We're back with the bard! | Vocal Analysis of Jethro Tull "Locomotive Breath"
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- Опубліковано 13 січ 2023
- After adoring the storytelling and unique physicality of Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" we're back with the bard for "Locomotive Breath" ! Join me in giving Ian's vocal delivery another break-down PLUS the fun that is the incredible music in this song.
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Original Video: • Jethro Tull - Locomoti...
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I came here to see Julia's reaction to the classic rock flute. I stayed for the expert analysis. Who else is with me?!
Me
I may only advice both to you and to her to analyze the JT's brilliant "Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" - not that much vocals in there but the whole concept will certainly excite both of you!
Absolutely!
Here
For sure, CRAZY!
Ian often "vocalises" while playing his flute. It's one of his trademarks as a performer. So, yes, he does add "vocal percussion" to his playing.
Much like Ronnie James Dio, Ian Anderson doesn't just sing songs. He delivers stories from his soul. It's in his voice, his expressions and his body language. He is fully immersed in the story so the sound just pours from him.
Should you revisit Jethro Tull again might I suggest "My God" - Live at the isle of Wight 1970. From guitar to vocals to an amazing flute section it's a great example of Ian's brilliance.
I completely agree! That is such a fun and amazing performance!
Don't know that particular version but yes, 'My God' is such a masterpiece
ABSOLUTELY! That performance of My God is Pure Genius
The Isle of White show was essential Tull.
Yes, the live versions of 'My God' are just outstanding and go above and beyond his performances on 'Aqualung' and 'Locomotive Breath'!!
Ian does multiphonics a lot with the flute. (Singing/humming a different pitch than what his fingers are playing)
But always in-key. it's really quite impressive.
As a flautist myself we are taught to do this to help concentrate air flow and also to relax the embouchure.
Locomotive Breath is so good.
The recorded version is a much better representation of the song. Live Ian and the band really get into the performance aspect. The live version is also a bit faster than the recording. He puts a lot of vocalisation into his flute playing. You hear it in the first flute solo too.
Yeah, I think it's too fast. The album's speed works a lot better in my opinion.
i wish this live version had not become one of the default reaction videos for Jethro Tull, it just is not sufficiently representative of the depth of Jethro Tull, or even their live performance capacity. It is really manic.
@@Ferretbomber original is more "normal" and predictable, and I usually prefer it too but this is really genius as well
I think the differences between the record and the live performance are appropriate for their purpose. The studio recording is meant to be listened to so it's more paced, scripted, and clear. The live performance isn't intended for later watching like this but to be a more interactive experience for the paying audience. The result is driven by audience feedback, synergistically.
Anderson is renowned for his simultaneous flute playing and vocalizations. I believe he was inspired on that by Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
The fact Ian Anderson is a self taught Flautist makes his performance with it even more impressive. He's stated in interviews before he plays the way he does to make it more expressive and stand out more. If I remember rightly he also chose to play Flute quite randomly as he was primarily a singer originally
Ian is an excellent acoustic guitar player. But he claims he heard Clapton and decided to take up another instrument.
Fantastic 12 string guitar player and multi instrumentalist ..... plays everything from the tambourine and harmonica to the balalaika, mandolin etc.
Before their first record, Ian was the vocalist , rhythm guitarist ( if needed ), mouth organist, tambourine player.....and carried a calico bag / sac full of tin whistles , gazoos etc.
The live audience would cheer when he picked up the sac in apprehension as to what instrument he would choose to play.
It is said that he only learnt to play the flute for the first Tull album, This Was, and he only started learning a week or 2 before the sessions began.
Later in life his daughter informed him that he played the flute incorrectly (fingering), so he did take lessons for a short period.
I can understand being self taught. No teacher would let him play like that. So glad he didn’t go to a teacher who would have stamped out his rock style.
@@tmt8425 So True ...... many a talented person has had their talent gazumped by a teacher , especially those who teach because they can’t DO !!!
This is 2 songs, of a sort. Locomotive Breath morphs into Black Sunday a good bit in this performance; pretty cool since the songs were done roughly 10 years apart!
