The St. Cleve Chronicle V7 #53
Dave Steiner , The Moderator
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The St. Cleve Chronicle Friday, 24 May 1996 Volume 7 : Issue 53
Today's Topics:
Italian fans informal convention
Under Wraps (Unclas]
Re: The St. Cleve Chronicle V7 #45
Another Anniversary
Tull and Rock Opera...
Tull Sighting (actually hearing)
Some songs too long?
Re: The St. Cleve Chronicle V7 #45
New Tull Box set???
The SCC V7 #45 And Catfish Rising
First posting
First posting
Tull in the New York Times
LITP CD single (#1) available
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 14:16:56 -0600 (CST)
From: "Alberto Cadoppi" <acad...@risc1.gelso.unitn.it>
Subject: Italian fans informal convention
I write to announce the first Italian fans convention, a very informal and
preparatory gathering indeed... It will be held in a Restaurant (where else,
being in Italy?) somwhere between Reggio Emilia and the less famous Parma,
on Sunday, June 16, from noon to dusk. There will be quizzes, music, videos,
and fun. The Italian fun club (probably called "Itullians") will have an
opportunity to be officially set up and to get ready for the next,more formal,
convention. For details and information, please contact, before June 10,
Aldo Tagliaferro, tel. 0336/501026. Ciao. Alberto.
------------------------------
From: "Mike Wilson LOGDIV" <SYS...@mail.navmat.navy.gov.au>
Organization: Royal Australian Navy
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 16:17:30 +1000
Subject: Under Wraps (Unclas]
A Recent SCC held a letter defending Under Wraps and other mid-period
Tull against criticism. For the record (no pun intended) The albums
that I listen to most often are Under Wraps, Heavy Horses, Storm Watch
and Roots To Branches. While I enjoy listening to the earlier albums,
particularly Stand Up and Thick as a Brick, it's these four albums
that I come back to.
It's all a matter of perception in any case, but to say that any Tull
album is particularly bad, or particularly good is silly. They are
all damn good. There, I've said it, now shoot me down in flames.
Cheers
Mike Wilson
Phone (06) 266 2581
Defence Logistics Division Fax (06) 266 2383
System Manager
==========================================================
Japanese Girl: "Ah, dis is question: how does Jesro Tull
define success?"
Ian: "Ooh, that's a deeply philosophical question.
I'll have to think about that. Dave Pegg, how do
you define success --without mentioning any
particular brand of alcohol?"
Dave: "Well, it's hard, really, without mentioning
alcohol-- success is being locked in the pub after
closing."
==========================================================
------------------------------
From: "Mr. Radio" <CMSA...@ruby.indstate.edu>
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 8:48:53 EST
Subject: Re: The St. Cleve Chronicle V7 #45
Ever since a friend dragged me to my first JT concert (during
the War Child Tour), and I rapidly became an avid fan and grew
familiar with the earlier catalog and avidly followed all that
came after, one thing became clear: Ian Anderson is an
artist...plain and simple.
As an artist, all of his works will appeal to a few, some will
appeal to many. This is how I see the Divinities and RtB
debate.
Divinities is not nearly my favorite IA production (in fact,
it's my least). While I like RtB somewhat more, neither is
it. Does this mean they shouldn't have been made? Does this
mean that IA is "losing it"? Of course not!!
It was the same spirit of experimentation that brought us all
of his classics: TAAB, PP, SFTW, etc. IA has certainly earned
the right to experiment and stretch. One thing is certain:
the next CD will be equally creative. Just because it may not
appeal to ALL of us who are too old to rock and roll but too
young to die, is no reason to panic.
Thank you. I'll go back to sleep now.
"...what's this button do...?"
Dave Sabaini
Director of Audio Operations/
Station Manager WISU-FM
Indiana State University
Terre Haute, IN 47809
------------------------------
From: Jose.D...@turner.com
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 10:07:17 -0400
Subject: Another Anniversary
Hi all,
Along with being a big prog rock (a la Jethro Tull) fan, I am also a
farmer of sorts (although my farm is far away from the freeway) and
subscribe to an Antique Tractor newsletter (I own a 1941 Ford 9N).
Anyway, this came up in our newsletter and I thought I'd forward it.
Enjoy....
Jose
____________________________ Forward Header ________________________________
Subject: Another Anniversary
Author: ANTIQUE...@ledger.co.forsyth.nc.us at Internet
Date: 5/7/96 8:49 AM
The folks who made the tractor calendar I have in the office this year must
have felt they needed to pad the entries. Today's item is:
"The first modern farm machine was a seed drill, or planter, invented by
Englishman Jethro Tull about 1700."
