Thick as a Brick Live in Iceland Review
DVD Review: Ian Anderson – Thick As A Brick Live in Iceland
In 2012, Jethro Tull leader Ian Anderson mounted a tour to promote his latest solo album, Thick Every bit a Brick 2: What Ever Happened to Gerald Bostock? The tour and album both represented a high point in the recent musical activeness of the ever-busy Anderson.
I saw the Asheville date of that bout in my hometown, and got the chance to interview Anderson for a print feature in advance of the performance. At the time, nevertheless, I reviewed neither the album nor the live show. This new DVD (also available on Blu-Ray) is a document of the bear witness, which is in part a document of the album.
While in the last several years, Anderson's flute playing has really improved (we discussed that in our start interview, back in 2007), his vocal ability hasn't fared and then well. In fact, a 2010 DVD (Jethro Tull – Live at Avo Session Basel) vividly illustrates what the ravages of time accept done to Anderson's pipes). Nonetheless, as the Thick As a Brick 2 anthology shows, his songwriting and arrangement skills (and, again, his flute playing) remain precipitous, reliable tools.
Information technology is clear that Anderson realizes his strengths and weaknesses. And his solution to this set of challenges is zilch less than inspired: he'due south added a new grapheme to the onstage lineup. The Yorkshire-born Ryan O'Donnell was built-in in 1982, the same year Jethro Tull released their fourtten studio album, The Broadsword and the Beast; effectually the time of O'Donnel's fifth birthday, Tull received the dubious honor of a Grammy Award for "best heavy metal anthology."
Just while the immature O'Donnell may non have grown upwardly during the classic era of Jethro Tull (arguably 1970-77), his demonstrably understands and appreciates the Tull aesthetic. Leaping about the stage in a almost theatrical style – and freed from the demands of having to play an instrument – O'Donnell is able to convey non only the sound of his vocalization (and let information technology be said that his vocal texture and phrasing are very like to that of Anderson in his prime), simply the movement and visual flourishes then critical to the narrative of Thick As a Brick two.
O'Donnell's onstage presence allows Anderson to have information technology both ways: he can play his delightful flute parts – including ones that overlay the vocal lines, something he'due south plainly never been able to do before now – and he tin sing the parts of his signature vocals that lie within his diminished range. And with O'Donnell'due south assistance, it all sounds equally adept as it peradventure can.
Thick Every bit A Brick two picks upwards the story of the child character Gerald Bostock, now fully grown and full of modernistic angst. Onstage, Anderson and his team fill up utilise of video clips at cardinal points in the story; these – starring Anderson in ane of several character roles – evidence that in addition to his myriad other skills, the lx-something Anderson is a fine and natural histrion.
Thick Equally A Brick ii is full of humour, sarcasm, wit, drama…and lots of practiced music. Similar to the arroyo used on the original 1972 Thick Equally A Brick, the work is presented more than or less as a single piece (yet with its sections distinctly titled), and is congenital around a cardinal musical motif. But unlike, say, Roger Waters' 3-note riff that represented most of Pink Floyd's 1979 The Wall, the Thick As A Brick 2 motif is at its cadre quite musical, and involved plenty to sustain its apply across an entire album.
The 2012 performance in Republic of iceland is – by blueprint – nearly identical to the performance I witnessed that same year in Asheville. The choreography dictates that this is and so. The outset half of the performance is a live reading of the 1972 album; after a brief suspension ,the band returns to nowadays Thick As A Brick ii. And while when I beginning heard the modern-24-hour interval sequel (studio version), I sensed that it paled somewhat in comparison to the '72 album, when the two pieces are performed live, end-to-end, Thick As A Brick 2 benefits greatly. It'southward a worthy successor to its predecessor. And with the flawlessly performed, filmed and (courtesy of Male monarch Ruby-red's Jakko Jakszyk) sound-recorded DVD Thick As A Brick Alive in Republic of iceland, fans of Anderson and Jethro Tull are presented with a must-have buy. And that's no mean feat for someone like Anderson, producing vital works some 45 years after releasing his debut album. If you like anything you've ever heard from Anderson, you definitely won't want to sit this ane out.
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About the Author
Bill Kopp
With a background in marketing and advertising, Bill Kopp got his professional showtime writing for Trouser Press. Subsequently a stint as Editor-in-chief for a national music magazine, Bill launched Musoscribe in 2009, and has published new content every business mean solar day since then (and every single day since 2018). The 4000-plus interviews, essays, and reviews on Musoscribe reflect Bill's corking involvement in American musical forms, most notably stone, jazz, and soul. His work features a special emphasis on reissues and vinyl. Beak's work likewise appears in many other outlets both online and in print. He regularly hosts lecture/discussions on artists and albums of historical importance, and is a frequent guest on music-focused radio programs and podcasts. He besides researches and authors liner notes for album reissues -- more than than 30 to date -- and co-produced a reissue of jazz fable Julian "Cannonball" Adderley'due south final album. His showtime book, Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Nighttime Side of the Moon was published past Rowman & Littlefield in 2018, and in paperback in 2019. His second volume, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rising of New Wave, is available at present from HoZac Books.
Source: http://blog.musoscribe.com/index.php/2014/10/27/dvd-review-ian-anderson-thick-as-a-brick-live-in-iceland/
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