I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to covers of original songs
\nthat I’ve either grown up with or have become very familiar with.
\nIn my mind, there will never be a version that will top the one
\nthat I’ve come to know and love. Even when the same band makes
\nchanges to the song (as Tonic did with “If You Could Only See”), it
\njust doesn’t sound right.<\/p>\n
So there was a bit of apprehension on my part going into
\nTo Cry You A Song<\/i>, a 1996 tribute album to British
\nprogressive folk-rockers Jethro Tull. And while a few performances
\ndo fall a tad flat, the overall mood is quite good and is very
\nenjoyable.<\/p>\n
This album features the original Jethro Tull rhythm section of
\nguitarist Mick Abrahams, bassist Glenn Cornick and drummer Clive
\nBunker for the first time since Abrahams had left the band in 1968.
\nTheir contributions to a handful of songs makes them sound more
\nauthentic.<\/p>\n
What I tended to notice on
\nTo Cry You A Song<\/i> was if the vocalist had a certain amount
\nof grit to their delivery, the cover sounded that much better. In
\nthe case of Magellan’s cover of “Aqualung,” they captured the
\nspirit musically, but vocalist Trent Gardner just doesn’t have the
\nroughness or the humor in his voice to push the song over the edge.
\n(I do, however, like the extended ending they put on the song.) On
\nthe other hand, Leif Sorbye captures the mood almost perfectly on
\n“Mother Goose,” and does so again later on the album with his band
\nTempest’s cover of “Locomotive Breath”.<\/p>\n
I will admit that John Wetton (of Asia fame) doesn’t have a
\ngritty voice, but he was an excellent choice for “Nothing Is Easy,”
\nwhich features the flute work of Ian McDonald (formerly of King
\nCrimson). And while Dave Pegg’s vocal is gritty (partially thanks
\nto a nasty case of the flu he had), he just doesn’t capture the
\nmagic on “Life’s A Long Song” – though I do like the sudden ending
\nto it.<\/p>\n
It was good to hear from old folkie Roy Harper again – his
\nversion of “Up The Pool” was stylistically different than Ian
\nAnderson’s original, but if anyone was qualified to cover a Tull
\nsong, it is Harper. And this version does grow on you after a few
\nlistens. The same can’t be said for the version of “Living In The
\nPast”, featuring Keith Emerson on bombastic organ. Sorry, Keith,
\nbut this one called for spastic flute work, not over-the-top organ
\nnoodlings. And try though I might, I can’t get used to hearing “A
\nNew Day Yesterday” turned into heavy metal thanks to the shrieks of
\nex-Deep Purple vocalist Glenn Hughes.<\/p>\n
In the overall picture,
\nTo Cry You A Song<\/i> is a fitting tribute to Jethro Tull, but
\nthe greatest criticism I would have would be the selection of
\nsongs. Of all the numbers here, maybe only Echolyn’s cover of “One
\nBrown Mouse” or the inclusion of “Cat’s Squirrel” are surprises.
\nThe rest of the numbers are pretty well-known. I would have liked
\nto hear someone pick a Tull song like “Black Sunday” from
\nA<\/i>, “Dun Ringill” from
\nStormwatch<\/i>, or even the title track from
\nSongs From The Wood<\/i>. Why not pick some of the Tull numbers
\nthat are just as progressive, but not as well known? (Memo to my
\nfriends at Magna Carta: Think
\n
\nsequel<\/i>
\n<\/b> . I’ll be glad to write the liner notes for you – one step
\ncloser to voting membership in NARAS.)<\/p>\n
\nTo Cry You A Song<\/i> is meant for the older Tull fan, but
\nshould be taken with a grain of salt. Not everything is going to be
\nthe same way you remember it to be from albums like
\nThis Was<\/i> or
\nStand Up<\/i>; these are modern interpretations. If you keep an
\nopen mind about a lot of it, not only will you appreciate most of
\nthe versions, but you’ll find yourself getting interested in some
\nyounger, up-and-coming artists. This one might take some searching
\nfor, but it’s worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5827],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38752","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-various-artists","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38752"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}