10 years. 'Locomotive Breath' (1970) and 'Black Sunday' 1980.
Ty, I trying to remember what other song was.
When I was a lad my horn teacher could “double sing” too. He actually sang a different pitch whilst playing a horn. Ian is FAMOUS for double singing his solos.
It really comes out in the studio recording.
The train is a grim life. Growing up with this amazing music, I only later came to appreciate the stories of each song. Ian is what I picture as a true bard. "Thick as a Brick" remains one of my favorite songs/albums of all time. You might also enjoy "My God". One of the most impactful love songs I've ever heard is "Reasons for Waiting".
And 'A Passion Play'.
JT started as a blues group. Their first album "This Was" featured a Blues guitarist, Mick Abrams, who left the band when Ian Anderson decided to expand their genre. They ended up exploring nearly every genre at one point or another, just because they could. Ian always surrounded himself with world-class musicians. Since this is a live performance, and was most likely performed as an encore for the concert, the end part is another song, an instrumental version of "Black Sunday," which Ian uses to float his oversized balloons into the crowd.
You said everything i wanted to say lol i would also add that "my god" may be interesting for her to watch for flute entertainment value alone. Also the usual version of locomotive breath i prefer because i Love the tease they give slowly amping it up with the great piano play. I heard this song live in 07 (i think) and it was great ! They kept thier musicianship the whole way through even though Ian's voice hasnt been the same in many years.
@@zenclover8468 Sorry if I stole your thunder! I agree, but I think she already reviewed it. Saw Ian and the boys back in 1970 at the Forum in Los Angeles. Followed them closely ever since.
At one point Anderson said he wanted to go solo but whenever he wrote something he couldn't think of any other musicians he wanted to play with than those in Tull
@@badplay156 That makes total sense, he has always had a great roster behind him, but he has frequently thrown many to the side, finally including Martin Barre.
Tull is a severely under appreciated gem of music.
A lot of songs have to do with animals and bodily functions but still… great stuff.
Ian often added in singing with his flute playing. Brass instrumentalists will also add singing while playing, and has been done for at least 200 years and even written for by composers. I'm a french horn player, so I have played the Concertina by Carl Maria von Weber that called for singing while playing. The interesting thing is the one note sung by the musician will interact with the played pitch and cause a completely different harmonic form, making a full chord.
Ian talks/sings/growls/grunts while fluting in a lot of his songs. Amazing !
The whole Aqualung album is great, Thick As A Brick, is another concept album the has great songs. Saw them live during the Storm Watch tour, always a great show
Thick as a Brick Tour, back in 1971, was my first rock concert in Bangor, Maine. Been a huge fan ever since.
I saw that tour here in Nashville,October 1979. UK was the opening act.
Storm Watch is a great album as well.
I love Songs from the woods, so unique.
Saw them in 1975 in Inglewood, CA (Los Angeles Forum). They had two shows scheduled, both of which sold out. Ended up adding three more shows due to demand. They were on fire.
At the end they are playing "Black Sunday", a song from the album "A". Ian likes to mix his Flute playing with vocal noises - his style is unique - like all of his music 🥰😍
His style is NOT unique it is mostly derived from the playing of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, who was doing this kind of thing long before Anderson picked up the instrument. You don't know what you're talking about.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahsaan_Roland_Kirk#Legacy_and_influence
I've seen Jethro Tull live a couple of times. Ian Anderson's a showman to the core and the show is an experience.
You mentioned his eyes. He was probably one of the last actual bards in the contemporary music industry.
Julia, the part at the end of the song is actually and excerpt from a different song (“Black Sunday”, from the album “A”, about 9 years AFTER “Locomotive Breath”. It s not just a different song, it’s a different type of song- quite fast and intricate (and one of their best, in my opinion)
Enjoyed your analysis very much Julia. Locomotive Breath is often the last song played at a Jethro Tull concert or sometimes an encore song. This version of the song is slightly different as it does not contain the piano opening of the original. Towards the end of the song when Ian exits the stage to get the balloons, the band go into an instrumental version of another Tull song called Black Sunday from the 'A' album. Great band to watch live!
