Folk rock
Not Forgotten: Jethro Tull – This Was
For those that are familiar with the more complex and progressive output of Jethro Tull from the 70s, a first listen of their 1968 debut album, This Was, can come as quite a shock. Although it has always been obvious that Tull were influenced, at least in in some part by the blues, the fact …
Album Review: Jethro Tull – 50 for 50
50 for 50 is the new 3CD career-spanning collection released to celebrate 50 years of Jethro Tull, and I just so happen to be a big Jethro Tull fan. But I just don’t ‘get’ it. Tull’s 20th anniversary in 1988 was marked by a tour, a TV documentary, and a lavishly packaged 3CD box set …
Not Forgotten: Jethro Tull – A Passion Play
Jethro Tull had made their point with Thick as a Brick. Progressive rock simply didn’t have to be overblown and pompous, it could be cheeky, subversive, and (dare I say it) fun. Having successfully lampooned the genre with stunning results resulting in an album which was far better than the majority who took this sort …
Not Forgotten: Jethro Tull – Heavy Horses
Where to begin? The beginning I guess. My beginning. Or at least as far back as I can remember. You might be surprised to find out that I didn’t get into music until my early teens. Throughout my childhood, my parents, particularly my dad, were always playing albums, but none of them permeated into my …
Live Review: Richard Thompson / Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker Sheffield City Hall, 25.10.2017
Opening for an act like Richard Thompson, a man who has been at the forefront of the folk rock movement for five decades now, could easily overwhelm the unprepared. Luckily, with five albums already under their belt, and a wealth of good (and bad!) touring experience, Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker know what they are …
Album Review: Richard Thompson – Acoustic Rarities
The new Richard Thompson album, Acoustic Rarities, arrives barely two short months after the release of its sibling, Acoustic Classics Vol II, and is released both separately, and as a bonus disc to its predecessor. Where Acoustic Classics Vol II revisited well loved numbers from Thompson’s songbook, Acoustic Rarities takes the opportunity to compliment and …
Not Forgotten: Jethro Tull – Crest of a Knave
Like many acts from the 60s and &0s, when the 80s rolled around Jethro Tull struggled with something of an identity crisis, desperately trying to blend the traditional core values of their sound with new and exciting possibilities that the latest technology offered. The result was a genuine mixed bag of albums, from the synthetic …
Classic Album: Jethro Tull – Songs From the Wood
The rise of punk triggered a wide variety of reactions among more established acts. Led Zeppelin nodded in approval, and continued to be Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd channelled their own disenfranchised feelings into the bleak Animals. A few other acts underwent underwent various identity crises, with some attempting to go ‘pop’ with mixed success (Emerson, …
Not Forgotten: Cat Stevens – Tea for The Tillerman
Maybe it was a reaction to being a social misfit during my school days, but while my contemporaries were falling underneath the spell of various grunge and hip hop acts back in the early 90s, I had started to pay more and more attention to my parents’ album collection. As teenagers during the 70s, they …
Not Forgotten: Bob Dylan – Christmas in the Heart
Ah, Bob Dylan’s Christmas in the Heart. Oh how music fans far and wide chuckled at the idea of one of the 20th Century’s song writing icons deciding that it would be a shrewd career move to release an album of traditional Christmas Carols and festive favourites. Down the decades Christmas albums in general have …