Jethro Tull - The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003) [FLAC] {tro

Jethro Tull - The Jethro Tull Christmas Album


Ian Anderson writes in the liner notes:
Two days before Christmas 2002, I received an e-mail from Fuel 2000 record company boss Len Fico suggesting the improbable scenario of a dedicated Tull Christmas album for the following year.

Although taken aback for a moment, I remembered half-formed plans from some years ago for a Christmas-related set of songs and tunes and so quickly offered, "Give me 24 hours and I’ll come back to you with a track list and running order."

And I did. Well, the track list anyway. The running order always depends on varying tempos, song keys and subject matter.

If you liked Bourée and the Songs From The Wood record, you will love this Jethro Tull Christmas Album. The aim was to find some uplifting traditional Christmas Carols, some new songs and to re-record some old Tull pieces on the Christmas topic.

As I was working at the same time on a solo album, I had to off-load some of the studio production and sessions to other participants. Doane Perry did his drum stuff in LA while the UK sessions featured guest drummer James Duncan and, of course, Jonathan Noyce on bass. Ex bassist, Dave Pegg, dropped by to play on a couple of songs and Andrew Giddings used his studio to record his parts and Martin Barre’s overdubs. I then pulled it all together and mixed down the various line-ups and sessions in my studio at the last moment.

My views on Christmas? Well, I’m not exactly a practising paid-up Christian but I have grown up and lived with a so-called Christian society for 55 years and still feel great warmth for the nostalgia, festive occasion and family togetherness, so much a part of that time of year. Maybe without Christmas we would have that much less to celebrate and enjoy in this troubled old world. But it’s really all the Winter Solstice and the re-birth of nature overlaid with the common sense and righteous teachings of Mr. C.

A Christmas in this modern world should, in my view, accommodate the leisure needs and affections of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and agnostics, as well as Fido the family dog and Felix the cat. Throw in a few lost cousins and that dreadful man from next door and you have it! Sip the sloe gin, pull a cracker (so long as she’s not the daughter of that dreadful man from next door), kiss and cuddle under the mistletoe, toss Vegan disciplines aside, gobble the turkey (steady on, now) and have a therapeutic respite from the rigours of daily life.

Christmas - an aspirin for the soul or cold-turkey celebration of the birth and life of Christ? It has to be a measured bit of both, doesn’t it?

And, if you can cope with it, a Happy New Year.

Tracklist:
01. Birthday Card at Christmas
02. Holly Herald
03. A Christmas Song
04. Another Christmas Song
05. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
06. Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow
07. Last Man at the Party
08. Weathercock
09. Pavane
10. First Snow on Brooklyn
11. Greensleeved
12. Fire at Midnight
13. We Five Kings
14. Ring Out Solstice Bells
15. Bourée
16. A Winter Snowscape

Musicians:
Ian Anderson - flute, vocals, acoustic guitars, mandolin, piccolo, percussion
Martin Barre - electric and acoustic guitars
Doane Perry - drums and percussion
Andrew Giddings - keyboards, accordion and keyboard bass
Jonathan Noyce - bass guitar
Guest musicians:
James Duncan - drums and percussion
David Pegg - bass guitar and mandolin
The Sturcz String Quartet:
Gábor Csonka - 1st violin
Péter Szilágyi - 2nd violin
Gyula Benkö - viola
András Sturcz - cello

Recorded at various locations during 2003.
Released on 30 September 2003.
Produced and engineered by Ian Anderson.
Label: Fuel 2000 Records.
Genre: Progressive Rock.

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Includes full artwork, EAC CUE and LOG files, AudioChecker log, and NFO file.

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