DVD reviews: Jethro Tull – Live At Montreux – 71

At first glance I thought: How unfortunate. It’s not that this 2003 performance by the venerable Tull is bad, just that back in the day (the 1970s, that is), with his codpiece, his long flowing hair and manic movements, leader Ian Anderson was like a strutting cock. Here he’s just some wizened old coot with a flute.

Never mind, keep watching and you eventually realise that the Jethro Tull of yore is not really dead, it just smells a bit funny. Things do start off on a duff note with an old blues song for which Anderson seems to have trouble firing up his vocal chords, but when the old codgers start warming up their aching limbs, things get good.

Jethro Tull are one of the perennially successful groups of the late-’60s psychedelic explosion, but one of the least understood, as their music straddles the British blues revival, the mad jazz flutiness of Roland Kirk, the hard rock and progressive rock of the early 1970s, and folk music of the Celtic traditions. Original guitarist Martin Barre is onboard and he’s still capable of both finesse and blistering, iron-clad shredding, while more recent additions to the band perform in such a way as to highlight Anderson and Barre’s seniority. Anderson himself gets his flute mojo working and, despite apparent microphone problems, sings particularly well on old classics like ‘Aqualung’.

The only problem with a ‘selections’ performance like this is that it inevitably misses out the epic compositions that define the best of Jethro Tull, the 40-minute Thick As A Brick and its equally long follow-up, A Passion Play. Ultimately, this is one for long-term fans only.

Jethro Tull

Live At Montreux

From: Rajon/SonyBMG
Genre: Progressive folk
Rating: PG

Sound: 3/5
Vision: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

GARY STEEL