Customer Reviews

Jethro Tull - Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Little by little, Murray Lerner's footage from the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival is starting to coming out on dvd. Starting in 1995 with the festival movie MESSAGE TO LOVE, the various presentations have emerged. The sets from Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Miles Davis and now Jethro Tull are the focus of their own individual dvd presentations (an early 90s release of some of Free's set was released on VHS has yet to come out in digital video).

The Tull video NOTHING IS EASY contains a large chunk of exclusive footage from their set, and nowhere else can you find the IOW performances of MY GOD, DHARMA FOR ONE, WE USED TO KNOW/FOR A THOUSAND MOTHERS. Tull was an entertaining band, and they were in their heyday in 1970. We finally get to see the entire MY GOD where Ian starts on a subtle acoustic guitar lick and then moves to some entertaining flute work. Clive Bunker's obligatory drum solo on DHARMA FOR ONE is fun to watch but might bore the casual viewer.

In addition, the film depicts the events of 8/30/70 from the Tull point of view, and includes scenes of the tension between the audience and the promoters. We see some amazing never-before-seen footage of the Jethro Tull soundcheck in the early morning sun. Ian and the boys do a warm-up version of BOUREE (the clueless Amazon.com reviewer calls it "Beret"!!!!!) That soundcheck is the gold that I was waiting for, it's priceless footage and makes the entire package worth the price of admission. More footage of the soundcheck would have been real nice.

The first tune in the video is "MY SUNDAY FEELING" which was featured in MESSAGE TO LOVE movie. Consequently, MESSAGE TO LOVE is starting to become redundant. Quite a lot of the footage that was once exclusive in the 1995 festival documentary has been revamped for the Hendrix, Who, Free, Miles Davis dvds. I wish WITH YOU THERE TO HELP ME (featuring John Evan on piano)was presented instead of MY SUNDAY FEELING because the more exclusive footage the better.

In addition, I think SONG FOR JEFFREY from the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is totally unnecessary! It breaks the flow of the Isle of Wight footage and you can see it in the official Rolling Stones dvd. Another case of redundancy that drags down the quality of this Tull dvd.

Ian Anderson is on hand to narrate the video, and it appears to me that he really doesn't remember the specifics of the Isle of Wight festival. Tull played thousands of gigs in their career, and several festivals in that era. Consequently, he doesn't give much insight to the events of that particular evening. The lackluster liner notes in the dvd booklet strengthen my theory (By the way, check out Pete Townshend's interview in the Who Isle of Wight dvd, he doesn't seem to remember much either!!).

Overall, the new footage, especially the awesome soundcheck makes NOTHING IS EASY a must-own for any Tull fan.

I bought the CD and DVD of this performance simultaneously and listened to the CD first. One of the best live tracks on the CD is Cry You A Song. I couldn't wait to see the unbelievable energy I was hearing on the CD by watching them play it on the DVD, then I discovered that Cry You A Song is not included on the DVD! With You There To Help Me is another terrific performance that you can hear on the CD, but not see on the DVD. I could live with the format of the DVD, which is that they broke up the performances with new interview material with Ian Anderson, if they had included the whole concert performance. The fact that some of the best performance material was left off of the DVD is a true shame. How many more years will fans have to wait to see the full performance, preferrably uninterrupted? As stated in some other reviews here on Amazon, the full concert, uninterrupted, should have been included on the DVD as well. What's here is GREAT, but it will leave you wanting the rest.

From perusing the various reviews it's obvious there are some serious Tull purists let down with the incomplete footage. Be that as it may, what is presented is outstanding! The footage of one of my all time Tull picks, "My God," alone makes this more than worthwhile. Anderson's take on our religious misdirections and misgivings are far more wry and lyrical than say, those of another favored staple of that era, the darkly iconoclastic Black Sabbath. Speaking of which, this documentary includes the bluesy chugger "Song For Jeffrey," from the Stones Rock And Roll Circus, with none other than Toni Iommi on guitar shortly before he joined up with Geezer Butler to form Sabbath.
The narration by Anderson is fine on its own although is repetitiously interspersed with performance footage that makes it drag a bit. Maybe it would've worked better as an aside on the menu with the live footage left to stand on its own. However, it's a minor criticism given the band was fully alive and in top form, replete with frazzled, unkempt-bearded Anderson gyrating about within a devil-may-care catharsis of expression.

This is the `Holy Grail` of Tull footage ever released, and it is a must have for any collector. Ian Anderson as a young man, in his prime,a bundle of spastic energy. Hair flying, ratty -coat and knee high boots, he is a wonder to observe. Running around, jumping, conducting the band with his flute. The band is great, with perhaps the best lineup of their career. Anderson`s voice was very strong, and totally unique at the time. His flute playing is phenomenal, and how he keeps from getting winded is beyond belief! The sound and picture quality is great, and the cameras put you right on stage with them. All the live footage is fantastic, and worth sitting through some of the narrative from Ian. I find him interesting to listen to, and you can always skip to the live footage. At last I can show my friends what I have been talking about all these years. There was simply no band like Jethro Tull in their prime.

Personally,I liked the audio CD of the same title better(see my review).I've waited a little while to see this DVD of vintage Tull and even though the live footage of the songs are great,the overall editing job of this music DVD should have been done differently.Whoever put this retrospect together should have put the seven songs FIRST,then put the interviews with Ian Anderson,which provided some super nice 'words of thought' and perhaps facts about Tull that many of you didn't already know.Also dug the footage of the angered fans that were speaking their mind about the famed Isle Of Wight event.Had a fantastic time checking out the perfectly focused(sometimes that doesn't happen with old concert films as such)and never off centered performances of "My Sunday Feeling","Bouree","Dharma For One" and "Nothing Is Easy".If you're an old school Jethro Tull fan,with some time AND patience,do check this DVD out when you can.

As a fan since 1969 and a serious Tull collector, I was hoping
to replace my grainy old IOW footage with a shiny new copy of
the complete show....

Having spoken with several members of the band (past and present)
I can tell you this: two past members of the band are blocking
the release of archival material by refusing to sign releases.

I haven't been told if this affected the songs used in this
release, but consider how often you saw the old keyboard player...
the only other reason would be if the footage for the
other songs was missing or badly damaged.

This DVD comes off looking like they used an old Murray Lerner
workprint that was abandoned before completion.

Ian - wise up! Your remaining public has spoken and would like
their performances as complete as possible and uninterrupted by
interview or commentary. There's plenty of space elsewhere on
the disc for "special features". It may not be too irritating
the first or second viewing, but now I find myself twitching and
reaching for the remote......

An explanation for this DVD at the website would be nice....

Ian???

I didn't have tremendous expectations for this film after reading some of the reviews, but I actually thought it was pretty good. It shows Tull at its peak as an actual, certifiable rock band, before it started to drift into all kinds of other directions later. Ian Anderson on stage is grubby, lewd, wild, and overblown--perfect for the rock world of that day. The band's playing is sharp, but still has a nice rough energy to it. And it's a real treat to see Clive Bunker's solo being featured--he was one of the top rock drummers at the time and his solo is blisteringly fast and unimaginably energetic. It may be an odd choice use the time to feature his solo since the film presents just a selection of the tunes performed and not the whole concert. But Clive deserves the recognition! He was a good part of the reason Tull rocked hard back then. He left the band not too long after this because he didn't like the direction the music was heading in.

The "Song for Jeffrey" section is kind of odd since it wasn't done at the Isle of Wight, but it's interesting because it shows Ian before he had his stage act together. This was filmed just after "This Was" and before "Stand Up". He looks pretty awkward and goofy.

Ian's commentary to the film is disappointing. I've seen and heard interviews with him before and he's usually quite a bit more interesting than he is in this film. He criticizes his performance at Isle of Wight as being "over the top". Well, exactly, that's its main virtue. I went to see Tull during this period precisely because I (and everybody else) expected Ian to go wild.

A lot of time in the film is wasted talking, but never really saying anything, about the festival.

Anyway, if you're a Tull fan from way back, you'll like this.

I rate this DVD with 4 stars only because I really like J. Tull.

I wanted to see the COMPLETE J. Tull performance at IOW but I found that With You There To Help Me and To Cry you a Song were left out (they are only available on audio CD). Why? Worn tapes? What's the matter? It seems Murray Lerner didn't dust off all his J. Tull IOW tapes from his files

Also I was expecting for a continous playing but each song is interrupted with comments from Ian Anderson who hardly remembers the concert, judging from his global and ethereal commets. Also portions of the previous song are constantly repeated with slow motion. (I was thinking on the continous playing of the highly recommended Miles Davis IOW DVD).

Let's go to the positive side. IT IS HERE. After 30 years is available to everyone. Watch the band performing & rehearsing (almost freezing). Look at a young Terry Ellis (with his Fillmore t-shirt) discussing with IOW Promoter "Ray": it's an unforgetable experience. I don't like drum solos, but I must admit Clive is absolutely great during Dharma for One .... This is a classic J. Tull line up at an starting point.

Maybe in the future will be a complete and continous release of J Tull at IOW (in the same way that Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock) meanwhile get this DVD as soon as you can and go back 30 years to the IOW.

Get this DVD, it is Jethro Tull in the early days with Clive Bunker, John Evans, Glen Cornick, Martin Barre and Ian Anderson. The band's performance is very raw and energetic. Ian plays a great flute solo and Clive plays one of the best drum solos I have ever heard. Also included is "The song for Jeffrey" taken from The Rolling Stones' Rock n Roll Circus. There are also great interviews with Ian. I recommend this DVD to all that are reading this review.

It's funny how you give some people an unexpected treasure and they still complain about it. Such is the case with this great DVD, showing Tull live before they really hit it big with Aqualung and Thick as a Brick. Although I prefer the Songs/Horses/Stormwatch era of Tull, I certainly am a fan of the '68-'73 Tull as well. This video, taped live in 1970, shows why Ian Anderson is perhaps the most underrated front man of all time. He is simply astonishing to watch. His performance of My God alone is worth the price of this DVD. Throughout the DVD, Ian comments on various aspects of the performance. These interview snippets are not nearly as annoying as some people here make them out to be. In fact, I enjoyed them and didn't think the flow of the DVD suffered at all. Ian's astute comments, combined with Tull's fiery performance and other footage of this legendary festival (restless fans, anxious promoters, etc.), makes this purchase essential for Tull fans. I thank whoever made this DVD available.