Customer Reviews

Live at Hammersmith '84

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

 

 

Jethro Tull were getting bashed in the early 80s because of their 'synthisized-progressive rock-new wave' style. I, for one, NEVER gave up on Ian Anderson & co. His willing to try something different on all Tull albums never comes up short! He's the master of lyricism!

As for this recording, it's the best live album I have ever heard ! It has a wonderful mix of what Tull sounded like in 1984: Electronic keyboards, fast flute solos, and a screaming guitar by Martin Barre. Ian's voice never sounded better, unfortunately because of THIS tour, his voice/throat problems began.

This is a fantastic CD and I would hope the person reading this review can locate a copy. I found mine at a used CD store. With any luck, this will be reissued sometime soon. I'm afraid MY copy is going to wear out.

This comes from the tour to support the album Under Wraps in 1984. In the middle of the tour, Anderson would develop serious throat problems. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Jethro Tull was sidelined for almost 3 years. Contrary to what someone has said, you can hear that his problems were starting by the time this was recorded.

When this BBC show was originally played in the US, it was an hour and a half long (including commericials). There was 65 minutes of just music. From the track listing shown here, it appears that a number of the tracks are missing from the original BBC show, including, Heavy Horses, Dharma For One, Aqualung and an excerpt from Thick As A Brick (not just the 20 seconds found at the end of Too Old to Rock and Roll).

This is not one of Jethro Tull's better live performances. The songs are muddled and muffled, and there is very little energy or innovation in many of the tracks. This is one case where the studio versions are actually better than the live versions. You would be better off finding any of Jethro Tull's live albums. In addition, the best songs from the show were left off of this album. The version of Aqualung was one of the best, with a searing guitar solo.

John Evans was no longer with the band at this time and he is sorely missed. Most of the songs are overdone with synthesizers, as was the style of music in mid-eighties. There is nothing wrong with adding synthesizers to the music, as long as it is done right. Evans heavy use of synthesizers during live versions of Passion Play was appropriate and amazing. On this show, they are played poorly and override the music. It was the sign of the times...one of worst periods in the history of Rock and Roll.

Usually, Jethro Tull is fantastic in concert. Their Thick As A Brick tour is a gold standard for concerts. They opened with Thick As A Brick, stretching it out to an hour and twenty minutes (after which, Anderson would say, "...and now for our next number"). The whole thing was wildly entertaining, with innovative solos and a bunch of theatrical bits. Anderson's flute solos were very wild. They then ran off a blazing series of songs from Aqualung. The energy and jamming was amazing.

The following Paasion Play tour was also very innovative. With heavy emphasis on saxophones and synthesizers, the sound was different from anything Jethro Tull has ever done. Passion Play live was much better than the album.

Up until the eighties, Jethro Tull would always play around with the songs, changing them drastically from the studio versions. There would be blazing solos from Anderson, Barre and Evans. They would run songs to together or overlap them.

On this ablum, Jethro Tull does play around with some of the older songs like Locomotive Breath and Living In the Past. But the newer material is played much like the studio versions, only not as well. This album is a total disappointment. Fortunately, the group would return to form when they started touring again in 1987.

...then again, like Tomich93, I saw this tour in Chicago, so this CD is a kind of souvenir.

No, it's probably not the best Tull performance ever, but those probably never got recorded.

I would say that "Bursting Out Live" is a better performance than this, but this is from a different era, so it depends what you like. "Bursting" is the classic Tull period, "Hammersmith" is more on the modernizing side or whatever you want to call it.