English musicians and music geeks extraordinaire Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness have posted a new episode of their podcast The Album Years. They talk about 1977, discussing albums by Peter Gabriel, Jethro Tull, 10CC, and a whole lot more. This is part #2B of what will be 8 episodes about this year.
Ian Anderson takes Jethro Tull's 50th anniversary tour to the States next year They were huge in the USA, playing Madison Square Garden quite a few times back in the day. The groundbreaking progressive act kicks off the celebrations with an UK tour in April. Anderson (vocals, flute) will be joined by David Goodier on bass, John O'Hara on keyboards, Florian Opahle on guitar and Scott Hammond on drums.
Ian Anderson will celebrate Jethro Tull's 50th anniversary with a UK tour in April 2018. The band was a groundbreaking progressive act act. They were huge in the USA, playing Madison Square Garden quite a few times. From Prog:
I am not usually a birthday or anniversary kind of guy but, just for once, I won't be a party-pooper either!
I treasure the memories of the earlier years of Jethro Tull repertoire, associated as it is with the adventures of visiting so many countries for the first time to connect with new fans around the world.
And this is a celebration of all the 33 band members who graced our ranks – musicians who brought their talents, skills and styles to bear on the performances live and in the studio.
Ian Anderson has launched a crowfunding campaign on PledgeMusic for his new album The String Quartets, twelve reinventions of Jethro Tull songs interpreted by the Carducci Quartet: Matthew Denton (violin), Michelle Fleming (violin), Eoin Schmidt-Martin (violia) and Emma Denton (cello).
Jethro Tull's main man Ian Anderson will be touring behind the forthcoming new studio album Homo Erraticus. Expect a few Tull classics as part of the night's entertainment.
Live dates:On July 30, 1970 Jethro Tull hit the stage at the Isle of Wight Festival. An excellent opportunity for road testing new songs in front of 600,000 spectators. They would end up on their Aqualung album. Here's one of 'em about the imaginary guy in the sky, with an extended flute solo and London Bridge Is Falling Down tease. My God indeed. Most of the show was finally released on CD/DVD in 2004.
UK prog folk pioneers Jethro Tull celebrates the 40th anniversary of Aqualung with North American tour. They will lperform the album in full. Oh, and it's not a concept album about a dirty old man and/or religion. Band leader Ian Anderson in a 2005 interview:
I always said at the time that this is not a concept album; this is just an album of varied songs of varied instrumentation and intensity in which three or four are the kind of keynote pieces for the album but it doesn't make it a concept album. In my mind when it came to writing the next album, Thick as a Brick, was done very much in the sense of: 'Whuh, if they thought Aqualung was a concept album, O-O-K, we'll show you a concept album.' And it was done as a kind of spoof, a send-up, of the concept album genre. ... But Aqualung itself, in my mind was never a concept album. Just a bunch of songs.
The current line-up of the group features longtime members Ian Anderson (flute, vocals, acoustic guitar) and Martin Barre (guitars) and Doane Perry (drums). The newer members are David Goodier (bass) and pianist John O'Hara.
Live dates: