Tag: Jethro Tull

Popular Culture 20120928 — Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick Side 2

Last time we covered the first side of the 1972 album.  The link in that piece goes to the history of the record and has a link to the wonderful album cover and you should look at that if you have not already.

Since this is one long (21:06 minutes) song, we shall do like we did the last time and break it into chunks.  Just hit the pause button after each chunk and we shall discuss.  For your convenience I have also posted the entire lyrics before the embed.  Here we go!

Popular Culture 20120921: Jethro Tull — Thick as a Brick Side One

Last time we sort of did the history about this record, and tonight we shall deal with the first side of the album.  It is quite complex, and is just one long song called “Thick as a Brick Part I”.  Obviously, the second side, to be covered next time, is called “Thick as a Brick Part II”.  Here is how I suggest that you read this blog.

Open a second entry of this in a new tab (if you are using Firefox or other browsers that support multiple tabs).  If not, just open a second browser window.  Use the second one to play the music, and I will give you prompts when to go back the the first one for discussion.  I believe that will be the most efficient way to cover one long (22 minutes, forty seconds) bit of music.  I am going to break it into chunks at what I deem to be different songs.

Popular Culture 20120914: Jethro Tull — Thick as a Brick

Last time we discussed the second side of the Jethro Tull album Aqualung, and a fine album that was.  It was critically and commercially well received, but many of the critics expressed the opinion that it was a concept album, with which Ian Anderson strongly disagreed.

There are various accounts of the reason behind Thick as a Brick, and Anderson has been quoted as saying that he wanted to record it to be a parody of “serious” concept albums.  However, in an interview he mentioned some bands that had yet to release a concept album before Thick as a Brick hit the stores.

My personal feeling after reading quite a bit about this is that Anderson did indeed want to write a parody of concept albums, probably because Aqualung was perceived to be one and Anderson had not intended it, and Anderson’s huge ego made him misremember certain facts about just what albums he was parodying.

Popular Culture 20120907: Jethro Tull — Aqualung Side Two

It has been a while since the last installment due to several reasons, all of them good.  Tonight we shall finish up Aqualung, one of their better efforts.

The link above has the history around the album, so tonight we shall just concentrate on the music.

Popular Culture 20120824: Jethro Tull — Aqualung

Aqualung is the forth album by Tull and many people think that it is their best.  I favor Thick as a Brick, but it is still an excellent album.  Rumor has it that critical comments about Aqualung spawned Thick as a Brick, and we shall discuss that in a bit.

It was released on 19710319 on Island Records in the UK and Reprise in the US.  By this time Anderson had completely taken control of the band, and all of the songs are written by him except for the title track which was cowritten by his wife at the time, Jennie.  Anderson, along with Terry Ellis, produced it.

The band lineup was different than that of Benefit, with Jeffrey Hammond replacing replacing Glen Cornick on bass and Barriemore Barlow replacing Clive Bunker on drums.  Remember, Jethro Tull has had more personnel changes than many bands.  Otherwise the lineup was the same as on Benefit.

Popular Culture 20120810: Jethro Tull, the Beginning

One of the most complicated bands in many ways is the British band Jethro Tull.  They are complicated in their music, extremely complicated in their personnel, and almost mind bogglingly complicated in insofar as why I adore a limited set of their work and either care not a fig or actually dislike the rest.  I have such a love/hate relationship for any other band.

I do not understand why I feel this way, but I do.  At their best, they are superb.  When they are a bit off they are still better than most bands, but the material that I dislike is just awful, at least in my view.

This is why it has taken me so long to get started with this series.  I generally try to write about things that I have unambiguous feelings, usually bands that I really like.  Sometimes I write about horrible acts, like Ray Stevens, who really never did anything of real merit.  But to write about a band that can move me greatly with some material and with other material make me say, “What IS that?” is quite different.  Please bear with me!

Original v. Cover — #14 of a Series

Lion/Lamb playing card Pictures, Images and Photos

For many across the United States, this has already been a long, cold, lonely (for some) winter, as described by the Beatles in “Here Comes the Sun.” The unpredictable, but hopefully transitional month of March awaits us on Monday, the flip side of this weekend. This will be the last time the month of March begins on a Monday until the year 2021.

March tantalizes us with diminishing darkness, artificially enhanced by the arrival of daylight savings time on March 14th, and gradually, but erratically warming temperatures.  It has oftentimes been a blustery month, typically punctuated by sure signs of an early spring, budding trees and blooming flowers, all too often followed by an occasional unwelcome blizzard, temporarily burying these hopes beneath a heavy blanket of snow.

History reassures us that our weather will indeed change during the month of March.  This can be illustrated by reviewing March weather at our current population center of the United States, which is located 2.8 miles east of Edgar Springs, Missouri, as determined by the 2000 census. One might ask if the recent ascendance of nearby Branson as a tourist destination was a coincidence? This location will likely change following the completion of the 2010 census, but during the 20th century, this point migrated 324 miles to the west and 101 miles to the south. Significantly, 79 of the 101 miles of southward movement occurred during the second half of the 1900s.