Jethro Tull

Another band that debuted in 1968 was Jethro Tull, who are now the most obviously shafted artist by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I believe they have never even been nominated, which is a high crime. Jethro Tull, for a period of close to ten years, were dominant in arenas and rock radio, and have several recognizable hits. Granted, they continued on and haven't had a good album in over forty years, but those first eight or so were fantastic.

After I got rid of my vinyl albums before my great westward trek, I had only one Tull album, the masterpiece Aqualung, which I'll write about separately sometime soon. I saw a great bargain for a three album set of their first three records, This Was, Stand Up, and Benefit, and I've been listening to them and reading about Tull's origins. They are now pretty much just Ian Anderson, and have been that way for most of the band's life. But the first album was split between Anderson and Mick Abrahams, who co-founded the group. In the early days they were part of the British blues movement, with more than a hint of jazz. They had several names in the early days, but a manager with knowledge of agricultural history gave them the name of Jethro Tull, an an eighteenth-century agronomer who invented a seed drill.

I always thought of Anderson as a guy who learned flute as a kid and incorporated it into rock, but he actually learned the flute just as they were getting started, because he didn't want to be just another guitar player. And thus Tull are certainly the best known, if only, rock band that uses a flute as a lead instrument. The image of Anderson playing flute standing on one foot became the group's logo.

The first album, This Was, is very jazz oriented, with half of the songs instrumentals. The most notable song on the record is "Serenade for a Cuckoo," which is an instrumental dominated by Anderson's flute, and is a cover of a jazz standard by Ron Kirk. The album did not do all that well.

Abrahams left the group and Anderson basically took over, doing most of the writing and all of the singing. Their second album, Stand Up, is fantastic, with several songs still found on classic rock stations. This is where the combination of progressive rock and British folk ballads took over as the sound Tull would have for the next close to fifty years. There are several outstanding tracks, the best being "Back to the Family," "Nothing Is Easy," and "Fat Man," which features a mandolin (one of the first times used by a rock band) and bongos. The song could be said to be fat-shaming, "Don't want to be a fat man," Anderson sings, but I suspect the song has deeper meaning. It also features another flute instrumental, this time called "Bouree," which is pinched from Bach.

Their third album isn't as strong. Benefit contains another song about Anderson's family (the first being "Back to the Family") called "With You There to Help Me," and the beginnings of their increasingly progressive sound with "To Cry You a Song."

With these three albums, the entire group is pictured on the cover or back of the album. Starting with Aqualung, if anyone was pictured, it was only Anderson. His voice, sinuous and sinister, along with the flute, were dead giveaways that it was a Jethro Tull song. There are so many great songs in their catalog that make me turn up my radio. In addition to those on Aqualung, there's "Too Old to Rock and Roll: Too Young to Die," "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day," "Thick as a Brick," "Bungle in the Jungle" and "Songs from the Wood."

That last album was the first Tull record I bought, as I was a little late to the party. There was a girl in my art class, who was a senior when I was a junior (and that year difference was significant) who was a big Jethro Tull fan, and had been to their concerts. She didn't like Songs from the Wood, indicating it was the start of a decline. I wanted to ask her out, but of course I never did. I don't remember her name, but I think of her whenever I listen to Jethro Tull.

Can we please put them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?