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Nel 1988 i Jethro Tull compiono vent'anni. Per festeggiare l'evento pubblicano uno speciale box set, intitolato “ 20 Years Of Jethro Tull” , composto da 3 CD (o 5 LP a seconda del formato desiderato) contenente moltissimo materiale inedito, un buon numero di brani eseguiti dal vivo e, qua e là qualche canzone presa dai loro dischi in studio. Viene inoltre pubblicata una versione ridotta composta da un solo cd (che è ancora oggi presente sul mercato). È proprio questa che vorrei recensire. . .
Il CD singolo si presenta diviso in quattro sezioni.
Si parte con The Radio Archives & Rare Tracks. Le prime tre tracce sono delle registrazioni gentilmente concesse dalla BBC Radio (1968/69). Stormy Monday Blues è, come dice il titolo, una traccia blues. Dato l'ottimo livello, non avrebbe affatto sfigurato in “ This Was” o “ Stand Up” : il ritmo è molto pacato ed il flato sempre in primo piano. Love Story è un canzone molto breve, veloce e dalle sonorità molto vivaci. . . abbastanza atipica per il gruppo, ma ciononostante decisamente godibile. La migliore delle tre tuttavia rimane A New Day Yesterday (la versione in studio è presente nel disco “ Stand Up” , del 1969): si tratta ancora di ottimo blues, ma stavolta il flauto si sente meno per mettere in evidenza la grintosa chitarra di Martin Barre che conferisce delle piacevoli sfumature hard rock. Finite le registrazioni della BBC si passa a Summerday Sands, una B-Side di “ Minstrel In The Galley” (1975) veramente piacevole e distensiva. L'atmosfera è solare ma allo stesso tempo triste: si parte con chitarra acustica e voce (solo in seguito arriva un leggero tocco di orchestra) mentre la batteria è percossa molto dolcemente per non rovinare l'equilibrio del tutto. Altra piccola gemma è la breve (meno di due minuti) ed acustica March The Mad Scientist, un outtake di “ WarChild” (si sente una certa somiglianza con Only Solitaire).
La seconda sezione Flawed Gems (Dusted Down) è sicuramente quella che preferisco. Qui spiccano canzoni molto interessanti: la prima di queste è Lick Your Fingers Clean, divertente e piacevolissimo pezzo che misteriosamente è stato escluso da “ Aqualung” (piccola curiosità: l'ultima traccia di “ WarChild” , Two Fingers, non è altro che Lick Your Fingers Clean con il testo leggermente modificato e la melodia riarrangiata per l'orchestra). La successiva Overhang è una meravigliosa e potentissima canzone realizzata nel 1981: Peter John Vettese non è ancora nel gruppo, allora Ian Anderson oltre a cantare e suonare il flauto si improvvisa tastierista . . . con risultati eccellenti!. Si prosegue con Crossword, un eccellente pezzo pensato per “ Stormwatch” (1979): si sentono infatti le atmosfere un bucoliche ma allo stesso tempo un po' dark tipiche di quell'album. Jack-A-Lynn è semplicemente la più bella canzone d'amore scritta dai Jethro Tull: una dolce introduzione di tastiera che sfocia in un grintoso finale (Jack-A-Lynn edOverhang provengono entrambe dalla stessa sessione di demo. . . evidentemente molto ispirata!).
Ora giungiamo alla parte più ricca, The Other Sides Of Tull, con le sue 8 canzoni. La prima di queste, Part Of The Machine, è datata 1988. Con molta probabilità la canzone è stata registrata appositamente per il cofanetto “ 20 Years. . . ” ed essendo immediatamente successiva all'uscita dell' LP “ Crest Of A Knave” si sentono atmosfere folk ed hard rock. Sicuramente una tra le composizioni più belle tra le 21 presenti in questo cd: un assolo di flauto magistrale (ricorda quello di Jump Start), chitarre potenti ed un ritmo intenso. . . assolutamente da ascoltare! Mayhem, Maybe è una traccia tipicamente folk risalente al 1981. Carina ma niente di più. Si rimane al folk con Kelpie, ma qui è tutta un'altra storia: oltre ad essere una gioia per le orecchie, c'è indubbiamente molta più energia rispetto alla canzone precedente. Segue un gustoso mini-medley composto da Wond'ring Aloud e Dun Ringill, tratto dal tour di “ Crest Of A Knave” : da segnalare la presenza dell'ottimo tastierista Don Airey (ora nei Deep Purple). Si prosegue su ottimi livelli con Life's A Long Song, una canzone acustica ottimamente orchestrata (veramente bello il finale dove si può ascoltare una delle più belle combinazioni tra orchestra e flauto). Le brevissime Nursie e Grace, sono versioni studio già edite, prese rispettivamente dagli album “ Living In The Past” e “ Minstrel In The Gallery” .
