Worth a read! Some Tullheads lurking here ,hopefully! Naresh Narasimhan
> > >> >> Why Jethro Tull Belongs In The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame >> >> THE FLUTE >> >> It's right there on the opening cut of their debut album, "My Sunday >> Feeling." Forget me-too culture, Jethro Tull was original! Name one other >> band not only dominated by flute, but one where it was played by its >> frontman! Sure, the Flock had Jerry Goodman, you occasionally heard the >> flute on glorious tracks like the Blues Project's "Flute Thing," but no one >> built a whole band around it! >> >> And where is the flute today... >> >> Don't we glorify the originals? THEN WHY NOT TULL! >> >> THIS WAS >> >> Purists are right, the debut is the best. Blues-rock with a twist. >> Completely lost to the sands of time, "This Was" heralded greatness the same >> way Led Zeppelin's first did. Check it out and complain. But you can't! >> Because "This Was" still sounds fresh and original today, unlike what was >> playing on AM radio. >> >> STAND UP >> >> Because IT DID! >> >> Everyone keeps regretting the passage of album art. But Tull were KINGS! >> "Thick As A Brick" featured a complete newspaper, but there wasn't a >> teenager alive who wasn't wowed by the band popping up in the middle of the >> "Stand Up" gatefold. And this was long before pop-up books were de rigueur. >> >> NO HITS >> >> At first. There was nothing resembling a hit single on the initial LPs. >> Hell, until "Living In The Past," long into their career, there really >> wasn't a radio hit at all. Isn't this what we want to celebrate, those who >> go their own way, who follow their muse in pursuit of musical greatness? >> >> CHRYSALIS >> >> One of the great record companies of all time was built on Tull's back. No >> Tull, no Chrysalis. No Blondie, no so much more. >> >> LOOK INTO THE SUN >> >> Because we remember that which touches us, even more than that which moves >> our bodies. Because we're only human, we're confused, we've got more >> questions than answers, and when music is done right it soothes our pain, it >> rides shotgun as we try to find our way out of quandary and despair. >> >> RIFF ROCK >> >> We celebrate "Smoke On The Water" but not "To Cry You A Song"? >> >> Then again, Deep Purple isn't in the Hall Of Fame either... >> >> Sure, critics were disappointed in the turn towards the mainstream on >> "Benefit," but music is irrelevant unless people listen to it and the truth >> is "Benefit" was close enough to popular tastes to be widely embraced, it >> satiated people, and still contained the dark "Sossity You're A Woman" and >> the classic "Teacher," music for headbanging in slow motion. >> >> DEVELOPMENT >> >> We don't want our artists to just repeat themselves, we want them to take us >> on a journey, to explore, life is all about the new and "Aqualung" was a >> jump from what came before. >> >> LENGTH, SCHMENGTH >> >> The two key cuts on "Aqualung," the title track and "My God," were 6:35 and >> 7:11 respectively, and despite the dominance of FM this was not a >> radio-friendly thing to do. Tull was beholden to the music, not the >> middleman. >> >> SINGLE SONG ALBUM >> >> How come "Thick As A Brick" has been forgotten? There's not a baby boomer >> alive who doesn't know it, the acoustic intro, the movements... >> >> Sure, Mike Oldfield did it too, with "Tubular Bells," but that was AFTER! >> >> Furthermore, you had to flip the side in the middle! >> >> CDs play ad infinitum, but no latter day act has duplicated Tull's feat. >> >> COMEBACK >> >> Years after their initial impact, nearly two decades after their debut, Tull >> had a huge success with "Crest Of A Knave" and its hit track "Farm On The >> Freeway," which was just as enrapturing as the earlier work. Imagine Bruce >> Springsteen writing something as good as "Thunder Road" today...IMPOSSIBLE! >> >> But despite all the foregoing, Jethro Tull has been EXCORIATED! For stealing >> Metallica's Grammy, for making music that fit in no obvious genre. >> >> There's not a chance in hell the Committee will embrace Tull. Because Ian >> Anderson is not a warm dude, because the band had huge success across all >> demos and the Committee can only embrace personal favorites that no one else >> liked, that "influenced" others. Some bands are so sui generis that they >> can't be replicated. Come on, front your band with a flute back then and >> you'd be dismissed as a Tull imitator! >> >> And Anderson shuffled the lineup. Which makes it harder to believe. The >> leader is supposed to hide behind handlers who take all responsibility, the >> band must not be at fault for musical changes. But a band is a living, >> breathing thing. To expect harmony is to expect Zayn Malik to have a string >> of number ones. >> >> There's a chance that decades from now, when rock is truly dead and >> nostalgia creeps in, when those who denigrate Tull have died, that young >> kids will discover Jethro Tull and embrace the band the same way the Doors >> were resuscitated. Because like the Doors, Tull tested limits and was very >> listenable. >> >> Is that such a crime, to make ear-pleasing music? >> >> Don't hate the success, love the music. >> >> Tull is deserving. >> >> But if you're waiting to be anointed you're playing the wrong game. >> >> Jethro Tull won everything. They don't need no Cleveland coronation to prove >> that. But they should get one. >> >> Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/1zH4CjB > >
