When you’re thinking of the instruments associated with Rock n’ Roll and starting a band, You usually think of the electric guitar, bass, drums, maybe even some honky tonk piano or a Hammond organ, some saxophone….and the flute!?!
Wait a minute!………….THE FLUTE??????
When I think of the flute, I usually think of the front row of high school and college band. The flute section was usually filled with a few cute girls (and a few questionable) and maybe one guy. You don’t really think of something testerone filled and masculine like a distorted electric guitar and Rock n’ Roll and you definitely don’t think of groundbreaking progressive music from the 70’s…unless you’re talking about Ian Anderson and his band Jethro Tull. The record and song that most people associate with Jethro Tull and the album I’ll be writing about is none other than the 1971 classic Aqualung
Along with the various record stores I would frequent in my youth, I would also take time to visit bookstores (mostly Waldenbooks) to look at comics, Rock n’ Roll books and biographies, and books on nude photography. After all, I was a teenage boy. One book I eventually bought was a book titled The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock.
I would page through the books and read through the captions, check out the band lineups to see who was playing what instruments. Obviously, I would find out that the leader, vocalist and flautist of this band – Jethro Tull was Ian Anderson. I still look back and chuckle about that one. I once encountered in my many trips to record stores a patron who didn’t understand the difference between band name and band leader. I was listening to a conversation between the store clerk and this simple customer probably just making small talk. As he talked, I began to learn something about myself and that I actually know more about rock music and its history than most people(most people don’t care). I listened to this enthusiastic fellow tell the record store clerk that he “sure did like Jethro Tull. Ya got any albums by that ‘Jethro Tull fella’?” I may be exaggerating a bit. But, the guy had obviously confused Ian Anderson as THE person Jethro Tull. Oddly enough, Anderson had named the band after an 18th Century Author/Agriculturist named Jethro Tull.
On one of my many weekend visits to Dustys Records, My friend Shaun and I would make some absolutely important purchases. I do remember one weekend Shaun bought a copy of Emerson Lake & Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery and Jethro Tull’s Aqualung. We headed back to Shaun’s dorm room with LP’s in hand. I related to Shaun in the fact that we loved music and drums. He dropped the needle on Aqualung and the drums of Clive Bunker drove the through the opening title track. I had grown up with 3 sisters that listened to stuff like Shaun Cassidy, the Bay City Rollers, Bee Gees, Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand. Even though I had seen the name Jethro Tull, I had no idea what the band sounded like. But, I liked it. Shaun would sing along…and I was hooked.
“Sitting on a park bench….
Eying up little girls with bad intent
Snots running down his nose
Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes, hey, Aqualung!”
The Flute peppers the beginning of the second track Cross-eyed Mary. If I thought the title track was cool, this was another revelation. I’ve never been one to listen to the lyrics first. So, for me, it was the instrumentation and the rhythms that drew me in. The combination of flute, organ, guitar and drums simply made the transition from song to song absolutely seamless. From there, the rest of the album just flowed together as one movement.
The use of acoustic guitars and impeccable musicianship continue throughout with tunes like Cheap Day Return and Mother Goose. It was folky as it would transport me(the listener) back to a medieval time of traveling minstrels. Yet, as I would settle into an imaginary Welsh countryside, the band would kick in with Bunker’s throttling drums and the piercing electric guitars of Martin Barre. There’s just something individualistic about the the sound of Tull. In my listening history, Zeppelin had prepared me with acoustic tinged songs penned at Bron-Yr-Aur cottage in Wales. But, it was Jethro Tull that stayed in that world of Medieval England where Zeppelin would venture back into the Blues of Southern Black America. I often put on Zeppelin’s Rain Song when the weather prompts the music with a cloudy misty morning. But, Jethro Tull feels like a peaceful rainy day. Relax, put your feet up, read a tale of King Arthur or even Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The album finishes up with an amusing song titled Locomotive Breath. This song seemed memorable to me also as a rather rocking song too.
Funny enough, in Will Ferrell’s movie Anchorman –the Legend of Ron Burgundy, His character professes to be an expert in the art of jazz flute. He stands on tables and does an improv with the lounge band….and between breaths screams “Heey Aqualung!” The ironic note is that there is no flute in that song.
I remember seeing live footage of Aqualung on MTV’s Closet Classics where the band lineup had changed and left-handed Mark Craney was on drums and multi-instrumentalist Eddie Jobson was on keyboards and everyone was dressed in white jumpsuits(as opposed to the medieval garb) with the letter A emblazoned on them.
It was reviewed rather favorably when it was originally released. The Allmusic guide called it “A Bold Statement” and “Extremely Profound” It has been widely regarded as a concept album with a central theme of the distinction “between God and Religion”. The Allmusic guide also said:
The album's "dour musings on faith and religion" have marked it as "one of the most cerebral albums ever to reach millions of rock listeners".
I don’t know about being “cerebral” or “dour musings”. I just knew it was a very distinct sound that no other band has come close to. Heavy Metal giants Iron Maiden even recorded a cover of Cross-Eyed Mary as the B-side to their single The Trooper. I never owned this on an LP. I had it on my list of albums to pick up and add to my collection. I eventually bought it on CD and it was a 25th Anniversary edition with an additional 3-6 unreleased tracks including an interview with Ian Anderson. In 2005, the band recorded a live performance of the album in its entirety for the XM Satellite radio network. The royalties from the live album are being donated to various charities for the homeless. This year(2011) it has been announced that the band will release a 40th Anniversary edition of the album(November 1, 2011). It could be a really cool collector’s set. Even when I feel like I’ve listened to it for 3-4 days in a row and I’m getting tired of this album, I begin to enjoy it again and again. Something else jumps out of the recording and hits me again. Perhaps it’s the folkiness, maybe it’s the heaviness…or maybe it’s just the that magical sound of THE FLUTE!
No comments:
Post a Comment