Le rimanenti quattro tracce fanno parte della sezione Essential Tull. Per Witch's Promise vale lo stesso discorso fatto in precedenza per Life's A Long Song, ovvero grande brano caratterizzato da una perfetta sintonia tra flauto ed orchestra. Altro picco di qualità del disco è la versione totalmente stravolta di Living In The Past (tratta anch'essa dal tour di “ Crest Of A Knave” ). . . . magnifica ed assolutamente da ascoltare. Chiudono il CDAqualung e Locomotive Breath tratte da un concerto del 1982: il suono dei due brani storici è reso molto più moderno dalle tastiere di Vettese. In particolare, anche se non segnalato in copertina, a Locomotive Breath viene agganciato il finale di Black Sunday: si tratta si un altro piccolo medley che chiude nella maniera migliore un ottimo disco come questo.
In conclusione . . . un disco che fino a poco tempo fa si poteva considerare come essenziale. La sua leggera perdita di importanza sta nel fatto che molte canzoni di questa compilation di rarità sono state accodate, come bonus track, ai CD rimasterizzati. Nonostante tutto lo consiglio caldamente (specialmente la versione a 3 CD), in quanto molto materiale, ancora oggi, si può solo trovare qui dentro!
Buon ascolto. . .
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Love Story (02:50)
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has changed her mind, yeah.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has changed her mind, yeah.
I know what I will find
That she is wasting time,
She could be picking roses.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has seen the light, yeah.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has seen the light, yeah.
Oh, I told her last night
She should improve her sight,
She could be painting the roof.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has come around, yeah.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has come around, yeah.
She offered me no sound,
Her head is in the ground,
She could be calling for winter.
03 Fat Man (02:57)
Don't want to be a fat man
People would think that I was just good fun, man
Would rather be a thin man
I am so glad to go on being one, man
Too much to carry around with you
No chance of finding a woman, who
Will love you in the morning and all the nighttime too
Don't want to be a fat man
Have not the patience to ignore all that
Hate to admit to myself
I thought my problems came from being fat
Won't waste my time feeling sorry for him
I've seen the other side to being thin
Roll us both down a mountain and I'm sure the fat man would win
05 Stormy Monday Blues (04:06)
I said they call it Stormy Monday
But I said [...]
I said they call it Stormy Monday
[...]
Wednesday's full of sorrow,
I said that Thursday's oh-so, it's oh-so-sad. It's oh-so-sad.
I said lord, lord, why don't you have mercy,
You gotta have mercy on me.
I been trying to find my woman,
Won't you bring her home to me?
I said they call it stormy Monday.
06 A New Day Yesterday (04:18)
My first and last time with you
And we had some fun.
Went walking through the trees, yeah!
And then I kissed you once.
Oh I want to see you soon
But I wonder how.
It was a new day yesterday
But it's an old day now.
Spent a long time looking
For a game to play.
My luck should be so bad now
To turn out this way.
Oh I had to leave today
Just when I thought I'd found you.
It was a new day yesterday
But it's an old day now.
08 Minstrel in the Gallery (02:10)
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down upon the smiling faces.
He met the gazes observed the spaces
Between the old men's cackle.
He brewed a song of love and hatred,
Oblique suggestions and he waited.
He polarized the pumpkin-eaters,
Static-humming panel-beaters,
Freshly day-glow'd factory cheaters
(salaried and collar-scrubbing.)
He titillated men-of-action
Belly warming, hands still rubbing
On the parts they never mention.
He pacified the nappy-suffering, infant-bleating,
One-line jokers, TV documentary makers
(overfed and undertakers.)
Sunday paper backgammon players
Family-scarred and women-haters.
Then he called the band down to the stage
And he looked at all the friends he'd made.
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down upon the smiling faces.
He met the gazes observed the spaces
In between the old men's cackle.
He brewed a song of love and hatred,
Oblique suggestions and he waited.
He polarized the pumpkin-eaters,
Static-humming panel-beaters,
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down on the rabbit-run.
And threw away his looking-glass -
Saw his face in everyone.
He titillated men-of-action
Belly warming, hands still rubbing
On the parts they never mention.
(salaried and collar-scrubbing.)
He pacified the nappy-suffering, infant-bleating,
One-line jokers, TV documentary makers
(overfed and undertakers.)
Sunday paper backgammon players
Family-scarred and women-haters.
Then he called the band down to the stage
And he looked at all the friends he'd made.
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down on the rabbit-run.
And threw away his looking-glass -
And saw his face in everyone.
The minstrel in the gallery
Looked down upon the smiling faces.
He met the gazes...
The minstrel in the gallery
09 Velvet Green (05:54)
Walking on Velvet Green
Scotch pine growing
Isn't it rare to be taking the air?
