Ian Anderson as a bass player

[TrevorR]

The original Wal order tracking sheet, with John listed as the 14th JG bass off the workbench…

Some impressive names on this list (and a couple of surprising ones… who pegged Paul Simenon as a Wal player?

 

[TrevorR]

@PrinceByTor …great minds think alike!!

 

[PhR75]

… who pegged Paul Simenon as a Wal player?]

I think it was producer Sandy Pearlman's idea. The Wal was used on some tracks on The Clash' second album.

 

[40Hz]

What's the truth in that?", Anderson replied:

Interesting that Martin Barre now really dislikes Anderson.

I’ve followed Tull throughout its long run and heard every one of its incarnations in concert, during which I was (mostly) able to overlook Ian Anderson’s excruciating (and almost entirely unsuccessful) attempts at what he thought was witty banter with the audience. Heck, I’ve got most of Tull’s 21 studio albums and still regularly listen to them. They’re easily one of my favorite bands from a purely musical perspective. So I guess you could call me an actual Tull fan.

However…I wouldn’t give much credence to anything Ian Anderson says about “what happened when and why” as the saying goes. Mr. Anderson has a tendency to…umm…”reimagine” and “reinterpret” things, to put it politely. And his narratives about certain significant events in the band’s history have changed from time to time.

Since Ian Anderson’s unilateral decision to break up the band, Martin Barre has flat out called “BS” on some of the statements Ian Anderson had made in interviews over the years. As has Jeff Hammond. And AFAIK, none of the former Tull members have ever had much to share by way of happy reminiscences when it came to life with Ian Anderson. Hardly a surprising thing to hear whenever you’re dealing with icons in the music world.

 

[HaphAsSard]

John Glascock also played a Yamaha acoustic bass guitar during this time.

A question (also for @PhR75, @PrinceByTor and @TrevorR, in case anyone knows):
I saw mention of this Yamaha ABG on Wikipedia as well, but haven't been able to find any more information. Are there pics of Glascock with the acoustic floating around, and/or info on the exact model? Ta in advance.

 

[PhR75]

Ian tells about his bass of choice (see attachement). As much as I love his work I don't really dig his bass playing or sound. Don't blame the bass Ian, there's lots of classic examples of great T-Bird neck pickup sounds. The excessive use of flanger on "Stormwatch" didn't help much either.

 

[PhR75]

Here's John with the T-Bird (maybe or maybe not the bass Ian owned).

 

[hasbeen]

Stormwatch is the only Tull album I've really heard. Excellent, nimble bass playing by Mr. Anderson!

Check out Songs from the Woods for some incredible bass lines.

 

[NHM]

I played in a band with the current bass player David Goodier back in the late 70s. A fine musician, worthy of joining the Tull stable of bass legends.

 

[RichardW]

My older sister went to art school in New York in the late 60s. On break she came home and gave me a copy of Stand Up. Her graphics teacher had done the cover art for the band, including the famous 'pop up' cut outs that were inside the album fold. Big Tull fan since then. When are they going to get into the RRHOF?

 

[captainofsmooth]

What pitcher?
I’m watching the series and this is a great side bar.

Ian Anderson…

 

[Gizmot]

Before the album "the passion play" came out, I had the opportunity to meet Ian Anderson. He needed a music playback system for his hotel room so that he could listen to the test pressings of the album and he asked the local show promoter to get one for him. The show promoter knew me and I was happy to accommodate him, so I took a nice system to the hotel and got to speak to him and spend a few minutes. He sat in a big easy chair, drinking muscatel and on the table next to him where there was a huge pile of charts for the evening's show. Jethro Tull sounded like their show was a long jam session when in actuality, every note was written out and all the musicians followed it perfectly. So - - I learned that Ian Anderson was a very serious, talented musician and songwriter - in other words, a true artist. No surprise whatsoever that he could play bass and play it well.

 

[hasbeen]

I never knew Anderson could be such a tyrant to his bandmates.

He may not have been a tyrant. Ritchie Blackmore had that reputation in the 70's too. It would come out years later though that he would give guys the boot if they were paying more attention to partying, booze and drugs than business though.

 

[Ostie]

I had not only that one but all the Warner Brothers "Loss Leader" sampler LPs ($2 each starting in 1968, by the late 70s they went to $3, stopping around 1980) I let a bunch of the later ones go, but still have the first 11, up to "Appetizers".

Sold by mail order, at first through ads in magazines like Rolling Stone then later with coupons on the inner sleeves of Warner and Reprise albums. Most were two LP sets, a few were single LP, including "Zapped" which showcased releases on Frank Zappa's Bizarre and Straight labels, and one a 3LP set in a box. The idea was to let people hear tracks from recently released albums that might not be getting any airplay. Some of the tracks would be rarities like single B-sides. The earliest albums came with booklets with a lot of info (text and photos) about the artists. I discovered a lot of music that way. Probably my all time favorite is this one which was the only 3-LP box set and the first one I heard when my brother brought it home from college. The cover is an homage to the old Warners Brothers cartoons.

View attachment 4451896

I had one of those but I can’t remember the name of it. I remember that It had tracks by Dave Edmunds, Tommy Two Tone, and Marianne Faithfull.

I got it when I was a student. I worked at the college radio station, and when they would purge their library, we would get to take home the cast offs. It was a great deal for a starving student/musician.

 

[Joshua]

More good discussion: Jethro Tull

 

[bassicmike]

Stormwatch is the only Tull album I've really heard. Excellent, nimble bass playing by Mr. Anderson!

Oh, you've got to listen to more.

'Songs from the Wood' was Tull's first foray into that more folksie sound.

'Minstrel in the Gallery' is a great record. Highly recommended you check that one out. It's got the incredible Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond playing bass.

 

[bassicmike]

Since Ian Anderson’s unilateral decision to break up the band, Martin Barre has flat out called “BS” on some of the statements Ian Anderson had made in interviews over the years. As has Jeff Hammond. And AFAIK, none of the former Tull members have ever had much to share by way of happy reminiscences when it came to life with Ian Anderson. Hardly a surprising thing to hear whenever you’re dealing with icons in the music world.

I had the great pleasure of seeing Martin Barre in a small venue when he was touring a few years back. He played a very Tull-heavy set, with some of his solo material. No matter what he played, tho, it invariably sounded Tull-like. He had a big part in making Tull sound like Tull.

And my goodness he can still play. Fantastic show

And he was incredibly nice. Came out and did a meet-and-greet after the show. I will admit to going all fanboi.

 

[40Hz]

I had the great pleasure of seeing Martin Barre in a small venue when he was touring a few years back. He played a very Tull-heavy set, with some of his solo material. No matter what he played, tho, it invariably sounded Tull-like. He had a big part in making Tull sound like Tull.

And my goodness he can still play. Fantastic show

And he was incredibly nice. Came out and did a meet-and-greet after the show. I will admit to going all fanboi.

View attachment 4452294

That must have been great to see.

I’ve never had the pleasure of catching him solo. But he is a gentleman and musician of the first order.

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

I was mortified when I read Ian fired Martin. What ? that was like a 40 years relationship, and he gave Martin something like 2 weeks notice ? I stopped seeing Tull late-90's once Ian completely lost his voice.
I still love Tull, and have lots of their records, but yeah, firing Martin was just lame.

 

[brianrost]

Well, he's fired everybody else! After the first album, for the next four albums, one member got dropped from the band. It wasn't until Passion Play that the lineup remained stable for a few years.