Post by Mark Lavallee on Sept 4, 2012 15:38:26 GMT -5
Now we have entered a new phase for Jethro Tull, fully embracing their folk side here. Not that they went twee and light by any means. They still rocked as hard as anyone, but there was a definite major influence from the English countryside here.
Make note, that cover is not a photograph of Anderson, it is indeed a very realistic looking painting.
Released on February 11, 1977 the album would reach a respectable #8 in the US and #13 in the UK, their highest showing at home since 1973's A Passion Play.
The change in direction shouldn't have come as much of a shock to those who had been paying attention. Tull always included a strong folk element in their sound and a few years earlier Ian Anderson produced Steeleye Span's excellent Now We Are Six album which in very many ways is a huge precursor to what we have here. Anderson managed to make them sound like Tull with Maddy Prior on vocals, LOL.
The change proved to be quite popular with Tull fans and the public at large after the disappointing showing of the prior album Too Old To Rock And Roll, Too Young To Die. At this point longtime collaborator David Palmer (he'd been doing the band's orchestrations since the debut) was made a full fledged member of the band playing keyboards alongside longtime keyboardist John Evan.
Side A opens appropriately enough with the excellent title track. A madrigal like accapella chorus singing and some light flute embellishments in there would have you expecting that Fairport Convention inspired, mention of 'galliards' keep that impression up as well. But once the band kicks in you know you're in for a treat. The arrangement is quite complex and every member of the band is allowed to strut their stuff, without ever showing off. A big favorite and a mainstay of the set for years.
Next up is the wonderful, "Jack-In-The-Green," Anderson performing every instrument on the track. A great little number about the titular character who is responsible for keeping the green alive during winter and bringing it out again in the spring. This song, the title track, and others bear a strong desire for mankind to, "Get back to nature," as it were. Lyrically it's a very beautiful album.
Up next is, "Cup Of Wonder," musically quite inventive and lyrically very clever, with wordplay such as the line, "For the May Day is the great day, sung along the old straight track. And those who ancient lines did lay will heed the song that calls them back." A sly reference to ley lines, the song is a call for the listener to reconsider what tradition has to offer. It's a song about pagan and druidical ritual. Good stuff indeed.
Up next we have a very big favorite, the very naughty indeed, "Hunting Girl." The real star here is bassist John Glascock, who plays an incredible bassline on this one. This is a saucy tale of a stable hand being, "Seduced," by a hunting girl who hunts males! A kick ass rocker, Tull doing what they do best here - it's a great live track as well. The interplay with the string players, flute and Barriemore Barlow's incredibly creative drumming is simply astonishing.
The side concludes with the winter holiday song, "Ring Out Solstice Bells." A very catchy ditty tailor made for those end of the year Christmas compilations, on the EP for this one Ian Anderson made mention of the Christian church coopting the traditional solstice holiday for Christmas. Oh dear. Fortunately no bloodshed ensued. Yet a silly Top of The Pops appearance did...
Side B of the album opens up with the great, "Velvet Green." It is another naughty tale of sex in the field, this time about a young man telling his lover to tell her mother that she spent her time "walking on velvet green." Just listen to that intro, English Folk Rock at it's finest, straight out of a Renaissance Faire, and then the band comes in to kick your ass in a most unusual way. Just go 2:45 in there and listen to the musical interlude, who else is this creative?
Up next is, "The Whistler," a big favorite, I love the verses and Anderson's voice shows him at the top of his game here. A nice positive song with some beautiful imagery. The final verse is hard to interpret other than as pure poetry, and knowing Anderson there's something I'm just missing in interpretation but as a piece of written verse it always stood out to me:
"Deep red are the sun-sets in mystical places.
Black are the nights on summer-day sands.
We'll find the speck of truth in each riddle.
Hold the first grain of love in our hands."
And what's this? An official video? Weird for 1977, the song managed to peak here in the US at a respectable #59, not bad for a piece of medieval folk rock in the midst of disco fever!
Up next is, "Pibrock (Cap In Hand)," which goes all the way back to Anderson's Gaelic roots. A song of unrequited love, a man travelling through the woods to his love's home to propose and finding out he's too late and there's another man. A Pibroch is a form of funeral music, dirge or lament. This is the, "Epic," of the album at 8:27, one of the great unsung songs of the Tull catalog. Martin Barre's guitar is very heavy and really guides the song even when taking a backseat to the more grandiose middle section. It's a stunning, beautiful piece.
The album concludes with the lovely ballad, "Fires At Midnight," a simple song reflecting on the joys of coming home after a hard day's work to spend time with your spouse. A nice soft ballad and the perfect way to end this wonderful album.
The remaster contains a mere two bonus tracks but they're both wonderful. Up first is the song, "Beltane," which somehow didn't make the album. It was slated to be the B side to the, "Moths," single the following year in Ireland only but was mispressed with, "Life Is A Long Song," so it remained in the vault until the 20 Years Of Jethro Tull box set in 1988. It is a great rocker about the ancient Celtic Beltane festival celebrated on May day, the most important festival of the year when winter was proclaimed dead for another year and to ensure fertility people would literally take to the fields and shag each other rotten. Of course the church would have to ruin the fun and ban this festival, bunch of tossers.
The other bonus track is a great live version of, "Velvet Green."
Up next, the folk rock theme continues with the great Heavy Horses...
Final thoughts:
Somewhat of a career renaissance after the midly disappointing Too Old To Rock And Roll. Tull fully embraced their folk side, which if you'd been paying attention was ever present! Much more rock than other folk rock artists like Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span, still, firmly rooted in time honoured tradition. An album of exceptionally well written and performed songs.
