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Jethro Tull: The Jethro Tull Christmas Album

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Fuel 2000 Records
Released: 2003.09.30
Time:
 62:46
Category: Progressive Rock
Producer(s): Ian Anderson
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.j-tull.com
Appears with: Ian Anderson, Martin Barre
Purchase date: 2009.11.29
Price in €: 2,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Birthday Card at Christmas (I.Anderson) - 3:38
[2] Holly Herald (F.Mendelssohn) - 4:17
[3] A Christmas Song (I.Anderson) - 2:49
[4] Another Christmas Song (I.Anderson) - 3:32
[5] God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Traditional) - 4:36
[6] Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow (I.Anderson) - 3:38
[7] Last Man at the Party (I.Anderson) - 4:49
[8] Weathercock (I.Anderson) - 4:19
[9] Pavane (G.Faure) - 4:20
[10] First Snow on Brooklyn (I.Anderson) - 4:57
[11] Greensleeved (Traditional) - 2:41
[12] Fire at Midnight (I.Anderson/Beck/Benton/Bonner) - 2:27
[13] We Five Kings (J.Hopkins) - 3:17
[14] Ring Out Solstice Bells (I.Anderson) - 4:05
[15] Bourée (I.Anderson/J.S.Bach) - 4:25
[16] A Winter Snowscape (M.Barre) - 4:55

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Ian Anderson - flute, vocals, acoustic guitars, mandolin, piccolo, percussion, producer, engineer
Martin Barre - electric and acoustic guitars, add. studio production
Doane Perry - drums and percussion
Andrew Giddings - keyboards, accordion and keyboard bass, add. studio production
Jonathan Noyce - bass guitar

Guest musicians:
James Duncan - drums and percussion
David Pegg - bass guitar and mandolin
The Sturcz String Quartet:
  Gábor Csonka - 1st violin
  Péter Szilágyi - 2nd violin
  Gyula Benkö - viola
  András Sturcz - cello
Laszlo Bencker - arrangement

Leslie Mandoki - add. studio production on [10]
Ken Wheeler - engineer
Alex Ivanovich - engineer
Travis Dickerson -  drum recording
Mark Tucker - add. studio production
Nick Watson - production mastering
Igor Vereshagin - photography


 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2003 CD Fuel 2000 Records 061340
2003 CD Roadrunner 83702

Recorded at various locations during 2003.



Ian Anderson writes in the liner notes:

Two days before Christmas 2002, I received an e-mail from Fuel 2000 record company boss Len Fico suggesting the improbable scenario of a dedicated Tull Christmas album for the following year.

Although taken aback for a moment, I remembered half-formed plans from some years ago for a Christmas-related set of songs and tunes and so quickly offered, "Give me 24 hours and I’ll come back to you with a track list and running order."

And I did. Well, the track list anyway. The running order always depends on varying tempos, song keys and subject matter.

If you liked Bourée and the Songs From The Wood) record, you will love this Jethro Tull Christmas Album. The aim was to find some uplifting traditional Christmas Carols, some new songs and to re-record some old Tull pieces on the Christmas topic.

As I was working at the same time on a solo album, I had to off-load some of the studio production and sessions to other participants. Doane Perry did his drum stuff in LA while the UK sessions featured guest drummer James Duncan and, of course, Jonathan Noyce on bass. Ex bassist, Dave Pegg, dropped by to play on a couple of songs and Andrew Giddings used his studio to record his parts and Martin Barre’s overdubs. I then pulled it all together and mixed down the various line-ups and sessions in my studio at the last moment.

My views on Christmas? Well, I’m not exactly a practising paid-up Christian but I have grown up and lived with a so-called Christian society for 55 years and still feel great warmth for the nostalgia, festive occasion and family togetherness, so much a part of that time of year. Maybe without Christmas we would have that much less to celebrate and enjoy in this troubled old world. But it’s really all the Winter Solstice and the re-birth of nature overlaid with the common sense and righteous teachings of Mr. C.

A Christmas in this modern world should, in my view, accommodate the leisure needs and affections of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and agnostics, as well as Fido the family dog and Felix the cat. Throw in a few lost cousins and that dreadful man from next door and you have it! Sip the sloe gin, pull a cracker (so long as she’s not the daughter of that dreadful man from next door), kiss and cuddle under the mistletoe, toss Vegan disciplines aside, gobble the turkey (steady on, now) and have a therapeutic respite from the rigours of daily life.

