Not only did he smoke and was lead singer, but he was lead flute player. Also, during each song, when all other singers were taking a break, he had to go non-stop with the flute. Take into account he toured and released an album every year, that is an incredible amount of strain on his voice!
It's so weird, 90% of the appeal of Jethro Tull is the musicianship, the structure, composition, production of the music, and yet you never hear him talking about music, he's always just talking about money and schedules and people, like he puts no thought into the music, but the music sounds as if it's come from a person who spends their life agonising about the perfect way for it to sound. As if it just comes to easily to him he'd be bored by talking about it.
So sad to see Ian, knowing what a price his voice would later pay, with that cigarette in his hand. I am glad he was able to quit but the damage was done.
I've got used to the way his voice sounds now and I love his stuff as much as I ever have. I can't get enough of 'The Secret Language Of Birds' and 'Rupi's Dance'.
@PaulHartXYZ thats his business,you are a child of the smoking agendacontrol program, do you believe second hand smoke in open or ventilated areas is harmful. you see first the govt puches cigs down our throats then they pretend to care and get a social program going that makes cigs a leprosy and bad for all. smoking in bed is only dangerous if you die, bed is where most people die.regulating personal behaviour is a disoerder of freakish control.
Im interested to know how true musicians rate Tull so please post a comment if you are one - to me the music appears to be pure genius but I'm no musician so my opinion is qualified. I love the acoustic stuff with all the neat arpegios and note runs, and the contrast of the clean acoustic sound with electric in songs like aqualung and velvet green.
@rocklickerSA music is like wine,if it tastes goo to onself it is good, snobbery and over analysis s a bore to the mostly non playing people who buy their work.
@rocklickerSA Guitar, drums player here, what everyone else wrote is completely true, but you have to go even further and realize he took medieval music/lyrics and 'brought' them, if you will, into modern rock and jazz. He and the originals did an interview, quite awhile ago, and they talked about the first real recording gig they got. I heard it on the radio and it was amazing, Ian literally got up in the morning and would write whole songs in a matter of minutes and they made it on the album.
Why you don't cut away this stupid fool at the beginning of the video? He's talkin bullshit, I think he don't like Jethro Tull, so cut that crap please...!!
I have a professionally shot video of Tull during the Tullavision concert. I believe the tour was the same year 'Too Old' came out, probably around 1976.
I must say that Ian is the greatest front man I have ever seen live. I have seen hundreds of concerts since 1972, ranging from Zep, Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd to Springsteen, U2 etc ... and Ian is unsurpassed as a showman.
I have seen them a few times and would prefer to see their theatrical show compared to the concerts I have been to today. Ian really seems quite normal, when I saw him perform I thought he was 'odd' but that was just part of the show...
It sounds like the first part of the performance (up until 3:42) is actually the studio version...after 3:42, you can hear that they're playing a half step up in the key of C, whereas at the beginning they're playing in the key of B.
PAUL HARTXYZ ,I AGREE . first of all ,EVERY TULL song is way beyond commercial (spew) you no what i mean, Just the musical progressions /delicasies ,,stage image,, Poetry ,rhime &rhythm reflecting a very unique act ,,most people couldnt get it(tisktisktisk)! THE band was strong 25 yrs GENIUS ,, With great thanks.
Supposedly there was a July 1975 Tull show video-taped in Paris. It was at the tail end of the WARCHILD tour. I have a short 3 minute clip of that show where Ian is talking to the audience about a new song (Minstrel in the Gallery) the band just recorded for their next album. And he then plays the opening acoustic part. (Yes, Ian in his minstrel outfit and all!!!)
Tull & Rush, two favorite bands, are frequently called "prog," but I've never grapsed why. Is it merely because they use words of more than two syllables and are compentent musicians? I reject the preconception that it has to be stupid to be rock.
