Thick As A Brick Live In Iceland

On the evening of June 11, 1972 I saw Jethro Tull perform Thick as a Brick and it was my favorite concert of all time. The band - Martin Barre, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, Barriemore Barlow, John Evans and maestro Ian Anderson were then at a creative peak; what separated them the most from their progressive rock contemporaries was that , while superb musicians Tull never took themselves seriously and brought a wonderfully clever sense of humor to the stage. Their performance was like a flying circus weaving hilarious skits (based around the TAAB newspaper) into the musical performance – a blend of acoustic melody and virtuosic hard rock. I have never seen a band rock that hard! I attended a Rolling Stones concert the week before and Led Zeppelin the week after, and while I felt both of those performances were great, they paled in comparison to Tull. Sadly, all that remains from that amazing 1972 TAAB tour are dimming memories, grainy, silent 8mm film clips and audience recorded bootlegs.Skip ahead 40 years. Ian Anderson creates TAAB 2 and goes on tour to perform both the original and TAAB2 in their entirety. The concert in Reykjavik in July 2012 was filmed and featured in this Blu-ray DVD.My review is of the 2012 performance of the original TAAB only.How does it compare to the 1972 concert? First and foremost, as one would expect, it is necessarily far more subdued. In his mid-60s, Ian Anderson the whirling dervish is long gone, no more leaping across the stage or bending backwards nearly to the floor, and his voice has deteriorated to the extent that he really struggles to sing much of the material (wisely, he has brought in Ryan O’Donnell to fill in on the more difficult vocal parts). Gone too are all of the crazy 1972 Tull band members, the extended solos, the volume, the strobe lights ,the frogman, the wild hair and beards!It makes one wonder, why would Ian Anderson even try to recreate the magic 40 years later?The answer is, he knows he can’t. But he is still able to produce a very faithful and well played - if kinder and gentler - rendition of TAAB. I must say that guitarist extraordinaire Martin Lancelot Barre is sorely missed, his fiery blues intensity cannot be recreated by young Florian Opahle, yet he and his band mates are fine musicians who seem inspired by the music and play even the difficult passages perfectly and with passion. TAAB is such a wonderful, adventurous and diverse piece of music that one can’t help but be drawn into this fine performance.At the end of side 1 of the 1972 concert, there was an absurd on-stage news and weather report, 40 years later it is replaced by a skit about prostrate exams, an age appropriate awareness piece that also gets a good laugh.The sight and sound on this Blu-ray are first rate, I would think that any Tull fan would thoroughly enjoy the concert (at least the original TAAB performance) and maybe win some new fans as well.

