Last updated January 5th, 1999
"There's a house on the hillside, where the drifting sands are born.
Lay down and let the slow tide wash me back to the land where I came from.
Where the mountain men are kings, and the sound of the piper counts for everything."
-- Jethro Tull, Mountain Men
With Jethro Tull still on hiatus due to Ian Anderson's throat and singing problems, fans
of the band would not see an album from Tull for another two years. In the meantime,
Chrysalis had released a third volume of the "Best Of" Tull, called Original Masters, and the next
album that came out was this one, A Classic Case. David Palmer, who was
no stranger to Tull, having done the orchestration on much of Tull's work since 1968's
This Was, envisioned a series of
classic/rock albums that would present orchestral arrangements of various bands' music,
and got the go-ahead to start the project. The first album of this music was A
Classic Case, on which the London Symphony Orchestra performed the music of
Jethro Tull. It was expected that David Palmer would re-arrange some of the famous
Tull songs into pieces that would be symphonic in nature - a totally different context
for the music, with an original, creative approach to it. Unfortunately, the project wasn't
all that successful.
A Classic Case is an album that I will always be fond of, simply because I do
love a good deal of the symphonic arrangements of the Tull material presented on it.
Many feel that David Palmer made a mistake enlisting the aid of Tull regulars Ian
Anderson, Martin Barre, David Pegg, and Paul Burgess on the project, since they feel
that it turned out to be a rock band playing with an orchestra for the most part. In some
cases, the critics are right, in that tracks such as "Living in the Past" and a couple of the
others sound more like Jethro Tull than they do the orchestra, but there are some brilliant
moments on this record, notably the creative version of "Fly By Night," some of the more
"melancholy" moments of "Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die," the jazzy
version of "Locomotive Breath," and the brilliantly re-arranged version of "Warchild."
Whatever the case, this album may not be something that all Tull fans will want, although
it does have a remarkably good mix and feel to it, but for me, this album shows some of
the energy that can go into the orchestral mixes of rock 'n roll material. If nothing else,
A Classic Case highlights the fact that good music, lasting music, can be played
by anyone and enjoyed - by both the musicians and by the audience listening to it.
The fans of Jethro Tull had to wait three years to the day of the release of
Under Wraps for the next album,
and when it came they got the treat of their lives in the form of Crest of A Knave.
It appeared that Ian Anderson used the three years to reflect on the direction that Jethro
Tull had taken on the last few albums, and realised that he needed to bring things back
to the Tull sound that the fans had grown to love, but that he needed to keep the music
firmly rooted in the 1980s. Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and David Pegg were joined by
Doane Perry and Gerry Conway, who split the drums and percussive duties, and the
band was firmly into the late 1980s with a good sound. Anderson played all of the
keyboard parts himself on the album, keeping them firmly in the background. To
make matters more interesting, the diverse nature of the album won the band the first
Grammy for the best Heavy Metal/Rock Album, beating out bands like Metallica and
Black Sabbath, that year. The flack that stemmed from all manner of comments
about this was somewhat deflected by Chrysalis's tongue-in-cheek advert in the U.S.
trade papers that read, "The flute is a heavy metal instrument."
Musically, Crest of A Knave is one of the most diverse albums that Tull had
done to that point, and it was the album that fans of the band had hoped for after the
promising The Broadsword
and the Beast. Tracks like "Steel Monkey" and "Raising Steam" have the
hard, rock 'n roll edge that Tull had been known for in the past, but "Jump Start" and
"Dogs in the Midwinter" mixed the guitar work of Martin Barre with the keyboards
that were very appropriate. "Mountain Men," one of my favourite tracks on the album,
is a song that has a bit of everything in it, and the lovely "Said She Was A Dancer" is
one that rates up there with some of the best Tull tracks from the past. The range of
music on Crest of A Knave is such that there is something there for everyone,
but one cannot make the mistake of not hearing the unique Tull sound on this album.
"The flute is a heavy metal instrument," indeed.
While Chrysalis Music didn't plan to celebrate Tull's 20th anniversary, the fans made it
clear that it was something they really wanted to see, and so Chrysalis relented. In
order to make it a special project, composed of material that the fans would like, the
company involved two of the more accomplished fans, David Rees and Martin Webb,
in the project, and came out with a superb collection of Tull's music. While two other
projects came to fruition during this time as well - the 80-minute music video entitled
The First Twenty Years, and a double album of the most well-known Tull songs,
it was the third project, 20 Years of Jethro Tull - The Definitive Collection that was
the true sensation. Focusing on previously unreleased material, it contained sixty-five
(65!) tracks, of which only eleven had been released on album before in the same song.
Included on the five albums and three CDs were tracks that never made it to albums such
as This Was, Aqualung, Songs From the Wood and The Broadsword and the Beast.
