Ian Anderson's 'Thick as a Brick 2'

Anderson has recorded the 'sequel' to the 1972 classic and will be touring it;

TAAB2

Got some misgivings about this, Anderson seems to be getting a little petulant (even Roger Waters-like) by saying, 'I wrote it, so it's going out under my name' instead of a Tull album. Then there's the state of his singing voice..

The wonderful Martin Barre seems to have been elbowed out in favour of a young session player (again), he's not on the album or in the touring band.

So, the first new 'Tull' material for almost 10 years isn't filling me with too much enthusiasm so far.

jamesg1213


Anderson has recorded the 'sequel' to the 1972 classic and will be touring it;

TAAB2

Got some misgivings about this, Anderson seems to be getting a little petulant (even Roger Waters-like) by saying, 'I wrote it, so it's going out under my name' instead of a Tull album. Then there's the state of his singing voice..

The wonderful Martin Barre seems to have been elbowed out in favour of a young session player (again), he's not on the album or in the touring band.

So, the first new 'Tull' material for almost 10 years isn't filling me with too much enthusiasm so far.

Looks like only UK dates so far. Don't know if he'll make it across the pond but I sure hope he does. I don't mind a bit of petulance - from someone who's earned it. At least he didn't call it a Jethro Tull project with nothing but (or almost exclusively) studio musicians. And the band sounded tight......

I wonder if Judas Priest will be doing Rocks Rolla 2 soon?

Mebee Straummy knows.

TLMM and I will definitely be buying it.  The most troubling thing about the YouTube trailer is the music sound's too perfect.  It's all so polished.  Part of the excitement of Jethro Tull was that you weren't so sure they wouldn't come apart at some point.

That's an interesting idea about what would Gerald be doing now. If he was in the U.S., he'd probably be running for President! I'm also still wondering "where the hell is Biggles". I'm likely to pick it up, as well.

bapu


I wonder if Judas Priest will be doing Rocks Rolla 2 soon?

Mebee Straummy knows.

 
Er....... no mate
 
But Rocka Rolla 2, you never know
 
Mein Gott in Himmel, I'm a pedantic so-and-so 
 

Mod Bod


  The most troubling thing about the YouTube trailer is the music sound's too perfect.  It's all so polished.  Part of the excitement of Jethro Tull was that you weren't so sure they wouldn't come apart at some point.

I agree Dave. I was a bit annoyed at Anderson's hubris on the voiceover 'in 1972 I wrote and recorded Thick as a Brick'..err, Ian, there were 4 other blokes in the studio, plus David Pamer doing string and brass arrangements..

I think he forgets (or doesn't know) what it is that makes Tull appealing to people. It certainly isn't some bloke in a fleecey gilet frowning at a mixing desk while some session players sight read their parts.

About as exciting as toast.

Ah! The WarChild concert in Philly (70's).  'Twas quite a bombastic array.

"Petulant", IMHO, worked for that theme. 

But the poetic egotism + instrumental dissonance (like his signature *inspired* flute jamming amidst nihlistic themes) of Tull's albums before and aft ... not my cup of tea I'm afraid. 

IMHO, I never understood how or why Anderson (or any muse for that matter) could be so *majestically inspired* to sing about man's worst wretchedness coupled with a hopeless existence.  

Hmmm...Just last night my dearest asked me if I could name my absolute favourite music.

And I said " If I'm forced to give only one name, it's Jethro Tull."
From the beginning to the album "A" they were brilliant, IMO. After that that both the technical sterileness and lack of inspiration and spark cooled down my enthusiasm.

Does this mean he's not going to sing with YES any more?

Karyn


Does this mean he's not going to sing with YES any more?

 
yes, Karyn, I think that's what it means.
 

 
 
I know I'm going to be lambasted for saying this, but I've never been a Tull or Ian fan.  Personally I thought all of Tull's songs sounded the same.  At least the ones I heard - since I never bought one of their albums I didn't compare the non-radio play songs, but the ones they played on the radio all sounded the same to me.  and "dull" was all I really thought about those.  sorry.  [shrugs]

Ahhhh the memories of sitting around and driving around South Jersey listening to TAAB with one of my buds.... in his new Chevy PU. We both knew that album backwards and forwards.  I never saw JT live in the Spectrum in Philly so that was kind of a bummer. 