THANKS! Had not yet seen this interview, It's like revisiting yesteryear when the group was riding the crest of success and was a creativity machine as well. Tull People: please post clips of Tull from the past.
Having being raised on Jethro Tull as a real first blues/prog/rock band,my appeal to them was from their name after an agronomist/seed drill inventor.The appeal in music being a reflection of a bygone age but in a 20th century rock/folk clothing era.Intelligent lyrics with a group persona and indeed presence and attitude.Unfortunately, the punk era got the better of them along with the likes of Genesis and Yes.You could of course have the view that its just bollocks.lol
I too remember when PUNK washed over progressive rock in the late 70s.
That movement was more or less a rebellion against the incredibly complex, classically-oriented sound of bands like Yes, Tull, ELP, Renaissance, etc.
Tull had a particular appeal to me. Ian was like a mad Medieval pied piper from English antiquity. I first became a fan during the Warchild tour as a youngster. Images of Ian jumping around in his court jester's outfit made an indelible imprint on my young mind.
I guess the overwhelming amount of progressive bands would have ticked me off at the time, but I wasn't alive at that time. I like progressive rock just as much(if not more) than punk rock.
I wonder about the truth of Jethro Tull. Ian was a real stage hog ... and he micromanaged everyone's movements on stage practically. Odd that he seems not to have been really great at image ... every time I see one of those old videos they are so corny and bad. It is like Ian was writing music for a really bad movie to make lots of money. What an interesting character.
yeah, i am the biggest tull fan you will ever find.. but I saw them on the Broadsword and the Beast tour, but Ian sounded like one of the chipmonks from Alvin and the Chipmonks. It was very disappointing. I had 3rd row seats even. I heard that his voice got destroyed from so many smokey gigs. Such a pity. Then I heard that in reality, he despises the jethro tull "character" he plays .. with the leg up and goofy costumes, etc.. that bummed me out also.
Ian has got to be driven by some pretty powerful forces to be so damned creative. One wonders if it is a blessing or curse. Whatever I am still crazy about his music. It is kind of sad that he feels he has to do all the theatrics to be popular, but he would know best ... maybe what's crazy is that he has to to get people to listen. He is a character, but I hope he stays well and happy and takes good care of himself.
PaulH-True,TAB#1 in '72!It still resonates in both prose and composition complexity that "works" for me to this day.Bottom line having seen Ian and the boys many times from the "Bursting Out" era on is PRECISELY your point.My search is driven by other rock fans in Ohio who left Tull concerts in '73 and '74 raving about this mad piper!They could not believe the energy, non-stop jumping,"jestering",all while keeping such precision and tempo that progressively rocked out!
Yes, I am ever looking for this era of Tull live. The energy, lyrics and If anyone knows of such...call my agent. or drop me a note here. Love live this progressive rock era (i.e. From TAB to Minstrel to SFTW)!
Yes Ganthony1... Isn't it BIZARRE that there's no professional film footage (other than what I posted here) of the band during their most popular and creative period (Aqualung 1971, Thick As a Brick 1972, A Passion Play 1973, Warchild 1974, Minstrel In The Gallery 1975.)
During those years, Tull was the biggest thing on Earth... yet NOTHING exists. Unless Ian is hiding something in his vault.
The Jeffrey Hammond years (Aqualung 1971 to Minstrel in the Gallery 1975) were by far the band's most creative and popular ones. Sadly however, this is the ONLY known live PRO-SHOT footage of the band during that amazing era. If anyone knows of anything else, PLEASE tell us.
Great vid. Thanks. Been a JT fan since the beginning. Ian tended to get the best and brightest musicians of the day and bring them on board. Listened to Stand Up all the way through today on the way to work, and it stills holds up musically after 37 years. Always amazed that Martin has hung in there for close to 38 years after Mick Abrahams flew the coop after "This Was" I would rank some of Ian's ballads as some of the best ever written.
