Jethro Tull (band)

For the 18th-century agriculturist after whom the band was named, see Jethro Tull (agriculturist).

Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull are a Grammy Award winning English rock band that formed in 1967-1968. Their music is marked by the distinctive vocal style and lead flute work of front man Ian Anderson. Initially playing blues rock with an experimental flavour, they have, over the years, incorporated elements of classical, folk and 'ethnic' musics, jazz and art rock. Eclectic influences, diverse instrumentation, and often elaborate song construction led them to be labelled as an archetypal "progressive rock" band.

History

1963–1967: Origins

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, Barrie Barlow was the band's drummer, as he would later be for Tull itself.

The band moved to the London area in search of more bookings, basing themselves in nearby Luton.They also traveled to Liverpool. However, money remained short and within days of the move most of the band quit and headed back north, leaving Anderson and bassist Glenn Cornick to join forces with blues guitarist Mick Abrahams and his friend, drummer Clive Bunker, both from the Luton-based band "McGregor's Engine". At first, the new band had trouble getting repeat bookings and they 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 (namely, John Gee of the Marquee Club, London) liked their show enough to invite them to return. They were signed to the blossoming Ellis-Wright agency, and became the third band managed by the soon-to-be Chrysalis empire.

1968: Progressive Blues

After an unsuccessful single produced by Derek Lawrence (an Abrahams-penned pop tune called "Sunshine Day" on which the band's name was misspelled "Jethro Toe", making it a collector's item), they released the bluesy album This Was in 1968. In addition to music written by Anderson and Abrahams the album included the traditional "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 talents on the flute, an instrument which he started learning to play only half a year before the release of the album. The overall sound of the group at this time was described in the Record Mirror by Anderson in 1968 as "a sort of progressive blues with a bit of jazz".

Following this album, Abrahams left and formed his own band, Blodwyn Pig. There were a number of reasons for his departure: he was a blues purist, while Anderson wanted to branch out into other forms of music; Abrahams and Cornick did not get along; and Abrahams was unwilling to travel internationally or play more than three nights a week, while the others wanted to be successful by playing as often as possible and building an international fan base.

Earth/Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi took on guitar duties for a short time after the departure of Abrahams, appearing in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (in which the group mimed "A Song For Jeffrey") in 1968, but returned to Earth/Black Sabbath after the performance.

1969–1971: Developing their own style

After auditions for a replacement guitarist, Anderson chose Martin Barre, a former member of Motivation, Penny Peeps, and Gethsemane, who was playing with Noel Redding's Fat Mattress at the time. Barre impressed Anderson with his persistence more than anything else: he was so nervous at his first audition that he could hardly play at all, and then showed up for a second audition without a cord to connect his guitar to an amplifier. Nevertheless, Barre would become Abrahams' permanent replacement on guitar and 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-one album. Written entirely by Anderson — with the exception of the jazzy rearrangement of J. S. Bach's Bourée (fifth movement from Suite for Lute in E minor BWV 996 (BC L166)) — it branched out further from the blues, clearly evidencing a new direction for the group, which would come to be categorised as progressive rock alongside such diverse groups as King Crimson, Genesis, The Nice and Yes. The "Living in the Past" single of the same year reached number three in the UK chart, and though most other progressive groups actively resisted issuing singles at the time, Tull had further success with their other singles, "Sweet Dream" (1969) and "The Witch's Promise" (1970), and a five-track EP, Life Is a Long Song (1971), all of which made the top twenty. In 1970, they added keyboardist John Evan (initially as a guest musician) and released the album Benefit.

Bassist Cornick left following Benefit, replaced by Jeffrey Hammond, a childhood friend of Anderson whose name appeared in the songs "A Song for Jeffrey", "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square", "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey, and Me", and who also is the writer and narrator of "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" featured in the A Passion Play album. Jeffrey was often credited on Tull albums as "Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond", but the extra "Hammond" was an inside joke regarding the fact that Hammond's mother's maiden name was also "Hammond", no relation to his father.

