Back to the Future: Jethro Tull circa 1977
Past masters doing what they do, master it all!
In my late teens and through my early 30’s I saw a lot of live acts, but there was one that I never caught, and now, decades later I still lament not getting to a Jethro Tull concert.
This morning, Youtube recommended this live clip, titled “Wind up / Locomotive Breath”, and if you know me at all, I clicked that like a rabid beaver building a dam.
And god damn, what a fabulous treat.
My history with Locomotive Breath stretches back to the early 80’s while I was taking guitar lessons. As I have mentioned before, about 18 months into lessons, my instructor told me he had taught me enough. But I still made the weekly trek to his salon to have extended jam sessions. Typical of the songs we would jam to are titles like Child in Time, Working Man, and this song, Locomotive Breath.
The chords are not too difficult, the rhythm pattern is open and airy, perfect for a master and an apprentice of the pentatonic minor scale with plenty of grace notes tossed in to jam to.
Why I like this recording is that it is damn clear that Jethro Tull themselves viewed the song the same way.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did and do:
I was lucky enough to catch them in 1972 at the Nassau Coliseum on their Thick as a Brick tour.
Great rendition!! I gave my $10 ticket (does anyone remember when going to a concert wasn’t a gouge?) to Tull to a friend for reasons I can’t remember (maybe grounded for something?) Huge regret. My only consolation is having seen The Who when Keith Moon was still alive.