Kevin's Watch

Any prog heads know if Jethro Tull worth a looksee? I might as well have some flute-based prog to balance out the piano-based prog (ELP) and the organ-based prog (Procol Harum) I have.

Lord Foul wrote:Any prog heads know if Jethro Tull worth a looksee? I might as well have some flute-based prog to balance out the piano-based prog (ELP) and the organ-based prog (Procol Harum) I have.

I know I'll probably get flamed! And mayhaps I'm just too old!! But what's a "prog head"?

[I did a google search and understand it has something to do with "progressive" music - whatever that is!]

Help an old guy out!!

Silly, why would you get flamed? Anyway, a prog head is someone who's crazy about progressive rock. Are you a prog head, good sir?!

Much of Jethro Tull is great especially the early stuff. The album I least favor is A, even though there are some decent songs and it was their most "popular" album, most of the album is sub-par, IMO, and then there's the atrocious Bungle in the Jungle. The later Crest of a Knave was pretty good but nothing in comparision to their early-mid 70s stuff.

Agualung is regarded as their "classic" album and I would recommend the title song, Wond'ring Aloud and Locomotive Breath to anyone. While Agualung is deliciously preverted, extremely well written and thought provoking My God would probably turn out to be your (Foul) fav tune. Especially the way the narrator questions the system, God the Universe and everything. Very rebellious and, in an odd way, kind of a precursor to The Wall...

My personal favorite album is Benefit and my favorite Tull song is on it: Skating Away...there's another truly excellent song on there, as well, called Sister Silver (or somesuch, sorry don't have the CD right now and my search engine isn't working properly). I can listen to the triple album, probably a double CD by now, Living in the Past forever. And, even though I'll list my Top 5 Tull albums now, all of these can be easily enjoyed equally, depending on your mood...

Benefit
Living in the Past
Thick as a Brick
Aqualung
Stand

honorable mention to: A Passion Play (semi-live)

Thanks, danlo! I once had a Jethro Tull best-of, and Aqualung was my favorite song in it! What a riff! "Sitting on a park bench!"

Dang! you're too quick for me Foul! I actually found a search engine! The other song I love on Benefit is not "Silver Sister" but: Sossity; You're A Woman and I forgot about the 1st song on it Nothing to Say damm that song kicks!!!

trivia: Ian Anderson (who is certifiably insane on stage) has a degree in Philosophy from Princeton (and then you have the original bass player who is in the process of having a sex change ay yi!)

Edit: Martin Barre is an incredible guitarist, and while Anderson gets all the "pub", he should definately not be overlooked. (Warning: there is a complilation CD out with some rare and [approved] bootleg Tull stuff on it called 20 Years of Jethro Tull--and while the "never before heard" songs are interesting the overall recording quality really sucks!)

Good stuff, danlo. I'll get Aqualung first and if I like it I'll go on from there!

Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day is so great..... yeah. Just amazing. Also Life's A Long Song is an incredible tune.

I saw Jethro Tull recently, live.. I was really dissapointed, because they played all my old favorites as like a 5 minute montage, then played a 20 minute version of "Hot night in budapest"
I swear it gave me a headache.

Oh yeah... you might want to check out whole Thick as a brick...

Thick as a Brick was one of the original "concept" albums, great music and great social relevance. And, at the risk of sounding like a broken record (Ha ), also parrallels and precurses "Pink's" journey, in odd ways...The story and the liner notes contain some subtle, hiralious and very cynical messages.

Yeah, I spent about a billion hours trying to interpret that song. Probly will spend a billion more too. Definately a 'concept' album. Takes a little getting used to. My girlfriend's probably going to kill me for it.

Danlo's suggestions are all good but don't overlook:

Minstrel In The Gallery......some real kick butt tunes (plus my all time favorite....One White Duck!)

Songs From The Wood.......Pibroch (Cap In Hand) is one of saddest songs I think I've ever heard.

Heavy Horses.......The Mouse Police Never Sleep, the perfect description of a cat!

Storm Watch.......Dunringill will give you goose bumps.

Broadsword and the Beast.......a little electronic heavy but still some great material

Duck

I'd go with Minstrel in the Gallery and some of Songs from the Wood--but, as you can tell, I'm Old School Tull...

I'd say that apart from "Hunting Girl" (which I rate as Tull's finest moment - and an incredible lyric to boot) the rest of "Songs From the Wood" is pretty dire stuff indeed. "Aqualung" is a fine album though.

Jethro Tull in Strange Moments In Rock (Or What Were They Thinking??)

1989 Grammy Awards

The first time the Grammies gave out an award for Best Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal Performance. The overwhelming favorite to win was Metallica, arguably the greatest metal rockers on the planet. But even presenter Alice Cooper could not believe his eyes when he read the name of the winner: Jethro Tull. Hello? Heavy metal? Jethro Tull vs. Metallica?

This infamous TV moment showed everyone just how clueless and out of touch the Grammy people were about heavy metal (and maybe music in general).

The next year, Metallica did win the award. In his acceptance speech, drummer Lars Ulrich said the immortal words: "We want to thank Jethro Tull for not releasing an album this year!"

Oh wow. That is the funniest thing I've heard in days.

I don't know Prog from smog,but Brain Salad Surgery is awesome(ELP).And Ian Anderson can't be beat with a stick(Jethro Tull),what a great,distinctive voice and the flute man-a freakin rock and roll flute-but its great!

Wow! I just revisted this thread because there was a new post, and saw what my post before that was.
I couldn't remember the previous post, though, so I went back and read about the metallica vs jethro tull thing again.

and now it is ONCE AGAIN the funniest thing I've heard in days

Concerning Jethro Tull, I love "Teacher". That's about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esp_hOlFqiM

A co-worker seen JT in conceertr several years ago (more like 15-20 years).
Ian had a broken ankle, but came out on stage anyway...
in a wheelchair.
Still did a superb job and did some crazy antics in the wheelchair during the performance.
The show DID go on!

I've known a few people since then who had seen that show and all say the same thing about the wheelchair bits.