Jethro Tull is a progressive rock / folk rock band which formed in Blackpoo… Read Full Bio ↴Jethro Tull is a progressive rock / folk rock band which formed in Blackpool, Lancashire, England in 1967. Their music is marked by the initially soulful and bluesy, and later expressively idiosyncratic, vocal style and unique lead flute work of frontman Ian Anderson, and their notable guitarist Martin Barre. Their songs feature unusual and often complex construction, incorporating elements of classical and celtic folk music, as well as art rock and alternative rock. Anderson has attributed the marked difference between their music and the music of their contemporaries to the group's avoidance of narcotics. While other music groups did influence them in their early years, they quickly developed a unique, instantly recognizable sound.
Ian Anderson's first band, started in 1963 in Blackpool, was known as The Blades. It had developed by 1966 into a seven-piece white soul band called the John Evan Band (later the John Evan Smash), named for pianist/drummer John Evans, who dropped the final "s" from his name to make it sound less ordinary. At this point, Barriemore Barlow was the band's drummer, as he would later be for Tull itself beginning in early 1971. However, after moving to London, most of the band quit, leaving Anderson and bassist Glenn Cornick to join forces with blues guitarist Mick Abrahams and his friend, drummer Clive Bunker, both from the band McGregor's Engine. At first, they had trouble getting repeat bookings and took to changing their name frequently to continue playing the London club circuit. Band names were often supplied by the staff of their booking agents, one of whom, a history buff, eventually christened them Jethro Tull after the 18th-century agriculturist who invented the seed drill. This name stuck simply by virtue of the fact that they were using it the first time a club manager liked their show enough to invite them to return.
After an unsuccessful single (an Abrahams-penned pop tune called "Sunshine Day" on which the band's name was misspelt "Jethro Toe", making it a collector's item), they released the bluesy album This Was in 1968. Accompanying music written by Anderson and Abrahams was the traditional arrangement "Cat's Squirrel", which highlighted Abraham's blues-rock style. The Rahsaan Roland Kirk-penned jazz piece "Serenade to a Cuckoo" gave Anderson a showcase for his growing skills as a flute player.
Following this album, Abrahams departed to pursue the career of a blues performer subsequently forming his own band, Blodwyn Pig. Anderson chose Tony Iommi (later of Black Sabbath) to replace Abrahams. Iommi, however, felt uncomfortable and decided to leave after only a few weeks, though he agreed to stay on through Tull's appearance on The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. (On the program, where the band played "A Song for Jeffrey", only Ian's vocals and the flute were live; everything else was played from a backing tape.) Iommi was replaced by former Motivation, Penny Peeps and Gethsemane member Martin Barre, who impressed Anderson. Barre would become the second longest-standing member of the band after Anderson.
This new line-up released Stand Up in 1969, the band's only UK number 1 album. Written entirely by Anderson—with the exception of a rearrangement of J. S. Bach's "Bourrée" it branched out further from the blues towards progressive rock popularized by such acts as King Crimson, The Nice and Yes. The "Living in the Past" single of the same year reached No. 3 in the UK charts, and though most other progressive rock bands actively resisted issuing singles, they had further success with the singles "Sweet Dream" (1969), "The Witches' Promise" (1970), and a 5-track EP "Life Is a Long Song" (1971), all of which made the Top 20. Despite being inspired by the jazz performances of Dave Brubeck the song "Take Five" "Living" displayed a significant influence of American rock and roll - a trend which has continued throughout the history of Jethro Tull to the present day. In 1970, they added keyboardist John Evan (a session performer at that time) and released the album Benefit which has a continuity owing as much to studio technique as to compositional skill.
Bassist Cornick left following Benefit, replaced by Jeffrey Hammond, a childhood friend of Anderson's whose name appeared in the songs "A Song for Jeffrey," "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square," and "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey, and Me." Jeffrey was often credited on Tull albums as 'Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond', but the extra 'Hammond' was phoney.
This line-up released album Aqualung in 1971 which became the most played album of the band. The album is a combination of heavy rock music focusing on themes such as social outcasts and organized religion, and an acoustic fare about the mundanity of the everyday life.
Anderson's writing voiced strong opinions about religion and society. The title character of "Aqualung" is a homeless alcoholic paedophile and the focus of the song "Cross-eyed Mary" is an underage prostitute. "My God" showcased Anderson's opposition to ecclesiastic excesses of the contemporary Anglican Church exposed in the verse: "People what have you done / locked Him in His golden cage. / Made Him bend to your religion / Him resurrected from the grave. / He is the god of nothing / if that's all that you can see." In contrast, "Wond'ring Aloud" is a love song.
Drummer Bunker was replaced by Barriemore Barlow in early 1971; he first recorded with the band for the EP "Life Is a Long Song" and made his first appearance on a Jethro Tull album with 1972's Thick as a Brick. This was a concept album consisting of a single very long track split over the two sides of the LP, with a number of movements and recurring themes melded to form one piece. The first movement with its distinctive acoustic guitar riff got limited airplay on rock stations but later ended up being referred to as a "deep and rare" cut. The lyrical content was jokingly accredited on the album cover, as having been written in an Essay by a young, fictitious boy named Gerald Bostock. Thick as a Brick was the first Jethro Tull album to reach #1 on the (US) Billboard Pop Albums chart (the following year's A Passion Play being the only other; the featured songs on either album were over 40 minutes long). This album's quintet—Anderson, Barre, Evan, Hammond and Barlow—was one of Tull's longest-standing line-ups, enduring until 1975.