Christmas - an aspirin for the soul or cold-turkey celebration of the birth and life of Christ? It has to be a measured bit of both, doesn’t it?

And, if you can cope with it, a Happy New Year.



While most festive-themed rock offerings are as palatable as turkey leftovers or January credit card statements, Jethro Tull's The Christmas Album is 2003's folk-rock feast for the ears, a veritable hamper of delicacy bulging with dependable old faithfuls (newly rendered versions of JS Bach's "Bouree", "Weathercock", "Fires at Midnight" and "Ring Out Solstice Bells"), jazzed-up carol curiosities ("God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" really goes with a swing à la Modern Jazz Quartet, "We Five Kings" comes over a little bit Dave Brubeck) and sundry confectionary extravagances, like Martin Barre's shivery instrumental " A Christmas Snowcape". While it's all reassuringly wrapped-up in the wintry Victorian romanticism of yore (the album cover, after all, is a charmingly subtle joke), The Christmas Album still questions - in curmudgeonly Ian Anderson fashion - hat all this back-slapping bonhomie, alcoholic immoderation and High-street retail hysteria is all about. Thus, the frivolity of "Holly Herald" (two spritely carols rolled into one) is counterbalanced by a little Dickensian social conscience on "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow", an imaginatively literate description of the despair of homelessness. Crisply produced in the manner of their vintage 1970s work and brimming with delightful instrumental wit and invention, The Christmas Album is a cracker you'll want to pull more than once.

Kevin Maidment - Amazon.co.uk


For a band that remained relatively consistent (with a few minor exceptions) in their approach to rock & roll since 1968, Jethro Tull also possessed a sound that was uniquely '70s-oriented during their most successful period between 1971-1978. Avid fans have been yearning for the group's return to the style which made them one of the most successful of the guitar-based, mainstream prog outfits -- albums like Broadsword and the Beast and J-Tull.Com touched on their former glory, but they didn't fully satisfy. Christmas Album could be the recording that those fans have been waiting for, and they shouldn't let its title or overt seasonal orientation dissuade them -- with their liberal use of classic English folk music and overall orientation toward England's past (even in their name), Jethro Tull is also the one prog rock/hard rock band of their generation that could issue a Christmas album that folds so easily into the rest of their output; it transcends its purpose and focus, mostly through the quiet boldness of its music and playing and the surprising excitement that laces most of the 16 songs. With a mixture of re-recorded old songs, Christmas standards and new originals, songwriter/singer Ian Anderson, in a roundabout manner, captures the tradition, warmth, and bittersweet feelings that are inextricably linked to the holiday season; at the same time, Anderson, longtime collaborator/lead guitarist Martin Barre, and the rest of the group's 2003 lineup recapture the musical intensity of three decades' past, and build on the classic Tull mood of sardonic humor, wry irony, and fierce passions that permeated all of their work from Stand Up to Songs From the Wood. All of this material, in its content and execution, recalls the group's prime early-'70s years and levels of musical complexity not presented so successfully by this band in at least 25 years. With a generous use of unamplified instruments like mandolin, acoustic guitar, flute, and accordion, this album resembles the production found on Songs From the Wood and Heavy Horses. In fact, three tracks from those two albums were reworked for this release; "Fire at Midnight," "Ring Out Solstice Bells" and "Weathercock." Only "Ring Out Solstice Bells" appeared to be the obvious choice for a Christmas album, but given Anderson's offbeat perspective of things, the other two tracks assimilate nicely. In addition, "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow" sounds like it could have emanated from those 1977 and 1978 recordings, as could "Last Man at the Party" from 1974's War Child sessions. Among the re-recordings, pieces such as "A Christmas Song," that originally had orchestral accompaniment, are redone without it, in new arrangements, while others that were done without orchestra get dressed up with strings. From the traditional side of Christmas, Tull gives "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" a jazzy adaptation reminiscent of "Bouree" from Stand Up (which is also revisited on this recording) and "We Five Kings" sounds rhythmically similar to "Living in the Past," particularly the bass guitar line. In addition to Bach's "Bouree," the majestic Gabriel Fauré piece "Pavane" is included, which features guitarist Martin Barre's exceptional acoustic playing. And Barre himself gets a rare solo composition as the album closer (a Christmas gift from Anderson?), the deeply evocative tone-painting "A Winter Snowscape," which takes some gratifying turns away from the most obvious melodic direction. The album's overall mix of folk, jazz, pop, rock, and classical elements carries it beyond the holiday listening for which it was intended, and is all woven together so skillfully as to make this an essential Tull album, their first in almost three decades and their most musically rewarding. And although this Christmas album doesn't necessarily conjure up images of Santa and the Savior, it does create a mood and feeling reflective of the holiday season. More importantly, it is perhaps the most satisfying Tull releases in 25 years. [Reissued in late 2004 in a limited-edition version with a bonus DVD containing three performance videos of material going back to "That Sunday Feeling"].

