Wow, this song is excellent! I certainly didn’t have a new Jethro Tull album on my 2025 musical bingo card but if this song is reflective of the album then color me excited!
I heard the song a few days ago. If this is any indication the new album should be great. I have followed Ian Anderson for decades in his various iterations and have been fortunate to converse with him on a few occasions. I’m glad to see the passion is still there.
Nice, Jackie! As a fellow self-taught flute player, I enjoyed this immensely! I saw Ian about a decade ago, here in Austin, and his voice is either "better," or he's found a lower register in which to "live" which doesn't necessitate him throwing his head back on a particularly high note in an attempt to reach it (which was his proclivity since, I think, the turn of the century, due to simply age and/or wear'n'tear over decades)!
Ian "taught me" flute when I was in junior high (oh, call it around 1969 or so...I was 14). I was attracted to that sound he was making, and while other kids were learning guitar, transfixed by Page, Beck, Hendrix, and Clapton, I couldn't care less, and gravitated toward flute. I took one lesson to learn the fingering and embouchure, and learned his licks off the albums from "This Was" all the way to "A Passion Play"....all by ear! I saw the "Aqualung" tour, as well as "TAAB" and "APP" tours.
IMO, you can have your Jaggers, Daltreys, Stewarts, Plants, Mercurys, et al. Ian's the most creative and innovative rock front man ever. There...I said it!
I haven't seen Jethro Tull/Anderson perform live, so I didn't know about his head toss ... interesting. Lemmy always sang with his head back and the mic above his mouth, and I wondered why; maybe you've given me the answer.
As I've written elsewhere in this space, I was a quite snobby young flutist and originally didn't think much of some of his playing. As my appreciation of the entire band grew, so did my respect for Anderson. If I would make playing a daily practice, I might could pull off some of the riffs in "Curious Ruminant."
Ian's self-taught, and has admitted quite often, in the past, of his likely mis-fingering on many notes/pieces! With only one lesson in my pocket, I noticed, over time, either by being shown, or seeing videos, close-up, that I was "doing it wrong" on some notes!!
I'll try to find you some video of 2000+ Ian....He couldn't reach those high notes, and it looked physically draining for him to try to reach them, including a very noticeable head-move that seemed to clearly help him reach this note or that!
He's noticeably hoarser-sounding, and you can see the physical maneuvering he has to make to hit those notes (moves he didn't have to do 30 years earlier). Plus, you can clearly hear the difference from how he used to sound. It's even more noticeable on more upbeat songs. Not to mention the fact that, here, he's got a second, younger singer, to share much of the singing chores!! That HAS to be a concession to our subject matter here!
I'm guessing, Jackie, you're more classically trained/self-taught. For me, it was learning Ian's jazz style right out the gate, so, it was always harder for me to affect a purer tone!
Nice to see them making a comeback.
This is great to hear! Love the production on this one.
Wow. News to me! Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
My pleasure, as always!
Wow, this song is excellent! I certainly didn’t have a new Jethro Tull album on my 2025 musical bingo card but if this song is reflective of the album then color me excited!
I heard the song a few days ago. If this is any indication the new album should be great. I have followed Ian Anderson for decades in his various iterations and have been fortunate to converse with him on a few occasions. I’m glad to see the passion is still there.
Nice, Jackie! As a fellow self-taught flute player, I enjoyed this immensely! I saw Ian about a decade ago, here in Austin, and his voice is either "better," or he's found a lower register in which to "live" which doesn't necessitate him throwing his head back on a particularly high note in an attempt to reach it (which was his proclivity since, I think, the turn of the century, due to simply age and/or wear'n'tear over decades)!
Ian "taught me" flute when I was in junior high (oh, call it around 1969 or so...I was 14). I was attracted to that sound he was making, and while other kids were learning guitar, transfixed by Page, Beck, Hendrix, and Clapton, I couldn't care less, and gravitated toward flute. I took one lesson to learn the fingering and embouchure, and learned his licks off the albums from "This Was" all the way to "A Passion Play"....all by ear! I saw the "Aqualung" tour, as well as "TAAB" and "APP" tours.
IMO, you can have your Jaggers, Daltreys, Stewarts, Plants, Mercurys, et al. Ian's the most creative and innovative rock front man ever. There...I said it!
I haven't seen Jethro Tull/Anderson perform live, so I didn't know about his head toss ... interesting. Lemmy always sang with his head back and the mic above his mouth, and I wondered why; maybe you've given me the answer.
As I've written elsewhere in this space, I was a quite snobby young flutist and originally didn't think much of some of his playing. As my appreciation of the entire band grew, so did my respect for Anderson. If I would make playing a daily practice, I might could pull off some of the riffs in "Curious Ruminant."
Ian's self-taught, and has admitted quite often, in the past, of his likely mis-fingering on many notes/pieces! With only one lesson in my pocket, I noticed, over time, either by being shown, or seeing videos, close-up, that I was "doing it wrong" on some notes!!
I'll try to find you some video of 2000+ Ian....He couldn't reach those high notes, and it looked physically draining for him to try to reach them, including a very noticeable head-move that seemed to clearly help him reach this note or that!
Drop the needle on about the 12:00 mark on this, from 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54trN9DOt-g
He's noticeably hoarser-sounding, and you can see the physical maneuvering he has to make to hit those notes (moves he didn't have to do 30 years earlier). Plus, you can clearly hear the difference from how he used to sound. It's even more noticeable on more upbeat songs. Not to mention the fact that, here, he's got a second, younger singer, to share much of the singing chores!! That HAS to be a concession to our subject matter here!
I'm guessing, Jackie, you're more classically trained/self-taught. For me, it was learning Ian's jazz style right out the gate, so, it was always harder for me to affect a purer tone!