This Review Along With Over 310 Others Is Available In My
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
CADENCE /CASCADE
CADENCE /CASCADE
PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters
Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On
Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground
Just Click Below To Purchase
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
"...Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day..."
I dug the two-sided concept
album "Thick As A Brick" in 1972 (slavered over that newspaper
sleeve) but I found the mock-operatic "A Passion Play" in 1973 too
dense and actually guilty of the codpiece pretentiousness that was being
levelled at the band from all quarters. I sense principal leading light and
songwriter Ian Anderson was aware of this and so "WarChild" returned
to simpler shorter tunes and frankly benefitted from it.
But like many fans and
despite the 'fun' of "Bungle In The Jungle" and the old-Tull cool of
the fab "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day" - I don't recall
"WarChild" with any real sense of affection - more of a gradual
boredom with Tull that had begun to creep in back in those mixed up multi-genre
days.
So it's with a certain
relief and even belated near five-decades-later pleasure that I find 'The 40th
Anniversary Theatre Edition' of Tull's seventh studio album
"WarChild" (like so many of these Book Editions) to be something of a
revelation - especially those outtakes and the swathes of film version stuff on
the DVDs. This is beautifully done and again maestro Steve Wilson has lifted up
the core LP with a fabulous new remix and remaster. There is much to discuss,
so let's skate away on the Book Set ice of a new reissue day...
UK released 24 November 2014
- "WarChild: The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition" by JETHRO TULL on
Chrysalis 2564621627 Warchild 1 (Barcode 825646216277) is a 2CD plus 2DVD
80-Page Book Set Reissue with Steve Wilson Remixes and Remasters that plays out
as follows:
CD1 "WarChild" - A
New Steven Wilson Stereo Remix (39:31 minutes):
1. WarChild [Side 1]
2. Queen And Country
3. Ladies
4. Back-Door Angels
5. SeaLion
6. Skating Away On The Thin
Ice Of A New Day [Side 2]
7. Bungle In The Jungle
8. Only Solitaire
9. The Third Hoorah
10. Two Fingers
Tracks 1 to 10 are their
seventh studio album "WarChild" - released 14 October 1974 in the USA
and 26 October 1974 in the UK on Chrysalis Records CHR 1067 (same catalogue
number in both countries). Produced by IAN ANDERSON - it peaked at No. 2in the
USA and No. 14 in the UK.
CD2 "The Second
Act" – Associated Recordings (78:20 minutes):
1. Paradise Steakhouse
2. Saturation
3. Good Godmother
4. SeaLion II
5. Quartet
6. WarChild II
7. Tomorrow Was Today
8. Glory Row
9. March, The Mad Scientist
10. Rainbow Blues
11. Pan Dance
WarChild Orchestral
Recordings
12. The Orchestral WarChild
Theme
13. The Third Hoorah
(Orchestral Version)
14. Mime Sequence
15. Field Dance (Conway Hall
Version)
16. Waltz Of The Angels
(Conway Hall Version)
17. The Beach (Part I)
(Morgan Master Recordings)
18. The Beach (Part II)
(Morgan Master Recordings)
19. Waltz Of The Angels
(Morgan Demo Recording)
20. The Beach (Morgan Demo Recording)
21. Field Dance (Morgan Demo
Recording)
NOTES:
Tracks 1 to 15 - A New
Steven Wilson Stereo Remix
Tracks 16 to 21 Mixed To
Stereo in 1974 by Robin Black
Tracks 1, 4 and 5 first
issued on the "Nightcap” 2CD set in November 1993
Track 2 first issued on the
"20 Years Of Jethro Tull" Box Set in June 1988
Tracks 3, 6 and 7 Previously
Unreleased
Track 8 first issued on the
"Repeat: The Best Jethro Tull Vol. II" LP in September 1977
Tracks 9 and 11 first issued
on the "Ring Out, Solstice Bells" Vinyl EP in December 1976
Track 10 first issued on
"M.U. The Best Of Jethro Tull" LP in January 1976
Tracks 12 to 21 all
Previously Unreleased except Track 16, which was first released as
"WarChild Waltz" on the October 2002 "WarChild" CD remaster
DVD 1 (Audio & Video) -
Region 0 (Region Free) - NTSC Aspect Ratio 16:9 (except Film Footage 4:3)
"WarChild" remixed
into 5.1 Surround and presented in DTS 96/24, AC3 Dolby Digital and 96/24 LPCM
Stereo.
