Forget any references to "The Grammy's", just appreciate the musicianship, creativity and artistry.
"Nearly all of my music growth and exposure happened while I was growing up in St. Louis. St. Louis was a stronghold for bands like Jethro Tull and many others."
November 20th, Welcome to “Two-fer-Tuesday” on Live Vinyl Lovefest where I showcase a double live album from the shelves of the offices here at Casa de Scovi. Today’s featured release is “Bursting Out” from Jethro Tull.
Last night I just happened to be scanning some music video on YouTube while watching my sons play Madden football … wait … what? That was an actual NFL game? Are you sure … ?
At any rate, I was YouTubing and stumbled upon some live video of Jethro Tull doing “Thick As A Brick” and a wave of memories and nostalgia swept over me. I certainly hadn’t forgotten how much I loved Jethro Tull, but by the same token I hadn’t listened to them in quite a while now. Nearly all of my music growth and exposure happened while I was growing up in St. Louis. St. Louis was a stronghold for bands like Jethro Tull and many others. I saw them in concert many times while I lived there and one of the things I vividly remember was an early show by them at Keil Auditorium. I remember this so well because I recall the radio promos for the show stating “For the first time in Kiel Auditorium experience a state of the art flown sound system for the ultimate concert experience”. I don’t mind telling you, it was pretty damn exciting. And if you were a Tull fan to boot, which I certainly was … this was going to be something. The show did not disappoint. And many years later, I would learn first hand what a challenge "flying" PA system could be in that very same Kiel Auditorium.
I so loved the Tull records around the Minstrel In The Gallery period. Musically and lyrically it was just so unique, challenging, complex and vibey. With my Koss headphones on, I just soaked it in day after day, night after night. I LOVED Barrymore Barlow’s drumming and studied it heavily during that period. I also LOVED the sound of Martin Barre’s guitar and his playing. His sound just had the “it” factor for that point in music production. Perfectly dirty and perfectly produced. And I would certainly grow to appreciate John Evan’s organ and keyboard productions as my own career wore on.
Don’t let the Grammy’s silliness regarding Tull dissuade you from digging in to the band's work in the 70s. They were a monster act putting out fantastically crafted records and wonderful to see in concert.
This particular live album showed up in my collection in 1978 and was recorded by Robin Black, Christopher Amson and Pavel Kubes “somewhere else in Europe” using the Maison Rouge Mobile unit.
Ya know what? I think I’ll just leave this one on for the rest of the day and reminisce a little …