This line-up released Tull's best-known work, Aqualung in 1971. On this album, Anderson's writing voiced strong opinions about religion and society. Though consisting of distinct tracks, there is a common narrative thread leading some to label it as a concept album. The title character of Aqualung is a disreputable tramp, wandering the streets and "eyeing little girls with bad intent"; the focus of the song "Cross-Eyed Mary" is an underage prostitute. "My God" - written before Benefit and already a staple of the band's live act before Aqualung's release - is a full-frontal assault on ecclesiastic excesses: "People what have you done/locked Him in His golden cage/Made Him bend to your religion/Him resurrected from the grave..." In contrast, the gentle acoustic "Wond'ring Aloud" is a love song. The title track and "Locomotive Breath" remain staples of US classic rock stations and, to this day, are rarely left out of Tull's live act.

1972–1976: Progressive rock

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Thick as a Brick concept album.

Because of the heavy touring schedule and his wish to spend more time with his family, drummer Bunker left the band after the Aqualung album, and was replaced by Barriemore Barlow in early 1971. Barlow 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 conceived as a concept album consisting of a single track running 43:28 (an innovation previously unheard of in rock music), split over the two sides of the LP, with a number of movements melded together and some repeating themes. The first movement with its distinctive acoustic guitar riff received some airplay on rock stations at the time (and occasionally turns up in modern classic-rock programming as a "deep" or "rare" cut). Thick as a Brick was the first true progrock offering by the band, as well as the first Jethro Tull album to reach number one on the (U.S.) Billboard Pop Albums chart (the following year's A Passion Play being the only other). This album's quintet – Anderson, Barre, Evan, Hammond, and Barlow – endured until the end of 1975.

1972 also saw the release of Living in the Past, a double-album compilation of remixed 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. Fans regard the album as arguably the band's best compilation. The title track remains one of their more enduring singles, though Anderson reportedly wrote it in 5/4 time with the intent of preventing its ascent to the pop charts.

In 1973, the band attempted to record a double album in tax exile at France's Château d'Hérouville studios (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 11-minute excerpt from these recordings was released on the 1988 20 Years of Jethro Tull boxed set, and the complete sessions were finally released on the 1993 compilation Nightcap, with the contemporarily overdubbed flute lines where the vocal parts were missing.) Instead they returned to England and Anderson rewrote, quickly recorded, and released A Passion Play, another single-track concept album, and their second pure prog release, with very allegorical lyrics focusing on the afterlife. A Passion Play continued the diverse instrumentation introduced in Thick As a Brick, and added saxophones to the mix. A Passion Play sold well but received generally poor reviews, including a particularly damning review of its live performance by Chris Welch of Melody Maker.

Around this time, the band's popularity with critics began to wane, but their popularity with the public remained strong. 1974's War Child, an album originally intended to be a companion piece for a film, reached number two on the Billboard charts and received some critical acclaim, and produced the radio mainstays "Bungle in the Jungle" and "Skating Away (On the Thin Ice of the New Day)". 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. Written and recorded during Anderson's divorce from his first wife Jenny, the album is characterised by introspective, cynical, and sometimes bitter lyrics. Critics gave it mixed reviews, but the album came to be acknowledged as one of the band's best 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, retiring from music altogether to pursue painting (which had always been his intention). John Glascock, who earlier was playing with flamenco-rock band Carmen, a support band on the previous Jethro Tull tour, was tabbed as the band's new bassist.

1976's Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! was another concept album, this time about the life of an aging 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. Curiously, the sleeve for the album featured a comic strip with a lead character (Ray Lomas) that looked very similar to Anderson.

1977–1979: Folk rock trilogy

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 unanimously positive reviews since the release of Benefit and Living in the Past.

The band had long had ties to 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 an exchange of musical ideas among Tull and the folk rockers. Also, by this time Anderson had moved to a farm in the countryside, and his new bucolic lifestyle was clearly reflected on these albums. A stellar example is the title track of Heavy Horses, a paean to draught horses.

