Jethro Tull Board @ www.laufi.de

Dietmar hat geschrieben: Fr Jan 10, 2025 4:31 pm Wann hat Anderson jemals wieder mit früheren Musikern zusammengearbeit, vielleicht mal abgesehen von diesem einmaligen "This Was"-Reunion-Ding?

Track by track by Priscilla Parrit

Puppet And The Puppet Master.

Ian describes this as a song of mutual manipulation. So, who is pulling the strings? Just as the performer on stage is controlling the audience but while they are also, in another way, controlling the performer. The pleasant tug of the puppeteer and the lure of the crowd continue to have allure. The black box stage waits to burst into life.

Curious Ruminant is termed a song of cogitation. Ruminant can mean a contemplative, meditative person. The more common reference - an even-toed ungulate who chews the regurgitated cud and has a three or four-chambered stomach - may not apply to Ian, even on a bad day, but contemplation is most certainly the name of his game.

Dunsinane Hill is a song of avarice and betrayal.
There are the obvious metaphorical references to Shakespeare's Macbeth and the coming of Birnam Wood to Dunsinane which fascinated Ian, since the emblem of the Anderson clan is an oak tree with the motto, "Stand Sure".
The Macbeth tale is imagined here as deeds of high intrigue and betrayal between two political party brothers: perhaps Blair and Brown? Sunak and Johnson? Starmer and Corbyn?
The song here is developed from an unrecorded instrumental played live a few times back in 2007.

The Tipu House is subtitled a song of aspiration in adversity.
Here is visualised a graffitied apartment house with Tipuana tipu trees outside to offer shade surrounding a public recreation space for children to play and kick a ball about. The chorus line mentions "the day of books and roses" which is a reference to Sant Jordi's day - the April festival in Barcelona which celebrates the tradition of lovers giving books and roses to each other.
Ian sings of those who have risen from relative poverty to positions of greatness in the world.

Savannah Of Paddington Green is described as song of change and bleak prediction in the face of climate change.
Paddington Green is one of historic London's formerly outlying small green spaces and is now a conservation-listed urban haven.
This dystopian vision of the desolate, cracked dual-carriage Westway as it descends before rising again to become the Marylebone flyover may seem still a distant prediction, one which we will hopefully not live to see.

Stygian Hand is a song of symbolic protection.
We all have experienced at some point that moment of dread when venturing down some darkened alleyway in the late hours and sensing the soft tread of someone following or stepping towards us from the gathering shadows. Some pumped-up mugger with a pointy blade chancing his luck? A sexual marauder looking for predatory release? Or something altogether more sinister and supernatural?

Over Jerusalem was written as a song for a city of wasted opportunity.
Tull have visited Jerusalem to perform in concert and in Israel generally many times since 1986 and have felt growing distress at the political, social and cultural dilemmas facing all in the region. After the first visit or two, Ian decided to continue to perform there but to donate all proceeds to various local NGOs: mostly to those supporting co-education of Arabs, Jews and Christians and often with a musical bias.
Faced with demands to boycott Israel or support Palestinian had caused Ian to do some serious thinking. Alternatives were either to not visit at all; to go and then pocket the Artist Fee or to try to make some tiny difference in helping to bring about a little harmony and common resolve.

Drink From The Same Well serves as a song of no choice.
This is an epic piece of music developed from an earlier idea on which Ian had worked long and hard twenty years before. It featured on a lengthy demo made with the then Tull keyboard player Andrew Giddings and was written as a potential collaboration with pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, renowned player of the bansuri (Indian bamboo flute). Many years later, Ian developed the lyrics and new melody to provide listeners with a stellar virtuoso performance on both his concert and bamboo flutes. Some of the original flute along with Andrew's piano and accordion remain on the final master here.

Interim Sleep was written to be a song of comfort for the bereaved.
Ian wrote a poem a year or two ago, he says, touching upon the passing of a loved one with thoughts he might extend to those left behind - that we may be reunited in other lives to come.

So, there we have it! Another fine album from Jethro Tull to join the many in the affections of fans everywhere. Lucky for me that, through family connections, I got a free copy!

Priscilla Parrit

mart hat geschrieben: So Jan 12, 2025 2:44 pm Die Sache mit dem Longtrack klingt aber sehr spannend.

„Shawn T. Perry“ hat geschrieben: I received an advance stream of the new Tull record and am enjoying it immensely. Like most of the record, the 16-minute “Drink From The Same Well” is lighter and mellower than what most would consider “classic” Tull, but it’s a magnificent prog epic on an entirely different level. Can’t wait to hear the multi-channel mixes.

banff hat geschrieben: Di Jan 14, 2025 4:13 pm Sorry, mich fixt das bis jetzt noch nicht an [...] unsäglichen Sprechgesang