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Martin Barre: Order of Play

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Edifying Records
Released: 2014.10.03
Time:
 66:07
Category: Progressive Rock
Producer(s): Martin Barre
Rating: ******.... (6/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.martinbarre.com
Appears with: Jethro Tull
Purchase date: 2014
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] New Day Yesterday (I.Anderson) - 5:15
[2] Fatman (I.Anderson) - 3:20
[3] Watch your Step (Parker) - 4:16
[4] Crossroads (Johnson) - 3:45
[5] Minstrel in the Gallery (I.Anderson) - 4:36
[6] To Cry you a Song (I.Anderson) - 4:49
[7] Steal your Heart Away (Parker) - 4:20
[8] Thick as a Brick [excerpt] (I.Anderson) - 8:50
[9] Sweet Dream (I.Anderson) - 3:40
[10] Song for Jeffrey (I.Anderson) - 3:29
[11] Rock me Baby (Trad. arr. M.Barre) - 4:42
[12] Teacher (I.Anderson) - 4:43
[13] Still Loving you Tonight (I.Anderson) - 4:59
[14] Locomotive Breath (I.Anderson) - 5:19

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Martin Barre - Guitar, Mandolin, Producer
Dan Crisp - Vocals, Guitar
Alan Bray - Bass
George Lindsay - Drums
Richard Beesley - Saxophone, Clarinet

James Bragg - Engineer
Sam Walsh - Crew live sound
James Dewar - Crew live sound
Ritchie Hiney - Cover Photo
Adam Howard - Studio Photos
Pete Hayward - Design, Treatements

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


In January 2013,we headlined a festival in Somerset,UK.We wanted a live CD to be a summary of the last two years of our work.The fans had kept asking for a CD version of the show and this was the ideal opportunity,with the band in one place,and a couple of days off. The festival was a great success and after a very late night,we met at Middle Farm Studio,about 50 miles away,the next morning.We set the back-line up,as we do onstage,with Dan in a booth,as he,rightly,felt that it was important to record all his vocals live.Every track was one take,except for Still Loving You Tonight.Dan and I did two versions,but used the first one anyway! It was really important to keep the feel and continuity the same as a live gig. By the end of the day, we had all the songs finished.

Martin Barre



It takes a pair of brass balls to play a set of Jethro Tull numbers and not be a ‘tribute act’ featuring a posturing lead singer who stands on one leg. Martin Barre has a step up on the tribute acts as he was the lead guitarist with Tull for 43 years (!). The story behind this album is that, during the current ‘hiatus’ of Tull, Barre decided to take to the road with a band to play some of the classics. This was so well received that they were being hounded for a live album from the shows. Barre “The festival (in Somerset) was a great success and after a very late night, we met at Middle Farm Studio, about 50 miles away, the next morning. We set the back-line up, as we do onstage, with Dan in a booth, as he, rightly, felt that it was important to record all his vocals live. Every track was one take, except for ‘Still Loving You Tonight’. Dan and I did two versions, but used the first one anyway! It was really important to keep the feel and continuity the same as a live gig. By the end of the day, we had all the songs finished”. An album of Jethro Tull classics that don’t feature Ian Anderson sounds a little strange but Dan Crisp does an excellent job on vocals (plus acoustic and Bouzouki) and the rest of the band – George Lindsay (drums), Richard Beesley (Sax & clarinet) plus Barre on guitars and Alan Thompson on bass are quite wonderful. They do miss Anderson’s flute on occasion but this is all part of looking at the songs anew. Bottom line is that this is a brilliant album, full of good songs and some superb playing.

