The other day I read in the paper an interview with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. They’re rereleasing a remastered version of Aqua Lung and Anderson was complaining about the original. It seems Aqua Lung was recorded in a studio that was an old renovated church and he feels the recording sounds “dark”. This brings up a point; when talking about your rock & roll successes, SHUT THE F@#K UP! I love Aqua Lung and always imagined the band worked hard to get that atmospheric (dark) quality to the recording which so enhanced and mirrored the music and lyrics. Don’t tell me it was all a mistake!
Back in 1966 John Lennon said, “everything we’ve (the Beatles) have done up till now has been rubbish”. He was talking in reference to the album on which we was currently working, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and when I finally heard that I understood what he meant but at the time I felt betrayed. After all, I spent years defending his music to my parents, my teachers and all the adults at the time that felt everything the Beatles did was rubbish. And now he’s saying I’m wrong and they’re right?! When an artist puts down his own work, even as a matter of trying to be humble, it’s insulting to all the fans who like and buy his work. If you’re not going to defend and back up our taste when we’re defending and financially supporting your artistic vision then just SHUT THE F@#K UP!
I saw Jethro Tull at the Forum in Los Angeles. My beef with them was they sounded too much like their recored. I mean, note for note! I know bands try to sound as good as possible (or they used to back in the day) but Tull was so good I almost got bored.
ReplyDeleteBands like The Beatles have a completely different LIVE sound then their recording. Not worse, but different . . . more LIVE, more energetic, loose / tight fun! And, oh, the screaming fans!
Led Zeppelin sounded nothing LIVE like their recordings. And then they would jam and improvise. You got to see them stretch, get creative LIVE with solos and weirdness . . . and wild audience members trippin around . . . YES!
With Tull, I could have saved a lot of money and just stayed home and spun their record. Maybe it was their lack of personality and showmanship and sexiness that contributed to my boredom.
Maybe it's just me.
Jethro Tull is one of my all-time favorite bands to see live. I saw their show at least once on almost every tour they've done in SoCal, starting w/ the original Aqualung at SD Civic Theatre's Golden Hall, when their pianist jumped up on the piano. Saw their most recent show in Oct 2012 at the Long Beach Terrace Theatre: Thick as a Brick 1 & 2. Was fortunate to score a front-row seat. The show was fantastic, with Locomotive Brick as the encore. They left us scraming for more--which woulda been nice! I've since purchased the CD. The CD's good, but the show was better, w/ extended versions. Can hardly wait to see them play this show again--this time w/ some friends in tow--at LA's Greek Theatre in July 6 (as Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson). Hope they have a longer encore this time!!
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