A Flat Transfer from the
Original 1974 LP Master in 96/24 LPCM Stereo.
A Flat Transfer from the
Original 1974 QUAD LP (with additionally "Glory Row" and "March,
The Mad Scientist") in DTS 96/24 5.1 (4.0) and Ac3 Dolby Digital Surround
Sound.
Video clips of a Montreux
Photo Session and Press Conference on 11 January 1974 and "The Third
Hoorah" Promo Footage with remixed Stereo audio (19:20 minutes).
DVD 2 (78:18 minutes
duration, 61:47 minutes in Surround)
An Additional eleven group
recordings from the WarChild sessions and later - remixed in 5.1 Surround and
presented in DTS 96/24 and AC3 Dolby Digital and 96/24 LPCM Stereo.
Six additional orchestral
recordings mixed by Robin Black in 1974 in 96/24 LPCM Stereo.
The first thing that smacks
you over the head with a steel Roman Aquila banner is the presentation -
80-pages of photos, essays, track-by-track annotation by Ian Anderson, lyrics,
tape boxes, recording studio venues, recording info and tour dates from
November 1973 to April 1975. There is discussion of the garish artwork (band
members, girlfriends, models, dummies - all in Panto costumes on the rear
sleeve as well as memories of 15-years on the road by the band's electronics
man David Morris called "Batteries Not Included: Hammers Are
Allowed". You get interviews by Don Needham with Kathy Thulborn and
Bridget Procter of the touring string quartet, foreign picture sleeves for the
singles, film script synopsis and loads of rare and previously unseen photos.
Anderson also discusses the
revelations in the 5.1 Surround Mix unleashing the too-dense string section and
how "WarChild" became the first Tull album to be mixed into
Quadrophonic back in 1974 (Chrysalis CH4 1067). You get a 20-person collage map
as to who appeared on the rear cover (18 is a stuffed Seal in case you were
wondering) and there's even a saucy article called "Pan Dances" with
a photo of the Top of the Pops girls "Pan's People" at the back.
Choreographed by the legendary Flick Colby, they did dance routines to
"Witch's Promise" and "Living In The Past" in front of an
audience with costumes that appeared to leave little to the imagination. A
shoulder-strap malfunction did allow one boob to be displayed, but dancer and
fan-fave Babs took it like a trooper and the crowd seemed very appreciative and
declared in one voice 'there is a God'. To the music...
A war siren and 'a cup of
tea dear' conversation followed by guns and bombs outside opens the album -
"WarChild" dancing the days and nights away. The Steve Wilson Remix
and Remaster feels like a power surge has been inserted into the Prog Rock
chorus - Roxy Music type Saxophone and Strings upping the oomph as it
progresses. Anger at England's wild taxation laws (signed our souls away) seeps
through the angry "Queen And Country" while that shushed acoustic
guitar opening of "Ladies" now sings along with the flute passages
(lovely transfer). Chrysalis issued "Bungle In The Jungle" b/w the
next song "Back-Door Angels" on the same day as the album - 14
October 1974. Chrysalis CRS 2010 sure proved to have legs staying on the US
singles charts for months peaking at No. 12 in the week ending 11 January 1975.
That great rock geetar riffage that comes in the middle of "Back-Door
Angel" combines with a warbling synth solo and feels like the Tull of
"Aqualung" are suddenly back in your living room - leery and
sneering. The US market also got "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New
Day" b/w with Side 1's final cut "SeaLion" as a 45 - Chrysalis
CRS 2013 issued 17 February 1975. Balance the world on the tip of your nose,
Anderson sings as the strings threaten to overwhelm the mix. There is no
business like the show we're in.
