Post by Gerrald Bostock on Nov 11, 2015 13:50:13 GMT
www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/music/jethro-tull-pays-homage-to-namesake-agriculturist-1.1451581
Ian Anderson brings Jethro Tull, the man and the band, to life
November 9, 2015
By BRIAN ABERBACK
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD |
WHO: Ian Anderson Presents Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera.
WHAT: Progressive and folk rock.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday .
WHERE: New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St., Newark; 888-466-5722 or njpac.org.
HOW MUCH: $39.50 to $119.50.
MORE INFO: jethrotull.com.
Jethro Tull is giving some love to its namesake. The band led by singer-flutist-guitarist Ian Anderson will perform a multimedia rock opera on Wednesday in Newark that reimagines the life of the original Jethro Tull, a pioneering 18th-century British agriculturist.
"A little over a year ago I was driving through Europe and looking at the different forms of agriculture out of the window of the car and it made me think of Jethro Tull," Anderson said by phone from his home in Britain. "I starting reading about his life story and was immediately struck by how many songs I've written over the years that coincidentally touch on elements of his life.
"It got me wondering what he would make of farming today," Anderson said, "and I thought it would be interesting to build a narrative about his life in the present and near-future around Jethro Tull the band's most well-known songs."
Tull, the agriculturist, is best known for inventing the horse-drawn seed drill. The device, which sows seeds at equal distances in the soil and then covers them, helped form the basis for modern agriculture.
"Today we need more and more food to feed more and more people in a cheaper way," Anderson said. "During the next 50 years we really do need another Jethro Tull to come up with the innovations that are going to be necessary to address this problem. The show concerns issues of genetics and cloning, moral dilemmas in the agro-business."
Anderson said Jethro Tull's classic song, "Aqualung," about a ragged, sick homeless man with nasty respiratory problems, has ties to Tull the man's real-life health ills. "Jethro Tull suffered from pulmonary problems and traveled abroad seeking balmier climates," Anderson said. Another Tull favorite, "Locomotive Breath," about population expansion, was also a natural fit for the rock opera.
Anderson said he changed some of the songs' lyrics to better reflect the story.
"The show provides a chance to give those songs I've played many times in the past a new context," he said. Anderson also wrote five new songs to help position Tull's life in the present day and near-future.
The concert features virtual duets between Anderson and pre-recorded, guest vocalists projected on large screens. There are also actors onscreen portraying Tull, his wife, father and son.
Jethro Tull the band, like its namesake, were also innovators. The group formed in 1968 — the band's agent at the time gave the group its name.
"I didn't know who he was at the time," Anderson said. "I didn't study that period of history when I was in school."
The band melded folk and progressive rock, with Anderson introducing the flute as part of the equation. The woodwind instrument mirrors and compliments the guitar riffs on tracks like "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath," adding a then-unheard-of dimension to rock music that became part of the band's signature sound.
Jethro Tull released its debut album, "This Was," in 1969. Their breakthrough album, 1970's "Aqualung," hit No. 4 on the U.K. charts and No. 7 in America. Follow-up "Thick As a Brick" (1972) consisted of just one song spanning the entire 45-minute album. Despite its non-commercial bent, "Thick As a Brick" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, as did the band's next album, "A Passion Play" (1973).
Tull continued to release popular albums throughout the ensuing decades, including "Songs from the Wood" (1977) and "Crest of a Knave" (1987), which won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance. The band's last release was a 2003 Christmas album.
SEATS STILL AVAILABLE AS OF 8:30 am
Ian Anderson brings Jethro Tull, the man and the band, to life
November 9, 2015
By BRIAN ABERBACK
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD |
WHO: Ian Anderson Presents Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera.
WHAT: Progressive and folk rock.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday .
WHERE: New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St., Newark; 888-466-5722 or njpac.org.
HOW MUCH: $39.50 to $119.50.
MORE INFO: jethrotull.com.
Jethro Tull is giving some love to its namesake. The band led by singer-flutist-guitarist Ian Anderson will perform a multimedia rock opera on Wednesday in Newark that reimagines the life of the original Jethro Tull, a pioneering 18th-century British agriculturist.
"A little over a year ago I was driving through Europe and looking at the different forms of agriculture out of the window of the car and it made me think of Jethro Tull," Anderson said by phone from his home in Britain. "I starting reading about his life story and was immediately struck by how many songs I've written over the years that coincidentally touch on elements of his life.
"It got me wondering what he would make of farming today," Anderson said, "and I thought it would be interesting to build a narrative about his life in the present and near-future around Jethro Tull the band's most well-known songs."
Tull, the agriculturist, is best known for inventing the horse-drawn seed drill. The device, which sows seeds at equal distances in the soil and then covers them, helped form the basis for modern agriculture.
"Today we need more and more food to feed more and more people in a cheaper way," Anderson said. "During the next 50 years we really do need another Jethro Tull to come up with the innovations that are going to be necessary to address this problem. The show concerns issues of genetics and cloning, moral dilemmas in the agro-business."
Anderson said Jethro Tull's classic song, "Aqualung," about a ragged, sick homeless man with nasty respiratory problems, has ties to Tull the man's real-life health ills. "Jethro Tull suffered from pulmonary problems and traveled abroad seeking balmier climates," Anderson said. Another Tull favorite, "Locomotive Breath," about population expansion, was also a natural fit for the rock opera.
Anderson said he changed some of the songs' lyrics to better reflect the story.
"The show provides a chance to give those songs I've played many times in the past a new context," he said. Anderson also wrote five new songs to help position Tull's life in the present day and near-future.
The concert features virtual duets between Anderson and pre-recorded, guest vocalists projected on large screens. There are also actors onscreen portraying Tull, his wife, father and son.
Jethro Tull the band, like its namesake, were also innovators. The group formed in 1968 — the band's agent at the time gave the group its name.
"I didn't know who he was at the time," Anderson said. "I didn't study that period of history when I was in school."
The band melded folk and progressive rock, with Anderson introducing the flute as part of the equation. The woodwind instrument mirrors and compliments the guitar riffs on tracks like "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath," adding a then-unheard-of dimension to rock music that became part of the band's signature sound.
Jethro Tull released its debut album, "This Was," in 1969. Their breakthrough album, 1970's "Aqualung," hit No. 4 on the U.K. charts and No. 7 in America. Follow-up "Thick As a Brick" (1972) consisted of just one song spanning the entire 45-minute album. Despite its non-commercial bent, "Thick As a Brick" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, as did the band's next album, "A Passion Play" (1973).
Tull continued to release popular albums throughout the ensuing decades, including "Songs from the Wood" (1977) and "Crest of a Knave" (1987), which won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance. The band's last release was a 2003 Christmas album.
SEATS STILL AVAILABLE AS OF 8:30 am
