Let me preface by first saying that I love me some Tull and their 70's oeuvre still stands up. While reading up on all the fanfare and clamoring that the Steven Wilson remixes have garnered, I decided to plunge into the cornucopia with unbridled avarice, hoping that my one time exuberance for these albums would be re-kindled. Let me also say that I am no Steven Wilson fanboy and find his manner regarding his revisionist approach to the "classics" has become extremely maddening. That's not even taking into account his obvious Narcissistic Personality Disorder(imho). Now onto the music. I have been culling my collection down to essentials and I must say, it has been a liberating and albeit arduous process. I have thinned the herd by 500 CD's and 500LP's and I'm finding new things everyday to liquidate. None of the 80's albums made the grade or "This Was"(Too blues based and Barre hadn't joined yet). However, what really had me puzzled was my eventual disdain for "Stormwatch". WtF happened!? Why the critics/fans decided to connect it to "Songs from the Wood" and "Heavy Horses" is incomprehensible. Tull has always been an Autumn band for me in that their sound is organic and the compositional approach has always had room to breathe.The album art from SftW encapsulates their sound perfectly. "Stormwatch" in a nutshell represented a lack in direction(poor song writing), syrupy arrangements(orchestration was over done and downright schmaltzy at times)and a definite void in the bass guitar department. Ian's playing was pedestrian at best and his voice was starting to show definite signs of deterioration. I'm interested in hearing others evaluation of Tull's evolution and where you get off the proverbial bus.
Bookmarks