Side 2 opens with
"Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day" and at last its
gorgeous acoustic whimsy sounds like the bomb here - only Jethro Tull making
this unique sound - brilliant. Tull would feature the meanwhile back in year
one "Skating Away..." on the "M.U. Best Of..." in January
1976 - cup of tea beginning and all.
Wilson has done wonders with it. You can so hear why American Radio latched
onto the silly "Bungle In The Jungle" - it was the kind of 'rawk'
they could use - lions and tigers waiting in the shadow - catchy chorus ahoy.
The one and half minute "Only Solitaire" also hankers back to those
acoustic-driven snippet-tracks that worked so well on albums like 1971's
"Aqualung" and the 1972 new-and-old double-album splurge of
"Living In The Past". Out comes the clavinet and familiar guitar
riffage combo for "The Third Hoorah" - a stormer in this new sound.
And it ends with five minutes of "Two Fingers" - one of the LPs
latest recordings - done 24 February 1974. Again the Remix is absolutely
kicking as Anderson sings of the good ship Earth, hard headed miracle-workers
and underpants you best leave to trusted friends.
The booklet cleverly
features the lyrics to the Additional Songs on CD2 that opens with
"Paradise Steakhouse" - a cracking very-Tull rocker that first
appeared on the "Nightcap" double-CD in 1993 and could so easily have
been a cracking "WarChild" LP track or even B-side to "Bungle In
The Jungle". Recorded in December 1973, the major riffage continues with
"Saturation" - Martin Barre letting rip on the axe. Originally called
'D Bass & Vibes One' - "Quartet" comes on like an English Chamber
Ensemble has just invaded your sonic pantry and announces that its actually
likes ELP and wants to emulate their brand of Prog Rock. An accordion
accompanies the whimsical opening of the previously unreleased "WarChild
II" before it quickly descends into a teacup rocker. Far better is the two
thousand travellers of "Tomorrow Was Today" - a genuine rocking JT
find - and given that it was recorded 24 February 1974 - could have enlivened
the album considerably. There is gorgeous acoustic clarity to "March, The
Mad Scientist" while the "M.U. Best Of" exclusive cut
"Rainbow Blues" has 'get me to the stage on time' power in all areas.
As we romp to the end of CD2, I suspect the orchestral stuff is going to be
very much an acquired taste. Personally much of it is too twee for me and I
know I won't be returning to it any time soon.
When you play DVD 1 – you
find the 4th part is the Video elements – an 11 January 1974 press conference given
by a fountain in Montreux in Switzerland with the 5-piece British Rock Band
looking like a bunch of drug-addled dandies (rainbow suits, silk scarves and
cigarette holders the length of a autobahn) who shouldn't be allowed near
anyone's daughter (or domestic pet) let alone a city landmark. Probably because
the audio is either too boring, corrupted or lost completely – Ian Anderson has
decided to do the 2014 monologue for it all himself as the footage then segues
into a press conference at the Euro Hotel where the group is handing over a
cheque to build a studio for uppercoming Swiss kids (they had toured there in
1972). As you can imagine and given the distance of decades - his deliberations
on the way they look, ludicrous English taxes, offers of Swiss citizenship and
press junkets with bored tank-top wearing reporters looking to the sandwiches
and wine - are erudite, intelligent and at times ball-breakingly funny. Terry
Ellis of Chrysalis Records is there as is Tull's champion and organiser of the
Jazz Festivals in Montreux - Claude Nobs – sadly lost to the world in 2014.
It's great fun and I'll leave the rest for you to discover.
Despite its No. 2 chart
placing in the States – the LP "WarChild" has always been treated as
something of a snotty return here in Tull's own Blighty – a guilty pleasure of
sorts after two albums of excess – and bettered too by bigger albums to come.
But like all of these multi-disc Tull reissues – they amaze and restore the
faith...