Oh! how foolish of me, that's Jeffrey Hammond Hammond of course! Thanks for clarifying that for me PaulHartXYZ. Jeffrey was Ian's childhood friend that Ian wrote several songs about? I read somewhere that Ian once said that Jeffrey painted hundreds of paintings that he will not let anyone see. Very Tullish-lol!
He left Tull at the end of the MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY tour (late 1975) to return to painting.
Ian credits Jeffrey with bringing a lot of creative ideas to the band.
It was during Jeffrey's time with Tull (1971 to 1975) that the band produced some of their most creative works... THICK AS A BRICK, A PASSION PLAY, WARCHILD, etc.
It was during the Jeffrey Hammond Hammond years that JT missed the chance to become THE greatest band of all time. They were well on their way with Stand up and Benefit, but by 1975 they were no longer taken seriously. Although 1976 - 1979 saw a return to form, the damage couldn't be undone.
Right, Stand-up and Benefit were before Tull made their mature music. TAAB MADE THEM THE GREATEST BAND OF ALL TIME! The album reached number 1 as well. This guy doesn't have the facts.
On TAAB, Ian REALLY found his voice... literally and figuratively. It was the emergence of Tull's truly transcendent music.
And yes, I will finally post that rare intro to MINSTREL from June 1975. I'm so ANGRY there is nothing else from the Hammond era on video. ANGRY. Please Ian... please have something in the vault.
While LZ might cater better for the tastes of Plebians, at least IA doesn't go round including obscure blues songs and giving himself the songwriting credit.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
No, but after war child his music began to wilt like a slow-leak on a balloon. Led's magic was preserved, and most of his blues stuff doesn't matter in the grand scheme of their accomplishments. Carouselambra, Achilles Last Stand, In the Light, No Quarter, Ten Years Gone, Battle of Evermore and even The Immigrant song are completely of different and unique musical spirits. Zeppelin wasn't dependent on others to change the world, either.
Too Old To Rock And Roll etc; Songs from the Wood; Heavy Horses and Crest of a Knave are all consistently fantastic albums. Broadsword; Dot Com; Roots to Branches are good records despite being in the lower spectrum of Tull discography.
Yes, when you produce volumes of material you'll see a decline in quality, but Ian's done consistently well over the course of 20+ albums. And that's what separates the men from the boys. How many Zep albums are there? 5-6? And those are mainly collaborations.
Led had eight studio albums. Mostly due to high demand and constant touring. And no, they were not collaborations. I mean no disrespect to JT or IA, but Led covered more ground and was preserved from being infected by 80's crap like Tull did. They weren't just in a world of their own, they were in many. Listen to the songs I listed above.
And Tull didn't have a busy live schedule? They're constantly touring now, for christsakes, while Led Zepplin are getting extensive rimwork for doing a one off show.
And not collaborations? Most LZ songs are credited as Page/Plant.
I don't see a trio of folk albums or decade-long flirtation with eastern and eastern european music.
Zep did NOT cover more ground musically. I've listened to those songs, bar Carouselambra and none of them are THAT different, they always go back to formulaic pentatonic wankery and embarrasing Tolkein themes.
And sure, the bad 80's gated reverb production and synths haven't dated at all well, but perhaps if Page and the gang had been more open to different production styles the individuality and musical invention of each album would become more apparent on repeated listening.
There's so much denial here it's unreasonable to continue like this. Multiple genres, 8 Albums, 12 years and 13 tunings later I still say Led is a notch above the rest. Unlike Tull, Led was a solid unit of four constant members like organs of a body. With John Henry Bonham out of the picture all else is a pacemaker in comparison. You can't equate the two. Tull was expending members left and right, album to album nearly. Led isn't on tour because they DISBANDED. Make sense?
Why are we arguing who's the "better" band... Tull or Zeppelin. They were very different bands, very different music. I like both for different reasons. It's like having an argument what's a better movie... The Godfather or 2001 Space Odessey.
