Roll the Stone Away: Jethro Tull’s ‘A Passion Play’ at 50
Sean MurphyDuring the years between my senior year in high school and my sophomore year of college Jethro Tull went from being an important band in my life to, by far,…
Jethro Tull’s ‘Aqualung’ at 50
Whatever one’s feelings about progressive rock, Jethro Tull’s Aqualung is a rare album that remains at once part of, and above, the fray. It is, to be certain, a cornerstone of the…
A Farewell to the King: Neil Peart (One Year Later)
Like, I know, many (many, many) others, it’ll be impossible to succinctly or adequately convey my admiration for Neil Peart. (Full and semi-embarrassing disclosure: I wrote my graduate school thesis…
A Farewell to the King: Neil Peart
Like, I know, many (many, many) others, it'll be impossible to succinctly or adequately convey my admiration for Neil Peart. (Full and semi-embarrassing disclosure: I wrote my graduate school thesis…
Rock Island: 1989-2019
Fall '89 My good friend, and brother Tony James reminds me that today is the 30th anniversary of Rock Island. It was love at first listen and, in hindsight, the…
Faith and Fiction: The Story Behind the Story (of a Story)
i. True story: my sister, during her junior or senior year at Boston University, called to talk about what I didn't yet realize was a classic college cliché, disguised as…
Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine: 10 Songs of Righteous Protest
Ian Anderson called it, in '74: The ice-cream castles are refrigerated; The super-marketeers are on parade. There's a golden handshake hanging round your neck, As you light your cigarette on…
O Captain! My Captain!: The Unique Magic of Don Van Vliet (Revisited)
As Ian Anderson said, “We’re getting a bit short on heroes lately.” And Ian, while he wasn’t speaking of Don Van Vliet, nevertheless would --and has— endorsed the man better…
R.I.P. Glenn C. (Remembering Glenn Cornick and Jethro Tull’s ‘Stand Up’)
Glenn Cornick was, of course, Jethro Tull's first bassist. He and Ian did not get along (something that can be said for most of the other 10,000 ex-Tull musicians) so…
Reappraising Jethro Tull’s ‘Minstrel in the Gallery’
Jethro Tull, again? Seriously? Yes, seriously. The reason Tull warrants continued discussion is because unlike just about all other prog rock acts of the mid-‘70s, they were—in their businesslike, seemingly…