One of the Worlds best ever bands.
The vocal noises made while he was playing the flute was originally developed by the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk, a multi instrumentalist
Glad you're checking out the music from my generation... I saw JT in London in 1972, they were awesome.
This is actually a medley of Locomotive Breath with an instrumental of Black Sunday thrown in. That's why the huge thematic change. They did this a lot in concert, medleys and added instrumental sections and switching up arrangements. From interviews I take it that Ian would get bored if he didn't constantly change things up.
You totally have to do My God from the Isle of Wight festival. There you'll get real verbal percussion whilst playing the flute. Plus it's an amazing song.
One of the most talented and creative groups of the last half century. I still have a lot of their albums on vinyl, including the gatefold of 'Stand Up', which has a paper cutout of the band inside that stands up when you open the album. SUCH a great album, too. Love 'We Used To Know', 'Back To The Family', A New Day Yesterday... It's one of THOSE albums.
I had the same stand up album back in the early 70s .I had aqualung in my rambler on 8 track
As vocal coach you should listen to Just Trying to Be and Nursie from the Living in the Past album. Also Wondring Again and Life’s a Long Song to hear how good Ian is as a vocalist. A Passion Play and Minstrel in the Gallery ( side two especially) shows how Ian’s vocals were superb! And the next 6 albums are great as well, and then his voice changed. However he still continued to write more songs and produced more albums up to this day. So dive into the rabbit hole of Jethro Tull. It’s totally worth it’
For your own enjoyment you should spend an evening with Aqualung from start to finish.
Vocally, lyrically, musically and conceptually it’s a masterpiece
This is the exact song my director put on when other sections were mocking flutes as "girly little frilly" instruments. I grew up listening to Jethro Tull (courtesy of my mother who was also a flute player) and this is exactly why I chose this instrument. Ian is a truly impressive musician
Ahhh. The trout farming, flute-twirling hippie. 😁
My big brother brother played Aqualung for me when I was 12 and it changed my view of music.
I use to come home from school each day and put the Aqualung album on my parents phonograph and lay with my head against the cabinet of there dresser-sized consul stereo cabinet and marvel at the complexity of the English folk/jazz/rock/classical/blues mixture, especially the inclusion of instruments such as the mandolin, flute, french horn and glockenspiel.
In 1982 at 13 Jethro Tull was the first band I ever saw live, at the Miami Jai-Alai fronton , during the same tour this footage is from. Ian fronted, played flute and acoustic guitar and man, he blew me away!
They remained my favorite band until I discovered Judas Priest a few years later.
Still high on my list of favorites after all these years, I can't more highly suggest you react to the song, THICK AS A BRICK (video from Madison Square Garden 78).
"Am I crazy?"
Caption Julia, "a little bit."
*giggle*
My first reaction to this was 50 years ago and it sounds as good as ever.
Yes, he sings through his flute. Greatest concert I ever watched. He also, just like Johnny B Goode, plays a guitar like ringing a bell. Acoustic, simple chords, but unreal sound from it. Crazy Genius.
Yes Ian puts his own percussion in whilst playing the flute often and quite well.
Just like Zeppelin does with the harmonica, Tull makes a flute sound bad ass.
I'd love to see you react to "Thick as a Brick" live in 1978 at MSG. They have so many incredible performances it's hard to pick one, but that's my favorite!
Ian Andrson always did say that he thought of himself more like a bard than pure musician, a mix of actor and performer and this one shows especially what he meant by that
Jehtro Tull makes the flute very fun! So many good songs :)
I recently discovered a better-recorded live Locomotive Breath from 1977 that includes the studio album's slow piano Intro by keyboardist John Evan joined by Martin Barre on guitar, with dramatic piano gestures, he was classically trained. The entire video highlights the comedic performance of the whole band. Ian even plays the organ during part. It also morphed into "Land of Hope and Glory" during the balloon bit.
LOVE your reactions - so, so much! As a performing vocalist, I not only appreciate your analysis of these incredible works of art but I also learn so much from the technical aspect of your analysis. Plus you are just outright fun. Thanks for the interesting and informative content!