The most familiar numbers such as ‘Minstrel in the Gallery’ or ‘Thick As A Brick’ take on a new lease of life with the new arrangements (not a million miles from the original but different enough) and ‘Sweet Dream’ becomes a song for the 21st Century – losing much of the overt sexuality of the original and gaining urgency and subtlety. ‘Crossroads’ is as far as you can get from Robert Johnson and using the Bouzouki somehow pulls it away from the usual Blues but keeps a sense of the original. Other favourites like ‘Song For Jeffrey’ or ‘Fat Man’ don’t stray too far from the originals but still benefit from Crisp’s vocal and the power of the band. No Tull based album would be complete without ‘Locomotive Breath’ but taking Ian Anderson’s stylised folksy vocal out and putting all the pressure on Crisp’s vocals is genius – the song has a totally different feel and sound to the original but as a closer it is an absolute showstopper. I have been a fan of Jethro Tull for many, many years and the thought of this album feels like it should be sacrilege but Barre has all the right to do this and his approach is to add to the music not copy it. A superb set.

Andy Snipper - Music-News 2014



Hot on the heels of Ian Anderson’s live Thick As A Brick CD comes this double live offering from Tull’s other lifer, guitarist Martin Barre. The reasons behind Tull’s fracture appear quite vague which makes it an interesting proposition to listen to these two albums, to scrutinise the differing interpretations of their back catalogue, hunting for clues. The Jethro Tull guitarist of 43 years was keen to respond to fans requests for a document of his live shows and so he and his band went into the studio, set up their live back line, stood in the same room as each other and played their live set list. And hey presto! One perfectly recorded document – signed, sealed and delivered.

The band kick off with the first track from Barre’s first Tull album (‘New Day Yesterday’) and he immediately sets out his stall – namely, da blooze! Barre’s guitar (excuse the bad poetry) is front and centre and the track is given a surprisingly heavy, Joe Bonamassa-style makeover. Stripped back simplicity seems to be the game plan here and, for the most part, it works. Much of this album rocks! ‘Fat Man’ gets re-tooled as a Thin Lizzy blues rocker while the swampy slide guitar of ‘Song For Jeffrey’ is less folk blues and more early Zep.

There are also a handful of deftly executed blues standards – after being wrong footed by its mandolin intro, their take on ‘Crossroads’ turns into a much rockier affair than Cream’s and Bobby Parker’s ‘Watch Your Step’ gives the band members an opportunity to step forward and shine. When it works it really works! ‘Teacher’ transposes folk to blues beautifully and shows that their roots lie in a very similar soil. ‘Still Loving You Tonight’ is, for me, the albums high point. It’s spare and emotive, its acoustic rhythm and delicate electric lead weave gorgeously in and out of each other, recalling Richard Thompson at his best.

However, there are misfires. Richard Beesley’s sax solos sail worryingly close to 80’s AOR at times while Dan Crisp’s vocals also seem more comfortable in the AOR zone than when he’s trying to fill Mr. Anderson’s pointy shoes. His melodic yet somewhat generic voice often struggling to interpret the Tull vocalists odder lyrical journeys. Classics ‘Minstrel In The Gallery’ and ‘Thick As A Brick’ suffer…they need a dose of quirk, intricacy and madness that this band simply cannot supply.

This is the sound of a bunch of consummate musicians playing very well… if a tad safely. They swing with a slick expertise, changing gears and evoking emotions with a flawless fluidity. However, Tull were Tull for very distinct reasons, Barre needed Anderson’s humour, showmanship and eccentricity as much as Anderson needed Barre’s virtuosity and grounding influence and perhaps this album should have been recorded live – an enthusiastic audience to feed off may have just given the performance that slight edge it needed.

Gary Cordwell - The Midlands Rocks 2014



It may be that with his latest couple of albums Martin Barre is finally exorcising the ghost of Tull.  It can’t be an easy process, distanced from one of rock’s great franchises and ploughing your own furrow.  But this is where he is in 2014 and to be frank he’s making the most of it. ‘Order Of Play’ could be seen as the perfect partner to the previous ‘Away With Words’.  This time, thankfully, the electric guitar quotient is increased although Barre is still playing in very much a supportive and band context. The addition of Richard Beesley’s sax to old faithfuls like ‘Locomotive Breath’ and ‘Minstrel In The Gallery’ gives them a jazzier feel, and even the cynical will find that – overall – the new arrangements do the songs justice. This isn’t just an album of Tull covers, though.  Martin has seen fit to include ‘Steal Your Heart Away’, ‘Rock Me Baby’, and ‘Crossroads’ to provide balance to what is essentially a superior quality blues rock offering.

