Jethro Tull

There were times throughout his 24 years as Jethro Tull lead guitartist when Martin Barre was uncertain Tull would continue as a viable force in the rock marketplace. “In the early days,”Barre said,”it was unheard of for bands to have any sort of longevity. The nature of the business was such that nobody had been around for more than a few years.”

Since Tull’s music is based on classical arrangements,the majority of the band’s 27 albums are radically different from other rock and heavy metal bands.

Back in 1977,just as the progressive rock movement began to flourish in the United States,the punk-rock revolution in the UK threatened to turn Jethro Tull into a rock dinosaur. Barre noted that Tull’s unique sound was crucial in maintaining their longevity. “I think most bands in those days were clones of heavy metal bands,”Barre said. “From a practical point of view,the other bands couldn’t emulate Tull without a flute player in the band. So maybe that was the reason why nobody else was doing our music and why we remained popular throughout the punk rock as new wave period in England.” “Roots To Branches”is an brilliant example of Ian Anderson’s musical vision.

The skills of the songwriters craft,an Anderson hallmark, complexity, creativity and virtuosity,incorporated into a blues and classical based rock music, are all evident in “Roots To Branches”.

There’s little wonder why Tull has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and has received over 60 gold and platinum awards worldwide. The reason is the music. All the global audlation,has kept Anderson’s schedule incredibly busy. “We have that enormous scope as being invited to play in such odd places as Bogata,Columbia,the drug capitol of the world,next spring,for the first and probably the last time,”Anderson said with a laugh. Anderson’s insight into the world of rock music is refreshingly intelligent and interesting. “The rock genre is essentially a naive ,robust,aggressive and probably rather cynical and disenchanted,statement of relatively uneducated youth,”Anderson said.

“It is not supposed to be sophisticated, refined or mature. It’s supposed to be rough, and ready, edgy and full of holes. Good rock music is always like that.

Unfortunately,”Anderson continued,”although it may be possible to write that kind of music at the age of 18,there comes a point if you are engaged with the thing you do,you find yourself,like it or not,getting better at it. In a sense that you become more better at working the intricacies of that mysterious form of music. you just get more into the subtly and depth of the expression so like it or not,you become more mature,complex and multidimensional in the way you put it across. If you don’t do that then you’re stuck in a time warp and stuck in a style warp which is equally dangerous.”