Both are great for different reasons. It's hard to compare. Personally, my favorite band of all time is Tull (1971-1979). That doesn't mean I think they were "better" than Led Zep or anyone else. I just enjoyed Tull the most.
Tull has called a concept band and mis-labled as a Heavy Metal band but I never knew they were also considered "glitter rock"-lol! On a sadder note, it is really sad to see John Glascok so vital and in good health knowing he would die just a few short years later. What a loss.
Not only did he smoke and was lead singer, but he was lead flute player. Also, during each song, when all other singers were taking a break, he had to go non-stop with the flute. Take into account he toured and released an album every year, that is an incredible amount of strain on his voice!
kas0741 8 months ago
It's so weird, 90% of the appeal of Jethro Tull is the musicianship, the structure, composition, production of the music, and yet you never hear him talking about music, he's always just talking about money and schedules and people, like he puts no thought into the music, but the music sounds as if it's come from a person who spends their life agonising about the perfect way for it to sound. As if it just comes to easily to him he'd be bored by talking about it.
GlassPike 1 year ago 2
well said paul
rutwick786 2 years ago
So sad to see Ian, knowing what a price his voice would later pay, with that cigarette in his hand. I am glad he was able to quit but the damage was done.
tullskull 2 years ago 3
So true. He destroyed his voice at such a relatively young age because of all his smoking.
By 1984 (only 37 years old), his voice had lost that deep, rich resonance.
Check out the video of every interview of Ian back in the 70's. He's SMOKING.
I even have a 1970 video of him SMOKING IN BED before going to sleep!!!
Have you ever seen THAT one?
PaulHartXYZ 2 years ago
I've got used to the way his voice sounds now and I love his stuff as much as I ever have. I can't get enough of 'The Secret Language Of Birds' and 'Rupi's Dance'.
MacAggy 2 years ago 2
@PaulHartXYZ thats his business,you are a child of the smoking agendacontrol program, do you believe second hand smoke in open or ventilated areas is harmful. you see first the govt puches cigs down our throats then they pretend to care and get a social program going that makes cigs a leprosy and bad for all. smoking in bed is only dangerous if you die, bed is where most people die.regulating personal behaviour is a disoerder of freakish control.
xtiml 1 year ago
@PaulHartXYZ It wasn't only that, but Ian felt the need to release and album and tour EVERY YEAR. Putting more stress on his shoulder.
Pasalaqcua 9 months ago
Im interested to know how true musicians rate Tull so please post a comment if you are one - to me the music appears to be pure genius but I'm no musician so my opinion is qualified. I love the acoustic stuff with all the neat arpegios and note runs, and the contrast of the clean acoustic sound with electric in songs like aqualung and velvet green.
rocklickerSA 2 years ago
No one mixed acoustic sequences with hard electric sequences like Ian Anderson.
I play guitar, and I can appreciate the complexity and true majesty of his writing.
PaulHartXYZ 2 years ago 2
Fellow guitarist agrees in more ways than one.
rdubtastic 2 years ago
@rocklickerSA music is like wine,if it tastes goo to onself it is good, snobbery and over analysis s a bore to the mostly non playing people who buy their work.
xtiml 1 year ago
@rocklickerSA Guitar, drums player here, what everyone else wrote is completely true, but you have to go even further and realize he took medieval music/lyrics and 'brought' them, if you will, into modern rock and jazz. He and the originals did an interview, quite awhile ago, and they talked about the first real recording gig they got. I heard it on the radio and it was amazing, Ian literally got up in the morning and would write whole songs in a matter of minutes and they made it on the album.
infamousreee 10 months ago
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SkylarkStudios 2 years ago
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ilGagio89 2 years ago
Why you don't cut away this stupid fool at the beginning of the video? He's talkin bullshit, I think he don't like Jethro Tull, so cut that crap please...!!