I would be interested in hearing this new TAAB # 2....40 years later....  Of course, to do it right, the original gritty feel and recording and of course the "out in left field" writing of Anderson must be as fresh and unique as it was back then. 

The ultimate show of course...assuming they can pull it off musically first in the studio, capturing the magic, would be a 2 part show...... First part is TAAB part one.... the original..... short intermission to toke up refresh , then full steam ahead into TAAB part 2. 

In my opinion, there are a few writers I would classify as genius in what they do. Ian Anderson is one of them. Jeff Lynn of ELO fame is another. So it will be interesting to see if Ian still has that genius touch with his music as he had back 40 years ago. 

I saw Tull two times.

Once in the early 70's at the Inglewood Forum and once at the Anaheim Convention Center in 82 or 83 (my seat was in back of the stage) for the Crest of A Knave tour (I believe). The stage setup with the "ship".

The 70's was better IMO. 

During extended breaks Ian would make his way into a tent and toke from an Oxygen tank (I could see becuase my seat was behind the stage).

bapu


I saw Tull two times.

Once in the early 70's at the Inglewood Forum and once at the Anaheim Convention Center in 82 or 83 (my seat was in back of the stage) for the Crest of A Knave tour (I believe). The stage setup with the "ship".

The 70's was better IMO. 

During extended breaks Ian would make his way into a tent and toke from an Oxygen tank (I could see becuase my seat was behind the stage).

[TullNerd] That'd be the 'Broadsword & The Beast' tour Ed. 'Crest..' came out in '87. [/TullNerd]

Guitarhacker



The ultimate show of course...assuming they can pull it off musically first in the studio, capturing the magic, would be a 2 part show...... First part is TAAB part one.... the original..... short intermission to toke up refresh , then full steam ahead into TAAB part 2. 

That's exactly what Anderson is doing Herb..I'm just not interested in seeing him with a bunch of session guys studiously playing all the right notes.

I'd rather go see the CHB studiously play all the wrong notes

Karyn


I'd rather go see the CHB studiously play all the wrong notes

[Eric]They play all the right notes..not necessarily in the right order..[/Eric]

 
Pfft...
 
Anyone can play all the right notes.
 
I find myself more and more belonging to the Les Dawson school of melody.

James.... assuming the tickets are reasonably priced .... not to common these days with the "old rockers" that might be "THE" show to see regardless of the session players. 

Not all old rockers age gracefully and keep their chops and skills up. So I can see the need for session players. 

As far as having "young blood" on the stage.....I have no problem with that. I was just watching a show called Cross Roads..... rock meets country...where Steven Tyler was on stage with Carrie Underwood. 

A mismatched pair to say the least at first glance. They began with 2 Aerosmith tunes, and obviously ALL the players were session players. Sweet Emotion.....Oh My!  Those cats rocked that song as well as all the others, probably better than Aerosmith back in the day. 

I also figured that since Tyler is a judge on AI and often plays the fool, that he was probably pretty washed up as a performer in his latter years....... WRONG!!!! The man can still hit the high notes dead on like in the old days. And it did not appear to be synced. Carrie was singing some stuff and forgot that she was supposed to be the "lead" vocalist on some "trading licks" singing.... and was not singing into the mic.... and no.... her voice was missing from the mix. Also the guitarist in the first song started the riff, where the riff was supposed to end....  just some glitches that a keen observer would catch to know it was all live. 

bapu


I wonder if Judas Priest will be doing Rocks Rolla 2 soon?

Mebee Straummy knows.

Not unless they borrow Strummy or Grant ... and pay them well ... for the effort!

jamesg1213
Anderson has recorded the 'sequel' to the 1972 classic and will be touring it;

 
I think I would have done the same thing.
 
