Jethro Tull

I don't think I've ever heard anybody here ever mention digging any of Jethro Tull's bass players. They've had a few really great ones IMO.

Glenn Cornick was the first and I really love all his work on the first few albums. It would have been really interesting to see what might have become of him if Ian hadn't kicked him out of the band (for partying too much!). After leaving Tull he played in another band, Wild Turkey, for a few years then packed it in. Some of his great highlights are Bouree and Inside which have some great melodic parts.

Jeffery Hammond was not in the same league I suppose, but he'll be the first to agree with that. He was basically handed a bass by Ian and asked to learn to play very quickly, so Aqualung was actually weeks into his bass playing carreer. Actually considering that, he did pretty well!

The next great one was John Glascock who was there from '76 to '79 when he died from heart trouble. He was a really great player though - especially some of his work on the Heavy Horses album.

Dave Pegg. Actually, Dave's a great bass player, but I never much cared for his tone (rather bright and thin). Lots of people liked Peggy though.

The new guy, Jon Noyce has done some fine work on the J-Tull.com album and it was nice to see BP Magazine write a short article on him a few months back. Finally somebody in that magazine who I've actually heard!

So, out of the bunch, I think I've come to appreciate Glen Cornick the most, with John Glascock a close second. Anybody else have an opinion (or care at all!)?

Well you must have noticed that Ian Anderson actually played bass on all the songs but 3 on Stormwatch. That was when John Glascock got really sick and couldn't continue. Ian actually sounds petty decent. In any case, it's obvious he must have supplied many of the ideas for bass parts over the years that others played (especially Jeffery Hammond!).

I guess I'm the only wacko on this board that has the entire Tull catalogue. I still think they are producing some really fine music these days and they are certainly one of the best sounding live acts I've heard.

You hear about a lot of folks who don't listen to much after Aqualung which is really a shame, because there have been another 30 years of albums! I have to admit myself that I'm not a huge fan of Thick as A Brick and Passion Play which followed Aqualung (although parts of those 2 albums are fantastic). I guess maybe they lost some of the bigger numbers of fans after Passion Play but I really believe some of Anderson's best work came from '74 onward. Certainly any of the late '70's Tull albums are great with some fine playing by Glascock.

Even some of the '80's Tull is really good - perhaps you just have to try and look past the synthesizers a bit, but the basic songwriting is still there. '90's Tull is even more neglected by the general public, but again, there really are some great songs.

In this age of so much mediocre rock music, it's a shame that people forget to listen to new music by some of the few remaining rock legends. Yes is another band that fits this category - their newer albums are just as great as some of their classic stuff but for some reason most people have stopped listening.

Originally posted by RS
Jon Noyce, I don't like. He's just a watered down studio musician, mostly copying the older guys work. On J-Tull.com, his playing is mediocre at best. But to be fair, that album bites. Worst Tull CD ever.

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I disagree with all of those statements. I can't see anything whatsoever wrong with Jonathon Noyce's playing. He caertainly isn't playing anything of less merit than Jeffery Hammond, but since he was around for many of the more popular albums, that is often overlooked. I've seen Jon a few times live and his playing is of a very high calibre.

The "watered down studio musician" argument never seems to make any sense to me. Please explain what you mean. So often I get the impression that because people are hired often to play sessions, they are often considered by other musicans to be "non-musical". That's ridiculous. These players do a lot of session work BECAUSE they generally are excellent players, readers and are extremely musical. It often sounds more like jealousy to me, from people that aren't getting that kind of work!

As far as the j-tull.com album is concerned - I guess you can feel free not to like it yourself, but I still feel it's miles ahead of most of the current "hip" bands that are topping the charts these days. Worst Tull album ever? I've never thought about it in those terms - I didn't think there were any bad ones. Most Tull fans probably thought "A" was a horrible album when it came out, but if you're really honest, it's full of great material. Maybe with time you'll hear some better sides of j-tull.com.