The album is very well recorded too, also contributing to the fresh feel: it was done live in the studio with no retakes.  No doubt all has been carefully road-tested over the past 12 months or so.  Dan Crisp doesn’t try to ape the original vocals either, which is also refreshing.  This album needs to be assessed, therefore, on its own merits. Personally, I long for some of the more frenetic/cerebral guitar wig-outs that Barre has played with Tull and also on his earlier solo albums and the word is that his next album will be wholly original.  Hopefully it will mark a return to more guitar pyrotechnics and a higher quota of harder rock. For the moment though, it’s time to luxuriate in a super guitarist for whom we have great affection and who is evidently really enjoying his freedom.  It speaks volumes that days before the first gigs of his September tour he is rehearsing some new material and – like his albums – the live set-lists are varied and unpredictable.  Go and give him your unqualified support.  ****

David Randall - Get Ready to ROCK!



For the uninitiated among the glunk-fuelled Über Röck massive, Martin Barre is the man responsible for the distinctive and at times quite breathtaking guitar work that has helped shape Jethro Tull’s 60 million album selling career. Influential and respected he certainly is, with additional credits including work with Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa. Over the last couple of years, Barre and his band have taken a selection of Tull classics out on the road. ‘Order Of Play’ is an attempt to capture the energy and feel of the band’s show ‘live in the studio’. If the studio location sounds like a cop out or settling for second best to you, think again. The tracks sound fresh and vibrant and the approach works a treat. Pleasingly, ‘Order Of Play’ focuses on predominantly earlier, heavier, bluesier Tull material and some re-worked blues standards. All tracks are re-recorded and some benefit from significant new arrangements. ‘A New Day Yesterday’ and ‘Fat Man’, both from 1969’s ‘Stand Up’ – Barre’s Tull debut – are cases in point, and set the tone for a set that maintains the vibe and quality throughout. Tull fans will salivate at the renditions of ‘Thick As A Brick’ (a montage of some of Barre’s favourite moments), ‘Sweet Dream’, ‘Teacher’, ‘Minstrel In The Gallery’ and ‘Locomotive Breath’ presented here. Personal favourites are ‘To Cry You A Song’, from 1970’s ‘Benefit’, and ‘Still Loving You Tonight’, the ‘newest’ track on offer, from 1991’s ‘Catfish Rising’. Barre even includes an arrangement of ‘Song For Jeffrey’ – a track from Tull’s 1968 debut which preceded his Tull residency.

Of particular note are the re-workings of the blues tracks – the legendary Robert Johnson classic ‘Crossroads’, a couple of Bobby Parker tracks ‘Watch Your Step’ and ‘Steal Your Heart Away’, and Barre’s rewritten version of ‘Rock Me Baby’ – all of which draw out new or entertaining aspects of the originals. (Check out Barre’s mandolin intro to ‘Crossroads’, for example.) For younger rock fans who might previously have been a bit puzzled, ‘Order Of Play’ explains a lot. It explains, for example, why Joe Bonamassa has been so keen to guest with Tull, and it explains the apparent incongruence of Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi briefly playing with Tull before Sabbath established themselves. But most of all, it’s a wonderful reminder of Barre’s talents, and it shows why he’s been a force to be reckoned with as a rock guitarist for over 45 years. There’s always been a lot more to Jethro Tull and their music than one-legged flute playing, and Barre’s guitar work has long been both a central and essential part of their sound. If, dear readers, you like your rock heavy but bluesy, and have fancied checking out Jethro Tull but haven’t known where to start, then start with ‘Order Of Play’. Great material. Great performances. Highly recommended. And not a flute in sight.

Michael Anthony - Uber Rock 2014
 

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