1972 also saw the release of Living in the Past, a double-album compilation of singles, B-sides and outtakes (including the entirety of the "Life Is a Long Song" EP, which closes the album), with a single side recorded live in 1970 at New York's Carnegie Hall. The live tracks excepted, it is regarded by many Tull fans as their best overall release. The title track (in 5/4 time) is one of their more enduring singles, though reportedly Anderson wrote it with the specific intent of preventing its ascent to the pop charts.
In 1973, the band attempted to record a double album in tax exile at Chateau d'Herouville (something the Rolling Stones and Elton John among others were doing at the time), but supposedly they were unhappy with the quality of the recording studio and abandoned the effort, subsequently mocking the studio as the "Chateau d'Isaster." (An excerpt from these recordings was released on the 1988 20 Years of Jethro Tull boxed set. The complete set was later released on the 1993 compilation Nightcap). Instead, they quickly recorded and released A Passion Play, another single-track concept album with very allegorical lyrics. After several years of increasing popularity, A Passion Play sold well but received generally poor reviews. Up until this point, Ian Anderson had a friendly relationship with the rock press, but this album marked a turning point for the band. They had passed the peak of their popularity with the critics, even though their popularity with the public continued. However, 1974's War Child, an album originally intended to be a companion piece for a film, reached number 2 on the Billboard charts and received some critical acclaim, and produced the radio mainstay "Bungle in the Jungle". It also included a song, "Only Solitaire", allegedly aimed at L.A. Times rock music critic Robert Hilburn, who was one of Anderson's harsher critics. In 1975 the band released Minstrel in the Gallery, an album which resembled Aqualung in that it contrasted softer, acoustic guitar-based pieces with lengthier, more bombastic works headlined by Barre's electric guitar. Critics gave it mixed reviews, but the album ultimately came to be acknowledged as one of the band's most-beloved albums by longtime Tull fans, even as it generally fell under the radar to listeners familiar only with Aqualung. Following this album, bassist Hammond left the band, replaced by John Glascock.
1976's Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! was another concept album, this time about the life of an ageing rocker. Anderson, stung by critical reviews (particularly of A Passion Play), responded with more sharply-barbed lyrics. The press seemed oblivious to the ploy, and instead asked if the title track was autobiographical — a charge Anderson hotly denied.
During the early 1970's Tull went from a progressive blues band to one of the largest concert draws in the world. In concert, the band was known for theatricality and long medleys with brief instrumental interludes. While early Tull show featured a manic Anderson with bushy hair and beard dressed in tattered overcoats and ragged clothes, as the band became bigger he moved towards varied costumes. This culminated with the War Child tour's oversized codpiece and colorful costume. Other band-members joined in the dress-up, with Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond dressed in a black and white diagonally striped outfit, John Evans dressed in a white suit, etc. Live shows featured interactive interludes including on-stage phone calls, brief films, and performance art such as costume play "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles".
As the band moved to a more settled style in the late 1970s, so too did Ian and the crew move towards more serene outfits and stage antics. Anderson often dressed as a country squire on tours in the late 1970s. However, the climactic conclusion of shows still included bombastic instrumentals and the famous giant balloons which Anderson would carry aloft over his head and toss into the crowd.
The band closed the decade with a trio of folk rock albums, Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses and Stormwatch. Songs from the Wood was the first Tull album to receive unambiguously positive reviews since the time of Benefit and Living in the Past.
The band had long had ties to the folk-rockers Steeleye Span. Although not formally considered a part of the folk-rock movement (which had actually begun nearly a decade earlier with the advent of Fairport Convention), there was clearly a lot of exchanging of musical ideas between Tull and the folk-rockers. Also, at this time Anderson had moved to a farm in the countryside, and his new bucolic lifestyle is clearly reflected in these albums. In particular, the title track of Heavy Horses is a paean to draft horses.
The band continued to tour, and released a live double album in 1978. Entitled Bursting Out it featured dynamic live performances of the lineup that many Tull fans consider the golden era of the band. It also features Anderson's often-ribald stage banter with the audience and band members. ("David's gone for a pee. Ah, he's back. Did you give it a good shake?") The vinyl LP contains three tracks not found on initial CD editions, Martin Barre's guitar solo tracks "Quatrain" and "Conundrum" and a version of the 1969 UK single hit, "Sweet Dream." These tracks were restored in a re-mastered double-CD edition released in 2004.
During this time, David Palmer, who had orchestrated some strings for earlier Tull albums, formally joined the band, mainly on keyboards. Bassist Glascock died in 1979 following heart surgery and Stormwatch was completed without him (Anderson contributed bass on a few tracks). Anderson decided to record his first solo album.
Due to pressure from Chrysalis Records, Anderson released his solo album as a Jethro Tull album in 1980. Entitled A (taken from the labels on the master tapes for his scrapped solo album which had been marked simply A for Anderson), it featured Barre on electric guitar, Dave Pegg (Fairport Convention) on bass, and Mark Craney on drums. The album had a heavy electronic feel, contributed by guest keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson (ex-Roxy Music, UK). It had a sound and feel completely unlike anything Tull had exhibited before, highlighted by prominent use of synthesizers.
In keeping with the mood of innovation surrounding the album, Tull made an early foray into the emerging genre of a music video with Slipstream, a movie of their concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon in September 1980 featuring the A lineup. The electronic style of the album was even more pronounced in these live performances and was used to striking effect on some of the older songs, including "Locomotive Breath". The more familiar Tull sound was brought to the fore in an all-acoustic version of "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day" featuring Pegg on mandolin. Slipstream, long a rarity on VHS, was in 2004 included as a bonus DVD with the digitally-remastered edition of the A album.
