Jethro Tull - The Jethro Tull Christmas Album & Live - Christmas At St Brides 2008 '2003/2009

Tracks list

 There arent too many of the so-called classic rock bands from the seventies
that could pull off a Christmas album. Picture, if you will, A Led Zeppelin
Christmas, or Rush Sings Santa Baby. Horrifying, right Even the bands from that
era whove successfully managed to create a Christmas song with some lasting
power, like The Kinks (Father Christmas) or Emerson, Lake & Palmer (I Believe in
Father Christmas) would probably be hard pressed to manage an entire album of
holiday music. For Jethro Tull, however, its something of a natural. For one
thing, they had already recorded at least three Christmas-themed songs over the
years prior to this LP: Christmas Song, a single that was eventually released on
1972s Living in the Past; Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow, a song that was
recorded earlier and released for the 1988 boxed set 20 Years of Jethro Tull;
and Another Christmas Song, from the 1989 Rock Island album. Then there was that
whole Elizabethan/rustic music period that Tull went through in the late
seventies with their Songs From the Wood and Heavy Horses albums, where the
overall sound feels appropriate for Christmas even when the lyrics have nothing
to do with it. All told, youd have to say that if any of the major rock bands
from years of old was going to manage a respectable Christmas album, Jethro Tull
would be your best candidate.

So howd they do Not bad, actually. Not bad at all. The Jethro Tull Christmas
Album was released (to little fanfare) in 2003. The band at the time consisted
of Tull mastermind Ian Anderson (flute, vocals, acoustic guitar, and an
assortment of other instruments); Martin Lancelot Barre (I just love that his
middle name is Lancelot) (electric and acoustic guitars); Andrew Giddings
(keyboards, accordion and keyboard bass); Jonathan Noyce (bass guitar); and
Doane Perry (drums and percussion). It was the last official Jethro Tull studio
album prior to this years lamentable The String Quartets LP. It weighs in at an
impressive 16 tracks long (so you can pop it on your listening device of choice
and proceed to wrap a sizable number of holiday presents before it ends),
including at least six or so that have never been recorded before (sorry for
being so imprecise here, but over the years, Anderson has tended to throw
snippets of songs like God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen into the middle of various
live tracks, and Im just not patient enough to go back and dig all of them up
just to give you a solid number here).

Anyway, its actually a really good album, but its geared toward a very
specialized audience. What do I mean by that Well, for starters, you have to
already be the type of person who is predisposed to like Christmas music. I know
that there are a lot of you out there, and youre into your metal, or your jazz,
or your experimental electronica. And every year, December rolls around, and the
music youre surrounded by almost everywhere you go just makes you want to shoot
yourself. Or at best, it just goes right through you without you even noticing,
like when you call your doctors office and they play that tinny stuff while
youre stuck on hold. Yeah, you know who you are. This album isnt for you. Even
if youre a Jethro Tull fan, and you like them for their Aqualung and Thick As a
Brick period, but then they just got ridiculous, and you completely tuned them
out until maybe Crest of a Knave, this one wont be for you either. But if you at
least have a tolerance for holiday music, and Tulls Elizabethan period was one
of your favorites, then congratulations, Bucko! Youre the target audience!

So what have you got here Well, there are new recordings of each of the three
Tull Christmas songs I mentioned earlier. There are also re-recordings of a
couple of songs that arent specifically holiday- themed, but sound like they
belong, including Weathercock from Heavy Horses, Fire at Midnight and Ring Out
Solstice Bells (all right, maybe that last one is sort of a Christmas song) from
Songs From the Wood, and Bouree, which goes all the way back to the Stand Up
(1969) album. Then there are instrumental versions of various holiday classics,
including God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, Holly Herald (a medley that includes The
Holly and the Ivy and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing), Greensleeved (a jazzy
version of Greensleeves), and We Five Kings (a jazzy version of We Three Kings).
There are also a couple of other appropriate-sounding instrumentals, including
Pavane, by the 20th-century French composer Gabriel Faure, and A Winter
Snowscape, an original penned by Barre.

Finally, as a special Christmas bonus, there are three brand new songs, complete
with vocals and lyrics, written by Anderson. The best of these is Last Man at
the Party, a fast-paced, flute-driven number filled with Andersons wry humor as
he describes the alcohol-saturated holiday celebrations of various characters
such as Sister Bridget, Cousin Jimmy (or maybe its Possum Jimmy) and Stinky Joe
(From down the street/He fell right over/His own three feet). Then theres First
Snow on Brookyn, a quiet and slightly sad number sung from the perspective of a
very human guardian angel. Finally, Birthday Card at Christmas is a pleasant but
forgettable little ditty that runs through a brief catalog of typical Yuletide
imagery.

A Jethro Tull Christmas isnt by any means the album the band will be remembered
for. It is, however, a cordial enough little collection filled with holiday and
near-holiday tunes that is bound to enhance the Christmas season for a certain
type of Tull fan. Being such a fan myself, I can honestly say it makes my
Decembers just a little brighter every year. If albums like Songs From the Wood
and Heavy Horses are an essential part of your music collection, you just might
feel the same.
:: TRACKLIST ::

CD 1 - The Jethro Tull Christmas Album 
1 Birthday Card At Christmas 3:37
2 Holly Herald 4:16
3 A Christmas Song 2:47
4 Another Christmas Song 3:31
5 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen 4:35
6 Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow 3:37
7 Last Man At The Party 4:48
8 Weathercock 4:17
9 Pavane 4:19
10 First Snow On Brooklyn 4:57
11 Greensleeved 2:39
12 Fire At Midnight 2:26
13 We Five Kings 3:16
14 Ring Out Solstice Bells 4:04
15 Bourée 4:25
16 A Winter Snowscape 4:57

CD 2 - Jethro Tull Live - Christmas At St Brides 2008
2-1 Weathercock 4:41
2-2 Introduction: Rev. George Pitcher/Choir: What Cheer 3:32
2-3 A Christmas Song 3:19
2-4 Living In These Hard Times 3:44
2-5 Choir: Silent Night 3:06
2-6 Reading: Ian Anderson, Marmion 2:17
2-7 Jack In The Green 2:33
2-8 Another Christmas Song 3:56
2-9 Reading: Gavin Esler, Gods Grandeur 1:50
2-10 Choir: Oh, Come All Ye Faithful 3:50
2-11 Reading: Mark Billingham, The Ballad Of The Breadman 3:33
2-12 A Winter Snowscape 3:39
2-13 Reading: Andrew Lincoln, Christmas 3:12
2-14 Fires At Midnight 3:38
2-15 We Five Kings 3:19
2-16 Choir: Gaudete 3:39
2-17 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Thick As A Brick 10:25

Line-up / Musicians
- Ian Anderson / vocals, flute, acoustic guitars, mandolin, piccolo, percussion
- Martin Barre / electric guitar, acoustic guitar
- Andy Giddings / keyboards, accordion, bass, organ
- Doane Perry / drums, percussion (1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14)
- Jonathan Noyce / bass (2, 5, 9, 11, 13, 15)

Guest musicians:
- David Pegg / mandolin (3), bass guitar (4)
- James Duncan / drums (2, 5, 9, 11, 13, 15), percussion (3)

The Sturcz String Quartet:
- Laszlo Bencker / arrangement (10)
- Gábor Csonka / 1st violin (10)
- Péter Szilágyi / 2nd violin (10)
- Gyula Benkö / viola (10)
- András Sturcz / cello (10)

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