To make the project more unique, the boxed set included a beautifully designed
album booklet with full colour photos, a history of the band, a Tull genealogy tree and
data on the songs on this compilation. Because of the breadth and scope of this
anniversary set, I thought I would devote a little bit of time to each of the separate CDs
that make up this 20 Years of Jethro Tull definitive set of music. After all, Tull is
an extremely diverse band, and this three-CD set of the band's work over the past twenty
years deserves a bit more than the ordinary, run-of-the-mill Tull album (not that any Tull
album can be described that way, of course!).
The Radio Archives and Rare Tracks
The Radio Archives part of the first CD is, to put it bluntly, a set of music that has been
"dragged screaming from the vaults" (according to Ian Anderson in the album notes) and
consists of the live BBC session tapes from 1968 and 1969, some stuff from Monte Carlo
where they performed some material from the Minstrel in the Gallery album,
and some stuff the band was doing for the television, and finally some of the
representative work from the King Biscuit radio shows. While the quality on some of the
material here is a bit iffy, there are some true gems on this part of the record. One of the
best pieces here is an early Tull work, "Stormy Monday Blues," a lovely piece of music
from the This Was sessions that never
made it onto record. The Monte Carlo material of the Minstrel in the Gallery pieces,
an album that the band was working on, are interesting for the different sound quality and
the manner in which some of the music comes across. All in all, the Radio Archives are
a wonderful reminder of what Tull sounded like in different venues and on the radio back
in the early days.
The Rare Tracks is a wonderful, eclectic mix of music that is compiled from various B-sides
recorded by Tull to this point. There are some truly unique pieces of music here, the early
"Aeroplane," "Sunshine Day," and "One for John Gee" being indicative of the early,
blues-influenced Tull. Some of my favourite pieces off this part of the CD are the moody
and evocative "Coronach," the sweet "Summerday Sands," the macabre "Strip Cartoon,"
the delightful "King Henry's Madrigal," and the delightful "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow"
that was recorded during sessions for The Broadsword and the Beast.
This part of the first CD shows a great deal of Tull's musical and lyrical diversity, and is
one of my favourite sets of music. In many ways, this was a treat to hear on the North
American side of the pond, since most of these B-sides were not available here at the time.
Flawed Gems, Dusted Down and The Other Sides of Tull
The second CD on the album, Flawed Gems, Dusted Down and The Other Sides of
Tull, is probably the most interesting of the three CDs in the 20 Years of Jethro
Tull set. The first part of this CD, Flawed Gems, Dusted Down, contains some
of the material that Tull recorded and was all set to put to vinyl or CD and then were
canned or the decision was made not to include them. One of the most remarkable
pieces on this CD is the "Chateau D'Isaster Tapes," the lost recordings of the material
that were being worked on in France, which was scrapped when the band returned
to an English studio and put together A
Passion Play instead. This set of music includes three pieces, "Scenario,"
"Audition," and "No Rehearsal," that are unique in that one can see the elements of
the music that later became A Passion
Play album. There are other gems on this album, most of which don't sound
overly flawed to this listener, notably the two Heavy Horses session tracks
that didn't make it to album, "Beltane" and "Living in These Hard Times." Both of these
pieces have reminiscent elements of "No Lullaby" (also from the Heavy Horses album) and
"Beastie" (from the later recorded The Broadsword and the
Beast album. "Beltane" is a superb track that would have fit nicely onto the
album, and yet for some reason the decision was made not to include it (although it did
manage to make it to one of the singles issued around this time). Other notable tracks
on this particular side of the CD include "Lick Your Fingers Clean," a track that was
recorded during the Aqualung
sessions, and which finally made it to an album in a slightly modified form on the WarChild release. Two of the other
tracks on this album that deserve mention are "Jack-A-Lynn" and "Motoreyes," both
of which are terrific pieces that deal with all-too-familiar subjects; the former is a track
that may be about Ian's wife, Shona, whose middle name is Jacqueline, and the song
deals with homesickness and missing a loved one. As can be seen, I am very fond
of the Flawed Gems, Dusted Down side of the record.
The other part of this CD, The Other Sides of Tull, contains music that is acoustic in
nature, half of them unreleased, new, or "newish" (as Ian Anderson called them in
the liner notes of the album). This part of the CD has a really interesting, unique kind
of mix of tracks, ranging from the terrific "Kelpie" (dealing with a creature out of
Scottish myth that was recorded during the Stormwatch sessions) and
"Rhythm in Gold" (which deals with a woman to whom the narrator is attracted, and
her wealth) to the neat versions of "Salamander" and "Moths" included here that go
back to earlier Tull recordings. The real track worth mentioning here, however, is "Part
of the Machine," which was a new track recorded especially for this album, and which
remains one of my favourite Tull songs of all time. While not necessarily as "good"
or interesting a CD as the first one in this collection, The Radio Archives and The
Rare Tracks, the Flawed Gems, Dusted Down and The Other Sides of Tull has some
remarkable music and lyrical material on it that makes this a worthwhile CD in its own
right, and has something for everyone. Heck, I'd listen to it if for no other reason than
to catch the "Chateau D'Isaster Tapes" and "Part of the Machine."
