The last time I saw a Tull (or Tull-like) concert was in 2005, the Ian Anderson plays Orchestral Tull tour. Great concept and great show with the addition of the superb Lucia Micarelli on violin. It was a great concept because there were long stretches of the show where Ian didn't sing and his singing wasn't required. His vocals were bad enough nearly 15 years ago, they are absolutely dreadful now.
Hang it up, Ian. I won't pay money for a concert where I have to wince painfully every time you draw a breath and gasp out a high note.
"And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision."
Occasional musical musings on https://darkelffile.blogspot.com/
And that's fine. He either hears how bad the problem is and doesn't care enough to stop, or simply won't accept how awful it sounds out front. He will do what he wants. Personally I would be fine with him putting out new music every year and never touring again but if the goal is more money that isn't the way to go in 2019.
I remember you posted that after you saw him. I have seen Alice many times, and I can't say that I have ever thought that his vocals were pre-recorded. A few years ago we were 3rd row center right in front of the stage, and I have seen him pretty close a few other times in the last decade or so. He was definitely singing live at those shows.
i'll hold out for the Martin Barre 2021 Epics Tour......
his singer sounds more like Ian in his prime.
Absolutely! It may be true that those songs are quite shorter in length but not in bombastic and complex instrumentation. Just listen to "Flying Colours" (keyboard middle section) and "The Clasp" that are no longer in the folk mood of the late 70's albums, anyone with an ear for progressive can notice that.
On Wraps I tend to agree but the third one of the Holy trinity of that era is Ian Anderson's "Walk Into Light" that shines as true prog, hands down.
But in all, there are no epics here like Brick or Passion Play once were.
How about - Jethro Tull - the instrumental versions?
Sorry, that sounds to me like something that got left off of A -- for good reason.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
That doesn't even remotely address whether it's proggy or not.
People hate on this album because of the programmed drums, the simpler songwriting, the weird keyboards, Anderson's grunts and yelps, and Barre's rather twee guitar sound (okay, maybe that last one only bothers ME). All of that is valid. But you can't listen to "Heat" and say "Oh, any pop group could have done that, it's not proggy." They threw a lot into that song and it goes through multiple changes and sections. Yes, why Vettese threw in a whistle sound into his keyboard solo is one for the gods to explain. But this isn't your standard synth-pop output. It's more complex than that. Anderson and company took the new wave/synth genre and threw in some twists and turns. If you listen to this song and think "standard conventional pop" I'd like to know what universe you live in so I can go there.
"Arf." -- Frank Zappa, "Beauty Knows No Pain" (live version)
^^^ Okay, so it's "prog." (As is A.) But that doesn't make it good.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
I don't mind the "programmed drums" per se, but they--and the actual e-drums played by Perry--sound awful. Somehow IA managed to come up with better-sounding percussion on his solo album from around the same time. That said, there's still a lot of good material on UW and WIL.
My fav on this album....love this tune!
Round the castle walls
About the Highlands and the Islands
The faint reminders stand.
Visitors who took a hand
A thousand years ago, or so
Stranded high and dry by tides
Washed up a new identity.
The channel's wide
But it's their European legacy.
I strain my eyes
Against the southern light advancing.
On whiter cliffs I'm high.
The sea birds roll and tumble as they fly.
I hear distant mainland music echo
In my island ears.
My feet begin to move instinctively
To the warmer beat of my European legacy.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
New interview with Ian Anderson where he is asked about reuniting the band again - and refers to Wikipedia as a source that his band is now Jethro Tull:
In an interview in the new issue of Classic Rock, Anderson says, "It would be an awfully crowded stage. And in many cases those old band members no longer play and haven’t for many years. It’s a tricky one.
"I’ve always felt awkward about the idea of getting the old band back together, because which edition of the band are we talking about? Picking some people and not others would be favouritism. And I don’t have favourites."
Anderson, who will embark on the Ian Anderson On Jethro Tull 2020 Tour – an evening of intimate chat and music – in May, and undertake an 11-date band tour entitled Jethro Tull: The Prog Years later in the year, also says that the make-up the band is less important than the music being performed.
"If the show is all Jethro Tull repertoire, I feel that’s Jethro Tull," he says. "If you looked at Wikipedia two or three years ago, it said ‘Jethro Tull was…’ Now, that past tense has disappeared, due to some grudging acknowledgment that Jethro Tull goes on."
He adds: "I’ve always argued that Jethro Tull is not at an end any more than The Beatles are. The Beatles still sell millions of records and downloads. The glorious thing about the world of entertainment is that your work lives on after you."
In his own parlance, the man's a charlatan.
What surprises me is how many fans sit through the performance, cringe, and then come out afterwards convincing themselves that it was actually ok.
I guess as long as there are fans willing to endure his vocal croak, then he'll keep going.
But I jumped that train decades ago, after a very rough performance early into the Catfish tour. We all thought he was suffering from a cold during the opening run of songs, but when he started addressing the audience later on, it became quickly apparent that his health was fine, but his singing was far from fine. It went rapidly downhill from there, and I knew when the encore started that I wouldn't be seeing them live again.
I jumped the ship after a disastrous performance in Toronto about 16 years ago. NEVER again.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
The last tour I saw was IA's Homo Eratticus show, an album I really like. I never heard a problem with his voice and have always enjoyed their live shows when I saw them, I'm always puzzled by many of the above comments. Maybe I just convinced myself that I enjoyed it after all
I saw that show too and he had the extra singer.
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