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"...Hoeing And
Husbandry..."
I was a kid of the early
Seventies ("Aqualung", "Thick As A Brick", the "Living
In The Past" double-album) - so by the time Jethro Tull's 11th album
"Heavy Horses" arrived in April 1978 with the double "Live:
Bursting Out" following quickly later that same year in September - I can
recall being disinterested in JT entirely and thinking - who the hell is buying
either of these?
And yet Tull have always
been a cult band personified - so despite or perhaps even because of the
utterly changed musical landscape they found themselves in – defiantly
"Heavy Horses" bucked the 'Rock Is Dead - Long Live Punk and New
Wave' ethos of the NME et al and charted well on both sides of the pond - No.
20 in the UK and even better at No. 19 in the States ("Live: Bursting Out"
did the same - No. 17 in the UK and No. 20 in the USA). Now I'm re-listening
afresh to what is presently referred to as Part 2 of their Folk-Rock album
trilogy - 1978's "Heavy Horses" - the one between "Songs From
The Woods" in 1977 and "Stormwatch" in 1979.
And once again fans and
newcomers alike will slaver and drool over this 5-Disc Book Set - yet another
in Tull's extraordinary reissue campaign that has been putting most major label
reissues of huge bands to utter shame for a few years now. There's a cartload
of detail to plough through (forgive the puns) - so once more my hirsute horsy
friends unto the Mad Nags and Englishmen (and that one-legged geezer with the
hat and the flute)...
UK and USA released 2 March
2018 - "Heavy Horses: New Shoes Edition" by JETHRO TULL on
Parlophone/Chrysalis 0190295757915 (Barcode 0190295757915) is a 3CD + 2DVD
Reissue containing both "Heavy Horses" the album and the live
double-set that followed "Live: Bursting Out" – all housed in a
Hardback 'Book Set' with an attached 96-page booklet. The team of Steve Wilson,
Jakko Jakszyk, Don Needham and Ray Shulman (long associated with Tull reissues)
have carried out the Audio and DVD Remasters and Authoring and "Heavy
Horses: New Shoes Edition" plays out as follows:
CD1 "Heavy Horses"
(76:23 minutes):
1. ....And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps [Side
1]
2. Acres Wild
3. No Lullaby
4. Moths
5. Journeymen
6. Rover [Side 2]
7. One Brown Mouse
8. Heavy Horses
9. Weathercock
Tracks 1 to 9 are their 11th
album "Heavy Horses" - released 10 April 1978 in the USA on Chrysalis
CHR 1175 and 21 April 1978 in the UK also on Chrysalis CHR 1175. Produced by
IAN ANDERSON and JETHRO TULL - it peaked at No. 20 on the UK LP charts and
No.19 in the USA.
ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS
10. Living In These Hard
Times [Version 2] - Planned to be on the withdrawn "Moths" EP -
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
11. Everything In Our Lives
[Studio Outtake] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
12. Jack-A-Lynn [Early
Version, Studio Demo] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
13. Quatrain [Studio
Version, it featured on "Live: Bursting Out" as a new song in live
form] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
14. Horse-Hoeing Husbandry
[Studio Outtake] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
15. Beltane [Withdrawn from
the "Moths" EP - eventually surfaced on "20 Years Of Jethro
Tull" Box Set in June 1988]
16. Botanic Man [Recorded
live for the Thames TV Series 'Botanic Man' with David Bellamy but not used] -
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
17. Living In These Hard
Times [Version 1] - Studio Outtake eventually surfaced on "20 Years Of
Jethro Tull" Box Set in June 1988
18. Botanic Man Theme
[Recorded for the Thames TV Series 'Botanic Man' with David Bellamy but not
used] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
CD2 "Live In Berne 1978
(Part 1)" (50:16 minutes):
1. Opening Music (Quartet)
2. Introduction by Claude
Nobs
3. No Lullaby
4. Sweet Dream
5. Skating Away On The Thin
Ice Of The New Day
6. Jack-In-The-Green
7. One Brown Mouse
8. Heavy Horses
9. A New Day Yesterday
10. Flute Solo
Improvisation/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Bouree
11. Living in The Past
(Instrumental)/A New Day Yesterday (Reprise)
12. Songs From The Wood
CD3 "Live In Berne 1978
(Part 2)" (59:33 minutes):
1. Thick As A Brick
2. Hunting Girl
3. Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll:
Too Young To Die
4. Conundrum
5. Minstrel In The Gallery
6. Cross-Eyed Mary
First Encore
7. Quatrain
8. Aqualung
Second Encore
9. Locomotive Breath
10. The Dambusters
March/Aqualung (Reprise)
NOTE: the 22-tracks of CDs 2
and 3 represent the complete concert upon which the 17-track double-album
"Live: Bursting Out" was based. Released 22 September 1978 in the UK
on Chrysalis CJT 4 and 25 September 1978 in the USA on Chrysalis CH2 1201
(peaked at No. 17 and No. 21 respectively) – its four original sides can be
sequenced from these two CDs using the following tracks:
Side 1: Tracks 3, 4, 5, 6
and 7 from CD2
Side 2: Tracks 9, 10 and 12
from CD2 and Track 1 from CD3
Side 3: Tracks 2, 3, 4 and 5
from CD3
Side 4: Tracks 6, 7, 9 and
10 from CD3
DVD 1 (Audio) - NTSC, Region
0 (All Regions), 16.9 Aspect, Exempt from Classification
Contains all 9-Tracks of the
"Heavy Horses" album
Plus "Living In These
Hard Times (Versions 1 & 2), "Everything In Our Lives",
"Jack-A-Lynn", "Horse-Hoeing Husbandry",
"Beltane", "Botanic Man" and "Botanic Man Theme"
remixed to 5.1 DTS, AC3 Dolby Digital Surround and 96/24 LPCM Stereo by STEVE
WILSON