Gosh, he must have been one talented guy to work in all that inventing while
pursuing a career as a rock musician.
Best,
Bob Seith
sei...@cc.denison.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 10:21:25 -0400
From: "'D. A. Scocca'" <sco...@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>
cc: r_g...@acad.fandm.edu
Subject: Tull and Rock Opera...
> From: r_g...@ACAD.FANDM.EDU (Rohan Ghosh)
> Subject: Re: Tull the worst thing!??!!
> i wouldn't agree with Warchild ... but definitely Heavy and Storm. Warchild
> was again Ian's failed attempt at the rock opera, which had just started to
> become a popular pursuit for the '70s supergroups. Although Ian was indeed
> one of the earliest to think about a rock opera, Warchild was really quite
> a failure.
Things were changing rapidly at that time, and _War Child_ was far too
late to be on the cutting edge of "rock opera". _Tommy_ was released in
1969 (back when Tull was doing _Stand Up_), and had been preceded by
smaller attempts at similar works ("Rael" and "A Quick One While He's
Away").
By 1974, when _War Child_ came out, the Who had already grappled for some
time with _Lifehouse_, which was meant to be an even bigger "rock opera"
(or something beyond that), and had released _Who's Next_ from that
effort.
As I understand it, _War Child_ was meant to be a musical, which is at
least a little different from a "rock opera" (if only in that a musical
would have been done on-stage at about the same time, rather than 20+
years later...)
D.
------------------------------
Date: 07 May 96 10:24:03 EDT
From: Mark Ruffing <76613...@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Tull Sighting (actually hearing)
A couple of interesting places that JT turned up. About a month ago
the crossword in "People" magazine had a TaaB answer and last weekend
(5/4-5/5) NBC sports had a rundown of the NBA playoff standings and
the backer was Martins solo and the Synth intro. from Steel Monkey.
Gooday
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 May 96 19:23:43 +0200
From: amin...@AWI-Bremerhaven.DE (Andreas Minikin)
Subject: Some songs too long?
Hi out there!
This is my first post allthough I am reading the St. Cleve Chronicle
for a long time now (2 years?). I won't trouble you with details on
my favorite albums and so on. Just this: I like Tull's music very
very much. But also other people's music - Richard Thompson, is a fine
example, or Nick Cave or ... - ok, I see this is leading nowhere.
What I really want to say relates to some opinions given last year
or so (sorry for being late!) about some songs of Roots to Branches:
Quite a lot of you seem to think At last Forever, Beside Myself etc.
last a little bit too long. 8 min of music where 4 min would have been
enough? That's an interesting point because looking back on Tull's
back catalogue I love some of the long songs and some tend to get a bit
boring after the first minutes. Some examples? I am sorry to say, but
have you ever thought of Heavy Horses being too long (the song, not the
album)? Or even Aqualung (also the song, not the album of course)? Don't
misunderstand me. Both songs are popular, rightly, and musically and
lyrically of high quality (and I don't want to miss them), but still,
could one say that some verses or passages are just "simply" to often
repeated in the course of the song? I definitely would like to have
Heavy Horses originally in a 5 min version (or so).
On the other hand, I like Budapest or Flying Dutchman and would not mind
the songs lasting one or two minutes more. So I ask myself when is it right
to extend a musical idea for a song (I am not talking of continuous pieces
like Thick as a Brick, Passion Play etc.) for much more than 3 min?
Well, Tull should try to take the time as often as they want to! It is
so good to have compositions longer than these radio friendly 3-4 min.
What you don't here in a daily program of a radio station generally seems
to be of high quality! ;-)
Tull is making complex (rock) music and it is enjoyable to observe changing
rythms, changing instrumentations, changing little details especially within
the same piece. So, I think, there is no solution to the problem (if there
is a problem at all): you may feel some songs lasting too long and some
songs ending much too early. But that's very subjective, isn't it? Do
you listen to Van Morrison? He is the master of repetitive verses and words,
verses and words, verses and words, verses and words. He's great!
Does anybody have a technical reason to explain why? I think, the
atmosphere a song is creating is important and the whole length and
certain repitions are important elements of style, obviously. So I would
suggest to accept At Last Forever lasting (almost) forever. For some of you
it might be the perfect song for going on and on (not for me actually).
Roots to Branches is superb and it is great to explore the details of the
compositions. Because the details are there! And that's probably why it
takes some time to love that record.
Anyway, we still have Nursie ...