Crownkocher 3 years ago
I have a professionally shot video of Tull during the Tullavision concert. I believe the tour was the same year 'Too Old' came out, probably around 1976.
I must say that Ian is the greatest front man I have ever seen live. I have seen hundreds of concerts since 1972, ranging from Zep, Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd to Springsteen, U2 etc ... and Ian is unsurpassed as a showman.
DrNeb 3 years ago 8
Marvellous Ian Anderson!
Bellinda1964 3 years ago 2
Martin Barre- Fantastic power chords! Never managed to work it out but I did have a sunburst Les Paul
zabrar 3 years ago
i think 75' he looked so frickin hot,my whole being melts watching this video,damn he frickin hot. and the best singer /player ever.
wow,wow,wow
sweetsusan146 3 years ago
I have seen them a few times and would prefer to see their theatrical show compared to the concerts I have been to today. Ian really seems quite normal, when I saw him perform I thought he was 'odd' but that was just part of the show...
teresaslo2 3 years ago
Who's the GErman fag at te beginning?
busterbone 3 years ago
You can't blame Jeffrey. He likes painting and such.
Tull rocks. TAAB, A Passion Play, Stand Up, Benefit, and Aqualung are must have record collection selections.
Spifftone 3 years ago
It sounds like the first part of the performance (up until 3:42) is actually the studio version...after 3:42, you can hear that they're playing a half step up in the key of C, whereas at the beginning they're playing in the key of B.
applejack357 3 years ago
For some reason Jason Isaacs reminds me of Ian Anderson.
taberjohnson18 3 years ago
i agree with everything positive thats said about ian, i love him more than cookies, i want to marry this man :)
pamelllakaye 3 years ago
I love the way he speaks so much too, not only the way he sings and performs.
lienzosttirol 4 years ago
PAUL HARTXYZ ,I AGREE . first of all ,EVERY TULL song is way beyond commercial (spew) you no what i mean, Just the musical progressions /delicasies ,,stage image,, Poetry ,rhime &rhythm reflecting a very unique act ,,most people couldnt get it(tisktisktisk)! THE band was strong 25 yrs GENIUS ,, With great thanks.
222222hot 4 years ago 2
Thanks. Finally someone who gets it.
During the Hammond years, Tull's music and image were so incredible / complex / medieval / transformative / exotic / strange / wonderful /surreal.
From the Elizabethian complexities of Warchild to the otherworldliness of Passion Play... Tull's music was ingenius.
PaulHartXYZ 4 years ago
don't understate their new music. the newer music, i would go so far as to say, is better than their older music.
even if it is all great
Joopson 3 years ago
Are you still going to post that other video where Ian introduces a "new song called Minstrel in the Gallery"? Looking forward to seeing that!
drunk3director 3 years ago
OH ,hope you read this HELLO IAN ultra COOL
222222hot 4 years ago
if you like jethro tull plz join my jt fan group. just go to my profile and click groups and join jt fans group
kevinmann 4 years ago
twist my right arm in the dark, I would give two or three for one of those days that never made impression on the old score....
those days indeed made a great impression, but I would give my right arm to see a whole concert form 75 on video
huntinggirl 4 years ago
Nice lyrics from "A Passion Play".
Supposedly there was a July 1975 Tull show video-taped in Paris. It was at the tail end of the WARCHILD tour. I have a short 3 minute clip of that show where Ian is talking to the audience about a new song (Minstrel in the Gallery) the band just recorded for their next album. And he then plays the opening acoustic part. (Yes, Ian in his minstrel outfit and all!!!)
I'll attempt to post it.