In the end, he created a "personna" that is him, but is not getting the credit that he wants, and it was pretty obvious that he was not happy with the "critics" over the "progressive" thing at all, and I think he decided that he wanted to do it ... his way ... and give everyone the finger ... and if the progressivesorios (and stuckup morons) or the fans didn't like it, he could say ... I don't care ... I composed a wonderful piece of music and all you can tell me is ... you are jealous and like it, or you don't like it ... but I'm the composer and I will be remembered and no one will give a **** about you ... a stupid fan that is not even polite enough to appreciate composition!
 
And guess what "Thick as a Brick" was all about in the first place? Story goes that it was about Jon Anderson, but later it was changed that it was about Robert Plant ... so that would mean that the emphasys is on a very different body part altogether! And Ian was known to not exactly be a member of the short club ... he never got a plaster cast done though! Wonder if that means anything! Miss Pam is not telling! And the ladies in the Coffee House are already throwing their eyes in a circle ... going ... I don't believe this yet again! Boys!

Hello this may help clear up a few things

Martin said he did not want to play on TAAB 2 because he doesn't consider TAAB his favourite Tull period, and wanted to do some solo projects. So they agreed this would not have JT name on it! MB did not write any of the guitar on the first album, in fact Ian did the whole album. So may be that's why MB feels that way! 


Guitarist Florian Opahle has been with Ian and Tull since 05 when he first played on  the "Ian Anderson Plays Orchestral Jethro Tull" tour and I  have seen him live a number of times over the past five years.


Other  members like John O'Hara keyboards have been with Ian since 03 and David Goodier bassist since 02

There are two parts of the present Band; Jethro Tull line up and the Ian Anderson touring Band plus TAAB2 is an IA album.

Full band info here http://www.j-tull.com/musicians/index.html    


I hope that gives you a catch up on the facts.

jamesg1213


Anderson has recorded the 'sequel' to the 1972 classic and will be touring it;

TAAB2

Got some misgivings about this, Anderson seems to be getting a little petulant (even Roger Waters-like) by saying, 'I wrote it, so it's going out under my name' instead of a Tull album. Then there's the state of his singing voice..

The wonderful Martin Barre seems to have been elbowed out in favour of a young session player (again), he's not on the album or in the touring band.

So, the first new 'Tull' material for almost 10 years isn't filling me with too much enthusiasm so far.

Oh great, now we have facts to deal with.

Nice that I can email Ian and the band though.

I'm gonna ask him if he likes Becan.

BTW, 

Welcome to the CH forum Ashley.

Thanks for the welcome


I hate facts they get in the way of my imagination LOL


As for email, yes they answer everyone of them ;-) 

Ever notice you never see any Jethro Tull tribute bands?

Ash55


Guitarist Florian Opahle has been with Ian and Tull since 05 when he first played on  the "Ian Anderson Plays Orchestral Jethro Tull" tour and I  have seen him live a number of times over the past five years.

Yes, I've seen him a few times, once with Greg Lake. A fine player, there's no doubt about that. His 'shredding', tapping and classical stylings are technically faultless, but I'll take Barre's sense of harmony and phrasing over all that any day.

bitflipper


Ever notice you never see any Jethro Tull tribute bands?

You mean  like Cold Flame  http://www.cold-flame.co.uk/about.htm  and Dayglo Pirates http://homepage.ntlworld.com/simon.taylor857/dayglo/  Both UK and there's War Child which are New York based as is Living With the Past http://www.myspace.com/tullband .  LOL

jamesg1213 meet Ash55.

Ash55 meet jamesg1213.

You two should start a Jethro Tull fred together.

I think Ash has come down from the Upper Class, to mend my rotten ways.

jamesg1213


I think Ash has come down from the Upper Class, to mend my rotten ways.

Finally!

You guy's are funny  

Ash55


You guy's are funny  

You've seen our pictures, ya?

So funny i' turts

Nice sheep LOL

Samples of TAAB2 http://www.amazon.com/Thick-As-A-Brick-2/dp/B007J7LFTW/ref=mb_oe_o?tag=533643275-20#mp3TrackPlayer Sounds good to me. 

Ash55


You guy's are unfunny  

Bapu'd

Karyn

Ash55


You guy's are unfunny  

Bapu'd

Bapu's a guy?

