JETHRO TULL : LONDON FIELDS

 

Disc One (54:24)

  1. Hunting Girl
  2. Under Wraps #1
  3. Later, That Same Evening
  4. Nobody’s Car
  5. Apogee
  6. Thick As A Brick
  7. Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day
  8. Pussy Willow
  9. Clasp
  10. Living In The Past
  11. Serenade to A Cuckoo

Disc Two (57:28)

  1. Band Introduction
  2. Fat Man
  3. Fly By Night
  4. Made In England
  5. European Legacy
  6. Black Sunday
  7. Locomotive Breath
  8. Too Old To Rock And Roll Too Young To Die
  9. Aqualung, Part 1
  10. Aqualung, Part 2

Label : Zip City

Venue : Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK

Recording Date : September 8, 1984

Quality : FM Recording (A+)

Review (Punk To Heaven) : Jethro Tull’s 15th studio album, Under Wraps, came out September 7th, 1984. The songs' subject matter is heavily influenced by bandleader Ian Anderson's love of espionage fiction. It was controversial among fans of the band due to its electronic/synthesizerbased sound, particularly the use of electronic drums. Guitarist Martin Barre has referred to it as one of his personal favourite Tull collections. The record reached No. 76 on the Billboard 200 and No. 18 on the UK Albums Chart. The single ‘Lap of Luxury’ reached No. 30. The day after the release, 8th September, Jethro Tull were to be found performing at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, where they put on a stunning show which was simultaneously broadcast on national radio. Featuring a good selection from the new record, alongside a slew of Tull classics and more recent hits, the show went down a storm with the fans, many of whom still list the gig as among their all-time favourites. Now released in its entirety on the new 2CD set, this delightful recording is available here for the first time.

Review (Amazon) : As often is with these types of releases, there are frequently misleading bits of information tagged onto the sleeve notes and this is one such example. The sleevenotes read as "The day after the release (of the new album, Under Wraps, released on the 7th), 8th September, Jethro Tull were to be found performing at London's Hammersmith Odeon. where they put on a stunning show which was simultaneously broadcast on national radio." Stunning show = true. Simultaneous broadcast = not true. This concert is from the band's second night of three at Hammersmith Odeon, on the 'Under Wraps `84' tour and originally recorded on 8th September for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, the US syndicated radio network and therefore, highly unlikely to have been a simultaneous live broadcast. It's also important to note that this is not the same recording as broadcast on Tommy Vance's 'The Friday Rock Show' on BBC Radio One on 27 December 1984, recorded on the third night, the 9th September. Eight selections from that particular performance (the 9th) were eventually released on the Raw Fruit Records label, in December 1990, titled as 'Live At Hammersmith `84', produced by BBC's Tony Wilson and Dale Griffin - he of ex-Mott The Hoople fame. Long-term Tullies will already know that both concerts had been available in decent FLAC quality as free downloads some years ago from Wolfgang's Vault, in the days before they started to charge for FLAC and left the mp3 versions as freebie leftovers. Just in case you didn't get all that, I'll go over it again. I jest... This particular issue: Unfortunately, it omits the concert introduction music piece, a 2 minutes plus of 'Under Wraps' album collage bits, prior to launching into the Locomotive Breath instrumental. It does, however, feature five brand new tracks from the just released 'Under Wraps' album, two nearly new from Ian Anderson's solo album, 'Walk Into Light' from the previous year and two from the previous Tull album, 'Broadsword & The Beast', representing almost half of the entire concert. Thus making this a most refreshing listen being a completely new setlist. As per Anderson's minimum standards, the entire band are fully rehearsed to the nth degree and these guys really are masters of their domain. Seldom have there been many other bands to match the overall musical ability accumen as held by this troope of performing minstrels. Despite what was in store in the not too distant future for Anderson with his vocal problems that took him out of action for eighteen months, there's no sign of that here. This 2CD release sounds much better than the 1990 release and should be a most welcome addition for any collector of great concerts by Jethro Tull, surely one of the best bands ever.

Review (Amazon) : "Under Wraps" as an album with its drum machine and eighties keyboard motifs wasn't altogether a popular album. The live tour though with actual thundering drums from Doane Perry was something else. On the UK leg of the tour before Ian Anderson damaged his vocals the band was on fire. The aforementioned Doane, Peter Vettese on lively keyboards, and wonderful intricate playing from Martin Barre on guitar and Dave Pegg on truly excellent fluid Bass. Anderson himself is in great voice and judging by the stage patter ,was enjoying himself. The songs from "Under Wraps" itself and a couple of songs from the IA solo album "Walk into light" really came to life with real drums.I was at the concert in the same venue the night after this and it was one of the best concerts I ever attended. Although this claims to be a Radio broadcast it almost certainly isn't, not in this form anyway.. The compression that Radio stations add to concerts to "even out" a live show is absent. This is a mixing desk recording, and all the better for not having the dynamics compressed giving a powerful , raw and exciting (if a little unbalanced in places.) treat. The audience sound a little muted but would have been picked up only by the onstage mics. Its the whole show apart from two poorly edited moments, one during "Thick as a brick" and an even more glaring moment as cruelly Martin Barre s excellent guitar break during "Aqualung" fades ,and the song comes back in during the following acoustic section. The master tape must have been damaged or replaced at this point, the transition is a bit jarring. But this is a minor thing, for the most part its an excellent ride! The cover photograph is correct for the period (although the back is not) which isn't always the case with these unofficial releases. Printed on pretty poor paper. A strange title too! A great show then, and in the absence of an official release this is pretty essential really.