Jethro Tull

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="1a4e1c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Current Tull Members </div> <div> <IMG SRC="0a95b5a0.jpg" border=0 width="91" height="90" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Ian Anderson</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0aa5e5a0.jpg" border=0 width="94" height="90" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Martin Barre</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0ab605a0.jpg" border=0 width="96" height="90" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Doane Perry</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0ac5e5a0.jpg" border=0 width="94" height="90" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Andrew Giddings</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0ad5d5a0.jpg" border=0 width="93" height="90" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Jonathan Noyce</div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="132b6be3.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Mojo Dojo</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Mojo Dojo"><U>home</U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> <I><B><U>Jethro Tull</U></B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.j-tull.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.j-tull.com/"><U><IMG SRC="130ba540.jpg" border=0 width="186" height="340" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>"<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Who would be a poor man, a beggar man, a thief; if he had a rich man in his hand?"</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>So starts the opening line of the first Tull concert I ever attended.  "Cross Eyed Mary" was the tale of a child prostitute who made her real money off of rich patrons and cut special deals to "help the poor man get along."  The song contains no moral imperatives, no judgments, no lecherous exploitations; just the factual existence of a young girl who, by decision or circumstance, made a living in such a way....  And this is what I've always loved most about Ian Anderson's writing: the earthy, gritty, social commentary of life wherever you find it.  Anderson would later comment on 1971, the year that the "Aqualung" album was released, as a naive time in his music and writing.  Indeed, he would revisit (whether by intention or accident) a modern version of Mary in the dirty streets of modern Bombay, India.  "Beside Myself" tells of a more personalized view of the social interloper that is within us all.  From a first person perspective, we observe a young orphan girl who's only way of supporting herself and her brother is through the selling of the only thing she possesses, herself.  The lofty goals of sending them both to school and making their lives "better" runs headlong into the questions of how; and the guilt over how one dares to assume that they know better for another person.  Ian Anderson unaplogetically makes you look into your soul and ask the hard questions; he makes you uncomfortable with yourself; he leaves you on the path of why....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Now maybe you know why this page is in my philosophy section.  I have always been attracted to unique music with a biting social commentary and I believe that Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull are the quintessential genius and vehicle of conveyance in my time.  Add to that the mastery of the genres of Blues, Classical, Jazz, Rock, Progressive, Folk, Pop, Instrumental and Techno in a 30+ year existence, and you have my ultimate musical group of all time.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Jethro Tull is what you get when you take out all the formulae, pretensions and restrictions that the music industry puts upon "popular music".  Who would've thought you could front a rock band with a flute player?  Who could've foretold that a top 10, Seventies album would be composed of one song, 47 minutes long?  Or that a 300 year old Bach tune would exist as one of the band's signature pieces.  Tull has raised eclectic to a high art....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Tull has taken me, through practical wisdom, not to a place of soaring angels and pristine pillars but to the reality of where we all live in the here and now, served up with a wink and a nod; a wry smile; a dark warning; a playful gesture; a gnarled and wizened word; a wistful fantasy or a thoughtful allegory.  Through Tull I've gained and lost loves; defeated my demons; drank with myths; exchanged ideals with Robert Frost's Brown Mouse; argued with Father, Religion and State; fought against the governmental abuses in Vietnam and the Cold Wars; nursed Mother Earth from the wounding by her offspring and shuddered against the days of her vengeance.  Impossible?  No; the music; the lyrics; the artistry has taken me there.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Every year I hope the Lads have one more album in them....</B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>