The Essential Tull
The third and final CD that is included as part of the 20 Years of Jethro Tull boxed
set is The Essential Tull. This CD consists of virtually all of everyone's favourite Tull
tracks (although no listing of these could be complete), and most of the tracks on this side
of the album are live. The tracks here have been recorded at the Hamburg Congress
Centrum Halle in West Germany on April 8th, 1982, the Capital Radio London live
recording at the Hammersmith Odeon on October 29th, 1987, and at the Tower Theatre
in Philadelphia, Pennysylvania in November, 1987. The live material here is very good,
and there are some stand-out pieces here, notably a "Pibroch/Black Satin Dancer"
instrumental, the live version of "Sweet Dream," "Dun Ringill," and the first time the snappy
version of "Living in the Past" was recorded live for official release. I'm also quite fond of
the version of "Teacher" which can be found on this album, since it is the version released
on the UK single and not the one from the Benefit
album that I was familiar with. Other tracks found on this album side are quite good,
notably the live versions of "Thick As A Brick" (an extract from that song), "Fallen on Hard
Times," and "Songs From the Wood." The live standards of "Aqualung" and "Locomotive
Breath" are both here as well, and the music is definitely a good mix of live material with
some studio and single recordings. While not as interesting or unique as the first two CDs
in this 20 Years of Jethro Tull collection, this third CD of The Essential Tull is a
worthy addition to the set, and provides the Tull fan with a fine set of good, live music.
Final Thought
So how does the 20 Years of Jethro Tull collection stack up overall? When it
comes right down to it, David Rees and Martin Webb did an excellent job culling material
from the massive amount of work that Tull had done to this period to amass this set of
music. While The Essential Tull side is the weakest of the three, merely because it
doesn't include any new material that was so copious on the first two CDs of the
collection, all three of the CDs in this set are worthy additions to the Tull fan and
collector's set of music. Each of us will have a different take on the CD set, but I would
say that overall there is a good deal of material here that will please a lot of the die-hard
fans of Tull, and there is plenty of material to appeal to the newcomer to Tull's music.
The truly new track on this set of 65 pieces of music, "Part of the Machine" (recorded in
March, 1988) doesn't really fall through the cracks here at all. I think Ian Anderson
summed this collection best in the liner notes: "By now it should be dawning on you
that this is not a `Best of the Rip-Offs` collection, but an attempt to produce a pleasing
historical perspective with much of interest to the real Tull enthusiast." It certainly is that.
The late 1980s look to Tull was spearheaded by Martin Allcock's youthful demeanour,
and he also gave the band the sound they needed during the 20 Years of Jethro
Tull tours. The band realised they were going to have to record a new album,
since the celebration tour period consisted of rehashing older material. The new
album, Rock Island, came out in September of 1989, and it was an album that,
while impressive, didn't have the music on it to make it a classic Tull record. The
stalwart members of Tull - Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Dave Pegg, and Doane Perry -
came out with an album that had a lot of good, and bad, things going for it. Martin
Allcock and Peter-John Vettese played a few keyboards on various tracks, but
Rock Island had a definite Tull flavour of the Crest of A Knave period
of recording, as well as showing glints of the music that made the fans love the "Part
of the Machine" track from the 20 Years of Jethro Tull albums.
In many ways, Rock Island was a rock 'n roll album, with Martin Barre's searing
guitars coming to the forefront on this record. Musically and lyrically, Rock Island
is an album that seems somewhat bizarre at times, yet quite touching at others. The
lecherous lyrics of "Budapest" from Crest of A Knave became downright blatant
with this album's "Kissing Willie" yet the album was also blessed with several excellent
pieces in "Ears of Tin," "Rock Island" and "The Whaler's Dues." However, the album
was full of messages, both disguised and some not-so-disguised. "Undressed to Kill"
took a poke at strip club dancers, and the lovely "Strange Avenues" was a sort of revisit
to our old friend, Aqualung. A new
Christmas oriented piece, "Another Christmas Song," found its way on to this album, and
was a welcome change from some of the more hard rock pieces on Rock Island.
All in all, the album is a somewhat uneven one, and doesn't have any lasting power
and songs that stand out, yet it is an album that marked the end of the 1980s, and Tull's
emergence into the 1990s - and in that respect, it's a pretty good record that delineates
the end of another decade of Tull music and the entry into a new one.
Continue on to The Nineties Tull
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This page first went on-line December 14th, 1998