Jonbouy

Karyn

Ash55


You guy's are unfunny  

Bapu'd

Bapu's a guy?

I wouldn't know for shure,  ask Mrs. Bapu.

I'd never been much of a fan of JT either, but I saw 'em at Hammersmith Odeon one night doing the 'Heavy Horses' set.

They were breathtaking that night for sure, one of the most on the money sets I've seen anyone pull off, nobody outshone another they just were one of the best all-round outfits I've witnessed before or since.  They truly played as a band at that point, or at least that was the impression that came across.

I saw them at (arguably) their height. The Stand Up Tour. As my mate JB says "breathtaking". 

I saw them on the Crest of a Knave tour. Although well executed, they began to lack just a little by then.

I'm pretty sure I'd not pay money to see them or IA today. Some memories are best left in the head.  

Karyn

Jonbouy

Karyn

Ash55


You guy's are unfunny  

Bapu'd

Bapu's a guy?

I wouldn't know for shure,  ask Mrs. Bapu.

On a good day, The Lovely Lady would be prone to say yes. 

jamesg1213

Ash55


Guitarist Florian Opahle has been with Ian and Tull since 05 when he first played on  the "Ian Anderson Plays Orchestral Jethro Tull" tour and I  have seen him live a number of times over the past five years.

Yes, I've seen him a few times, once with Greg Lake.

OT but since you mention it Greg's daughter Nat, became my daughter-in-law just before Christmas.  I've told her not to be over-awed by my illustrious musical past when we meet.

I wonder how many degrees of separation that makes between IA and the Bouy now?

Jonbouy

I wonder how many degrees of separation that makes between IA and the Bouy now? 

Free?

bapu

Jonbouy

I wonder how many degrees of separation that makes between IA and the Bouy now? 

Free?

Tu?

Fore?

jamesg1213]
...
Got some misgivings about this, Anderson seems to be getting a little petulant (even Roger Waters-like) by saying, 'I wrote it, so it's going out under my name' instead of a Tull album. Then there's the state of his singing voice..

 
I think you have to be a bit petulant and protective of  your work. I do not see anything wrong with that. And I bet that Roger might have been the one that suggested for him to do TAAB again differently and more up to date!
 
The Wall's new version is excellent and deserves the credit for the massive work that it is and it being so "universal" all around. And in my book, so does TAAB and Passion Play ... with the exception that most fans, here as well, are strictly song oriented, 3 to 4 minute folks that could not do anything beyond that ... and the CHB band of course does twice as much which shows how progressive they really are ... very! And ... they are not the subject of Ian's barbs in that piece, either!
 
I still think that folks that can only do "songs" and pieces about that girl yet again, are the ones that do not like things like this and will trash Tales from Topographic Oceans and Close to the Edge, or The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway as "pretentious", when in the end, these are the massive "operas" of the time and place that we were lucky enough to hear and see ... with one problem ... we had no idea what it was all about because we had our heads in our asses, or looking for girls, or dope or whatever ... even Woodstock was just a party and the music was ****! Because no one gave a damn, and the anthem was seen by garbage, not people! ... and still we think those people "petulant" ... maybe we don't like what we know that we don't want to hear!
 
And you don't think that folks like Ian, Roger Daltrey, Roger Waters, Jon Anderson, Daevid Allen, Frank Z, Jimi, Janis, Jim (specially!) and many others do not (or didn't) feel a sense of hurt that ... it doesn't mean anything to anyone? ... it does! ... and many people appreciate the beauty of it all ... it's just not something that we're comfortable talking about (here) because we're all so commercially oriented that we could not think, accept, understand, efforts to create something special more than just another radio song!
 
You don't think you would be proud of your heritage if you were T S Elliot, John Steinbeck, Mr Burroughs, Jean Paul Sartre, Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok, Pablo Picasso ... and you call them "petulant"?

Moshkiae

 
And I bet that Roger might have been the one that suggested for him to do TAAB again differently and more up to date!
 

Nope, not Roger. You might be interested to know that it was Derek Shulman (ex-Gentle Giant) who talked him into it.

Yeah, James1213!!!  That told you didn't it?