The band continued to tour, and released a live double album in 1978. Entitled Bursting Out it featured dynamic live performances from the lineup that many Tull fans consider comprising 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 piss. Ah, he's back. Did you give it a good shake?") The vinyl LP contains three tracks not found on the initial U.S. single-disc CD edition: Martin Barre's guitar solo tracks "Quatrain" and "Conundrum" (which had an extended drum solo from drummer Barriemore Barlow) and a version of the 1969 UK single hit, "Sweet Dream". (These tracks were included on the original two-CD U.K. edition, and were restored in a globally released re-mastered two-CD edition released in 2004.) During the USA tour, because of health problems, John Glascock was replaced by Anderson's friend and former Stealers Wheel bassist Tony Williams.

In 1977, David Palmer (now known as Dee Palmer), who had long been the band's orchestra arranger, formally joined the band on keyboards. Bassist Glascock left the band in the summer of 1979 due to collapsing health and in the autumn of the same year died following heart surgery. Stormwatch was completed without him (Anderson contributed bass on most tracks). The following tour featured Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention on bass guitar. After this tour, Anderson decided to record his first solo album. Also after this tour, Barriemore Barlow, deeply upset by Glascock's death, decided to leave the band.

Evolution of live shows during the 1970s

During the early 1970s 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 shows 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 colourful costume.

Jethro Tull in concert in Naples, 1998.

Other band-members joined in the dress-up and developed stage personae. Bassist Glenn Cornick always appeared in vest and headband. while his successor Jeffrey Hammond eventually adopted a black and white diagonally striped suit (and similarly striped bass guitar, electric guitar, and string bass). It was a zebra look, and at one point a two-manned zebra came out excreting ping pong balls into the audience while both performers moved forcefully around their stage areas. John Evan dressed in an all-white suit with a neck-scarf of scarlet with white polka-dots; described as a "sad clown" type with extremely oversized shoes, he joined in the theatrics by galumphing back and forth between Hammond Organ and grand piano (placed on opposite sides of the stage in the Thick as a Brick tour) or by such sight-gags as pulling out a flask and pretending to drink from it during a rest in the music. Barriemore Barlow's stage attire was a crimson tank-top and matching runner's shorts with rugby footgear, and his solos were marked by smoke-machines and enormous drumsticks. Martin Barre was the island of calm amongst the madmen, with Anderson (and sometimes Evan) crowding him and making faces during his solos.

The band's stage theatrics peaked during the Thick As A Brick tour, a performance distinguished by stage hands wearing the tan trench-coat/madras cap ensemble from the album art, extras in rabbit suits running across stage and an extended interlude during which Barre and Barlow entered a beach-tent onstage and swapped pants.

A Passion Play was planned to have a full-length film to go with the stage theatrics. However, from this effort, it seems that only a few excerpts have survived to be re-released on recent commemorative videos of the band, including the interlude "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles."

A similar multi-media effort had been planned for Too Old To Rock and Roll... but was not completed. Thereafter, the emphasis on theatrics was reduced but never eliminated. In 1982's Broadsword and the Beast concerts, the entire stage was transformed into a viking ship. Anderson often dressed as a country squire on tours in the late 1970s, with the rest of the band adopting the style during their folk phase. The A tour featured the same white jumpsuit uniforms worn by the band on the album cover. Certain routines from the 1970s have recently become ensconced in concerts, such as having a song interrupted by a phone call for an audience member (which Anderson now takes on a cell) and the climactic conclusion of shows including bombastic instrumentals and the giant balloons which Anderson would carry over his head and toss into the crowd.

1980–1984: Electronic rock

Tull's first album of the 1980s, A, was originally intended to be Ian Anderson's first solo album. Anderson retained Barre on electric guitar, and added Dave Pegg (Fairport Convention) on bass, Mark Craney on drums, and special guest keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson (ex-Roxy Music, UK, Frank Zappa). Highlighted by the prominent use of synthesisers, it contrasted sharply with the established "Tull sound". After pressure from Chrysalis Records, Anderson decided to release it as a Jethro Tull album. Entitled A (taken from the labels on the master tapes for his scrapped solo album, marked simply "A for Anderson"), it was released in mid-1980.

