| My Thoughts |
| My first experience listening to Jethro Tull was in 1970 when a friend played "A Song for Jeffrey" on a cassette that he taped from his "This Was" album. My first reaction to the song was confusion. The second time I heard it I kind of liked it. After the third time I really liked it and I asked my friend if we could go to his house and listen to the entire album. The next day I was at the record store and bought my own copy of "This Was". I noticed that the store had two newer albums, "Stand Up" and a new release, "Benefit". The following day I returned and purchased both of them. I enjoyed them even more than the first album. I enjoyed Tull immensely through the mid-seventies and listened to their 8-tracks in my car and at home. A buddy of mine and me recorded our own version of "Locomotive Breath" for fun. My opinion is that Tull peaked during the "Stand Up", "Benefit", "Aqualung" and "Thick as a Brick" period and dropped off slightly in the mid to late seventies. I think there has been a plateau of very good but not great material from Tull since then. There have certainly been good songs but nothing that really gets me going like the first five albums. You have probably figured that out if you saw my list of favorites. Maybe I was slightly disappointed because I kept looking for something better and it just can't be done. But what exactly is Jethro Tull? They started out as a blues band and transformed into more of a hard rock band, and then a folk rock band, with all kinds of other changes here and there that I don't have the words to describe. A term that I hear used is progressive rock but I don't think that Tull's style can be pigeon holed. Apparently the music awards experts couldn't put them into a category either when Tull received a Grammy for best heavy metal band. No other band that I know of has made use of the flute like Tull. It just isn't viewed as a tool of a rocker. But Ian Anderson not only used it, he made it Tull's signature. The one thing Tull is without a doubt - and that is original. Almost all of the songs are written by Ian Anderson and other band members. Cover tunes are almost non-existant. There are always new twists in their work. Even though I think they captured what in my opinion is some of the best music I have ever heard in the early seventies the band pushed on and changed. No moss grows under Tull's musical feet. Another little thing that Tull didn't leave out is the work done on the album covers. "This Was" featured the band made up as old men looking like hobos. Inside "Stand Up" there were pop up figures of the band. "Benefit" shows cut out characters. The homeless man on "Aqualung" is classic. "Thick as a Brick" was made to look like a newspaper with articles about the poetry contest. Little things like this are not as important as the music but they add to the overall flavor. Many of the fans collect and trade bootleg tapes, much like Deadheads do with Grateful Dead tapes. This is unusual in this age of bands trying to squeeze every nickel out of their adoring fans. It also says something about the music - the band is great in concert and no song sounds the same twice. The late sixties and the early seventies were perhaps the greatest years of rock music. Jethro Tull, along with Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, and the Grateful Dead rate as my favorite bands of the early to mid-seventies, which is saying a lot. |
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