Review. Somewhat critical but not at all a hatchet job.
Rave review of the previous night’s concert, at Kansas City Municipal Auditorium.
Review. Somewhat lengthy and quite favorable.
Review. Not favorable, but a dozen roses compared to what’s coming. (Creem hated prog rock as a matter of general principle.)
Review. He thought the album cover was brilliant but couldn’t get a handle on the music.
“Outstanding album of the month” review.
Reviewed jointly with the Steve Miller Band’s Anthology album
Eyewitness account of the previous night’s Passion Play at Kansas City Municipal Auditorium. As close as any of us will ever get to being there.
Review, about what you’d expect.
Review, not nearly as visceral as you’d think, given that this is Lester Bangs reviewing A Passion Play in Creem. He’d already done the classic Tull hatchet-job last year (included in his book, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, essential rock-write from cover to cover).
Obviously, that Gallery is not this Gallery. And so what if that one was a skin mag? Witz loved the album. Ahem. Some of us still do. *s*
Followup to the 10/73 Bangs piece.
Interview: to make things easier all around (feasible, in fact), the author rounded up some Tull fans and had them do the interview.
Another rave review of Tull in Kansas City. WarChild live at Kemper Arena, Jan. 28, 1975. Digs a little deeper than the typical concert review; too bad the final paragraph is missing...
Review: suggests Tull fans buy bootlegs instead.
Interview: downright hostile. Ian, however, says a few amazingly unintelligent things and comes off rather sniffish...like someone who doesn’t sit on toilet seats. So Bangs shits on his shoes, barging in with various Burroughsian dream sequences, for no better reason than that he’s the editor and he can. A good time is had by all, except perhaps Ian Anderson.
by Joseph Rose, Hit Parader, 3/76.
The pensive side of Ian, wondering aloud about his place in the grand scheme of things, and nostalgic for his youth as only a 29-year-old can be. He recalls the bluesman J.B. Lenoir (an early hero) and the formative days of Tull.
by Lisa Robinson, Hit Parader, 3/76.
Clams casino, presumably a la mode and with a cup of tea. Or at least topped off with a piece of cake. A pleasant little chat.
Review: indifferent, but not unsympathetic.
Brief review of Tull at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, interesting mostly for the description of the stage set used for the Too Old tour.
by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 9/18/76
Start of a monthly column, some Tull content among other things.
A reasonable if somewhat incipiently-cliched view of Tull at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. Favors the relative “simplicity” of the Songs From The Wood tour over the concepts of previous years.
Review: rips it to shreds. If you find that annoying, consider: the album’s still in print and Creem isn’t. *L* Bangs’ “posthumous” contribution (he’d left Creem for the Village Voice) consists of recycled parts of the 1/76 “Codpiece” interview.
Bangs again. Having met him just once, he only had one Ian Anderson story. It must have been one of his favorites, though; he couldn’t stop retelling it!
Review: brief but favorable. A frequent contributor to Crawdaddy as well, Bloom was Rolling Stone’s token “progressive” critic. (He pretty much disappeared from the pages of RS by 1980.)
Review of Madison Square Garden, NYC concert, 10/11/78. Favorable.
Review: ambivalent.
Review: in the Creem tradition. Only peripherally about Tull (who shouldn’t be lumped in with people like Kansas and Styx) but fine reading: Joe Fernbacher (*sigh*, R.I.P.) was one of Creem’s very best critics, and A was not one of Tull’s very best albums.
Part of a larger ad campaign featuring various jazz and rock musicians in an abbreviated Q&A format. Even at the time I felt it was sad that Ian had to endorse guitar strings to get Rolling Stone to print his opinion on the sorry state of Eighties music.
Review: brief, somewhat favorable.
Review: not favorable, but how many times a year do you listen to this one? I haven’t since I bought it.
Relix: it’s not just for Deadheads anymore!
Short piece on the test-marketing of Crest of a Knave.
Creem’s last word on Tull; ironically, the interview was very friendly. Ian discusses the way his salmon business has affected his outlook on the band (i.e., made it fun again).
“I’m not the guy who wrote ‘If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.’ I’m the guy who wrote ‘Aqualung’.”
Interview: this is where Ian announces retirement in the year (two thousand and) one.
Attributed to Ian, but it may not be our Ian. Someone kindly wrote in to inform me of another Ian Anderson, a fixture on the UK folk scene. That’s his name, and he’s not changing it. (Nor would I.) It’s far more likely this originated with him than with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. But I’m not certain, so we file this under “Aprocrypha” and present it anyway: This little blurb appeared in an Incredible String Band ezine some years back. “Ian” thinks you should check them out, and so do I--they’re a vital influence on the folksy/whimsy side of Tull and Led Zep...actually I listen to ISB more. *gryn*
Brief, typical-enough newspaper interview, just prior to the DOT COM tour. No revelations, but nice to see Ian in good spirits.
Review of the previous night’s concert, at Six Fingers Darien Lake Amusement Park. A bit subdued, but very positive overall.
By Ian’s own admission, they are. He’s having altogether too much fun this time out; I wonder if he was a bit tiddly when the phone rang?
Review of the concert occurring two days previous. Now it can be told: Tull are better than the Beach Boys.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
