Jethro Tull ~ An Appreciation

Last weekend I watched Jethro Tull at the 1970 Isle of Wight concert, and was reminded why they were and remain my favorite rock group.

This is Ian Anderson & Lucia Micarelli - "Bourée"

http://youtu.be/nTVuFKozfJg

In 1969

http://youtu.be/iWJgJkVL0xM

I saw his "Thick As A Brick" concert back in 1972. He started at 8pm and ended after midnight. "Thick As A Brick" was well over an hour and a half, and he did all of "Benefit" "Aqualung" and "Stand Up". I remember when he raised his leg people would cheer and scream. For me, the best rock concert ever.

This is "Thick As A Brick" a few years later, edited down. It was a concept album, which isn't done anymore. It takes too much time, thought and creativity to put together forty minutes of story telling set to music. Much easier to write a 3 minute song that is mostly repetition with a hook.  Anderson is a bard, a literary performer. "Thick As A Brick" is a modern update of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. In Homer's story, at the end of the "Odyssey"  Odysseus throws out the suitors of his wife and other hangers on to his kingdom, and he's supported by his son. In Anderson's version, the son (youth) opposes him, and overthrows Odysseus.

http://youtu.be/BV-ASc0qkrM