Dave Sleger & Bruce Eder - All Music Guide
 

 L y r i c s


Birthday Card At Christmas

Got a birthday card at Christmas: it made me think of Jesus Christ.
It said, “I love you” in small letters. I simply had to read it twice.
Wood smoke curled from blackened chimneys. The smell of frost was in the air.
Pole star hovered in the blackness. I looked again: it wasn’t there.

People have showered me with presents. While their minds were fixed on other things.
Sleigh bells, bearded red suit uncles. Pointy trees and angel wings.
I am the shadow in your Christmas. I am the corner of your smile.
Perfunctory in celebration. You offer content but no style.

That little baby Jesus: he got a birthday card or three.
Gold trinkets and cheap frankincense. Some penny baubles for his tree.
Have some time off for good behaviour. Forty days, give or take a few.
Hey there, sweet baby Jesus: Let’s share a birthday card with you.


Holly Herald

Instrumental.


A Christmas Song

Once in Royal David’s City stood a lowly cattle shed,
where a mother laid her baby.
You’d do well to remember the things He later said.
When you’re stuffing yourselves at the Christmas parties,
you’ll laugh when I tell you to take a running jump.
You’re missing the point I’m sure does not need making;
that Christmas spirit is not what you drink.


So how can you laugh when your own mother’s hungry
and how can you smile when the reasons for smiling are wrong?
And if I messed up your thoughtless pleasures,
remember, if you wish, this is just a Christmas song.

Hey, Santa: pass us that bottle, will you?


Another Christmas Song

Hope everybody’s ringing on their own bell, this fine morning.
Hope everyone’s connected to that long distance phone.
Old man, he’s a mountain.
Old man, he’s an island.
Old man, he’s awaking – says,
“ I’m going to call, call all my children home.”

Hope everybody’s dancing to their own drum this fine morning –
the beat of distant Africa or a Polish factory town.
Old man, he’s calling for his supper.
He’s calling for his whisky.
Calling for his sons and daughters, yeah –
calling, calling all his children round.

Sharp ears are tuned in to the drones and chanters warming.
Mist blowing round some headland, somewhere in your memory.
Everyone is from somewhere –
even if you’ve never been there.
So take a minute to remember the part of you
that might be the old man calling me.

How many wars you fighting out there, this winter’s morning?
Maybe it’s always time for another Christmas song.
Old man he’s asleep now.
Got appointments to keep now.
Dreaming of his sons and daughters and proving ,
proving that the blood is strong.


God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Instrumental.


Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow

Through long December nights we talk in words of rain or snow
while you, through chattering teeth, reply and curse as you go.
Why not spare a thought this day for those who have no flame
to warm their bones at Christmas time?
Say Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow.

Now, as the last broad oak leaf falls, we beg, consider this:
there’s some who have no coin to save for turkey, wine or gifts.
No children’s laughter round the fire, no family left to know.
So lend a warm and helping hand –
say Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow.

As holly pricks and ivy clings,
your fate is none too clear.
The Lord may find you wanting, let your good fortune disappear.
All homely comforts blown away and all that’s left to show
is to share your joy at Christmas time
with Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow.