I purchased this CD mainly to hear THICK AS A BRICK 1 which is what this review will concentrate on.First of all I think this is a respectable late-period addition to the Tull library. It is not without its flaws nor is it without its strengths. The most obvious alteration is the extensive utilization of vocalist Ryan O'Donnell during TAAB1. This was a bold and proper move for Ian Anderson: 1.) Bold because it demonstrates that his ego is perhaps not as uncompromising as many of us were conditioned to believe and 2.) Proper because what has been the number one complaint among Tull fans for the past 20 years or more? I believe it's been Anderson's declining vocal capabilities, especially in concert. Unlike what some reviewers have stated (here and amazon.co.uk) I don't think O'Donnell's voice resembles Anderson's much at all but it fits the music and blends well with the old man's.[Aside: Given O'Donnell's spot duty on TAAB2 and HOMO ERRATICUS and his sweeping usage here and Anderson growing older by the year, could it be that he's grooming the younger vocalist as future lead singer for Jethro Tull? Just wishful thinking out loud.]This band - O'Hara, Goodier, Ophahle and Hammond - is as talented an ensemble as any assembled under the Anderson/Tull monicker and Anderson's flute playing is as spot-on as ever, however, not as agressive and edgy as he once was. Florian Ophahle in particular is as capable a guitarist as one could hope for to replace Martin Barre. He's very reminiscent of Anderson's longtime righthand man.So, with the good comes the bad. ALL of the spoken bits are simply non-essential, throw away routines that quickly grow tiresome and I will avoid whenever possible; The Bostock intro, the phone call/skype explanation (a simple credit in the liner notes would suffice), and the dreadful prostate exam midway through with no track delineation. Please just include it as a separate track if it must included at all. Minus one star for all that foolishness. And even the spoken exerpt that's part of the original piece (and was just marginally humorous some 40 years ago) sounds like an arcane joke that is well past its expiration date ('the babies wearing nylons' bit). They got the words right but it sounds contrived and detracts from the flow. It would've been preferable to have just omitted that small portion. I suspect listeners would have been none the wiser. And finally, a longtime gripe of many Tull-Ian fans has now become mine as well (and this phenomenon usually manifests itself live moreso than in studio); That is, while singing Anderson seems to be a fraction of a beat behind the music and is constantly fighting to catch up but rarely succeeds. Why is that? O'Donnell doesn't have that problem and Anderson keeps perfect time whilst playing the flute. Hmmm. It's peculiar and bothersome to me but that's how I whittled my way down to 3 stars. And just a reminder, three *s means it's OK.With that said I certainly hope Ian Anderson continues composing while he's on a roll. His recent studio albums were solid 4-5 star efforts. His creativity hasn't waned much while his flute playing remains top-notch. His singing in the mid and lower ranges in a studio environment can still be quite effective. It's nice to have a backup singer available to sing lead when called upon. Will O'Donnell remain satisfied in that roll? Or will he take on an even greater roll?

Picture and sound quality of the bluray are excellent.Ian Anderson is looking his age, and his voice is not really up to the job any more - some of the more stretching notes he is just unable to reach, or they sound strained. Fortunately he has a younger supporting vocalist, who has a similar pitch and sound to his voice, but who sings very well, can reach all the notes that IA can, and who delivers the songs very well. In fact, he is excellent.Have seen the band live, albeit over 20 years ago, and TAAB was old even then. But it still works!The audience seemed remarkably restrained, so at times it sounds more like a concert performed in a studio, but enjoyable nonetheless.If you don't like JT, or don't know if you do, then don't bother. If you do, and/or if you know and like this album, then you will most likely enjoy this bluray recording. It was not expensive, so while it is not must-have stuff, I am happy to own it, and will will watch and listen again.

Brilliant fun. Ian Anderson has put together a superb band which is NOT his usual Jethro Tull suspects. They use original instruments, which adds added authenticity. Anderson supplements his vocals with those of a younger, fitter model, who both acts and sings superbly. It's a good fit. I get slightly irritated by how much rubato Ian Anderson uses as he sings but one gets used to it. I've always enjoyed his composing and his ability on flute and guitars small and large.For me the revelation was Thick as a Brick 2, which I had never heard. This, like its original predecessor is a pastiche, parody, call it what you will, except this time there are references to TAAB 1, which are funny. Lovely comic audience bits, fabulous sound and recording.My review is of the Blu Ray disc which is just fabulous with its HD Master track and clear vision.

The original Thick as a Brick, first half performance, appeared somewhat subdued and lacked punch. The second was completely different. The current band members were able to put their mark on the affair, rather than the interpretation of the original album. Well worth the watch and enjoyed the show. Anderson has not lost any of his story telling prowess.

The sound quality was very good but the video quality was a little disappointing. No way it matches the high level of Jethro Tull, Live in Montreux 2003 Blu-ray Disc. At times TAAB is a bit soft and colour is not right at times. However, it was enjoyable and the sound in LCPM or 5.1 was excellent. Subsequenty I found out that the video was not shot in HD but upscaled , reference source Blu-ray.com.

this is a very good live Album DVD all I can say is if your just starting out been a fan of Tulgo out I buy the DVD OR[ Blu-ray ] the cd is good as well