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Jethro tull
War Child 40th
Anniversary
”I was flying by the seat of
my pants,” Ian Anderson
sheepishly admits. Folly, obviously, in
tights and codpiece. Hence the stillborn
fate of Jethro Tull’s 1974 film-musical,
War Child . John Cleese was going to
write it. Donald Pleasance volunteered
to play God. Dame Margot Fonteyn was
up for a ballet cameo. What remains of
the mooted project is spread over four
fascinating discs and 80 belief-beggaring
pages here, including bits of Anderson’s
“conceptual treatment” and ten quite
lovely orchestral tracks, fully realised
by arranger David Palmer. Nine appear
for the first time on this epic prog-folk
revelation. A dozen more “associated
recordings”, DVD video and 5.1 audio
complete a stunning act of rock’n’roll
overreaching from the days when bricks
were thick as. Prog’s go-to remix guy
Steven Wilson ensures the original 10
tracks – amply distinguished by Bungle
In the Jungle, Skating Away and Only
Solitaire – come up glittering like the
Melbourne skyline inexplicably
featured on the cover. Chrysalis/Universal
Robert Wyatt
Different Every Tim
There’s one thing that
remains the same on
Different Every Time. Sure
it’s a hell of a twisty ride
from the 19-minute serve of sweetly
meandering Soft Machine weirdness
circa 1970 to Submarine, from Bjork’s
a capella Medulla project. But the guy
with the spooky reed where his voice
should be is such an elegantly eccentric
ingredient to the whole UK prog-art-jazz-
Latino punch, that everything he touches
comes up Robert Wyatt. Disc one of
this essential retrospective, Ex-Machin a,
swerves through the tragicomic plea of
Matching Mole’s God Song via the bent
music hall of Yesterday Man to a choral
waft of his last solo LP, Comicopera. Disc
two, Benign Dictatorships, samples a wild
range of guest appearances including
Cage, Eno, Manzanera, Floyd’s Nick
Mason, Elvis Costello’s Shipbuilding and
Hot Chip’s We’re Looking For a Lot of
Love. For fans it’s a handy marshalling
of disparate material; for adventurous
novices, a vital invitation from your next
favourite mad uncle. Domino/EMI/Universal
• Metallica Kill ‘em All
• Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti
Coming Soon
visit
DID YOU KNOW? Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson has written a beginner’s guide to Indian cuisine, available only on the internet.
MUSIC
W hat’s Your 20 is a fine way to
celebrate Wilco’s 20th birthday.
The generous anniversary
package has two discs and 38 songs:
some of the best bits from eight albums
going back to the raggedy alt-country of
I Must Be High through to the skewed
riff-pop of Born Alone. It stops by the
Billy Bragg/Woody Guthrie/Mermaid
Avenue homestead and the Beatlesque
glow of Summerteeth, and wedges in a
good half of the benchmark that made
a damn fool of the American music
business and roused an indie cult to
critical mass, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
But somehow, with this band, it
seems more fitting to take the road
less travelled. Alpha Mike Foxtrot tells
the same story from a parallel universe:
a four-CD slipcase job with most of the
same tracks represented in demo or
live incarnations and, in the words of
producer Cheryl Pawelski, “almost
every unique, essential performance that
appeared on soundtracks, tribute albums
and B-sides.” Cue, for instance, Wilco
covers of Big Star, Neil Young, Gram
Parsons, Ernest Tubb, Bob Dylan, Nick
Lowe, Daniel Johnstone and Steely Dan.
Steely Dan!? “I don’t know,” Jeff
Tweedy reflects in his track-by-track
notes, “I wouldn’t want to listen to this
song.” He’s equally unguarded about the
rest. Bong Session dictaphone demos of
Childlike and Evergreen and Someone
Else’s Song summon anecdotes that are
hugely revealing about his ambition and
process. His personal notes of pride and
disappointment comprise a mosaic of
deliberate intentions and brave gambles
throughout. One-off collaborations with
Syd Straw, Fleet Foxes, Feist, Roger
McGuinn, Andrew Bird and the Blisters
speak for themselves. The rest of the
story, from the demise of Son Volt to the
extraordinary bond Wilco has nurtured
with a passionate global audience, is told
in hype-free and intelligent style by band
members, associates, and a ton of
photos. Warner Music
14 JANUARY 2015 JB Hi-Fi
This month Michael Dwyer helps Wilco celebrate 20 years,
reassesses a Jethro Tull curiosity, and spends time with Robert Wyatt.