Jethro Tull- War Child 50th Anniversary- Ian Anderson
In the years 1969-74 and “War Child”, there was no band in the world more exciting, more unconventional, and more successful than Jethro Tull. Ian Anderson is my guest.
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In the years 1969-74 and “War Child”, there was no band in the world more exciting, more unconventional, and more successful than Jethro Tull. Ian Anderson is my guest.
Revisiting Jethro Tull’s 1979 “Stormwatch” for its upcoming forty-fifth anniversary in September proved to be surprisingly revelatory on multiple levels. My guest Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, in explaining the dual meaning of the “Stormwatch” title, may have been among the very first rock composers to observe the coming climate change as well as the socio-political storms brewing.
“Well the biggest difference was that I was going to have to write all the songs this time,” quips Ian Anderson in a bit of understatement when I asked, in this classic rock interview, about the departure of Jethro Tull co-founder Mick Abrahams between their 1968 debut, “This Was”, and the much more successful “Stand Up” the following year.
“Here’s a song we loathed for fifteen years!” winked Jethro Tull singer/songwriter/flautist Ian Anderson when introducing the song “Living in the Past” from the stage. The song is a bit of an orphan, written and recorded in 1969 between their second album, “Stand Up”, and the follow-up, “Benefit”, but appearing on neither one.
Jethro Tull’s March 1972 epic “Thick As a Brick” is the only album in music history to attain #1 sales on Billboard containing only one song…Ian Anderson joins me In the Studio with Jethro Tull’s “Thick As a Brick” for one of the greatest progressive albums ever!
Realize that “Songs from the Wood” by Jethro Tull, released in February 1977, was already the English folk/progressive rockers’ tenth album! There was nothing that sounded remotely like the ancient pastoral songs and instrumentation on “Songs from the Wood” then on the all-important American rock radio. Ian Anderson is my guest In the Studio for “Songs from the Wood”.
Not since “Aqualung” fully half a century ago had Ian Anderson addressed the historic characters and iconography of the Old and New Testament Bible this head on, mixed with twentieth century and even current events, as on “The Zealot Gene” by Jethro Tull. Ian Anderson is my guest here In the Studio.
This Jethro Tull concert performance is outstanding, from both the standpoints of the band’s tight performance and the stellar live broadcast mix from Philadelphia’s Tower Theater back in late November 1987. Here is a blistering concert version of “Steel Monkey”.
Few albums from any time in the Rock Era continue to satisfy quite so well as Jethro Tull’s masterpiece “Aqualung”. Ian Anderson smartly wrote songs for all seasons for a superb band, including the timeless rockers “Aqualung”,”Cross-Eyed Mary”,”Locomotive Breath,” and “Hymn #43”, but perfectly paced the album with tasty acoustic classics like “Wond’ring Aloud”and “Mother Goose”. On “Aqualung” ‘s golden anniversary, Ian Anderson is my guest In the Studio.
Jethro Tull’s singer/ songwriter/ flautist Ian Anderson ( left ) returns here In the Studio next week for the band’s big fiftieth anniversary of “Aqualung”, so this should prime the pump with another angle on all of that material. Here’s another of the rare “Dressing Room Tapes” performances in the backstage bowels of the concert hall before a Zurich Switzerland 1989 concert with guitarist Martin Barre ripping a spirited “Locomotive Breath”.