PaulHartXYZ 4 years ago
Tull & Rush, two favorite bands, are frequently called "prog," but I've never grapsed why. Is it merely because they use words of more than two syllables and are compentent musicians? I reject the preconception that it has to be stupid to be rock.
bobgee1999 4 years ago 4
THANKS! Had not yet seen this interview, It's like revisiting yesteryear when the group was riding the crest of success and was a creativity machine as well. Tull People: please post clips of Tull from the past.
locomotoring 4 years ago
i would have married him.. <3
angelacl 4 years ago
Having being raised on Jethro Tull as a real first blues/prog/rock band,my appeal to them was from their name after an agronomist/seed drill inventor.The appeal in music being a reflection of a bygone age but in a 20th century rock/folk clothing era.Intelligent lyrics with a group persona and indeed presence and attitude.Unfortunately, the punk era got the better of them along with the likes of Genesis and Yes.You could of course have the view that its just bollocks.lol
WACKYSAKI 4 years ago
I too remember when PUNK washed over progressive rock in the late 70s.
That movement was more or less a rebellion against the incredibly complex, classically-oriented sound of bands like Yes, Tull, ELP, Renaissance, etc.
Tull had a particular appeal to me. Ian was like a mad Medieval pied piper from English antiquity. I first became a fan during the Warchild tour as a youngster. Images of Ian jumping around in his court jester's outfit made an indelible imprint on my young mind.
PaulHartXYZ 4 years ago
I guess the overwhelming amount of progressive bands would have ticked me off at the time, but I wasn't alive at that time. I like progressive rock just as much(if not more) than punk rock.
topraman517 4 years ago
I never knew Jefferey got so much into the performance. Seems like he gave Ian a run for his money as far as stage presence.
Chrisdrumz 5 years ago
I wonder about the truth of Jethro Tull. Ian was a real stage hog ... and he micromanaged everyone's movements on stage practically. Odd that he seems not to have been really great at image ... every time I see one of those old videos they are so corny and bad. It is like Ian was writing music for a really bad movie to make lots of money. What an interesting character.
themountainviewguy 4 years ago
a real fan dont make that kind of comments... such a pity u think everything they say about tull, and do not believe in them
Cacuro123 5 years ago
My first concert August 23rd 1973! Passion Play! They were so cool then ... Ian had an incredibly strong voice!
themountainviewguy 5 years ago
yeah, i am the biggest tull fan you will ever find.. but I saw them on the Broadsword and the Beast tour, but Ian sounded like one of the chipmonks from Alvin and the Chipmonks. It was very disappointing. I had 3rd row seats even. I heard that his voice got destroyed from so many smokey gigs. Such a pity. Then I heard that in reality, he despises the jethro tull "character" he plays .. with the leg up and goofy costumes, etc.. that bummed me out also.
lowlypeasant 5 years ago
Ian has got to be driven by some pretty powerful forces to be so damned creative. One wonders if it is a blessing or curse. Whatever I am still crazy about his music. It is kind of sad that he feels he has to do all the theatrics to be popular, but he would know best ... maybe what's crazy is that he has to to get people to listen. He is a character, but I hope he stays well and happy and takes good care of himself.
themountainviewguy 4 years ago 3
This era of Tull WAS sheer genius--and let's NOT forget Benefit, right??!!
vampyros1 5 years ago 2
Ian, I would have paid four times the entry price to see you guys play in 1975. Flat out. (Great Vid by the way!)
centrifugalforces 5 years ago
I agree.
I would pay A LOT to see the Tull of 1974 and 1975, when Ian wore his infamous minstrel's outfit.
Sadly, I was born too late.
PaulHartXYZ 5 years ago
sweet !!
humboldtmyche 5 years ago
i like this better one than the album recording
adderbrain5 5 years ago
Oh how I love Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull. :)
amethystmyst 5 years ago
PaulH-True,TAB#1 in '72!It still resonates in both prose and composition complexity that "works" for me to this day.Bottom line having seen Ian and the boys many times from the "Bursting Out" era on is PRECISELY your point.My search is driven by other rock fans in Ohio who left Tull concerts in '73 and '74 raving about this mad piper!They could not believe the energy, non-stop jumping,"jestering",all while keeping such precision and tempo that progressively rocked out!