I love Locomotive Breath. Helloween did a decent cover too.
I've enjoyed Jethro Tull from the beginning.As a lifetime musician,i've played some of thier songs.They are quitw unique,I believe,and that sets them apart.Every song has a message that they are trying to teach us all.Ian,and his band are gifted,and put on a dazzling performace. Ty
Tull is a bit of a musical enigma, I've read that they are a Prog Band, and likewise I've read they are Hard Rock. I think they defy catergorization but the closest may be (if I may borrow your phrase) rather than :Hard Rock" is "Bard Rock"; great story tellers who traveled here from Medieval times via 1940's Chicago.
Wish her speakers were better... 🧐
According to the Grammys they're also metal 😆They won the first ever "best metal performance" Grammy in 1989 when everyone though Metallica would win
9:30 Yes Julia you are hearing that!
This performance is from the
1982 tour, at the start of Ian Anderson's voice problems. The 'Aqualung' video was from a few years earlier (around 1978).
I grew up listening to Jethro Tull, saw them about 10 times throughout the years, and had the honor of interviewing Ian Anderson (vocalist, flutist, composer) and their stalwart guitarist (partial composer), Martin Lancelot Barre. JT is one of my favorite Prog Rock bands. BTW, @ 8:07, the band transitions to their song -- composed many years after "Locomotive Breath -- to "Black Sunday," from the album, "A." Also from the same album, is a really tricky instrumental, "The Pine Marten's Jig." Parts of it are in 13/4! For another Prog, yet-genre-jumping band/album/song, check out "Matter of Time" by David Sancious and Tone. Amazing complex time signature changes yet all while feeling super funky and groovy. For example, in one part the antecedent phrase is in 11/4 while the consequent is in 12/4 = 23/4. Yet you can still dance to it! Epic song and a totally genre-jumping brilliant album, "True Stories." Great vocals by the legendary Alex Ligertwood. Changing course ... can you please do more Dirty Loops reactions? Highly recommended (although no video) "The Way She Walks."
Yes, everyone's already said it.. I enjoyed your reaction and analysis again ☺ Thank you
You enjoy and understand music. Makes for a nice experience.
As soon as he says the final "no way to slow down" and you hear the keyboard again, that was a switch to "Black Sunday" form the album "A". Completely different sound, but they make it work.
talcum powder
My first exposure to Jethro Tull was Locomotive Breath, and it blew me away. Ian made playing the flute cool. Makes me regret not doing more when stealing my sister's flute which she never really learned. Like of lot of their songs you have to listen to it more than a couple of times to really take in all that is going on. You can get lost in the music but need to go back and listen to the lyrics also.
I saw them live in Melbourne years ago One of the best concerts ive ever seen
Your accent as you went up north was hilarious .. thanks for the laugh and, of course, your insights.
My first ever concert, with my older brother in 1972 at the Cleveland Music Hall. I was 15, around 200 concerts later, I still remember that first time, which was a great concert.
If you relisten to his first flute solo, you can hear his vocalizing in between the flute notes. Singing, yelling or snorting between notes is a technique he uses often.
Jethro Tull is part of a “group” of band classified as Prog Rock (progressive rock). The 2 major commonalities of these groups are superb musicians and musicianship and the focus on pushing the boundaries of standard rock through long exploratory songs, different sounds, times, and tones. A few of this group are Rush (my personal fav), Yes, Jethro Tull, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
Gotta love anything with a FLUTE Solo! 😎💯
"It almost sounds like the breath he was using to play the flute was pitched". Ian pushed the flute to its limits, and then hammered through them and out the back walls of the theater. I'm honestly surprised that vocalisation through the instrument isn't used more in modern opera and classical compositions, after Ian.
Ian Anderson is self taught and was doing and using techniques frowned on by classical flute teachers.He played harmonica and went to the flute and taught himself as they did concerts. He sings, growls, yells, as he plays the flute. Techniques that they have just in the last ten years started expressing and experimenting with. He was 30 yrs ahead of the curve. Not bound by the square head classical teachers. He makes classical flutist heads spin on their necks when they watch and hear. I saw hem in I think it was in 76 on the Thick As A Brick tour at L.S.U. He totally slayed every one. We melted in our seats.
