Tullophilia revisited

Yes, I once was a Jethro Tull fan. When I was in my late teens they were my second favourite band next to Zeppelin and my favourite among the thinking rock acts (i.e. with profound lyrics).
I bought all their albums until "Stormwatch" (1979) and was wisely advised to stop there. In fact, Tull had been going downhill since "Thick as a Brick" and went into irreversible coma when key classic members John Evans and Barriemore Barlow left in 1980. I still keep a bunch of their albums on vynil and know almost all lyrics to the whole "Aqualung" album. I know all their line-ups until 1980 and can easily recall past members and how good musicians they were in their own right: besides John and Barriemore, also Clive Bunker, Glen Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, John Glascock and David Palmer (who I learned recently is now a woman). And Ian Anderson and Martin Barre of course.

Going through a Tull revival boosted by a recent check into this website, I acknowledge that at their best Tull were brilliant. They had charisma and a vision which is basically what you need to stand-out in pop music. And they had two creative peaks: "Stand Up" (1969) is a perfect blend of blues, folk, rock, jazz and even hints at classical music (in the adaptation of Bach's "Bourée"). Fantastic musicianship and, even if Ian Anderson is already writing all songs, it still sounds like a group effort with Cornick and Bunker proving on the heaviest numbers why they were the most underrated rhythm section of its era. Three years later Tull fully embraced progressive rock on their second essential album, "Thick as a Brick" (1972). For Tull haters "Brick" sucks but to my ears it is a fantastic record. It has some flaws on its one song structure but overall it flows very nicely and the acoustic themes still rule. And the last section at the end of side one when Anderson goes "I see you shuffle in the courtroom..." against John Evans' high octave piano riff still raises the hairs at the back of my neck. And the lyrics sound inspired and inspiring even if I still don't know whether they are closer to an epic poem or to a Monty Python's script. It sounds good and quintessentially British though - like Roy Harper's "One of Those Days in England".

Once they established themselves as prog-rockers, Tull became more predictable with Anderson's ego not helping much. They became a bit like Abba: when they were good they were like the Parthenon (as with "Thick as a Brick"). When they were bad, they were awful and kitsch ("Home" and "Heavy Horses" easily rank next to "Fernando"). I save half of "Warchild" (1974), most of "Songs from the Wood" (1977) and patches in all other post-Brick albums.

So, Tull were good. I'm still not sure the flute was necessary, though.