ganthony1 5 years ago
Yes, I am ever looking for this era of Tull live. The energy, lyrics and If anyone knows of such...call my agent. or drop me a note here. Love live this progressive rock era (i.e. From TAB to Minstrel to SFTW)!
ganthony1 5 years ago 2
Yes Ganthony1... Isn't it BIZARRE that there's no professional film footage (other than what I posted here) of the band during their most popular and creative period (Aqualung 1971, Thick As a Brick 1972, A Passion Play 1973, Warchild 1974, Minstrel In The Gallery 1975.)
During those years, Tull was the biggest thing on Earth... yet NOTHING exists. Unless Ian is hiding something in his vault.
PaulHartXYZ 5 years ago
What a wonderful song.
KaiBailey 5 years ago
Great clip.This was my all time fav Tull line-up:Ian ,Martin,Jeffrey,Barriemore and John Evan.Still consider this their best years by far.
pennywise31 5 years ago
Yes Pennywise31...
The Jeffrey Hammond years (Aqualung 1971 to Minstrel in the Gallery 1975) were by far the band's most creative and popular ones. Sadly however, this is the ONLY known live PRO-SHOT footage of the band during that amazing era. If anyone knows of anything else, PLEASE tell us.
PaulHartXYZ 5 years ago
Great vid. Thanks. Been a JT fan since the beginning. Ian tended to get the best and brightest musicians of the day and bring them on board. Listened to Stand Up all the way through today on the way to work, and it stills holds up musically after 37 years. Always amazed that Martin has hung in there for close to 38 years after Mick Abrahams flew the coop after "This Was" I would rank some of Ian's ballads as some of the best ever written.
JuilliardReject 5 years ago 3
Oh! how foolish of me, that's Jeffrey Hammond Hammond of course! Thanks for clarifying that for me PaulHartXYZ. Jeffrey was Ian's childhood friend that Ian wrote several songs about? I read somewhere that Ian once said that Jeffrey painted hundreds of paintings that he will not let anyone see. Very Tullish-lol!
pocogirl 5 years ago
Yes. Jeffrey was a strange bird.
He was childhood friends with Ian and John Evans.
He left Tull at the end of the MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY tour (late 1975) to return to painting.
Ian credits Jeffrey with bringing a lot of creative ideas to the band.
It was during Jeffrey's time with Tull (1971 to 1975) that the band produced some of their most creative works... THICK AS A BRICK, A PASSION PLAY, WARCHILD, etc.
PaulHartXYZ 5 years ago
It was during the Jeffrey Hammond Hammond years that JT missed the chance to become THE greatest band of all time. They were well on their way with Stand up and Benefit, but by 1975 they were no longer taken seriously. Although 1976 - 1979 saw a return to form, the damage couldn't be undone.
DinoRok 4 years ago
I disagree.
Tull had it's greatest success during the Hammond years. Aqualung, TAAB, Living in the Past, Passion Play and Warchild were all top ten albums.
PaulHartXYZ 4 years ago
Right, Stand-up and Benefit were before Tull made their mature music. TAAB MADE THEM THE GREATEST BAND OF ALL TIME! The album reached number 1 as well. This guy doesn't have the facts.
drunk3director 3 years ago
Yes, Drunk3Director.
On TAAB, Ian REALLY found his voice... literally and figuratively. It was the emergence of Tull's truly transcendent music.
And yes, I will finally post that rare intro to MINSTREL from June 1975. I'm so ANGRY there is nothing else from the Hammond era on video. ANGRY. Please Ian... please have something in the vault.
PaulHartXYZ 3 years ago
Please let me know when this June 75 intro is posted.
drunk3director 3 years ago
Sorry Sir - If not Tull - What is the greatest Band of all time, in your opinion?
Landen1185 3 years ago
I'd say Led Zeppelin.
