![]() ![]() Still, A’s preoccupation with contemporary issues, allied to the artwork depicting the band in white boiler suits as if preparing for alien invasion, only adds fuel to the general feeling that this was the band’s first major step towards a future the Tull massive weren’t too keen on. Closing track And Further On is a wistful ballad that would have been a fine sign-off to any of their albums. The resulting release is, however, still a relatively unloved set from the Tull back catalogue, despite containing some robustly proggy mid-period moments such as the paranoid, topically charged Crossfire, with its references to that year’s Iranian embassy siege, and Fylingdale Flyer, tapping into fears of nuclear annihilation. Anderson has expressed regret at how all this was handled, and indeed the decision to make A a Tull album rather than a solo release, but he’s been unrepentant regarding his apparently impersonal management style: “If you are offended by getting a letter from me, you would’ve been more offended if you had nothing at all,” he told Prog on the album’s reissue in 2020. But the upshot would be that only Ian Anderson and Martin Barre would remain from the band that bore that name for most of the 1970s.Īfter the aforementioned ‘big split’ went public, erstwhile band members Dee Palmer and John Evan revealed that they had been informed that their services were no longer required by a photocopied letter from the singer. The full story was rather more complicated. Still, it must have been a shock when pop pickers scanned their newsagents’ shelves in the summer of 1980 to find Melody Maker shouting from its cover: “Jethro Tull – Big Split”. Some fans would continue to hanker after a return to the early 70s Tull sound, but since even that regularly changed shape, it should have been no surprise to see the band continue to reinvent themselves in the new decade. But by the time they won a Grammy in 1989 (for 1987 release Crest Of A Knave, confusingly) they seemed to have reinvented themselves as an enduringly relevant force in British rock, clad in more contemporary sonic clothing but still capable of making intelligent, idiosyncratic rock records that still sounded like no one else. When they moved on from the folk-rock triptych of Songs From The Wood, Heavy Horses and Stormwatch to forge a shiny, forward-looking new sound and ruthlessly overhauled line-up with 1980’s A, not all of their fanbase seemed inclined to join them. ![]()
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