Jobson and Craney departed following the A tour and Tull entered a period of revolving drummers (primarily Gerry Conway and Doane Perry). Peter-John Vettese replaced Jobson on keyboards, and the band returned to a folkier sound — albeit with synthesizers — for 1982's Broadsword and the Beast. 1981 marked the first year in their album career that the band did not release an album.
An Anderson solo album finally saw the light of day in 1983, in the form of the heavily electronic Walk into Light. As with later solo efforts by Anderson and Barre, some of these songs later made their way into Tull live sets.
In 1984 Tull released Under Wraps, a heavily electronic album. Although the band was reportedly proud of the sound, the album was not well-received, particularly in North America, and as a result of the throat problems Anderson developed singing the demanding Under Wraps material on tour, Tull went on a three-year hiatus during which Anderson began a highly successful salmon-farming business.
Tull became active again with 1987's Crest of a Knave. In the absence of Vettese Anderson contributed the synth programming and the band relied more heavily on Barre's electric guitar. The album was a critical and commercial success and earned them a 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, outrunning Metallica. However, the award raised controversy as Jethro Tull wasn't considered hard rock or heavy metal band. Under advisement from their manager, the band didn't attend the award ceremony. In response to the criticism they received over the award, the band then took out an advert in a British music periodical with the line, saying "The flute is a heavy metal instrument!".
The style of Crest has been compared to that of Dire Straits, in part because Anderson seemed to no longer have the vocal range he once possessed. Tull's frank treatment of sexuality was unabated, however. The album contains the popular live song "Budapest", which depicts a backstage scene with a shy local female stagehand. The staging on the 1989 tour (supporting Rock Island) featured projected silhouettes of lithe dancers during the song "Kissing Willie", ending with an image depicting an expressly sexualized scene. Another song from Rock Island called "Big Riff and Mando" reflects life on the road for the relentlessly touring musicians, giving a sardonic account of the theft of Barre's prized mandolin by a star-struck fan.
1988 was notable for the release of 20 Years of Jethro Tull, a 5-LP themed set (also released as an unthemed 3-CD set and as a truncated single CD version) consisting largely of outtakes from throughout the band's history as well as a variety of live and digitally remastered tracks. It also included a booklet outlining the band's history in detail.
After Rock Island, the band released Catfish Rising, Roots to Branches and J-Tull Dot Com that are less heavy-rock-based than Crest of a Knave was. While Catfish Rising has an overtly bluesy feel to it, the other two albums incorporate more folk and world-music influences, reflecting the musical influences of decades of performing all around the globe. In songs such as "Out of the Noise" and "Hot Mango Flush", Anderson paints vivid pictures of 3rd-world street scenes. These albums have reflected Anderson's coming to grips with being an old rocker, with songs such as the pensive "Another Harry's Bar", "Wicked Windows" (a meditation on reading glasses) and the gruff "Wounded, Old, and Treacherous".
1992's A Little Light Music was a mostly-acoustic live album which was well received by fans due to its different takes on many past compositions. This record also boasts of the arguably best vocal performance from Anderson in several years, as well as a rendition of the folk song "John Barleycorn."
In 1995 Anderson released his second solo album, Divinities: Twelve Dances with God, an instrumental work comprising 12 flute-heavy pieces that pursue varied themes with an underlying motif.
The band has endured into the 21st century and has continued to release new albums on a semi-regular basis. Recently, Anderson's voice seems to have regained some of its previous range. 2003 saw the release of The Jethro Tull Christmas Album with a collection of traditional Christmas songs together with old and new Christmas songs written by Jethro Tull.
As of April 2005, according to the official Tull website, Anderson said the band had no plans to record any new studio albums in the near future, and that he would prefer to dedicate his time to touring with both Tull and his solo Rubbing Elbows band. He would also like to make more guest appearances with other musicians, live and in the studio. There was an Ian Anderson live double album and DVD released in 2005 called Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull. In addition, a DVD entitled Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 and a live album Aqualung Live (recorded in 2004) were released in 2005.
Ex-drummer Mark Craney, from the short-lived 1980-1981 line-up, died of diabetes and pneumonia on November 26th, 2005. He had suffered through a history of health problems including kidney ailments, paralysis and a heart condition; a number of Tull members (including Anderson) contributed to a recent charity album, Something with a Pulse, to help Craney pay medical bills and return to health.
The band has discussed the possibility of recording a new studio album by October 2006, which to date hasn't materialized. The band has evolved into a "family" now working with a large group of different musicians from Europe and America, playing acoustic, orchestral and synthesizer music.
In 2023 jethro Tull released the new album RökFlöte.
Discography:
A) Studio albums
1968 - This Was
1969 - Stand Up
1970 - Benefit
1971 - Aqualung
1972 - Thick as a Brick
1972 - Living in the Past
1973 - A Passion Play
1974 - War Child
1975 - Minstrel in the Gallery
1976 - Too Old to Rock ’n’ Roll: Too Young to Die!
