Music Appreciation: Jethro Tull
A group of super talented musicians, lead by a wild man, and a catalog of killer tunes. Their place in the pantheon of Rock is cemented most assuredly.
I have a bunch of Tull albums, and I listen to many of them all the time. Lots and lots of great tunes, expertly performed, and all entertaining. But there is one that really reverberates in my mind and recollection: “Locomotive Breath”
It is one of the tracks on 1971’s album: Aqualung. In addition to the classic title track, and Cross Eyed Mary (masterfully covered later by Iron Maiden), the standout is Locomotive Breath.
The intro is free-form piano riffs, that then falls into a driven rhythm that invokes the image of trains, and rail transport.
Structurally it is a relatively simple song, Em, G, D, Em, with a shuffle rhythm is the main riff. What I like about it was that in the way-back time, after I learned this from my Guitar Teacher, it became one of the “dessert” pieces for each lesson.
To this day, I remember those jam sessions fondly, and I currently have several versions (the recorded on Aqualung, the initial CD release (that was just a tonal mess, really lousy conversion in the early 80’s), the remaster, and several live versions from over the years. Every one of them is cherished in my collection.
What an ass kicker of a song. Next up on the list is Minstrel in the Gallery
Do you have any of Ian Anderson's solo albums? I'm interested in them too, but plan to devote more attention to the Tull I have first.