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October 19, 2009
Jethro Tull Live At Madison Square Garden 1978
Tomorrow marks the release of the new Jethro Tull live CD/DVD set. From their Heavy Horses tour, the video and audio was recorded during a performance at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden and beamed around the world live via satellite. Something of an event in the days before satellite communications became so commonplace. In fact, the show had to be broken up into three segments due to the lack of broadcast time that was available on the satellite at the time, with the middle portion being shown on television.
The set consists of a single DVD and a single CD. The DVD includes just the audio for the first segment of the show which is comprised of three songs.
The middle portion of the show was televised and the resulting 50 or so minutes of video footage is included on the DVD. Eight songs are performed for the middle segment including hits like “Aqualung” and “Thick As A Brick.” Fans should not expect to see video footage presented in wide-screen “movie” format since the show was being shot for broadcast on television, and as we all know, there certainly was no HD in 1978.
The final segment on the DVD features the audio from three more songs, including “Cross Eyed Mary” and an encore of “Locomotive Breath.”
I had not seen Jethro Tull perform live before this, but I can say without any hesitation that they were certainly not a boring group to watch. Ian Anderson’s energy is extraordinary, and I’m not quite sure the man stood still for a single second during the entire performance. There is little doubt that both Anderson and the rest of the group poured every ounce of energy and ability at their disposal into that show.
Although the group took liberties with the arrangements of some well-known material, as one might expect during a live show, none of the changes diminished the quality of the performance for me. As is typically the case, the frontman got the lion’s share of the face time, and although some of us might have appreciated a little bit more attention directed at some of the other musicians, that appears to be the nature of show business and is not unique to this recording.
As anyone who has read my reviews of live albums in the past will know, my main sticking point is always the sound. I freely admit I am a bit of an audio snob, and I am often disappointed with live albums due to the mix, the acoustics, the microphone placement or any number of other circumstances I might be find disagreeable.
I’m happy to report that the sound quality of this live set is quite good. Especially when one considers that it was recorded 31 years ago! Kudos to Robin Black and Peter Mew, two gentlemen who were responsible for the mixing of the original recording and the newer 5.1 Dolby and stereo mixes respectively. Those are the names that most fans probably never notice among all the others in the liner notes, but they contribute enormously to the quality of the finished product. It really is a superb live recording.
Although I’ve been a fan of Jethro Tull since the 1970’s, I’m not sure I ever listened as carefully to their arrangements as I might have before receiving this new set. Certain passages are almost fusion-like to my ears, and reveal an impressive quantity of talent on that stage that I may have never fully appreciated before.
The CD that accompanies the DVD contains all the audio material from the DVD with the exception of the encore performance of “Locomotive Breath” and a few short non-musical segments like band introductions and such.
Although it is probably obvious by now, I would not hesitate to recommend this set to any Jethro Tull fan. As rare as it may seem coming from me, the quality of this recording elevates its status to one that is worthy of listening to for the audio alone.
Ian Anderson is currently on tour here in the U.S. Having finished up for the remainder of this month with a show yesterday in Connecticut, he will next appear in Phoenix at the Dodge Theatre on November 3rd.
Thanks to the folks at EMI for the review copy of this recording. At the same time, I should also mention that I was not compensated in any way for this review beyond the review copy of the set that I received.
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August 11, 2008
The Police Join The Police For Final Show
The New York City Police Department joined classic rock trio The Police on stage during the last show of the group’s $386 million tour. The trio claims that the show, which played to delighted fans at Madison Square Garden, was their last, but we’ve all heard that a number of times from a number of acts, so who knows?
The Thursday night show comes after a career that began in 1977, and lasted until the group each went their separate ways in 1984, when they were at the top of their game, and seemed poised for even greater success after the release of their number one album, Synchronicity.
Frontman Sting, along with Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland each pursued solo careers. Sting enjoyed the most solo success with hit songs and various Grammy Awards. Through the years there was talk of a Police reunion, however Sting seemed satisfied with his solo career, and was said to be the holdout where a reunion was concerned.
Andy Summers involved himself with various projects after The Police disbanded, including work on film scores as well as some TV work, when he served as band leader for Dennis Miller’s short-lived talk show. Summers also did a few acting gigs as a guest star on a television program and a film. He also teamed up briefly with a group called Rush Hour, which later became Animal Logic, the group that drummer Stewart Copeland had short-lived success with.
Drummer Stewart Copeland also involved himself with movie soundtracks as a composer, and also released two solo albums, neither of which attained the kind of popularity his former band mate Sting was enjoying. Copeland also performed with other artists from time-to-time, and in 1989 he formed a group called Animal Logic, which enjoyed initial success with an album and tour, but they were unable to sustain sufficient popularity to continue as a group. He also appeared on a U.K. television program called Just The Two of Us, and also did a film about The Police that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
The just-completed tour began during May of 2007 in Vancouver ,and during the course of the 15-month tour, 3.7 million fans in various locations around the world were provided with what may have been their last chance to ever see the group perform live together again.
With what may have been a humorous attempt to drive home the point that it was indeed the final live performance of The Police, the show was followed by the appearance of a costumed, singing "fat lady," who was accompanied by the well-known closing phrase made famous by Looney Tunes’ cartoon character Porky Pig, "That’s all folks!"
In a partnership with Best Buy The Police will release a collector’s set entitled The Police: Certifiable. The set will include an entire show that was recorded live in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the tour. The set will be available in the following packages: 2 DVDs & 2 CDs, 1 Blu-Ray DVD & 2 CDs, and 3 premium vinyl LPs with MP3 file key. The new set is expected in Best Buy stores on October 7.