Sitting
Walking on Velvet Green
Walking on Velvet Green
Distant cows lowing
Never a care
With your legs in the air
Loving
Walking on Velvet Green
Won't you have my company
Yes, take it in your hands
Go down on Velvet Green with a country man
Who's a young girl's fancy and an old maid's dream
Tell your mother that you walked all night on Velvet Green
One dusky half-hour's ride up to the north
There lies your reputation and all that you're worth
Where the scent of wild roses turns the milk to cream
Tell your mother that you walked all night on Velvet Green
And the long grass blows in the evening cool
And August's rare delights may be April's fool
But think not of that my love
I'm tight against the seam
And I'm growing up to meet you down on Velvet Green
Now let me tell you that it's love and not just lust
And if we live the lie let's lie in trust
On golden daffodils to catch the silver stream
That washes out the wild oat seed on Velvet Green
We'll dream as lovers under the stars
But civilization's raging afar
And the ragged dawn breaks on your battle scars
As you walk home cold and alone upon Velvet Green
(Repeat first two verses)
10 Grace (00:41)
Hello sun.
Hello bird.
Hello my lady.
Hello breakfast. May I
buy you again tomorrow?
12 I'm Your Gun (03:19)
Blew my smoke on a sunny day
when the first black powder came my way.
Hot lead ball from a muzzle cold ---
to win fair lady and take your gold.
I know it hardly seems the time ---
(I am your gun)
to talk of blue steel so sublime.
I can understand your point of view.
To tell the truth I'd scare me too.
Match, wheel and flintlock, they all caught your eye.
Pearl-handled ladies' models, scaled down to size.
I am the peacemaker, so the theory goes.
But I don't choose the company I keep ---
and it shows.
I am your gun.
Love me, I'm your gun.
Maxim and Browning, they helped me along.
Stoner, Kalashnikov --- thrilled to my song.
Now one of me exists, for each one of you,
So how can you blame me for the things that I do?
Now I take second place to the motor car
in the score of killing kept thus far.
And just remember, if you don't mind ---
it's not the gun that kills
but the man behind.
I am your gun.
15 Summerday Sands (03:44)
I once met a girl with the life in her hands
and we lay together on the summerday sands.
I gave her my raincoat and told her, ``Lady, be good!''
And we made truth together, where no one else would.
I smiled through her fingers and ran the dust through her hands ---
the hour-glass of reason on the summerday sands.
We sat as the sea caught fire.
Waited as the flames grew higher
in her eyes.
We watched the eagle born ---
wings clipped, tail feathers shorn
but we saw him rise ---
over summerday sands.
Came the ten o'clock curfew.
She said, ``I must start my car.
I'm staying with someone I met last night in a bar.''
I called from my wave top ---
``At least tell me your name!''
She smiled from her wheelspin
and said, ``It's all the same.''
I thought for a minute, jumped back on dry land ---
left one set of footprints on the summerday sands.
I once met a girl with the life in her hands
and we lied together on the summerday sands.
19 Strip Cartoon (03:17)
Fish and chips, sandpaper lips and a rainy pavement.
Soho lights, another night --- thinking of you.
Black cat, sat on a wall, winks at me darkly.
Suggesting ways and means that I might win a smile ---
as you leave the place where you work until 12.30
and the policemen nods as you pass along his beat.
Sweaty feet, troubled brow -- we're all in the same game, lady.
Life's no bowl of cherries --- it's a black and white strip cartoon.
I've been warned that you and your friends are crazy
as from your hearts you bare your parts to the gentlemen,
who, while they drool, trying to keep cool,
spill their Scotch and water.
But I'm not that way, I must say --- I'd much prefer to see
you in your texturised rubber rainwear around 12.30.
Come and play shades of grey in my black and white strip cartoon.
Strip cartoon is all I'm after.
Strip cartoon is all I crave ---
so come to my place around 12.30
`cos I'm a leading politician
at a dangerous age.
22 17 (03:06)
I remember when we had a lot of things to do ---
impressed by all the words we read
and the heroes that we knew.
Climb on your your dream --- a dream of our own making
to find a place that we could later lose
to whatever time would bring.
We were seventeen and the cakeman was affecting you ---
moving you to greater things (in a lesser way)
you had to prove.
The clock struck summertime. You were going round in circles now.
Wishing you were seventeen. At twenty-one, it was a long time gone.
And now here you are. You're locked in your own excuse.
The circle's getting smaller every day.
You're busy planning the next fifty years.
So stay the way you are and keep your head down to the same old ground.
Just paint your picture boy until you find
a closed circle's better than an open line.
Yes stay the way you are. I got a circle that's the same as yours.
It may be bigger, but I've more to lose.
Who is the luckier man --- me or you?
24 Aeroplane (02:17)
Flying --- made of sticks and paper --- aeroplane. Dying --- is the wind but climbing --- my aeroplane. Blowing, and going somewhere high --- in the evening tumbling down --- but it's surely been up there. Crying --- want to live my life as my aeroplane Sighing in the sun's eye, but softly --- my aeroplane. Lonely, but only till it comes down where there's people running round. But it's surely been up there. Flying --- my aeroplane.
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