UC7media 3 years ago
While LZ might cater better for the tastes of Plebians, at least IA doesn't go round including obscure blues songs and giving himself the songwriting credit.
BrianApocalypse 3 years ago 3
This comment has received too many negative votes show
No, but after war child his music began to wilt like a slow-leak on a balloon. Led's magic was preserved, and most of his blues stuff doesn't matter in the grand scheme of their accomplishments. Carouselambra, Achilles Last Stand, In the Light, No Quarter, Ten Years Gone, Battle of Evermore and even The Immigrant song are completely of different and unique musical spirits. Zeppelin wasn't dependent on others to change the world, either.
UC7media 3 years ago
Too Old To Rock And Roll etc; Songs from the Wood; Heavy Horses and Crest of a Knave are all consistently fantastic albums. Broadsword; Dot Com; Roots to Branches are good records despite being in the lower spectrum of Tull discography.
Yes, when you produce volumes of material you'll see a decline in quality, but Ian's done consistently well over the course of 20+ albums. And that's what separates the men from the boys. How many Zep albums are there? 5-6? And those are mainly collaborations.
BrianApocalypse 3 years ago
Led had eight studio albums. Mostly due to high demand and constant touring. And no, they were not collaborations. I mean no disrespect to JT or IA, but Led covered more ground and was preserved from being infected by 80's crap like Tull did. They weren't just in a world of their own, they were in many. Listen to the songs I listed above.
UC7media 3 years ago
And Tull didn't have a busy live schedule? They're constantly touring now, for christsakes, while Led Zepplin are getting extensive rimwork for doing a one off show.
And not collaborations? Most LZ songs are credited as Page/Plant.
I don't see a trio of folk albums or decade-long flirtation with eastern and eastern european music.
BrianApocalypse 3 years ago
Zep did NOT cover more ground musically. I've listened to those songs, bar Carouselambra and none of them are THAT different, they always go back to formulaic pentatonic wankery and embarrasing Tolkein themes.
And sure, the bad 80's gated reverb production and synths haven't dated at all well, but perhaps if Page and the gang had been more open to different production styles the individuality and musical invention of each album would become more apparent on repeated listening.
BrianApocalypse 3 years ago
There's so much denial here it's unreasonable to continue like this. Multiple genres, 8 Albums, 12 years and 13 tunings later I still say Led is a notch above the rest. Unlike Tull, Led was a solid unit of four constant members like organs of a body. With John Henry Bonham out of the picture all else is a pacemaker in comparison. You can't equate the two. Tull was expending members left and right, album to album nearly. Led isn't on tour because they DISBANDED. Make sense?
UC7media 3 years ago
Why are we arguing who's the "better" band... Tull or Zeppelin. They were very different bands, very different music. I like both for different reasons. It's like having an argument what's a better movie... The Godfather or 2001 Space Odessey.
Both are great for different reasons. It's hard to compare. Personally, my favorite band of all time is Tull (1971-1979). That doesn't mean I think they were "better" than Led Zep or anyone else. I just enjoyed Tull the most.
PaulHartXYZ 3 years ago
Tull has called a concept band and mis-labled as a Heavy Metal band but I never knew they were also considered "glitter rock"-lol! On a sadder note, it is really sad to see John Glascok so vital and in good health knowing he would die just a few short years later. What a loss.
pocogirl 5 years ago
Hi PocoGirl.
That's not John Glascock playing bass in the MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY clip (1975).
That's the bass player BEFORE John Glascock... Jeffrey Hammond.
John Glascock joined the band in 1976 for the TOO OLD TO ROCK N' ROLL album. He was with Tull until 1979... when he sadly passed away.
PaulHartXYZ 5 years ago
great vid. long live tull
rico9909 5 years ago
Yes boys and girls... This clip of Tull's "Minstrel in the Gallery" has a different ending from the well-known clip of this song!!!!
PaulHartXYZ 5 years ago