Life is a long song. 40 years of Jethro Tull

As Jethro Tull celebrate their 40th Anniversary in the same way they celebrated their first – by non-stop touring – Martin Webb celebrates 40 rare Tullish treasures

If 2007 was the year of the reunion – Led Zeppelin, The Police, Genesis, The Eagles, even The Spice Girls – then what a pleasure it is in 2008 to acclaim a band which have never been able to make a come-back for the simple reason that, notwithstanding numerous line-up changes, they have never split up.

In the December 2007 issue, flautist Ian Anderson told RC that Jethro Tull’s upcoming plans included “finishing the world tour we started in 1968”. But that seems a long way off yet, as Tull are already booked up across the globe throughout 2008, including a 29-date UK tour through April and May (see www.jethrotull.com) and are looking ahead to 2009. In the light of such a never-ending schedule one is tempted to say that they are currently celebrating their “first”40 years.

It all began towards the end of 1967, when Ian Anderson, Mick Abrahams, Glenn Cornick and Clive Bunker formed a 4-piece blues band from the ashes of the 7-piece John Evan Band. They played for a couple of months under a variety of guises – Ian Anderson only half-jokingly tells the story that they changed their name every week because they were so bad that no-one would re-book them – and retained the name Jethro Tull (much to Anderson’s subsequent regret) in February 1968 when they did get invited back, to The …

by Martin Webb
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