1977 - Songs from the Wood
1978 - Heavy Horses
1979 - Stormwatch
1980 - A
1982 - The Broadsword and the Beast
1984 - Under Wraps
1987 - Crest of a Knave
1989 - Rock Island
1991 - Catfish Rising
1995 - Roots to Branches
1999 - J-Tull Dot Com (oder kurz Dot Com)
2003 - The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
2023 - RökFlöte
B) Live albums
1970 - Nothing Is Easy: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970 (veröffentlicht
1978 - Bursting Out
1978 - Live at Madison Square Garden (veröffentlicht 2009)
1984 - Live at Hammersmith ’84 (veröffentlicht 1990)
1991 - In Concert (At The Hammersmith Odeon, 8th October 1991) (veröffentlicht 1995)
1992 - A Little Light Music
2002 - Living With the Past
2003 - Live at Montreux (veröffentlicht 2007)
2005 - Aqualung Live
2008 - The Jethro Tull Christmas Album and Christmas at St Bride’s (2-CD-Set, zweite CD Live)
Ian Anderson's first band, started in 1963 in Blackpool, was known as The Blades. It had developed by 1966 into a seven-piece white soul band called the John Evan Band (later the John Evan Smash), named for pianist/drummer John Evans, who dropped the final "s" from his name to make it sound less ordinary. At this point, Barriemore Barlow was the band's drummer, as he would later be for Tull itself beginning in early 1971. However, after moving to London, most of the band quit, leaving Anderson and bassist Glenn Cornick to join forces with blues guitarist Mick Abrahams and his friend, drummer Clive Bunker, both from the band McGregor's Engine. At first, they had trouble getting repeat bookings and took to changing their name frequently to continue playing the London club circuit. Band names were often supplied by the staff of their booking agents, one of whom, a history buff, eventually christened them Jethro Tull after the 18th-century agriculturist who invented the seed drill. This name stuck simply by virtue of the fact that they were using it the first time a club manager liked their show enough to invite them to return.
After an unsuccessful single (an Abrahams-penned pop tune called "Sunshine Day" on which the band's name was misspelt "Jethro Toe", making it a collector's item), they released the bluesy album This Was in 1968. Accompanying music written by Anderson and Abrahams was the traditional arrangement "Cat's Squirrel", which highlighted Abraham's blues-rock style. The Rahsaan Roland Kirk-penned jazz piece "Serenade to a Cuckoo" gave Anderson a showcase for his growing skills as a flute player.
Following this album, Abrahams departed to pursue the career of a blues performer subsequently forming his own band, Blodwyn Pig. Anderson chose Tony Iommi (later of Black Sabbath) to replace Abrahams. Iommi, however, felt uncomfortable and decided to leave after only a few weeks, though he agreed to stay on through Tull's appearance on The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. (On the program, where the band played "A Song for Jeffrey", only Ian's vocals and the flute were live; everything else was played from a backing tape.) Iommi was replaced by former Motivation, Penny Peeps and Gethsemane member Martin Barre, who impressed Anderson. Barre would become the second longest-standing member of the band after Anderson.
This new line-up released Stand Up in 1969, the band's only UK number 1 album. Written entirely by Anderson—with the exception of a rearrangement of J. S. Bach's "Bourrée" it branched out further from the blues towards progressive rock popularized by such acts as King Crimson, The Nice and Yes. The "Living in the Past" single of the same year reached No. 3 in the UK charts, and though most other progressive rock bands actively resisted issuing singles, they had further success with the singles "Sweet Dream" (1969), "The Witches' Promise" (1970), and a 5-track EP "Life Is a Long Song" (1971), all of which made the Top 20. Despite being inspired by the jazz performances of Dave Brubeck the song "Take Five" "Living" displayed a significant influence of American rock and roll - a trend which has continued throughout the history of Jethro Tull to the present day. In 1970, they added keyboardist John Evan (a session performer at that time) and released the album Benefit which has a continuity owing as much to studio technique as to compositional skill.
Bassist Cornick left following Benefit, replaced by Jeffrey Hammond, a childhood friend of Anderson's whose name appeared in the songs "A Song for Jeffrey," "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square," and "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey, and Me." Jeffrey was often credited on Tull albums as 'Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond', but the extra 'Hammond' was phoney.
This line-up released album Aqualung in 1971 which became the most played album of the band. The album is a combination of heavy rock music focusing on themes such as social outcasts and organized religion, and an acoustic fare about the mundanity of the everyday life.
Anderson's writing voiced strong opinions about religion and society. The title character of "Aqualung" is a homeless alcoholic paedophile and the focus of the song "Cross-eyed Mary" is an underage prostitute. "My God" showcased Anderson's opposition to ecclesiastic excesses of the contemporary Anglican Church exposed in the verse: "People what have you done / locked Him in His golden cage. / Made Him bend to your religion / Him resurrected from the grave. / He is the god of nothing / if that's all that you can see." In contrast, "Wond'ring Aloud" is a love song.
Drummer Bunker was replaced by Barriemore Barlow in early 1971; he first recorded with the band for the EP "Life Is a Long Song" and made his first appearance on a Jethro Tull album with 1972's Thick as a Brick. This was a concept album consisting of a single very long track split over the two sides of the LP, with a number of movements and recurring themes melded to form one piece. The first movement with its distinctive acoustic guitar riff got limited airplay on rock stations but later ended up being referred to as a "deep and rare" cut. The lyrical content was jokingly accredited on the album cover, as having been written in an Essay by a young, fictitious boy named Gerald Bostock. Thick as a Brick was the first Jethro Tull album to reach #1 on the (US) Billboard Pop Albums chart (the following year's A Passion Play being the only other; the featured songs on either album were over 40 minutes long). This album's quintet—Anderson, Barre, Evan, Hammond and Barlow—was one of Tull's longest-standing line-ups, enduring until 1975.
1972 also saw the release of Living in the Past, a double-album compilation of singles, B-sides and outtakes (including the entirety of the "Life Is a Long Song" EP, which closes the album), with a single side recorded live in 1970 at New York's Carnegie Hall. The live tracks excepted, it is regarded by many Tull fans as their best overall release. The title track (in 5/4 time) is one of their more enduring singles, though reportedly Anderson wrote it with the specific intent of preventing its ascent to the pop charts.
