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(More customer reviews)It was late autumn of 1979 and Tull was on tour again. I was sitting in some nondescript seats in the nosebleed section of the Pittsburgh Civic Arena (owing to my meager student's living wages) waiting to see my favorite band in the world. The stage was a setpiece of ship's rigging cast in blue and green lights -very dark and oppressive. The band was on a low note, as John Glascock had recently died and they were touring with a substitute bass player. As if that wasn't bad enough, an announcer came on stage to introduce the band, stating that J.T. had cancelled their last three shows because some idiot had thrown a glass bottle on the stage and a piece of glass had gotten into Ian Anderson's eye. Be warned!, this was their first night back and they weren't going to put up with any nonsense. The band took the stage to thunderous applause, and a bespectacled Ian came forward playing a flute intro. Not two minutes into the show, another moron threw a bottle onto this stage, and quick as a flash - Ian stopped the show! He clearly was pissed, and threatened to leave right away unless somebody pointed out who threw the bottle and had them expelled. Obviously, the jerk was quicky ushered out and the band was ready to start again, but not before David Palmer gave a proper dressing down to the audience, telling us all we'de better f***ing well sit in our seats and listen! What a start to the night!
Well, the show went on very nicely from there, a great set that closely matched the "BURSTING OUT" album with some of the new songs scattered throughout. The band, consumate professionals all, played flawlessly, and the left the crowd satisfied, but it is no wonder Ian and Martin look back at this album and tour as a kind of dark period in their history.
The album itself has a darker mood; the last album of the 70's, and the last Tull album for Barlow, Evans and Palmer. Moving subtley away from the folkish and dealing with more worldly and political themes, the album is an examination of the troubled times in which we were all living. But don't be put off by this darker mood, there are some GREAT tunes on this disc. The highlight for me was the evocotive DUN RINGILL, but other absolutely stunning tunes include SOMETHING ON THE MOVE, ORION, FLYING DUTCHMAN, and NORTH SEA OIL. The original album ended with David Palmer's sad but beautiful ELEGY, a song fittingly marking the end of an era.
The bonus tracks on this edition include CROSSWORD, with some rocking guitar licks by Martin Barre; KELPIE, a more folkish tune with a rollicking flute passage that frequently finds it's way into Ian's solos even to this day; and KING HENRY'S MADRIGAL, another David (Dee) Palmer instrumental piece that really showcases the band's impressive playing abilities.
As I said, a dark album, but satisfying nonetheless and worth every penny.
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Limited Edition Japanese "Mini Vinyl" CD, faithfully reproduced using original LP artwork including the inner sleeve. Features most recently mastered audio including bonus tracks where applicable.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.
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