In keeping with the mood of innovation surrounding the album, Tull made an early foray into the emerging genre of music video with Slipstream, a film which takes place at London's Hammersmith Odeon (which was used for exterior scenes). However, the main concert footage was actually from an American performance in Los Angeles, California at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (as heard on the Magic Piper ROIO) featuring the A lineup filmed in November of 1980. The video was directed by David Mallet, who has directed numerous music videos including the pioneering "Ashes to Ashes" video for David Bowie. 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 included as a bonus DVD with the 2004 remastered edition of the A album.

Jobson and Craney departed following the A tour and Tull entered a period of revolving drummers: Gerry Conway, Phil Collins (who played with the band at the first Prince's Trust concert in 1982 as a fill-in drummer for the then recent departed Gerry Conway), Paul Burgess (for the US leg of the Broadsword and the Beast tour), and Doane Perry. The year of 1981 was the first year in their album career that the band did not release an album; however some recording sessions took place (Anderson, Barre, Pegg, and Conway, with Anderson playing the keyboards). Some of these tracks were released on the Nightcap compilation in 1993. In 1982, Peter-John Vettese joined on keyboards, and the band returned to a somewhat folkier sound – albeit with synthesisers – for 1982's Broadsword and the Beast. The ensuing concert tour for the album was well-attended and the shows featured what was to be one of the group's last indulgences in full dress theatricality: the stage was built to resemble a Viking longship and the band performed in traditional medieval regalia.

An Anderson solo album (which was in fact an Anderson-Vettese effort) appeared in 1983, in the form of the heavily electronic Walk into Light. Although the album featured electronic soundscapes and synthesiser voicings advanced for its time, as well as cerebral lyrics about the alienating effects of technology, the release failed to resonate with longtime fans or with new listeners. However, as with later solo efforts by Anderson and Barre, some of the Walk Into Light songs, such as "Fly By Night", "Made in England" and "Different Germany", later made their way into Tull live sets.

In 1984, Tull released Under Wraps, a heavily electronic album with no "live" drummer (instead, as on Walk into Light, a drum-machine was used). Although the band was reportedly proud of the sound, the album was not well-received, particularly in North America. However, the video for "Lap of Luxury" did manage to earn moderate rotation on the newly influential MTV music video channel. Also, the acoustic version of the title track, Under Wraps 2, found some favour over the years and a live instrumental version of the song was included on the "A Little Light Music" concert CD of 1992. Some longtime Tull fans regard Under Wraps as one of the band's weaker efforts; however, Martin Barre considers it his favourite. As a result of the throat problems Anderson developed singing the demanding Under Wraps material on tour, Tull took a three-year break, during which Anderson continued to oversee his salmon farm which he founded in 1978.

1987–1991: Hard rock

Tull returned strongly with 1987's Crest of a Knave. With Vettese absent (Anderson contributed the synth programming) and the band relying more heavily on Barre's electric guitar than they had since the early 1970s, the album was a critical and commercial success. Shades of their earlier electronic excursions were still present, however, as three of the album's songs again utilized a drum machine. The band won the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, beating the favourite Metallica and their ...And Justice For All album. The award was particularly controversial as many did not consider Jethro Tull hard rock, much less heavy metal. Under advisement from their manager, who told them they had no chance of winning, no one from the band attended the award ceremony. In response to the criticism they received over the award, the band took out an advert in a British music periodical with a picture of a flute lying amid a pile of iron re-bars and the line, "THE FLUTE IS A HEAVY METAL INSTRUMENT." In 2007, the win was named one of the ten biggest upsets in Grammy history by Entertainment Weekly (In 1992, when Metallica finally won the Grammy in the category, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich joked, "First thing we're going to do is thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year.").