In 1973, the band attempted to record a double album in tax exile at Chateau d'Herouville (something the Rolling Stones and Elton John among others were doing at the time), but supposedly they were unhappy with the quality of the recording studio and abandoned the effort, subsequently mocking the studio as the "Chateau d'Isaster." (An excerpt from these recordings was released on the 1988 20 Years of Jethro Tull boxed set. The complete set was later released on the 1993 compilation Nightcap). Instead, they quickly recorded and released A Passion Play, another single-track concept album with very allegorical lyrics. After several years of increasing popularity, A Passion Play sold well but received generally poor reviews. Up until this point, Ian Anderson had a friendly relationship with the rock press, but this album marked a turning point for the band. They had passed the peak of their popularity with the critics, even though their popularity with the public continued. However, 1974's War Child, an album originally intended to be a companion piece for a film, reached number 2 on the Billboard charts and received some critical acclaim, and produced the radio mainstay "Bungle in the Jungle". It also included a song, "Only Solitaire", allegedly aimed at L.A. Times rock music critic Robert Hilburn, who was one of Anderson's harsher critics. In 1975 the band released Minstrel in the Gallery, an album which resembled Aqualung in that it contrasted softer, acoustic guitar-based pieces with lengthier, more bombastic works headlined by Barre's electric guitar. Critics gave it mixed reviews, but the album ultimately came to be acknowledged as one of the band's most-beloved albums by longtime Tull fans, even as it generally fell under the radar to listeners familiar only with Aqualung. Following this album, bassist Hammond left the band, replaced by John Glascock.
1976's Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! was another concept album, this time about the life of an ageing rocker. Anderson, stung by critical reviews (particularly of A Passion Play), responded with more sharply-barbed lyrics. The press seemed oblivious to the ploy, and instead asked if the title track was autobiographical — a charge Anderson hotly denied.
During the early 1970's Tull went from a progressive blues band to one of the largest concert draws in the world. In concert, the band was known for theatricality and long medleys with brief instrumental interludes. While early Tull show featured a manic Anderson with bushy hair and beard dressed in tattered overcoats and ragged clothes, as the band became bigger he moved towards varied costumes. This culminated with the War Child tour's oversized codpiece and colorful costume. Other band-members joined in the dress-up, with Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond dressed in a black and white diagonally striped outfit, John Evans dressed in a white suit, etc. Live shows featured interactive interludes including on-stage phone calls, brief films, and performance art such as costume play "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles".
As the band moved to a more settled style in the late 1970s, so too did Ian and the crew move towards more serene outfits and stage antics. Anderson often dressed as a country squire on tours in the late 1970s. However, the climactic conclusion of shows still included bombastic instrumentals and the famous giant balloons which Anderson would carry aloft over his head and toss into the crowd.
The band closed the decade with a trio of folk rock albums, Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses and Stormwatch. Songs from the Wood was the first Tull album to receive unambiguously positive reviews since the time of Benefit and Living in the Past.
The band had long had ties to the folk-rockers Steeleye Span. Although not formally considered a part of the folk-rock movement (which had actually begun nearly a decade earlier with the advent of Fairport Convention), there was clearly a lot of exchanging of musical ideas between Tull and the folk-rockers. Also, at this time Anderson had moved to a farm in the countryside, and his new bucolic lifestyle is clearly reflected in these albums. In particular, the title track of Heavy Horses is a paean to draft horses.
The band continued to tour, and released a live double album in 1978. Entitled Bursting Out it featured dynamic live performances of the lineup that many Tull fans consider the golden era of the band. It also features Anderson's often-ribald stage banter with the audience and band members. ("David's gone for a pee. Ah, he's back. Did you give it a good shake?") The vinyl LP contains three tracks not found on initial CD editions, Martin Barre's guitar solo tracks "Quatrain" and "Conundrum" and a version of the 1969 UK single hit, "Sweet Dream." These tracks were restored in a re-mastered double-CD edition released in 2004.
During this time, David Palmer, who had orchestrated some strings for earlier Tull albums, formally joined the band, mainly on keyboards. Bassist Glascock died in 1979 following heart surgery and Stormwatch was completed without him (Anderson contributed bass on a few tracks). Anderson decided to record his first solo album.
Due to pressure from Chrysalis Records, Anderson released his solo album as a Jethro Tull album in 1980. Entitled A (taken from the labels on the master tapes for his scrapped solo album which had been marked simply A for Anderson), it featured Barre on electric guitar, Dave Pegg (Fairport Convention) on bass, and Mark Craney on drums. The album had a heavy electronic feel, contributed by guest keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson (ex-Roxy Music, UK). It had a sound and feel completely unlike anything Tull had exhibited before, highlighted by prominent use of synthesizers.
In keeping with the mood of innovation surrounding the album, Tull made an early foray into the emerging genre of a music video with Slipstream, a movie of their concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon in September 1980 featuring the A lineup. The electronic style of the album was even more pronounced in these live performances and was used to striking effect on some of the older songs, including "Locomotive Breath". The more familiar Tull sound was brought to the fore in an all-acoustic version of "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day" featuring Pegg on mandolin. Slipstream, long a rarity on VHS, was in 2004 included as a bonus DVD with the digitally-remastered edition of the A album.
Jobson and Craney departed following the A tour and Tull entered a period of revolving drummers (primarily Gerry Conway and Doane Perry). Peter-John Vettese replaced Jobson on keyboards, and the band returned to a folkier sound — albeit with synthesizers — for 1982's Broadsword and the Beast. 1981 marked the first year in their album career that the band did not release an album.
An Anderson solo album finally saw the light of day in 1983, in the form of the heavily electronic Walk into Light. As with later solo efforts by Anderson and Barre, some of these songs later made their way into Tull live sets.
