Oct 10
27
Jethro Tull – Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 DVD
Just awesome…
The Isle of Wight Festival, which took place in August of 1970, was England’s answer to Woodstock. Over the course of five days it featured performances by legendary bands such as The Who, The Doors, Ten Years After, The Moody Blues, Sly & The Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, and of course, Jethro Tull. As the years have gone by we have been seeing excellent CD and DVD releases from some of the bands that performed there.
Jethro Tull Nothing is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 is available as both a CD and DVD, sold either individually or as a set. They are both spectacular in their own right but really work better together as a set – there are differences in both editing and content so having both is a nice way to complete the picture.
Regardless of media, the performances are absolutely astounding. Jethro Tull live in 1970 is a completely different beast than what you may be used to. They are raw, ragged, and electrified to the tenth degree. I had heard a lot of Tull up to this point and yet I still wasn’t prepared for the heavy aural onslaught that spewed forth with the opening track “My Sunday Feeling,” a version played so hard it renders the studio version almost tame. There is a searing intensity apparent from the very first note that sets the tone for the rest of the set.
Big, raucous, loud versions of “My God,” “With You There To Help Me,” “To Cry You a Song,” and “Nothing is Easy” all fly by with a ragged glory that sounds a lot like early Led Zeppelin with a flute. Seriously, this is some heavy, heavy business. Even the gentle melody of “Bouree” is turned on its head and twisted in raw electricity. Martin Barre on electric guitar is ferocious with his hard crunching riffery, while Glenn Cornick is just a monster on bass – the whole band breathes with a fire that is white hot.
The DVD footage only adds to the experience. Ian Anderson is the perfect entertaining showman, resplendent in tattered old coat, scraggly hair and beard, and looking like some sort of homeless Englishman scratching himself as if covered in fleas. I mean, he looks absolutely insane and I certainly wouldn’t approach him in a dark English alley behind a pub that’s for sure. He prances about the stage playing that flute of his like a rock star, screaming, yelling, making weird faces and contorted, impossible movements across the stage. He is a joy to watch and there is constantly so much going on you can’t help but get sucked in.
One of the reasons you absolutely need both CD and DVD is that the DVD only contains complete footage of four Isle of Wight songs, compared to the eight songs featured on the CD. Not only that but the flute solo on “My God” is edited on the CD – perhaps Ian’s wild antics, seen in complete form on the DVD, were a bit much for audio only but I still would have liked to have the complete performance on CD.
Still, the footage that is available on the DVD is priceless early Tull, wonderfully shot and completely entertaining. Plus, there are interviews with Ian Anderson interspersed between the songs to flesh out the disc. At first I was a bit miffed that they break up the footage but I have come to appreciate his comments, and when viewed more like a documentary it is much more enjoyable. There is also a clip of a very early Tull performing “Song For Jeffery” from the Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus. Classic performance indeed although it does seem out of place with the rest of the footage. Ah well, it’s still nice to have.
Jethro Tull Nothing is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 is a fantastic document of a band that is just getting ready to take over the world with 1971′s Aqualung. They are young, hungry, and burning with a raw power that is simply stunning. The music on the CD is intensely killer and cackles with a very live and energetic sound, while the DVD footage makes for a fantastic companion to the CD. It’s Tull like you’ve never seen or heard before and both are absolutely essential.
Tracklist
CD:
- “My Sunday Feeling” – 5:20
- “My God” – 7:31
- “With You There to Help Me” – 9:58
- “To Cry You a Song” – 5:40
- “Bourée” – 4:34
- “Dharma for One” – 10:10
- “Nothing Is Easy” – 5:36
- “We Used to Know / For a Thousand Mothers” – 10:36
DVD:
- “Bourée”
- “My Sunday Feeling”
- “A Song for Jeffery”
- “My God”
- “Dharma for One”
- “Nothing Is Easy”
- “We Used to Know / For a Thousand Mothers”
