Taking vernacular materials to a whole new level.

[Feltwell]

Yeah - no pressure! :shock:

Mrs F is about as sentimental as I am - our "opening dance" was to Unbearable by The Wonder Stuff. A bit of a joke for our friends, the chorus goes "I didn't like you very much when I met you, and now I like you even less - I don't know what to do for the best".

Tonight's been a "F" night for music whilst I've been working away - Faith No More, Feeder, Filter, Foo Fighters, Free and Fugazi.

 

[Penners]

not really the basis for an argument . . . unless we descend to the playground level of 'abc is better than xyz'

I quite agree.

Just so long as nobody argues with the fact that Jethro Tull is the greatest band ever ever ever, in the history of the world and the galaxy and the universe.

 

[Moo]

Dear Penners, I've heard of the name "Jethro Tull", but never knew he was connected with the popular music industry*. I'm prepared to take your word for it that, in certain circles, he's considered to be very good indeed, but have no idea what he sounds like.
Would you be so good as to post a U-tube link of his best song?


*The name conjures up images of early Victorian inventors.

 

[Flyfisher]

*The name conjures up images of early Victorian inventors.

On the right lines, Moo, but earlier than the Victorians: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/tull_jethro.shtml

As for the band of the same name being the bestest ever, anywhere, that's a tough claim and I could possibly be swayed otherwise, but it's certainly close enough not to warrant a playground scrap.

Difficult to choose their best, but this is a personal favourite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rioYOoFqyAo

Although this is, probably, their best known song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsCyC1dZiN8

 

[Moo]

Thanks for those links, FF (including the one about the original Mr Tull,which shows how shaky my grasp of history is).
I quite enjoyed the music, which has echoes of a very quirky group called the North Sea Radio Orchestra. I could even be persuaded to go to a gig, if provided with a complimentary ticket.

 

[Penners]

Good choices for JT's best tracks, FF. However, for me, the following two have the edge:

Heavy Horses (I have intentionally chosen a clip which includes the lyrics - verging on the poetic, in my view): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDYK5SBnVaQ&feature=related

Songs From The Wood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2MgU7PNHgw&feature=related

As FF has pointed out, Jethro Tull is the name of the band. The singer/flautist/songwriter/genius who leads them is Ian Anderson.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Just listened to the Heavy Horses track. I had always imagined Jethro Tull to be a heavy metal bank and had steered well clear. Not quite my cup of tea but I warmed to its folksy nostalgia.

My parents' old gardener had been a ploughboy in Suffolk in this early youth. He must have been born around 1890. He continued working for us two days week, by choice, well into his eighties and used to enjoy telling us stories which I now wish we had recorded. He had to get up at something like 4 in the morning to prepare the horses and would keep his bottle of tea, sealed with a cork, buried in the manure heap to keep it warm for lunchtime. He told us that the horses were not replaced by petrol powered tractors but by a pair of steam driven traction engines, one each side of the field, with the plough being pulled across between them on steel cables.

 

[Moo]

The singer/flautist/songwriter/genius who leads them is Ian Anderson.

Who also, to my amazement and delight, speaks English.

 

[MdB]

He told us that the horses were not replaced by petrol powered tractors but by a pair of steam driven traction engines, one each side of the field, with the plough being pulled across between them on steel cables.

I've seen that demoed a few times. It is rather impressive to watch.

 

[Flyfisher]

Indeed. Many people imagine that steam ploughing was done in a similar manner to modern ploughing but with a traction engine instead of a tractor, which is not at all the case. It also required someone to sit upon the plough and steer it as it was pulled across the field, as this video shows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4rRe2C-DcE

Those East Anglians so inclined may be interested to know that steam ploughing is demonstrated every years at the Weeting Steam Rally, near Thetford, along with all manner of other working activities such as steam threshing and a steam sawmill.

 

[Penners]

The singer/flautist/songwriter/genius who leads them is Ian Anderson.

Who also, to my amazement and delight, speaks English.

Despite being a Scot!

 

[Feltwell]

Indeed. Many people imagine that steam ploughing was done in a similar manner to modern ploughing but with a traction engine instead of a tractor, which is not at all the case. It also required someone to sit upon the plough and steer it as it was pulled across the field, as this video shows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4rRe2C-DcE

Those East Anglians so inclined may be interested to know that steam ploughing is demonstrated every years at the Weeting Steam Rally, near Thetford, along with all manner of other working activities such as steam threshing and a steam sawmill.

