Feature

Shamma M. Raghib

Ian Anderson, Mick Abrahams, Glenn Cornick and Clive Bunker formed the original Jethro Tull line-up from the debris of the disillusioned and disintegrated John Evan Band and McGregor's Engine. These untutored talents didn't realize that one day they are going to be one of the most talented musicians in their era.

This early combo had many different names which usually changed every week in order to get re-booked in the clubs where they aspired to find fame and fortune. Their agent, who had studied history at college, came up with the name Jethro Tull (an eighteenth century English agricultural pioneer, who invented the seed drill). As the group became tighter, they landed the job of house band at London's famous Marquee club and made their recording debut in March of 1968 with "Sunshine Day".

By the spring of '68, they had built a following as the new face of the blues-based British underground music scene. Lines stretched around the block on a Thursday night when they performed at the Marquee. Ian Anderson would typically join the line as if to buy a ticket himself, wearing the shabby hand-me-down overcoat which was to become his trademark for the next few years. Often, he would be seen with a Woolworth's carrier bag containing flute , harmonicas, alarm clock and hot water bottle, in strange precursor role of the Aqualung/tramp persona. His exaggerated gestures, long, wiry hair, ragged coat and distinctive, one-legged stance cultivated a compulsive stage personality to the extent that, for many spectators, Jethro Tull was the name of this extroverted frontman and the other musicians merely his sidemen.

After the personal and musical differences which marked the then acrimonious separation, Mick Abrahams left to form the briefly successful Blodwyn Pig. The remaining Tull members embarked, with the then unproven addition of replacement Martin Barre, on the recording of the landmark album "Stand Up" at the beginning of 1969.

Happily, the new record proved to be a great success, and lead the way to new opportunities in Europe and the USA. Ian Anderson's music writing came of age with this album and the influences of classical, jazz, folk and ethnic music forms made the eclectic result an early landmark for the band.

After achieving the position of Number one album in the UK charts, Tull, initially in the shadow of Led Zeppelin and others, began the explosive ascent to the lofty heights of U.S. stardom, culminating during the next three years in the cover stories of Time and Rolling Stone magazines, five nights at the Forum in Los Angeles and three nights at Madison Square Gardens, New York. "Benefit", "Aqualung", and the so-called concept albums "Thick As A Brick" and "A Passion Play" confirmed the progressive rock tag which complemented other terms like "Art-rock", "Blues-rock", "Folk-rock", and "Hard-rock", depending on the critics' personal views of the often-complex musical thought trains of flutist and singer, Ian Anderson. If anyone can play as beautifully as he can, then I am ready to marry!

The first rock act since the Beatles to perform at Shea Stadium, New York, Tull laid claim to the live concert throne in North America. Not without its share of critical abuse, Tull pushed on with difficult and sometimes controversial themes, often falling into a knowing self-parody and employing humour to lighten up the occasionally bombastic and overly serious subject matter.

The loyalty of the long-standing fans and the ongoing enlistment of new converts were to ensure the survival of Tull into the eighties and nineties with "Crest of a Knave" ('87) and "Roots to Branches" ('95) being highlights of those decades, together with the Ian Anderson solo flute album "Divinities" providing the first Billboard Magazine number one chart record since 1973.

With 60 million albums sold and over 2500 concerts played in 40 countries, the band continued to record and perform live, albeit on a lesser scale, using a nucleus of Anderson, Barre and Pegg. "Catfish Rising" in 1991, although a disappointing album, was a return to their blues roots. With Arabian style intros in the more recent albums, the band was steady performer. In 2004 and 2005, Jethro Tull were still touring all across the globe.

Listen to: "Warchild", "Too Old to Rock and Roll: Too Young to Die", "Minstrel in the Gallery", "Songs from the Wood", and "Heavy Horses"