Final rating - 5 out of 5 stars.
Make note, that cover is not a photograph of Anderson, it is indeed a very realistic looking painting.
Released on February 11, 1977 the album would reach a respectable #8 in the US and #13 in the UK, their highest showing at home since 1973's A Passion Play.
The change in direction shouldn't have come as much of a shock to those who had been paying attention. Tull always included a strong folk element in their sound and a few years earlier Ian Anderson produced Steeleye Span's excellent Now We Are Six album which in very many ways is a huge precursor to what we have here. Anderson managed to make them sound like Tull with Maddy Prior on vocals, LOL.
The change proved to be quite popular with Tull fans and the public at large after the disappointing showing of the prior album Too Old To Rock And Roll, Too Young To Die. At this point longtime collaborator David Palmer (he'd been doing the band's orchestrations since the debut) was made a full fledged member of the band playing keyboards alongside longtime keyboardist John Evan.
Side A opens appropriately enough with the excellent title track. A madrigal like accapella chorus singing and some light flute embellishments in there would have you expecting that Fairport Convention inspired, mention of 'galliards' keep that impression up as well. But once the band kicks in you know you're in for a treat. The arrangement is quite complex and every member of the band is allowed to strut their stuff, without ever showing off. A big favorite and a mainstay of the set for years.
Next up is the wonderful, "Jack-In-The-Green," Anderson performing every instrument on the track. A great little number about the titular character who is responsible for keeping the green alive during winter and bringing it out again in the spring. This song, the title track, and others bear a strong desire for mankind to, "Get back to nature," as it were. Lyrically it's a very beautiful album.
Up next is, "Cup Of Wonder," musically quite inventive and lyrically very clever, with wordplay such as the line, "For the May Day is the great day, sung along the old straight track. And those who ancient lines did lay will heed the song that calls them back." A sly reference to ley lines, the song is a call for the listener to reconsider what tradition has to offer. It's a song about pagan and druidical ritual. Good stuff indeed.
Up next we have a very big favorite, the very naughty indeed, "Hunting Girl." The real star here is bassist John Glascock, who plays an incredible bassline on this one. This is a saucy tale of a stable hand being, "Seduced," by a hunting girl who hunts males! A kick ass rocker, Tull doing what they do best here - it's a great live track as well. The interplay with the string players, flute and Barriemore Barlow's incredibly creative drumming is simply astonishing.
The side concludes with the winter holiday song, "Ring Out Solstice Bells." A very catchy ditty tailor made for those end of the year Christmas compilations, on the EP for this one Ian Anderson made mention of the Christian church coopting the traditional solstice holiday for Christmas. Oh dear. Fortunately no bloodshed ensued. Yet a silly Top of The Pops appearance did...
Side B of the album opens up with the great, "Velvet Green." It is another naughty tale of sex in the field, this time about a young man telling his lover to tell her mother that she spent her time "walking on velvet green." Just listen to that intro, English Folk Rock at it's finest, straight out of a Renaissance Faire, and then the band comes in to kick your ass in a most unusual way. Just go 2:45 in there and listen to the musical interlude, who else is this creative?
Up next is, "The Whistler," a big favorite, I love the verses and Anderson's voice shows him at the top of his game here. A nice positive song with some beautiful imagery. The final verse is hard to interpret other than as pure poetry, and knowing Anderson there's something I'm just missing in interpretation but as a piece of written verse it always stood out to me:
"Deep red are the sun-sets in mystical places.
Black are the nights on summer-day sands.
We'll find the speck of truth in each riddle.
Hold the first grain of love in our hands."
And what's this? An official video? Weird for 1977, the song managed to peak here in the US at a respectable #59, not bad for a piece of medieval folk rock in the midst of disco fever!
Up next is, "Pibrock (Cap In Hand)," which goes all the way back to Anderson's Gaelic roots. A song of unrequited love, a man travelling through the woods to his love's home to propose and finding out he's too late and there's another man. A Pibroch is a form of funeral music, dirge or lament. This is the, "Epic," of the album at 8:27, one of the great unsung songs of the Tull catalog. Martin Barre's guitar is very heavy and really guides the song even when taking a backseat to the more grandiose middle section. It's a stunning, beautiful piece.
The album concludes with the lovely ballad, "Fires At Midnight," a simple song reflecting on the joys of coming home after a hard day's work to spend time with your spouse. A nice soft ballad and the perfect way to end this wonderful album.
The remaster contains a mere two bonus tracks but they're both wonderful. Up first is the song, "Beltane," which somehow didn't make the album. It was slated to be the B side to the, "Moths," single the following year in Ireland only but was mispressed with, "Life Is A Long Song," so it remained in the vault until the 20 Years Of Jethro Tull box set in 1988. It is a great rocker about the ancient Celtic Beltane festival celebrated on May day, the most important festival of the year when winter was proclaimed dead for another year and to ensure fertility people would literally take to the fields and shag each other rotten. Of course the church would have to ruin the fun and ban this festival, bunch of tossers.
The other bonus track is a great live version of, "Velvet Green."
Up next, the folk rock theme continues with the great Heavy Horses...
Final thoughts:
Somewhat of a career renaissance after the midly disappointing Too Old To Rock And Roll. Tull fully embraced their folk side, which if you'd been paying attention was ever present! Much more rock than other folk rock artists like Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span, still, firmly rooted in time honoured tradition. An album of exceptionally well written and performed songs.
Final rating - 5 out of 5 stars.