Jethro Tull

Crest of a Knave is the sixteenth studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1987. The album was recorded after a hiatus of three years occasioned by a throat infection of vocalist Ian Anderson. After the unsuccessful Under Wraps, the band returned to a more heavily blended electric with acoustic style of sound, one of the top characteristics of Jethro Tull. The album was their most successful since the 1970s, and the band enjoyed a resurgence on radio broadcasts, appearances in MTV specials, and the airing of music videos. It was also a critical favourite, winning the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental. The album was supported by "The Not Quite the World, More the Here and There Tour".

During the summer of 1970, Bill Graham presented an extraordinary series of concerts at Tanglewood, the renowned classical music venue located in the scenic Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. At the time, presenting rock music in a classical venue was a surprising and precarious step to take. To many, hearing The Fillmore and Tanglewood in the same sentence equated to "when worlds collide." Much like his approach at the Fillmores, Graham's "The Fillmore at Tanglewood" series presented diverse handpicked triple bills, but with the added advantage of a beautiful open-air venue and plenty of informal lawn seating.

Crest of a Knave is the sixteenth studio album by British rock band Jethro Tull, released in 1987. The album was recorded after a hiatus of three years occasioned by a throat infection of vocalist Ian Anderson. After the unsuccessful Under Wraps, the band returned to a more heavily blended electric with acoustic style of sound, one of the top characteristics of Jethro Tull. The album was their most successful since the 1970s, and the band enjoyed a resurgence on radio broadcasts, appearances in MTV specials, and the airing of music videos. It was also a critical favourite, winning the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental. The album was supported by "The Not Quite the World, More the Here and There Tour".

Jethro Tull’s tenth album was inspired by Ian Anderson’s departure to a more rural environment in a transition which bore clear influence on the writing and recording process, with the band notably doffing a cap to British folklore and countryside. Songs From The Wood is often referred to as one of the most commercially appealing Jethro Tull albums, containing elements of rock, prog and folk-rock. Although media reaction at the time divided opinion, the album has certainly developed a nostalgic rapport with fans through the years and it is perceived today as one of the band’s most popular albums. Drummer Barrie Barlow comments that it sounds “Fresh, unique, great textures, interesting and dynamic!”, while guitarist Martin Barre remembers that “It was a very tight band, one of the strongest line-ups Tull ever had… I think that Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses [the follow up album] as a pair of albums are near the top of the tree”.

A captivating, laid back Jethro Tull performance which was recorded in November 2008 as part of the AVO indoor music festival in Basel, Switzerland.
The superior Swiss audio-visual production here allows the viewer to overlook frontman Ian Anderson's somewhat strained voice at times which is more than compensated for by the band as a whole being in top musical form, particularily Anderson's flute playing which reminds me of how he sounded on the 1995 Roots To Branches studio album. Martin Barre's lucent electric guitar lines are perfectly balanced against Anderson's succinct acoustic rhythm playing with plenty of opportunity for soloing.

...Андерсон настолько привык брать буквально все под свой контроль, что работать с ним пришлому музыканту было не с руки. Поэтому Эдди Джобсон, несмотря на свою виртуозность и талант, не смог долго продержаться в группе. Он оставил ДЖЕТРО ТАЛЛ в апреле 1981 года, после завершения мирового турне, играл в YES в 1983 году, а потом скатился до создания рекламных заставок на телевидении. На американских гастролях, которые посетило более полмиллиона зрителей, разогревающей группой выступали WHITESNAKE. В конце ноября 1980 года музыканты устроили два сногсшибательных шоу в лондонском Royal Albert Hall. На основе этого турне было смонтировано видео "Slipstream", которое вышло в январе 1981 года. В том же году Дэйв Пегг записал свой первый соло-альбом "The Cocktail Cowboy Goes It Alone"...

Еще один из моих любимейших альбомов. Очень лиричный и красивый. А от таких песен как Jack-In-The-Green, Velvet Green и Cup Of Wonder я до сих пор, как бы это сказать... да... О! бал-де-ю! :)

1970 was a pivotal year for Jethro Tull, when their relentless roadwork and perseverance began to pay off. On 24th Jan, British magazine New Musical Express chose Tull as best new group by more than 3,000 votes and their third album, Benefit, was their most ambitious and original work to date. In terms of the band's profile in America, this was the year Jethro Tull had truly arrived. The previous album, Stand Up, introduced guitarist Martin Barre to the fold and found the band stretching well beyond the parameters of the blues-based debut. The 1970 American tour would find the group expanding to a quintet, with Anderson's long-time associate John Evans joining the group on keyboards, further expanding the sonic palette. Classical elements now entered the already heady brew of blues, jazz, traditional English folk, and hard rock that defined the band's sound. This was undoubtedly a turning point for Jethro Tull whose hard work would finally pay off with Aqualung, their most poignant and popular album. From there, Tull were very nearly an American band! Timeline revisits this classic performance live from the Boston Tea Party, Boston on July 10th 1970, with a fully restored and professionally remastered original WBCN FM broadcast.