Rupi's Dance

Ian Anderson

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2003)
• Original Release Date: August 19, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B0000AVHCI
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,295 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
It's a popular notion that modern Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson solo albums are increasingly indistinguishable. That argument may hold water from the narrowest of musical perspectives, but it's hard to imagine the obtusely grandiose Tull tackling any of the personally scaled, delicately detailed themes that Anderson focuses on here with his familiar folk-au-baroque muse--and the sparest of world music seasonings. Ranging from the title track's celebration of a new kitten's scamperings to the passing of a trusted feline friend ("Old Black Cat") to frank, introspective musings about his own insecurities ("Lost in Crowds," "Two Short Planks"), it's an album that evokes an old, if slightly eccentric, friend musing about his life and times. Indeed it's hard not to be charmed by Anderson's gentle, often self-deprecating wit as he variously lusts after an international CNN anchor ("Not Ralitsa Vassileva") and a decent cup of joe ("Calliandra Shade--The Cappuccino Song") or pays homage to a respected Italian flautist and makes urinary tract puns on the brisk instrumentals, "Griminelli's Lament" and "Eurology," respectively. A breeze of an album that virtually begs the listener to take life at least half as seriously as he does. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ian at his most urbane. , January 10, 2005

By	Joseph Kimsey "Fareastnibelung" (Renton, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This disc will always leave me with wonderful memories. It was during this period that I got to meet Ian Anderson personally at a Wild About Cats charity event a year ago in San Francisco. Needless to say that the man is a charming host, but don't chat him up before a performance.

These compositions are uniformly excellent, and they display Anderson as more the composer and arranger, and (much) less the rock frontman. Calliandra Shade is the most infectious song Anderson has written in a long time, while Lost In Crowds finds Ian at his most revealing. A Raft of Penguins is a delight, as is the jazzy groove of A Week of Moments. A Hand of Thumbs and Griminelli's Lament are both haunting compositions, while Eurology is Ian at his most puckish. Two Short Planks bares a passing resemblance to Thick As A Brick, and Old Black Cat is overwhelmingly sad.

Ian Anderson has morphed from Tramp to Minstrel, then to rock's Country Squire, to the dreaded "elder statesman" role, and finally as an urbane gentleman with a sharp eye on the world's absurdities. I think that I like this incarnation the best.

Incidentally, you can ignore at least half of the negative reviews for Rupi's Dance posted here on Amazon. It's merely one cretin who's submitting nearly all of the bad reviews, and this person does the same on a lot of other Tull releases.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ian triumphs once more, February 22, 2004

By	Paul A Durso (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews

Those of us who follow Jethro Tull have always yearned for a CD of the more "acoustic" side of Tull. With Ian at the helm, you knew there would be a snippet here and there in the Tull repertoire, but the best JT songs encompassed the band as a whole. As a follow-on to "Secret Language of Birds", Ian has shown once again the magical essence that is at the center of the band, but more so his personal musical genius. Highlights include "Lost in Crowds" (possibly Ian's confession of not wanting to stand out as a celebrity) and "A Raft of Penguins" (his musings on playing with a symphony orchestra and the perils a rock musician might encounter in doing so). Ian Anderson paints wonderful musical pictures of his life experiences and observations and this CD depicts some of those beautifully. The mix of lyrics, music, and voice are delivered in a way that any music lover would enjoy. This Tull/Ian fan highly recommends it ... but the uninitiated will be quick fans themselves after just a listen or two. Cheerio ... PD

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, and maybe even better than SLOB, September 10, 2003

By	John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Silver Lake, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Probably the best things that ever happened to Ian Anderson's music were his move to the country and his purchase of a salmon farm. Ever since the mid-1970s, he's had an independent source of income and hasn't been tied to the fickle tastes of musical fashion. As a result he's been free to make quite a lot of excellent music without either the usual market influences or the creativity-stifling pressure of depending on his tunesmithing for his bread and butter. Go right ahead and consider those lilies, folks, but there's something to be said for investing wisely.

This CD, as no doubt every reader of this page knows, is very much in the same spirit as _The Secret Language of Birds_, in that it consists mostly of Ian singing and playing flutes and acoustic guitars.

The songwriting is every bit as excellent as on _SLOB_, and possibly even just a smidgen better (if that's possible). There's a delightful mix here: several cats, some other animals, some coffee, a couple of lovely instrumental pieces, a touch of "world beat", and the occasional bit of schoolboy humor ("Eurology"? hee hee). There are also some nice photos of Ian posing grimly with his flute.

There are also some guest musicians (notably but not only Leslie Mandoki, who sits in on several tracks; Anderson recently appeared on one of his releases as well).

Anderson's voice is in good shape, his flauting has never been more liquid, and his guitar work is delicately filigreed. (Incidentally, some of the songs are played on an 1880-vintage C.F. Martin guitar.)

There's also a "bonus" track from Jethro Tull's forthcoming Christmas album. The preview is nice to have. (It would be easy to get cynical here and treat the track as a simple marketing ploy, but the fact is that any of us who buy one of these CDs would have bought the other anyway.)

Bottom line: if you know this CD exists, you should probably already have bought it. If you haven't, why not?