You beat me to it FF. That was a highlight of my childhood years (it's quiet in Norfolk!), going to Weeting* steam rally every year. I'm pleased to hear it's still going.

*It is, of course, pronounced "Weet'n" - the letter "g" being decorative only when used in any word ending "ing" in Norfolk.

 

[CatherineB]

Tonight's been a "F" night for music whilst I've been working away - Faith No More, Feeder, Filter, Foo Fighters, Free and Fugazi.

Wot, no Falco?!

 

[Flyfisher]

Just listened to the Heavy Horses track. I had always imagined Jethro Tull to be a heavy metal bank and had steered well clear. Not quite my cup of tea but I warmed to its folksy nostalgia.

It's fair to say they also have their 'heavier' moments, but the folky, rustic theme features quite strongly throughout, particularly their earlier works. It's all very subjective, of course, but Jethro Tull are a classic example of the 'progressive rock' genre, which, despite the description, is far from being all 'loud and shouty'.

Here's some more 'progressive rock' that might surprise you, this time from Dutch masters 'Focus' - coincidentally, another band to feature the flute quite prominently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8I2lzoebuE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOZ2JHSp0TM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx-JzRzsCss

 

[Flyfisher]

You beat me to it FF. That was a highlight of my childhood years (it's quiet in Norfolk!), going to Weeting* steam rally every year. I'm pleased to hear it's still going.

Yes, still going strong. I don't go every year, though I did go this year and all the regular working demonstrations were steaming away.

A few years ago they also had a massive modern foresty lorry/machine next to the steam sawmill. The sawmill was powered by a single stationary traction engine plus three men on the sawbench; two to man-handle the prepared tree trunks and one to turn the handle that fed the log through the massive circular saw blade. There was another traction engine with a crane jib being used to pick up tree trunks from a pile of previously prepared timber and ferry them over to the sawmill. All this was going on continuously and over the weekend the men and steam machinery gradually transformed a number of trees into sawn planks and fencing posts.

The big modern forestry machine was only being demonstrated twice a day for about 15 minutes at a time and was parked next to a pile of cut, but otherwise unprepared, pines. The machine had a large hydraulic crane with which it picked up an entire tree (20-30 feet?) and guided it to spiked rollers that fed the tree into the guts of the machine where it was stripped of all branches and bark, rounded off, cut into standard lengths and sharpened before being ejected onto a pile of neat fencing posts. Everything else was turned into a huge pile of woodchips. I reckon it was probably processing about one tree per minute, hence the limitation of the demonstrations to 15 minutes at a time. It was a deafening beast of a machine compared to the stately traction engines but it was quite astonishing to see how easily it dealt with whole trees.

I suppose it represented progress, of a sort.

 

[Feltwell]

Tonight's been a "F" night for music whilst I've been working away - Faith No More, Feeder, Filter, Foo Fighters, Free and Fugazi.

Wot, no Falco?!

Rock me Amadeus? Hmmm, cheesy Austrian rock, not really my thing! He died after being hit by a bus I believe - proof that it does happen to someone!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Good choices for JT's best tracks, FF. However, for me, the following two have the edge:

Heavy Horses (I have intentionally chosen a clip which includes the lyrics - verging on the poetic, in my view): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDYK5SBnVaQ&feature=related

Songs From The Wood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2MgU7PNHgw&feature=related

As FF has pointed out, Jethro Tull is the name of the band. The singer/flautist/songwriter/genius who leads them is Ian Anderson.

More of a Steeleye Span fan myself, but I like this one by JT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myHIwd2gVFM
I hadn't realised it was by them until recently, but loved it as the theme to a very good documentary series about the Dark Ages some years ago.

 

[robgil]

another band to feature the flute quite prominently:

I do like the flute.

Even in some country stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoCmkXXuakE&feature=related

Could Randy California's album Kapt Kopter and the fabulous Twirly Birds be seen as prog rock? Brilliant album , not too sure about the rest of his stuff though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIhXMdf4cag&feature=related

 

[Flyfisher]

Loved the Marshall Tucker Band track.

I wouldn't call Randy California 'prog rock', although such definitions are rather elastic anyway. Anyway, such labels are only of limited use and the only real test is whether you like the music or not. A bit like wine really.

 

[middi]

Pavarotti on a plough. Now, that would have been "down to earth music" :wink:

Middi