Why should a Heavy Rock fan care about Jethro Tull? Here's why...

[music] [music]

We are in late 1970 Jethro Tull are recording their fourth album. In just 3 years, the band started in 1967. They have transformed from an eccentric British blues band into one of the most important progressive rock bands worldwide. A decisive factor in this evolution is the band's leader, singer, and flutist, Ian Anderson. born in Scotland but

having spent most of his life in the English city of Blackpool. The term eccentric has accompanied the band since its inception and will continue for quite some time. How many other rock bands were there at the time with a frontman who played the flute while standing on one leg and wearing a heavy overcoat all year round? How many

other bands do you know that said no to Woodstock because they didn't want to be labeled as hippies? By that time, Jethro Tull, whom their manager named in honor of a 17th century English agriculturist, without Anderson knowing that the name was real, had released three albums and a very successful single. They began to

build their reputation through continuous concerts at the Marquee Club in London during 1968. Ian Anderson made a tremendous impression on the audience from the very beginning, not only with his stage presence, but also with his eccentric clothes. intense grimaces and theatrical movements. No other frontman of the era would even think of doing such things.

Now, in the musical aspect, he was not yet the band's absolute leader, as he shared the responsibility of writing songs with guitarist Mick Abrahams, a lover of electric blues. The band's first album, This Was, which was released in October 1968, clearly shows this as it heavily relies on electric and psychedelic blues with only a few