Last Man At The Party

Sister Bridget by the stair: a glass of wine and she’s almost there.
Cousin Jimmy at the door: another beer and he’s on the floor.
Friends and neighbours come around,
waste no time we’re heaven-bound.
But not before we raise a glass to good camaraderie.

Stinky Joe from down the street fell right over his own three feet.
He’s doubled up in the outside loo, to taste again the devil’s brew.
Friends and neighbours come around,
waste no time we’re heaven-bound.
But not before we raise a glass to good camaraderie.

So make yourselves jolly under mistletoe, holly and ivy.
Get to it – and be in good cheer.
And when it’s all over: pigs gone to clover –
Will the last man at the party wish me a happy New Year.

The house is jumping, suppers up. Curried goat in a paper cup.
Forks of plastic, knives of tin: who cares what state the goat is in.
Someone with the gift of song
has brought his pal to sing along.
Now they’re turning up old Frank Sinatra on the stereo.


Weathercock

Good morning Weathercock. How did you fare last night?
Did the cold wind bite you, did you face up to the fright
when the leaves spin from October
and whip around your tail?
Did you shake from the blast, did you shiver through the gale?

Give us direction; the best of goodwill.
Put us in touch with your fair winds.
Sing to us softly. Hum evening’s song.
Tell us what the blacksmith has done for you.

Do you simply reflect changes in the patterns of the sky?
Or is it true to say the weather heeds the twinkle in your eye?
Do you fight the rush of winter; and hold snowflakes at bay?
Do you lift the dawn sun from the fields and help him on his way?

Good morning Weathercock. Make this day bright.
Put us in touch with your fair winds.
Sing to us softly. Hum evening’s song.
Point the way to better days we can share with you.


Pavane

Instrumental.


First Snow On Brooklyn

I flew in on the evening plane.
Is it such a good idea that I am here again?
And I could cut my cold breath with a knife.
And taste the winter of another life.

A yellow cab from JFK, the long way round.
I didn’t mind: gave me thinking time before I ran aground
on rocky memories and choking tears.
I believe it only rained round here in thirty years.

Now, it’s the first snow on Brooklyn and my cold feet are drumming.
You don’t see me in the shadows from your cozy window frame.
And last night, who was in your parlour wrapping presents in the late hour
to place upon your pillow as the morning came?

Thin wind stings my face: pull collar up.
I could murder coffee in a grande cup.
No welcome deli; there’s no Starbucks here.
A dime for a quick phone call could cost me dear.

And the first snow on Brooklyn paints a Christmas card upon the pavement.
The cab leaves a disappearing trace and then it’s gone.
And the snow covers my footprints, deep regrets and heavy heartbeats.
When you wake you’ll never see the spot that I was standing on.

Some things are best forgotten: some are better half-remembered.
I just thought that I might be there on your, on your Christmas night.
And the first snow on Brooklyn makes a lonely road to travel – cold crunch steps that echo as the blizzard bites.


Greensleeved

Instrumental.


Fire At Midnight

I believe in fires at midnight
when the dogs have all been fed.
A golden toddy on the mantle –
a broken gun beneath the bed.
Silken mist outside the window.
Frogs and newts slip in the dark.
too much hurry ruins a body.
I’ll sit easy, fan the spark
kindled by the dying embers of another working day.
Go upstairs: take off your makeup –
fold your clothes neatly away.
Me, I’ll sit and write this love song
as I all too seldom do –
build a little fire this midnight.
It’s good to be back home with you.


We Five Kings

Instrumental.


Ring Out Solstice Bells

Now is the solstice of the year.
winter is the glad song that you hear.
Seven maids move in seven time.
Have the lads up ready in a line.

Ring out these bells.
Ring out, ring solstice bells.
Ring solstice bells.

Join together ‘neath the mistletoe,
by the holy oak whereon it grows.
Seven druids dance in seven time.
Sing the song the bells call, loudly chiming.

Ring out these bells.
Ring out, ring solstice bells.
Ring solstice bells.

Praise be to the distant sister sun,
joyful as the silver planets run.
Seven maids move in seven time.
Sing the song the bells call, loudly chiming.

Ring out these bells.
Ring out, ring solstice bells.
Ring solstice bells.
Ring on, ring out.
Ring on, ring out.


Bourée

Instrumental.

A Winter Snowscape

Instrumental.

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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