The style of Crest has been compared to that of Dire Straits, in part because Anderson no longer seemed to have the vocal range he once possessed. Two songs in particular -- "Farm on the Freeway" and "Steel Monkey" -- got heavy radio airplay. The album also contained the popular live song "Budapest", which depicts a backstage scene with a shy local female stagehand. Although "Budapest" was the longest song on that album (longer than ten minutes), "Mountain Men" became more famous throughout Europe, depicting a scene from World War II in Africa. Ian Anderson referred to the battles of El Alamain and the Falkland Islands, drawing historic parallels of the angst that women left behind by their warrior husbands might have felt:

died in the trenches at El Alamain,
died in the Falklands on TV - from Mountain Men

1988 was notable for the release of 20 Years of Jethro Tull, a five-LP themed set (also released as an unthemed three-CD set, and as a truncated single CD version on 20 Years of Jethro Tull: Highlights) consisting largely of rarities and outtakes from throughout the band's history, as well as a variety of live and remastered tracks. It also included a booklet outlining the band's history in detail. Now out of print, it has become a collector's item, although many (but not all) of the outtakes have been included as bonus tracks on the remasters of the band's studio albums.

Multi-instrumentalist Martin (Maart) Allcock, who as a member of Fairport Convention, had played with Tull at the Cropredy festival the previous year. He joined the band mainly as keyboard player, starting with the 20th Anniversary tour.

In 1989, the band released Rock Island, which met with less commercial and critical success than Crest of a Knave. The lead-off track, "Kissing Willie," featured bawdy double entendre lyrics and over the top heavy metal riffing that seemed to take a satiric view of the group's recent Grammy award win. The song's accompanying video found difficulty in receiving rotation because of its sexual imagery. Although Rock Island was something of a miss for the group, a couple of fan favourites did emerge from the album. "Big Riff and Mando" reflects life on the road for the relentlessly touring musicians, giving a wry account of the theft of Barre's prized mandolin by a stage-struck fan. "Another Christmas Song", an upbeat number celebrating the humanitarian spirit of the holiday season, stood out against the brooding and sombre mood of many of the songs on the album and was well-received at concerts. It was re-recorded for the 2003 Jethro Tull Christmas Album release.

1991's Catfish Rising was a more solid album than Rock Island. Despite being labelled as a "return to playing the blues," the album actually is marked by the generous use of mandolin and acoustic guitar and much less use of keyboards than any Tull album of the Eighties. Notable tracks included "Rocks on the Road", which highlighted gritty acoustic guitar work and hard-bitten lyrics about urban life and "Still Loving You Tonight", a bluesy low-key ballad.

Allcock, who had played on the Catfish Rising tour although not the album itself, left the band at the end of the year.

1992–1994: Touring and Compiling

In 1992, Tull embarked on a tour titled A Little Light Music, with most of the show focusing on acoustic songs, many of which they had not played live for years, if at all. A live CD was recorded on this tour and released under the same title later in that year. This was well received by fans because of its different takes on many past compositions, as well as a rendition of the folk song "John Barleycorn". As documented by these live performances, Ian's voice had clearly improved since his vocal cord injury in the mid-Eighties. After the CD release, the tour continued as a show of two halves, the Light and Dark Tour.

1993 was marked as the 25th Anniversary of Jethro Tull by the release of various new products, as well as an extensive Anniversary Tour, which started in May 1993 and lasting nearly a year. In keeping with the anniversary theme, this tour again revived a number of older songs.

The 25th Anniversary Box was a four-CD set including new and vintage live recordings, remixed and remastered songs from earlier albums, and re-recordings of old songs by the 90s band. A two-CD Anniversary Collection compilation was also released, containing original tracks remastered, and a video collection included new interviews, promo videos and archive material. The remixed single, Living in the (Slightly more Recent) Past, reached #32 in the UK singles chart. A planned second boxed set of outtakes and rare tracks was scaled down to two discs and released towards the end of the year under the title Nightcap.