In 1984 Tull released Under Wraps, a heavily electronic album. Although the band was reportedly proud of the sound, the album was not well-received, particularly in North America, and as a result of the throat problems Anderson developed singing the demanding Under Wraps material on tour, Tull went on a three-year hiatus during which Anderson began a highly successful salmon-farming business.
Tull became active again with 1987's Crest of a Knave. In the absence of Vettese Anderson contributed the synth programming and the band relied more heavily on Barre's electric guitar. The album was a critical and commercial success and earned them a 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, outrunning Metallica. However, the award raised controversy as Jethro Tull wasn't considered hard rock or heavy metal band. Under advisement from their manager, the band didn't attend the award ceremony. In response to the criticism they received over the award, the band then took out an advert in a British music periodical with the line, saying "The flute is a heavy metal instrument!".
The style of Crest has been compared to that of Dire Straits, in part because Anderson seemed to no longer have the vocal range he once possessed. Tull's frank treatment of sexuality was unabated, however. The album contains the popular live song "Budapest", which depicts a backstage scene with a shy local female stagehand. The staging on the 1989 tour (supporting Rock Island) featured projected silhouettes of lithe dancers during the song "Kissing Willie", ending with an image depicting an expressly sexualized scene. Another song from Rock Island called "Big Riff and Mando" reflects life on the road for the relentlessly touring musicians, giving a sardonic account of the theft of Barre's prized mandolin by a star-struck fan.
1988 was notable for the release of 20 Years of Jethro Tull, a 5-LP themed set (also released as an unthemed 3-CD set and as a truncated single CD version) consisting largely of outtakes from throughout the band's history as well as a variety of live and digitally remastered tracks. It also included a booklet outlining the band's history in detail.
After Rock Island, the band released Catfish Rising, Roots to Branches and J-Tull Dot Com that are less heavy-rock-based than Crest of a Knave was. While Catfish Rising has an overtly bluesy feel to it, the other two albums incorporate more folk and world-music influences, reflecting the musical influences of decades of performing all around the globe. In songs such as "Out of the Noise" and "Hot Mango Flush", Anderson paints vivid pictures of 3rd-world street scenes. These albums have reflected Anderson's coming to grips with being an old rocker, with songs such as the pensive "Another Harry's Bar", "Wicked Windows" (a meditation on reading glasses) and the gruff "Wounded, Old, and Treacherous".
1992's A Little Light Music was a mostly-acoustic live album which was well received by fans due to its different takes on many past compositions. This record also boasts of the arguably best vocal performance from Anderson in several years, as well as a rendition of the folk song "John Barleycorn."
In 1995 Anderson released his second solo album, Divinities: Twelve Dances with God, an instrumental work comprising 12 flute-heavy pieces that pursue varied themes with an underlying motif.
The band has endured into the 21st century and has continued to release new albums on a semi-regular basis. Recently, Anderson's voice seems to have regained some of its previous range. 2003 saw the release of The Jethro Tull Christmas Album with a collection of traditional Christmas songs together with old and new Christmas songs written by Jethro Tull.
As of April 2005, according to the official Tull website, Anderson said the band had no plans to record any new studio albums in the near future, and that he would prefer to dedicate his time to touring with both Tull and his solo Rubbing Elbows band. He would also like to make more guest appearances with other musicians, live and in the studio. There was an Ian Anderson live double album and DVD released in 2005 called Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull. In addition, a DVD entitled Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 and a live album Aqualung Live (recorded in 2004) were released in 2005.
Ex-drummer Mark Craney, from the short-lived 1980-1981 line-up, died of diabetes and pneumonia on November 26th, 2005. He had suffered through a history of health problems including kidney ailments, paralysis and a heart condition; a number of Tull members (including Anderson) contributed to a recent charity album, Something with a Pulse, to help Craney pay medical bills and return to health.
The band has discussed the possibility of recording a new studio album by October 2006, which to date hasn't materialized. The band has evolved into a "family" now working with a large group of different musicians from Europe and America, playing acoustic, orchestral and synthesizer music.
In 2023 jethro Tull released the new album RökFlöte.
Discography:
A) Studio albums
1968 - This Was
1969 - Stand Up
1970 - Benefit
1971 - Aqualung
1972 - Thick as a Brick
1972 - Living in the Past
1973 - A Passion Play
1974 - War Child
1975 - Minstrel in the Gallery
1976 - Too Old to Rock ’n’ Roll: Too Young to Die!