Bye for now, Andreas
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Andreas Minikin
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Air Chemistry Group / Neumayer Air Chemistry Observatory
Am Handelshafen 12 Fax no. ++49-471-4831425
D-27570 Bremerhaven Tel.no. ++49-471-4831493
Germany e-mail amin...@awi-bremerhaven.de
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 07 May 1996 13:54:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: celticblue <alo...@HUGSE1.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: The St. Cleve Chronicle V7 #45
> ------------------------------
>
> From: Matthew Sexton <ma...@freenet.tlh.fl.us>
> Subject: all that and a tull cd
> Date: Thu, 18 Apr 96 17:06:42 18000
> piper of hamlin (as it were)...he was playing the junkies like a flute.
> heh..i made a funny.
this makes it sound like he was writing "acid" style music just to manipulate
drug-users to listen to his music, come to his shows? doesn't Ian have more
important fish to fry?
>
> change from the normal into middle eastern music (RtB) would make the
> fans mad....(i mean that in the most sarcastic way possible...Ian
> himself couldn't have said that one better)....
i think he probably *could* have, IMHO; he is a very witty man, after all...
> There is an odd sense about Ian...we two are very much alike....it
> seems i understand exactly where he's coming from in every song...
> we share many similar views, we both can pretty much pick up an
> instrument and start playing it...though i couldn't get a note out of
> a flute to save my life...(odd)...
i am sure many fans feel they relate to Ian's point of view; not sure why you
say you can play any instrument, "just like Ian," then admit being unable to
play the one he's most well known for...why is it "odd?"
>
> that is the title line..."thick as a brick"....my friends have dirty
> minds and i'll leave their translation to ya'll...heh...but my guess
> is that he's talking about when you think everythings fine and dandy
> and then you wake up and realize that you think youre an expert at
> what you do
this sounds like you, given your attitude in this post...
and that you look like a normal person and then you
> realize that everyone else has no respect for you and think youre a
> loser that's wasted his life at what he thinks he's good at and that
> he really isn't good at it at all....am i right?
probably...
>
> by the way....the person who was flaming some other guy for calling
> druggies morons....he said something about a "blanket statement" I
> believe that is supposed to be "blatent statement"
no, blanket statement is a perfectly acceptable term meaning a statement that
generalizes some main points, and applies to different sides of an issue,
as in covering everything like a blanket...blatant (as it is properly
spelled) means obvious, almost painfully so...
...oooooi love doing that...
you love doing what? mocking someone's use of the English language when
it is in fact far more facile than your own??
>
------------------------------
From: FORCHH...@ujafedny.org
Date: Tue, 07 May 1996 13:58:12 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: New Tull Box set???
Organization: UJA-Federation of New York
A colleague of mine at work informed me that she heard that Tull is
releasing a new Box set, complete with some new material as well as an
interview with Ian Anderson. Can anybody confirm this?
Elliot
[Not a box set but a 25th Anniversary of _Aqualung_, remastered,
with extra songs and an interesting interview with Ian. -ds]
------------------------------
From: James Henry/CTAL/CTC <James_Henry/CTAL/CTC.CT...@lnn.com>
Date: 7 May 96 13:48:52 ES
Subject: The SCC V7 #45 And Catfish Rising
(I won't bore you with details of my life, but I am a first timer)
My big question, to all you people out there is:
Why does everyone hate Catfish Rising?
[Rohan Ghosh]
>>We all follow Tull ravenously and possibly own every album. We're
>>willing to forgive Under Wraps or A or Rock Island.
>What about Catfish?
>
> [cut]
>
>> I saw a giant leap in quality between Catfish
>>Rising and Divinities/Roots. Whether you like the style or not, he's
>>gone from being a great flautist to a phenominal one.
> HEAR! HEAR! HEAR!
Everyone seems to think that Catfish Rising is the gritty stuff that lies
rotting in their eaves troughs for years--and I don't understand why!
Perhaps it's cause I'm fairly young (19) and Catfish was the third album I
listened to (after Aqualung and TAAB) but I don't seem to think that it
deserves the continuous desecration everyone seems to be piling on.
This is Not Love and Occasional Demons are good songs -- although not
worth the attention everyone gives them. I believe it's the same
problem a lot of people are having with RtB--not enough attention to
the better songs, and too much to the ones that aren't so good. (yet
still amazing--this is Tull we're talking about here!)
The songs to really listen to if you want to (or don't) appreciate
Catfish are Rocks on the Road (Track 4), Sparrow on a Schoolyard Wall
(Track 5) and Track 6 (can't remember the name -- I'm at work and
can't check).
But PLEASE PLEASE, if you don't want to listen to those, get yer
grubby hands (ears rather) on Tracks 9 and 10.
Tall Thin Girl (Track 9) and the AMAZING track White Innocence (Track 10).