1995-present: World music influences

After the 1992 tour, Anderson had re-learned how to play the flute, and begun writing songs that heavily featured world music influences. Dave Pegg also left the band at this time to concentrate on his work with Fairport Convention. He was replaced by Jonathan Noyce. 1995's Roots to Branches and 1999's J-Tull Dot Com are less rock-based than Crest of a Knave or Catfish Rising. These most recent original Tull efforts reflect 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 third-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".

In 1995, Anderson released his second solo album, Divinities: Twelve Dances with God, an instrumental work comprised of twelve flute-heavy pieces pursuing varied themes with an underlying motif. The album was recorded with current Tull keyboard player Andrew Giddings and orchestral musicians. Anderson released two further song-based solo albums, The Secret Language of Birds and Rupi's Dance in 2000 and 2003, respectively.

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Jethro Tull, early 2000s. Left to right: Martin Barre, Andrew Giddings, Jonathan Noyce, Doane Perry, Ian Anderson

2003 saw the release of The Jethro Tull Christmas Album, a collection of traditional Christmas songs together with old and new Christmas songs written by Jethro Tull.

An Ian Anderson live double album and DVD was 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.

Ian Anderson performed a cover version of the song "The Thin Ice," on the 2005 Pink Floyd tribute album Back Against The Wall.

2006 saw the release of a dual boxed set DVD "Collectors Edition", containing two DVD's "Nothing Is Easy" and "Living With The Past". Included on "Nothing is Easy" is footage from the 1970 Isle of Wight festival, considered by many Tull fans to be a classic Tull performance. "Living With The Past" includes a documentary that features the band on tour, in Britain and America, in 2001. It also has footage of a reunion of Jethro Tull's first line up - Anderson, Abrahams, Cornick and Bunker - filmed playing in a pub.

March 2007 saw the release of The Best of Acoustic Jethro Tull, a 24-song set of Tull and Ian Anderson acoustic performances taken from various albums. Included are a new live acoustic version of "One Brown Mouse" and a live performance of the traditional song (attributed to Henry VIII), "Pastime With Good Company."

In September 2007, Jethro Tull released CD/DVD Live At Montreux 2003. The concert was recorded on the July 4, 2003 and featured, among others, "Fat Man", "With You There To Help Me" and "Hunting Girl".

In addition to another busy tour schedule in 2007, Tull are also in the studio recording some new material for a new CD which is expected to be released in the summer of 2008. If it is released it will be the band's first proper new album in 8 years. Some of the new songs were performed live during the recent UK acoustic tour.

As of the end of 2006, the website www.ministry-of-information.com. has logged 2789 Tull concerts since 1968 (which averages about 73 concerts per year for 38 years)!

Band member history

• Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi played guitar for Jethro Tull briefly in 1968 following the departure of Mick Abrahams. The only recording of him with Jethro Tull is on The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus although his guitar is not heard as all of the music (excepting Ian Anderson's vocals and flute) was dubbed in afterwards. He had already quit the band before the Rock and Roll Circus and it was his final performance with the band. He was soon replaced by Martin Barre.

• After his departure from Jethro Tull in 1971, original drummer Clive Bunker played in a short-lived group called Jude with former Procol Harum guitarist Robin Trower.

• Barriemore Barlow replaced Clive Bunker on drums. His second gig for the band was the infamous outdoor concert at Red Rocks Amplitheatre near Denver, Colorado on 10 June, 1971 in which gate-crashing fans rioted with police who dropped tear gas from helicopters. The band played on through their tears in what was described as a brilliant gig; but no rock concerts were held at Red Rocks for years thereafter.

• Genesis' Phil Collins was Jethro Tull's drummer for only one gig: the Prince's Trust Gala on July 7, 1982 at London's Dominion Theatre. During this time, Jethro Tull had the position of drummer to fill after Barriemore Barlow left the band. Phil Collins played a three songs set, and two of them ("Jack in the Green" and "Pussy Willow") are on an official video release of the Prince's Trust Gala--though it may not have been released in all countries.