1977 - Songs from the Wood
1978 - Heavy Horses
1979 - Stormwatch
1980 - A
1982 - The Broadsword and the Beast
1984 - Under Wraps
1987 - Crest of a Knave
1989 - Rock Island
1991 - Catfish Rising
1995 - Roots to Branches
1999 - J-Tull Dot Com (oder kurz Dot Com)
2003 - The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
2023 - RökFlöte
B) Live albums
1970 - Nothing Is Easy: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970 (veröffentlicht
1978 - Bursting Out
1978 - Live at Madison Square Garden (veröffentlicht 2009)
1984 - Live at Hammersmith ’84 (veröffentlicht 1990)
1991 - In Concert (At The Hammersmith Odeon, 8th October 1991) (veröffentlicht 1995)
1992 - A Little Light Music
2002 - Living With the Past
2003 - Live at Montreux (veröffentlicht 2007)
2005 - Aqualung Live
2008 - The Jethro Tull Christmas Album and Christmas at St Bride’s (2-CD-Set, zweite CD Live)
Lifebeats/Prelude
Jethro Tull Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Jethro Tull:
...and the Mouse Police Never Sleeps Muscled, black with steel green eye Swishing through the rye…
01 North Sea Oil Black and viscous, bound to cure blue lethargy Sugar-plum pe…
01-Some day the sun wont shine In the morning, gonna get my things together. Packing up an…
01. This Is Not Love Winds howled. Rains spit down. All these nights playing pre…
02 Queen & Country The wind is on the river and the tide has…
02-Living In The Past Happy and I'm smiling, Walking miles to drink your water. …
02-Occasional Demons Well, you got a big-jib crane waiting to pick you…
02. Living In The Past Happy and I'm smiling, Walking miles to drink your water. Yo…
02. the rattlesnake trail I wear a hair shirt round my shoulder. Got a cold…
04-Back to the Family My telephone wakes me in the morning Have to get…
04. Taxi Grab Shake a leg, it's the big rush, Can't find a taxi…
06. Dharma For One Dharma, seek and you will find Truth within your mind,…
07. Big Dipper The mist rolls off the beaches: The train rolls into the…
1. Sweet Dream You'll hear me calling in your sweet dream, Can't hear your…
10. John Barleycorn There were three men, came out of the west, Their fortunes…
10. Two Fingers I'll see you at the Weighing-In, When your life's sum-total'…
12 The Christmas Song Once in Royal David's City stood a lonely cattle shed, Where…
17 I remember when we had a lot of things to…
2 02 Sealion II Would you like to see my lion My friend Cecil is…
4. Fat Man Don't want to be a fat man People would think that…
4.W.D Met a man just the other day, Said his name…
6. Reasons For Waiting What a sight for my eyes To see you in sleep. Could…
8. A New Day Yesterday My first and last time with you And we had some…
A Christmas Song Once in Royal David's City stood a lonely cattle shed, Where…
A Gift Of Roses I count the hours: you count the days. Together, we…
A Gift of Roses & Tweet-Tweet A Gift Of Roses lyrics I count the hours... you count…
A Minstrel in the Gallery The minstrel in the gallery Looked down upon the smiling fa…
A New Day Yesterday My first and last time with you And we had some…
A Passion Play Colours I've none dark or light, red, white or blue Cold…
A Passion Play Part 1 Lifebeats Instrumental part Prelude Instr…
A Small Cigar A small cigar can change the world I know, I've done…
A Song For Jeffrey Gonna lose my way tomorrow Gonna give away my car I'd take…
A Stich In Time Got to take in what I can. There is no time…
A Stitch in Time I work in dark factories, a cog in the big…
A Time For Everything Once it seemed there would always be A time for everything A…
Acres Wild I'll make love to you In all good places Under black mountai…
Aeroplane Flying, made of sticks and paper (Aeroplane) Dying, is the w…
Alive And Well And Living In Nobody sees her here, her eyes are slowly closing If she…
And Further On We saw the heavens break And all the world go down…
And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps Muscled, black with steel green eye Swishing through the rye…
Another Christmas Song Once in Royal David's City stood a lonely cattle shed, Where…
Another Harry's Bar Wet wind on the sidewalk: I'm staring at the rain. Walking…
Apogee Sailing round the true-blue sphere Is it too late to bale…
Apogée Sailing round the true-blue sphere--- is it too late to bale…
Aqualung Sitting on a park bench Eying little girls with bad intent S…
Aqualung (New Stereo Mix) Sitting on a park bench Eyeing little girls with bad intent …
Aqualung - New Stereo Mix Sitting on the park bench Eyeing little girls with bad inten…
Astronomy The middle lane has trapped my car In red-light claustrophob…
At Last Forever So why are you holding my hand tonight? I'm not intending…
Audition Then God, the director, smells a rat. Pulls another rabbit f…
Automotive Engineering In the hands of science The complete appliance. We're moved…
Awol Stormy-eyed on the edge of dawn: nose pressed against the…
Back Door Angels In and out of the front door, Ran twelve back-door angels. T…
Back To The Family My telephone wakes me in the morning Have to get…
Back-door Angels In and out of the front door, Ran twelve back-door angels. T…
Bad-Eyed and Loveless Yes'n she's bad-eyed and she's loveless. A young man's fancy…
Bad-Eyed'n' Loveless Yes'n she's bad-eyed and she's loveless. A young man's fanc…
Bad‐Eyed and Loveless Yes'n she's bad-eyed and she's loveless. A young man's fancy…
Baker St Muse Windy bus-stop. Click. Shop-window. Heel. Shady gentleman. …
Baker St. Muse Windy bus-stop. Click. Shop-window. Heel. Shady gentleman. F…
Baker Street muse Windy bus-stop. Click. Shop-window. Heel. Shady gentleman. …
Batteries Not Included Six o'clock in the morning, Wake up by the bed. There sits…
Beastie From early days of infancy, through trembling years of youth…
Beggar You're taking chances. And your reputation's going down. Go…
Beggar's Farm (2001 Remastered Version) You're taking chances And your reputation's going down Going…
Beltane Have you ever stood in the April wood And called the…
Bends Like A Willow She's catching the wind: the gentlest of breezes. It's a…