Both are fairly long songs yet very very good. (I'm no music
officianado so I won't claim that the flute solo etc is amazing)
Anyway my boss is just down the hall so I'll sign off now.
"It was obvious she was headed nowhere, heck;
It was even obvious to me" - Tull "White Innocence"
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 07 May 1996 20:33:35 +0100
To: JT...@jtull.rutgers.edu
From: John Partridge <CS1...@ccug.wlv.ac.uk>
Hello,
First posting to the Chronicle so I'll get the formalities out of the way.
36 years old and into JT since 1973 and my favourite albums are Songs from
the wood and Heavy Horses.
Now, after recently subscibing to the Cleve I have since trawled my way
through the not insubstantial archives. Thus, a few obsevations.
1) There appear to be far more Stateside "Clevers" than elsewhere
.Furthermore many of these appear to be a lot younger than I expected.After
all JT are often perceived( at least here in good old Blighty) as being "old
hat". So I for one find this enthusiasm for a band I love from people a lot
younger than myself both exciting and refreshing, and I'm sure if he knew so
would I.A.
2) A number of people, particuarly in the back issues of the Chronicle have
written in stating that Tull will never be as good as they were back then,
or the recent albums just don't live up to former glories etc. Well in
response I would like to say that JT's album career has always had it's
peaks and troughs and will probably continue to do so for a long as the band
are willing to experiment. For example MITG(Great), TOTRAR(not so good)
SFTW(EXCELLENT) All in the space of three years 75-77. The same is true now
COAK(good), RI(ok), CR(bit better), RTB(Bloody excellent). So you cannot
dismiss them and simply assume that JT will never make another album to
match SFTW or TAAB. Therefore to all the doubters I say Look to the future
and stop living in the bloody past ( excuse the pun).
3) In response to a previous question( and I apologise if I repeat someone
elses stuff) I.A is certainly not into drugs. I recall a fairly recent
interview in a British music mag(Q OR Vox- can't remember) in which he chose
his top ten albums/songs. These included the song Golden Brown by the
Stranglers ( U.S readers may not be familiar with this group- they were a
sort of English Doors who emerged from the punk era circa 1977). Anyway in
his explanation I.A stated that he never realised the song was drug related
as he had " no real experience in such matters".
p.s: You may also be interested that one of his other choices was an album
by the Ramones!. Indeed he further recalled an amusing story whereby Joey
Ramone actually asked I.A for his autograph backstage at a gig in
Switzerland. The said autograph actually being intended for Joey Ramones mum!
4) Trivia time! Seeing as a lot of subscribers do this I too am going to
tell you of my favourite artists!
My top ten
a) Led Zeppelin
b) Jethro Tull
c) XTC
D) Peter Hammill/Van der Graff Generator
e) Penguin Cafe Orchestra
f) John Martyn
g) Gentle Giant
h) King Crimson/Fripp/David Sylvian
i) Michael Nyman
j) Weather Report
So there!
Thanks for listening Bye Bye now. Bye Bye
------------------------------
From: Gustavo Seluja/NCGR <Gustavo_Seluja/NC...@notes.ncgr.org>
Date: 7 May 96 14:05:41 EDT
Subject: -No Subject-
This is my first letter to this forum, and I think is really great to
have a place like this where all Tull fans and big-fans can exchange
info. Just a thought after reading a few of the submissions. Let's
not forget that life is change, and we're all getting older, including
Ian's voice and scenic boomerangs. Yes, many times I wish,like many of
you do, that Jethro Tull would still look like the "band-in-rags" of
the 60's and 70's. Another comment relates to some of you expressing
dissaproval of the "Divinities" album. Let's not forget that this was
exclusively Ian's side project, so it does or doesn't have to measure
up to anything.
So to you all out there, and as a good friend once put it, we're only
a handful of Tull funs, making sense of this ride call life, with a
few poems and lyrics here'n there to fill up the gap. Adios
companeros.
Gustavo (g...@ncgr.org)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 11:55:02 -0500 (CDT)
From: "David R. Bayer" <bad3...@frank.mtsu.edu>
Subject: Tull in the New York Times
Hello all - Tull in print again!
An acquaintance of mine, aware that I am an avid Tull fan, pointed out an
article in the Sunday, May 5 New York Times. Embedded within an article
about older rock groups is a bit specifically about Tull. It even has
some bearing on some recent discussions on this list. I've included it
in this post - please excuse any typos. And Dave - please delete it if
others have done the same.