• A significant number of Jethro Tull former supporting players like Dave Pegg, Martin Allcock, Dave Mattacks and Gerry Conway have been in the core of in the influential folk rock band Fairport Convention. Dave Pegg - a core member of Fairport and the bassist with the longest tenure in Tull (1979-1995) — alternated his career between the two. When Jethro Tull toured the USA in 1987, Fairport Convention was the opening act, with Pegg playing in both bands at each concert.

• Ex-drummer Mark Craney, from the short-lived 1980-81 line-up, died of diabetes and pneumonia on November 26, 2005. He had suffered through a history of health problems including kidney ailments, stroke paralysis, and a heart condition. A number of Tull members contributed to the 1997 charity album, Something With a Pulse, to help Craney pay medical bills.

• Bassist Tony Williams filled in for the remainder of the tour when John Glascock's health failed.

• Bassist Matthew Pegg— Dave's son — is credited with playing bass on Catfish Rising when his father was "washing hair."

• Bassist Steve Bailey appeared on the Roots to Branches recording due to Dave Pegg's scheduling conflicts.

• David Palmer, who arranged orchestras and instruments along with being a member of Jethro Tull, became Dee Palmer in 2003 and transitioned from a male to a female in 2004. She is very open about it and plans on releasing a solo album.

In popular culture

• Jethro Tull recordings appear in numerous films, including Breaking the Waves, Jumanji, Boogie Nights and Almost Famous.

• The song "Aqualung" is briefly joked about in the Will Ferrell comedy Anchorman. Ferrell's character, Ron Burgundy, plays a jazz flute solo and suddenly plays the main riff from "Aqualung" and then shouts, "Hey Aqualung!"

• In a season ten episode of Friends, "The One With Ross's Grant", Rachel and Monica find Jethro Tull listed in Phoebe's black book of men that she has slept with. Rachel asks, "Isn't Jethro Tull a band?", to which Phoebe replies "Yes. Yes, they are."

• Anderson has attributed the marked difference between their music and the music of their contemporaries to the group's avoidance of illegal recreational drugs. Anderson actually stated most of his early lyrics were Lowenbrau-fueled whilst his contemporaries used 'other inspiration'

• In the 1997 debut album of Blackmore's Night (Shadow of the Moon), Ian takes the flute solo on "Play Minstrel Play".

• In an episode of The Simpsons, Martin is given the award for best flautist. He plays the flute and begins to sing "Thick as a Brick" until he's hit on the head with a chair by Lisa.

• In an episode of King of the Hill entitled "The Incredible Hank", part of "Aqualung" is played while Hank lifts weights in his garage.

• In the song "Virus Alert" by "Weird Al" Yankovic, one of the effects of the titular virus is to "make your iPod only play Jethro Tull."

• In an episode of That '70s Show, the character Steven Hyde says that if he was rich he'd have Jethro Tull playing at his house.

• In the movie Big Daddy, when Sonny Koufax is asked what he was doing instead of going to his aunt's funeral he replies, "Jethro Tull had a reunion concert, so I caught that."

• In the movie Armageddon, Oscar Choi (Owen Wilson) states that he hates when people think that Jethro Tull is just the name of a member in the band.

• In Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, in The Gunslinger, Tull is the name of the last city before the desert. Stephen King says that he took the name from Jethro Tull in Song of Susannah, when speaking to Roland Deschain and Eddie Dean.

• In an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, a flashback to Raymond and Robert's teenage years refers to Robert starting a fight with someone who refused to agree that "Bungle in the Jungle" was the best song ever written.

• Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times called the album The Crane Wife by The Decemberists "the best Jethro Tull album since Heavy Horses."

