4-24-13 Jethro Tull
Happy birthday, Glenn Cornick (bassist of Jethro Tull), born 1947.
On my recent visit to Seattle, I found a book about Jethro Tull. I “discovered” them when Warner / Reprise put them at the front of one of their famous sampler double LP’s, the song being “My Sunday Feeling”. Sounded great, really different, even in 1969. It wasn’t hard to find their LP’s – they were in each and every hippie record store! I quickly got “Stand Up”, and in 1970 – “Benefit”, what I consider to be their finest hour (or 43 minutes).
Being a popular band, Jethro Tull quickly became somewhat less of a concern for me; it was somebody else’s band now; mainstream press would write about them; I refused to read it etc. Last new album I got by them comtemporarily was “Thick As A Brick” in 1972.
40 years on, I still have a soft spot for the first 5 or 6 LP’s by Jethro Tull. I am always interesting in illuminating their career from 1968 – 1972, with variant pressings, 45’s and, more recently, 5.1 versions of both “Aqualung” and “Thick As A Brick” (and for you quad / 5.1 fans, I know there are other multi-channel J.T. albums, as they made some quad LP’s!)
Recently, I found a copy of “Aqualung” from Germany with a pink “Island Records” label! Certainly never saw that before; every copy of the “Aqualung” LP that I ever saw had the green Chrysalis label, right? (Gee, I wonder if there are pink Island labels for “Benefit” in Germany?).
So, my vault has a few Jethro Tull DVD’s, lots of 45’s, a few 5.1 titles and lovely original UK copies of their first 5 or 6 albums. I’ve seen them live (San Francisco, with It Bites opening for them), but no autographs. I don’t think I ever tried writing to any of them; in 2013, I wonder why? I had good results writing to King Crimson! (P.S. I did eventually warm to later releases by J.T., with a few boxed sets, some decent live albums etc.)
Always found it interesting that Ian Anderson plays on the 3rd album by Brian Protheroe, “I / You”. Guess they were label-mates at Chrysalis. And there’s always Tull-periphery: Wild Turkey, Blodwyn Pig, Mick Abrahms…When I was working at Poo-Bah’s in the early 90’s, I believe Glenn Cornick came into the store one evening. Rick must’ve recognized him. I should’ve gone and got an LP of “Benefit” and hit him up for an autograph, but I didn’t.
All hail Ian Anderson and his fish farm…or whatever kind of farm it is – up in Scotland. If the GF drags me to Scotland, will there be odd, unusual Jethro Tull periphery waiting for me up there? Blodwyn Pig 45’s? More variant pressings? Bring on the first 3 album variants!
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I wish someone would drag me up to Scotland! [all expenses paid, of course]