Also has original Stereo
mixes of "Heavy Horses" album, "Rover (No Strings
version)", "Living in These Hard Times (Version 2)",
"Beltane" and "Quatrain (SW Mix)" as 96/24 LPCM Stereo
DVD 2 (Audio/Video) - NTSC,
Region 0 (All Regions), 16.9 Aspect (Videos 3:4), Exempt from Classification
Jethro Tull recorded live to
2-track at The Festhalle, Berne, Switzerland by The Maison Rouge Mobile
Remixed to 5.1 DTS, AC3
Dolby Digital Surround and 96/24 LPCM Stereo by JAKKO JAKSZYK
Promotional Video Footage of
the tracks "Heavy Horses" and "Moths" Plus 2 TV Adverts for
"Bursting Out"
JETHRO TULL was:
IAN ANDERSON - Vocals,
Flute, Whistles, Mandolin, Acoustic and Electric Guitars
MARTIN BARRE - Lead Electric
Guitar
JOHN EVAN - Piano and Organ
DAVID PALMER - Keyboards and
Orchestral Arrangements
JOHN GLASCOCK - Bass
BARRIEMORE BARLOW - Drums
and Percussion
On Page 18 of the incredible
96-page booklet is a picture of a 'Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses' Promotional
Bottle of Ale complete with its ridged flip cap - on Page 52 is a repro of the
rare front page folio for the book "Horfe-Hoeing Husbandry" by Jethro
Tull published in London by A. Millar in 1731 (the character the band based
their name on) - on Page 74 (to Page 81) that begins the January 1977 to November 1978
day-by-day 'Chronology' of all things JT is a night-time photo of the
ill-fated Maison Rouge Studios in Fulham, South West London that the band
bought and kitted out to record "Heavy Horses" (now a car-park or some
such). It all gives you an indication of the kind of depth we're talking about
here. The info and memorabilia come at you fast and furious and it’s a dull boy
indeed who would not be impressed with the sheer effort and scope of this
reissue.
And did I mention that the
record itself sounds utterly amazing - once again the Wills-meister STEVE
WILSON and footage genius JAKKO JAKSZYK have pulled off yet more upgrades on
both fronts (somebody needs to put these men on the New Year’s Honours List for
services to Prog lurches everywhere). So what about the Music and the Visuals...
As the front cover artwork
suggests - Ian Anderson leading Barley and Sir Jim towards us (both gorgeous
animals courtesy of the Courage Shire Horse Centre in Maidenhead, Berkshire) -
this is a deeply English Countryside Album. "Heavy Horses" is a
down-on-the-farm, doing-loads-of-rural-stuff set of Folk-Rock songs and the
Acoustic Guitars and Flute of "...And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps"
opens proceedings rather nicely. There is real punch in the rhythm section -
drums and bass - and that battle between the keyboards and layered vocals later
on sounds cool too. Tull tap the Mandolin for "Acres Wild" - a great
mixture of their “Stand Up” sound meeting Fairport Convention's "Liege
& Lief" Folk-Rock - with one foot in both camps (and I love those
breaks that sound like Horslips enjoying themselves). It's easy to hear why
Tull opened the live "Bursting Out" double with the clever Rock
Guitar of "No Lullaby" - its everything they were at the time -
English Folk meets Prog Rock. But that's trashed by the album's mini
masterpiece - "Moths". Chrysalis thought so too - releasing it 7
April 1978 on 7" single ahead of the album in the UK (Chrysalis CHS 2214
had "Life Is A Long Song" as its UK B-side while the American variant
was to carry "Beltane" on its flipside but the release was
withdrawn). Palmer's string arrangement dances like the 'candle flames' in the
lyrics.
Martin Barre gives it some
wicked guitar work on "Journeyman" - tripping the light fantastic.
Anderson chases every footstep and follows every limb in "Rover" -
his lady and that lovelorn pot-of-gold just out of reach (beautiful production
values on this). "One Brown Mouse" also sounds like it could have
been a single - take some tea with me awhile he sings as the acoustic strums
race with the drums. The nine-minute title track is the most Prog of all and
its arrangements are brilliant - soft acoustics bolstered by lovely string
arrangements (you also get to concentrate on the articulate lyrics). It ends on
the Mandolin Folk of "Weathercock" (there's one pictured on Page 50)
where Anderson's good-morning melody sounds warm and summery (sing to me
softly) as Barre brings the song and the album to a satisfactory finish with
brilliant guitar flourishes.
I hadn't expected much from
the extras - but again I'm shocked at how good "Living In These Hard
Times" is - here in two takes - Version 2 done in July with Version 1
dating from February 1977. I'd also argue that "Everything In Our
Lives" is equal to anything on the album or at least would have made a
killer B-side. And while the David Bellamy theme songs to his "Botanic Man"
are interesting if not a bit too heavy-handed - the lovely early version of
"Jack-A-Lynn" is surely the unreleased prize here. Sounding like
something that could have come straight out of the "Wandering Aloud"
sessions from "Aqualung" – both it and "Quatrain" are fabulous
outtakes – the second with Anderson's frustration and mistakes left on the
tape. The Live Double is cool icing on the cake with barnstorming versions of
"Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day", "Sweet
Dream" and "Cross-Eyed Mary". And the DVD promo videos are a
hoot if not a tiny bit cringeworthy now.
I full appreciate that
"Heavy Horses" and Jethro Tull in general will not be everyone's idea
of 1978 - but man you have to give credit where credit's due. This is an
amazing reissue and well done to all involved...