TAAB came out in '72.
Watching you discover Ian Anderson/Tull in 2023 is fascinating. I grew up with this band. The earliest stuff I learned on the guitar was from Tull's album the Minstrel in the Gallery. The first concert I went to was Jethro Tull in 1978. I was 13. (BTW, your comments of Ian being a bard absolutely shines in the album the Minstrel in the Gallery. Two albums Minstrel in the Gallery and Songs from the Woods truly fit that description.)
When you started doing that nasal Aussie accent really took me back. Total ocker tone. lol!!! (I'm American, but my parents moved us to Sydney in my mid teens. I knew more than a few Aussies that spoke with that tone. lol!!)
I find it amusing that you are the second reactor I have seen that was introduced to Jethro Tull with Aqualung, the one major piece where Ian barely plays his flute. You have to check out Bouree or his incredible solo from 1978.
It’s fantastic in how you explained things to us. Now with you, it’s as if I’m listening to this for the first time. Regardless, we knew , through out the decades that Tull was simply amazing. All you had to do was watch and listen. Jaws dropping and smiles.
Awsome! Growing up in So. Cal. in 60s 70s there were two options on the radio, AM and FM. FM had the rock, AM had the not rock (disco, blah, blah). I was an FM guy. Heard a lot of Tull, but not enough. Lol, crazy times getting stoned with friends in the garage with the black lights, posters, lava lamps and lots of Tull, good times.
Blues, rock, folk-rock, prog .... Jethro Tull is so unique. For different flavors, try live performances of "Songs From The Wood", and, "Jack-A-Lynn". They've been doing this for over 50 years..... much to enjoy.
I saw this tour in Boulder Co in 82 or 83... was one of the best shows ever.. So much energy. Opened up for The Who. Great memory. Thank you. 😊
awww yea, can't wait!
I think this might be from the concert they used for the "Songs From The Wood" Live album. Could be wrong, after all it was over 40 years or more ago.
Anyway you'd like "Songs From the Wood" live.
This video is from '82 germany
Actually the tour the live album BURSTING OUT was drawn from.
@@PlezurBazar I still have that CD
@@roy19491 I had the original double album back in the day (in fact it was the first album i ever bought), but, not anymore, sadly.
Ive had Cold Wind to Valhalla stuck in my head all day --- dont know why -- I havent heard it for years -- gonna go UA-cam it
Yes.... "My God" - Live at the isle of Wight 1970 is an awesome video. A must watch Julia, if you haven't.
I first saw this video on The Charismatic Voice and what an amazing performer Ian is the opening guitar work is fantastic and the flute solo is amazing too he has to be the greatest flute player ever
A great Tull song 🤘🏻🔥🤘🏻🔥🤘🏻🔥
I recommend you check out Tull's live 1977 London performance of "Thick as a Brick" (a condensed version), which has well recorded vocals and more wonderful flute playing. You will enjoy the musical complexity and creativity!
His voice at this time is a shadow of what it was during the original Aqualung tour which I had the unforgettable privilege to attend in Seattle in 1971.
The transition you refer to is actually a change of song, from 'Locomotive Breath' to 'Black Sunday'😊 Great reaction, really enjoyed it. 👍
The title of this song is basically a commentary of Ian Anderson's musical ability. You could say the music speaks for itself.
Ian does add vocal sounds to his flute solos, so, no, you weren't imagining things.
Ian is one of a kind when it comes to the flute. At that time he also did not read music and had not had much if any actual training, he was self-taught. He did later start learning to read music and took some flute lessons as his daughter was taking flute lessons and he felt that he needed to understand what the heck she was talking about. I've seen them live a few times and it is always an amazing show. He started as a bad guitarist from what he has said, but sold his guitar when the band he was in got someone who was really good and bought a microphone and had enough to buy a flute. He bought that on a whim and taught himself to play. Thus was history made.