Jonbouy


Yeah, James1213!!!  That told you didn't it?

Undoubtedly.

Moshkiae

 
Jean Paul Sartre

I adored his custard tarts.

jamesg1213

Moshkiae


And I bet that Roger might have been the one that suggested for him to do TAAB again differently and more up to date!

Nope, not Roger. You might be interested to know that it was Derek Shulman (ex-Gentle Giant) who talked him into it.
 

Yep. I actually knew that. But I think that Roger's success is what is helping Ian go through with it, and probably tour it.  Actually, I just recently took a look at that map in the MAN album "Be Good to Yourself at least Once a Day" ... and when I saw who lived near who, again, the first thing I said to myself was ... wow ... all we missing is a couple of members from Man/Help Yourself, a member or two from Nektar, some more folks from Dave Edmunds side of town, add on a guest show by one of the GG'rs or 2 ... and we're all set!
 
As for Barre not being there ... I suppose that when you play with someone for 40 years that you might enjoy a different sound or person behind you for a chance to learn something else? But then, rock music is not exactly known for its commitment to anything except ... greed and cheap worthless words!

jamesg1213

Moshkiae

 
Jean Paul Sartre

I adored his custard tarts.

Funnier yet, was one of Guy Guden's Space Pirate Radio shows that had that piece from the album "Right Through" by Ron Geesin and Guy was doing these quasi French voices of Jean Paul ... I can't find my way through these doors ... it was an incredible satire that made the perfect sense.

Kipling vs Satre?

mmmmm

Nice.

Moshkiae



 
As for Barre not being there ... I suppose that when you play with someone for 40 years that you might enjoy a different sound or person behind you for a chance to learn something else?

Well yes, you might...in which case you probably wouldn't write the guitar parts in the exact same style that Barre has been playing for the last 40 years, and then get a session player to sight-read them..would you?

But then, rock music is not exactly known for its commitment to anything except ... greed and cheap worthless words!

 
Yeah, right..apart from..Live Aid, Live 8, Roger Daltrey's work for teenage cancer, The Edge's work with Music Rising (replacing instruments lost when Katrina hit), the Nordoff Robbins foundation, Sting's work for the rainforests, Amnesty International being supported by Gabriel, Springsteen et al, Rock Against Racism..

...shall I go on..?

Yeah Moshkaie!!!  That told you didn't it?

 
I knew I needed stronger glasses....
 
 
There was me thinking that TAAB was what showed us geetar players which notes to play

IGMC

SteveStrummerUK


IGMC

As long as it's not like Zebra boy's...

augh ut oud

jamesg1213

Moshkiae




As for Barre not being there ... I suppose that when you play with someone for 40 years that you might enjoy a different sound or person behind you for a chance to learn something else?

Well yes, you might...in which case you probably wouldn't write the guitar parts in the exact same style that Barre has been playing for the last 40 years, and then get a session player to sight-read them..would you?

Why would Ian do that when Martin didn't write the guitar for the first TAAB

During extended breaks Ian would make his way into a tent and toke from an Oxygen tank (I could see becuase my seat was behind the stage).

I can imagine that would take a toll on the vocal chords, throat, and everything. Oxygen will dry your nose and throat in a hurry, but if one must jump around on one leg and play flute then I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. Personally, I think over 60yo folk have earned the right to sit in a chair and play, he could always lift his leg now and then. You can't be 20 something forever, it isn't becoming. No one listens to me though.
I think Brian Wilson at the Grammy awards show got it right.. he looked like, "what the heck am I doing here... where AM I? He played and immediately got up, looking bewildered (as someone his age should singing surf music should) and walked off the stage looking like, "why did I agree to this"? (Yes, I work at the department of redundancy department).

Maybe it's just me... BTW, I vote for Barre (as if it matters) and while I a at it The Eagles are not The EAGLES without Don Felder and I am not interested in seeing them without him and I wouldn't go too far out of my way to see the ABB without Betts. Though I am sure they put on a good show, it isn't the same. I wouldn't go out of my way to see Tull Anderson without Barre either, and I really liked Tull back in the day.

J