A Never-Ending Tour for the Ever-Faithful
by William McDonald
The mossy smell of marijuana was wafting from row to row and seat to
seat, where heads were bobbing to the music. There were men in ponytails
and bandannas. There were women wearing an early Judy Collins look -
scant makeup and hair plunging long and straight from a perfect center
part. Sure, there were some square pillars of respectability scattered
about. Many were still in their office uniforms and sported haircuts
that Richard Nixon would have approved of. But for the most part this
was a hippie crowd, come to see "Tull."
Jethro Tull, that is - the English band of minstrels that aspired to
poetry in its folk ballads and scaled the decibel heights with its
electric guitars. The leader of the group, Ian Anderson, was in chatty
form this rainy night, introducing each crowd favorite - "Cross-Eyed
Mary," "Aqualung," "Nothing Is Easy" - in his crisp, Oxbridge baritone,
inviting waves of laughter with his wry wit. And the crowd, of course,
was loving it. It was just like the old days.
Well, not really. Just like the old guys is more like it. The ponytails
in the audience were tending toward gray. The T-shirts and faded jeans
were bulging at the centers of gravity. Mr. Anderson's own hair, once an
eruption of dark-blond frizz, was thinning and receding. As for the
outnumbered young people in the seats, they were the clean-cut ones in
the business suits. This was not 1971, after all. This was November
1995, at the Beacon Theater, on the Upper West Side. But there, onstage,
was Jethro Tull, seemingly ageless, still touring, still going strong.
O.K., not quite. Most of the original band had long ago left it. Only
Mr. Anderson, the songwriting heart and soul of the group, and Martin
Barre, its lead guitarist, were still around. Now they were playing with
no-name backups seemingly younger than the band itself. But no matter;
they still sounded like the old Jethro Tull.
Or maybe that overstates it. In truth, only Mr. Barre's driving guitar
and Mr. Anderson's full-bodied voice and windy flute still carried the
authentic Tull sound; the backup musicians, well-schooled in the old
tunes and proficient though they were, could only copy it.
For his part, Mr. Anderson, now a country squire back home in England,
seemed to harbor no illusions about the changes time had wrought. At one
point he perched himself atop a stool and told the crowd how, in his
younger days, when he was known for his onstage histrionics, he would
begin a certain number in exactly the same way, sitting on a stool and
strumming a guitar during the song's soft and slow introduction. Then,
at the sound of a power chord that transformed the number into a wailing
hard-rock anthem, he'd leap to his feet and, in a burst of rebellion,
kick the stool across the stage, to the approving roar of the arena crowd.
But he was 48 now and too old for such antics, he was telling the
small-venue Beacon Theater audience. Forgive me for staying seated, he
was saying, old man that I am now. So he started into the song,
"Locomotive Breath," softly as always. And when the power chord was
struck, at the precise moment he would have leapt to his feet...he did
just that, naturally, and gave the thing a good, swift kick, sending it
clear across the stage.
All right, not clear across; maybe about six or seven feet. The kick, in
fact, looked a little stagy, a little too scripted; it lacked the old
conviction. There was more middle-age nostalgia in it than youthful
exuberance. But the crowd roared nonetheless. Fists punched the air.
The fans, it was clear, saw something in the gesture, no matter how
timeworn and tepid it had become. Maybe it was a glimmer of the old
defiance, still alive in Mr. Anderson, still alive in themselves. Only
now it was idrected not against a hidebound political establishment, or a
senseless war machine, or a generation's disapproving elders, but against
the consuming years.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now, let's see what kind of comments spark from this one.
Enjoy!
David
**************************************************************************
David R. Bayer There's nothing wrong with sparrows,
bad3...@frank.mtsu.edu but try to be a sparrow-hawk.
- Jethro Tull
**************************************************************************
------------------------------
Subject: LITP CD single (#1) available
Date: Tue, 07 May 1996 12:55:41 -0700
From: Jeff Hemmerling <je...@adams.rutgers.edu>
A used record store here in Portland, OR has a copy of the
two CD single "Living in the (slightly more recent) Past".
It's a strange two CD case. Only the first CD is included ;-(.
In place of the second CD is a round piece of paper that
says "To be released soon".
Anyway it's US$7 and I'll pick it up if anyone's interested.
Please use the email address below.
- -- Jeff Hemmerling <je...@sd.com>
[This a part 1 of a two part UK CDsingle. They tend to come that way
in England when it's in two parts. Part 1 should include:
``Living In The (Slightly More Recent) Past'' (live)
``Silver River Turning''
``Rosa On The Factory Floor''
``I Don't Want To Be Me''
-ds]
------------------------------
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Back issues of The St. Cleve Chronicle are available via anonymous ftp
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Lyrics to many of the Tull albums are now also available at this site,
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Send the word "help" in a message by itself for information on how to
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Copyright 1996 The Jethro Tull mailing list.
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