Beside Myself Small child messing down, messing down In the streets of Bom…
Best Friends All your best friends' telephones Never cooled from the he…
Big Dipper The mist rolls off the beaches: The train rolls into the…
Big Riff And Mando Marty loved the sound of the stolen mandolin. Somebody took …
Birthday Card At Christmas Got a birthday card at Christmas... it made me think…
Black Mamba Hand in the snake pit, black mamba chase. Head through…
Black Satin Dancer Come, let me play with you, black satin dancer. In all…
Black Sunday Tomorrow is the one day I would change for a…
Bouråe [instrumental]…
Broadford Bazaar Dirty white caravans down our road, sailing. Vivas, Cortinas…
Broadford Bazzar Dirty white caravans down narrow roads sailing Vivas, Corti…
Broadsword I see a dark sail on the horizon Set under a…
Budapest I think she was a middle-distance runner... (The translation…
Bungle In The Jungle Walking through forests of palm tree apartments Scoff at the…
By Kind Permission Of [introduction:] Please, let's have a big welcome for jethro …
Cheap Day Return On Preston platform Do your soft shoe shuffle dance Brush aw…
Cheerio Along the coast road, by the headland the early lights of…
Christmas Song Once in Royal David's City stood a lonely cattle shed, Where…
Clasp We travellers on the endless wastes in single orbits, glidin…
Cold Wind to Valhalla And ride with us young bonny lass With the angels of…
Commons Brawl All right and honorable gentlemen and lady too, Will kindly …
Conundrum Away out in Egypt in the valley of kings Where the…
Coronach (words and music by david palmer) Grey the mist --- cold…
Crash-Barrier Waltzer And here slip I --- dragging one foot in the…
Crazed Institution Just a little touch of make-up, just a little touch…
Crew Nights Tear it down in double quick time To get the 'a'…
Critique Oblique Critic of the black and white it's your first night. The…
Cross Eyed Mary Who would be a poor man, a beggar-man, a thief…
Cross-Eyed Mary (New Stereo Mix) Who would be a poor man, a beggarman, a thief If…
Crosseyed Mary Who would be a poor man, a beggar-man, a thief…
Crossfire Spring light in a hazy May And a man with a…
Crossword Walking on air, shoulder and head above you. Down in the…
Cross‐Eyed Mary Who would be a poor man, a beggar-man, a thief…
Cup of Wonder May I make my fond excuses for the lateness of…
Dangerous Veils Desert candle in a tented space Throwing softer shadows on a…
Dark Ages Darlings are you ready for the long winter's fall? Said the…
Dharma For One Dharma, seek and you will find Truth within your mind,…
Doctor to My Disease I've been treated for mild depression And I've been treated…
Dogs in the Midwinter You ever had a day like I had today, when things…
Dot Com It's a wide world out there So much wider than…
Down At The End Of Your Road I am your neighbor. I seem most respectable, But underneath …
Dr Bogenbroom I have one foot in the graveyard And the other on…
Drive On The Young Side Of Life Your mother she protected you And softened every blow And br…
Driving Song Will they ever stop driving me? Have they ever taken time…
Dun Ringill Clear light on a slick palm As I mis-deal the day Slip…
Ears Of Tin In the last hours of a sunset rendezvous Chill breeze agains…
El Niño As one, wet merchants turn their eyes towards the west.…
Elegy [Instrumental]…
Epilogue There was a rush along the Fulham Road Into the Ever-passion…
European Legacy She smiles at me From beyond the eastern sea-shore. Flashing…
Eyes In the Night I could he sitting on the left of you. You'd be…
Fallen on Hard Times Fallen on hard times but it feels good to know, that…
Far Alaska Placing people in their dreamscape with fantasies of foreig…
Fat Man Don't want to be a fat man People would think that…
Fire at Midnight I believe in fires at midnight When the dogs have…
First Snow in Brooklyn I flew in on the evening plane. Is it such a…
Flight From Lucifer Flee the icy Lucifer. Oh he's an awful fellow! What a…
Flying Colours Shout if you will, but that just won't do. I, for…
Flying Dutchman Old lady with a barrow; life near ending Standing by the…
Flyingdale Flyer Through clear skies tracking lightly from far down the line …
For a Thousand Mothers Did you hear mother? Saying I'm wrong but I know…
For Later [instrumental]…
For Michael Collins Jeffrey And Me Watery eyes of the last sighing seconds Blue reflections mut…
From a Dead Beat to an Old Greaser From a dead beat to an old greaser, here's thinking…
Fylingdale Flyer Through clear skies tracking lightly from far down the line …
General Crossing It's an old profession Of subtle artillery. Rough wheels mes…
Glory Row Rise up all you fine young ladies and take arms…
Gold Tipped Boots Black Jacket And Tie I'm battered and bruised. I got lines I can't use. My head…
Gold‐Tipped Boots Black Jacket and Tie I'm battered and bruised. I got lines I can't use. My head…
Grace Hello sun. Hello bird. Hello my lady. Hello breakfast. May I…
Hard Liner Hard liner, she brings ice when I bring fire. She's a…
Heat When the rats are running And the boys are gunning For heads…
Heavy Horses Iron-clad feather-feet pounding the dust An October's day, t…
Heavy Water I walked out in the city night, A burning in my…
Home As the dawn sun breaks over sleepy gardens I'll be here…
Hot Mango Flush Hot mango flush. Ladies with ice cream hair Gyroscopic pin…
Hunt By Numbers Hey little buddies, Soft and silky night walkers. Dangerou…
Hunting Girl One day I walked the road and crossed a field…
Hymn 43 Our father high in heaven, smile down upon your son Who's…
I Am Your Gun Blew my smoke on a sunny day When the first black…
I Don't Want To Be Me Got a grand house out in the country. Marble pillars holding…
I'm Your Gun Blew my smoke on a sunny day When the first black…
Inside All the places I've been make it hard to begin To…
Intro Will I miss my home? Looks like rain up past…
Introduction by Claude Nobs Spoken…
It So many long days In so many ways I try to get…
It's Breaking Me Up So many long days. In so many ways. I try to…
and many more tracks by Jethro Tull.
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found