Best description I've heard is Folk-prog-rock.
Jethro Tull was one of my favorite rock bands growing up in the 1970s. Ian Anderson (lead vocals) is quite the showman. They have mix blues with hard rock and Celtic sounds. The band name came from a name they found on a gravestone in England. I was too young at the time but, my brother went to see them live several times back then.
I was fortunate to see Jethro Tull live in concert late 80s New Haven coliseum.
Fantastic concert 😀.
Excellent take on this.
My goodness ..... you have so much to learn .... which is GREAT - really !!!
Ritchie Blackmore, and his wife Candice Night, call him the original Rock and Roll Minstrel. he played flute for them on their song Minstrel Hall
John Barre the guitarist is soooo under rated
70s & 80s musicianship, the best.
Is he this? Is he that? Is he the other? The only important question is is he good. Forget genres, they are the death of a wide appreciation of music.
Seen them live 3 times! He also sings/plays the flute at the same time if you notice adding texture. Always a magical evening. And hats off to Martin Barre his ex-guitarist who is playing here. Often overlooked, but brilliant, as is the whole band.
Listeniing ot Jethro Tulls My God shows how mucch a progressive band they where. In that song there are all kinds of music styles + Ians exellent flute solo
I had the lifetime joy and pleasure of seeing Tull live in 1972 ! You used the words fun and energy multiple times and rightfully so. Ian was always the conductor/tour guide/narrator of each musical adventure Tull threw themselves into. And each adventure had a unique route and purpose. I have never been so exhausted, dripping perspiration and physically fatigued as I was when I left the arena that night. All performers try to bring the audience into the artistic story and mood and none had more success at it than Jethro Tull led by the incredible Ian Anderson!!! (Trivia note: Andrew Lincoln, Rick Grimes character in the Walking Dead Series, is Ian's son in law! )
Where did you hear them in 1972? I heard them at the Oakland Coliseum when the Eagles were the opening band.
@@dougderr2407 Southern ILL University, Carbondale Illinois.
To see Ian REALLY wail on the flute try My God from Live at the Isle of Wight. I can guarantee you have never heard anything like it and its true Ian in his element.
I've seen Jethro Tull live so many times and I can still take more. Easily one of my all time favourite bands I love the various influences which come through their music.
have you ever seen anyone play the flute like Ian Anderson, especially being self taught, absolutely amazing, one of a kind!
I have, his name is Rahsaan Roland KIrk, the man Andserson stole "his" style from, NOT one of a kind.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahsaan_Roland_Kirk#Legacy_and_influence
This is most definitely the most locomotievest of the breaths. And Nightwish has done a cover of this, which you don't find anywhere if I don't tell. Hahhaa, nightynight!
Really enjoyed that analysis. And I'd personally recommend listening to the studio version for a sort of baseline comparison. Note this performance is from 1982, but his voice has changed significantly from the original of 1971. He had a much better range with a more mellow tone back then, but with far less 'experience' to draw upon.
Jethro Tull was my very first concert I seen.
there are many reasons Ian Anderson is known as " The Mad Piper Of Rock n Roll"!!...my descriptive of Jethro Tull as a whole is this...it is Troubadour Rock!....
My wife does music from the Balkans
where so much of the music is sung with a forward placement in the mouth. Using the pallet. Such as in if you say "hEEElp." It is a sound that carries, penetrates. I would carry across the fields as they worked and would sing back and forth.
You need to listen to this video where he uses all things like crasy "Jethro Tull - My God (Nothing Is Easy - Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970)" and don´t blink an eye when Ian performs as you might miss something great :) Here he is young and wild in his voice and flute playing and performance.
The nasality in the vocals is quite usual in folk music, and Jethro Tull is very folk influenced.
This is the their encore, Loco Breath plus part of a second song here to close the show. Yes, he does "sing" through the flute and often harmonizes whilst doing so. Probably got this from legendary jazz saxophonist Rashaan Roland Kirk. The voice is beginning to show ware of years of touring. It might be good to check out the studio version. also much less nasal on the records.