Lineups

Jethro Tull Band Members (By Year)

1967 - 1968	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, harmonica, acoustic guitar, piano Mick Abrahams - guitar, vocals Glenn Cornick - bass Clive Bunker - drums, percussion
1968 - 1969	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, harmonica, acoustic guitar, keyboards, mandolin Martin Barre - guitar, flute Glenn Cornick - bass Clive Bunker - drums, percussion
1969 - 1970	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar, vocals Glenn Cornick - bass, vocals Clive Bunker - drums, percussion, vocals John Evan - keyboards, piano, vocals
1970 - 1971	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar, flute, recorder Jeffrey Hammond - bass, recorder, vocals Clive Bunker - drums, percussion John Evan - keyboards, piano
1971 - 1975	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, soprano saxophone, violin Martin Barre - guitar, lute Jeffrey Hammond - bass, vocals Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion John Evan - keyboards, piano, synthesiser
1975 - 1976	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar John Glascock - bass, vocals Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion John Evan - keyboards, piano
1976 - 1978 1978 - 1979	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, tin whistle Martin Barre - guitar John Glascock - bass, vocals Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion John Evan - keyboards, piano David Palmer - keyboards, synthesiser
1978	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, tin whistle Martin Barre - guitar Tony Williams - bass Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion John Evan - keyboards, piano David Palmer - keyboards, synthesiser
1979 - 1980	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Barriemore Barlow - drums, percussion John Evan - keyboards, piano David Palmer - keyboards, synthesiser
1980 - 1981	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Mark Craney - drums Eddie Jobson - keyboards, violin
1981	band inactive; musicians taking part in recording sessions: Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, keyboards Martin Barre - guitar Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Gerry Conway - drums
1982	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Gerry Conway - drums Paul Burgess - drums Peter - John Vettese - keyboards
1984 - 1985	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Gerry Conway - drums Doane Perry - drums Peter - John Vettese - keyboards
1985 - 1987	band inactive; musicians taking part in occasional appearances and recording sessions: Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, guitar, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Gerry Conway - drums Doane Perry - drums Peter - John Vettese - keyboards Eddie Jobson - keyboard, violin Ric Sanders - violin
1987 - 1988	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Doane Perry - drums Don Airey - keyboards
1988 - 1991	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, harmonica, mandolin Martin Barre - guitar, mandolin Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Doane Perry - drums Maartin Allcock - keyboards, acoustic guitar
1991 - 1992	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar Martin Barre - guitar Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Doane Perry - drums Dave Mattacks - drums Maartin Allcock - keyboards Andrew Giddings - keyboards
1992 - 1995	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, harmonica Martin Barre - guitar Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals Doane Perry - drums Andrew Giddings - keyboards
1995 - 2006	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, mandolin, mandocello, harmonica, bamboo flute Martin Barre - guitar Jonathan Noyce - bass Doane Perry - drums Andrew Giddings - keyboards
2007	Ian Anderson - lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, mandolin, mandocello, harmonica, bamboo flute Martin Barre - guitar David Goodier - bass James Duncan / Doane Perry - drums John O'Hara - keyboards

Discography

Main article: Jethro Tull discography

Studio albums

• This Was (1968)
• Stand Up (1969)
• Benefit (1970)
• Aqualung (1971)
• Thick as a Brick (1972)
• A Passion Play (1973)
• War Child (1974)
• Minstrel in the Gallery (1975))
• Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! (1976)
• Songs from the Wood (1977)
• Heavy Horses (1978)
• Stormwatch (1979)
• A (1980)
• Broadsword and the Beast (1982)
• Under Wraps (1984)
• A Classic Case (1985)
• Crest of a Knave (1987)
• Rock Island (1989)
• Catfish Rising (1991)
• Roots to Branches (1995)
• J-Tull Dot Com (1999))
• The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003)

External links

• Jethro Tull official website
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• Broken Seashells -- an essay by Ron Drummond on ancestral memory and the music of Jethro Tull
• UK Jethro Tull Information site - UK Jethro Tull Information site
• Tull Press -- hundreds of original press articles, interviews, and photographs covering Jethro Tull from 1967 to 2001
• College Crier's Ian Anderson Interview
• Jethro Tull album covers, track listing, and lineup
• Audio Interview segments with Ian Anderson
• Sibiu 2007: Jethro Tull in concert
• Cup of Wonder