M is for Music - Jethro Tull

It is Monday and M is for Music, so lets talk Music for a bit. The other day I was looking back to what really made me take notice of music. Not an easy thing to home in on when music has been around you all your life, after all my mum use to listen to Radio 1 as I ate my breakfast every morning. Later I would listen to Radio Caroline because it seemed naughty to listen to a pirate radio station. Soon I discovered they where playing some of the best music on radio. As I was thinking one moment stood above the rest, a concert that show on television that was simultaneously broadcast on the Radio 1 in stereo.

The strange person in the video above is Ian Anderson, the lead singer of a band called Jethro Tull. It was this bands concert filmed at Madison Square Gardens in New York that helped me from the cornerstone of my thinking about what makes a good band or artist. The one thing I took from the performance, other than a love of the band itself, was the idea that any good band should be able to play as well live as they can on record. Jethro Tull certainly did that when they played that night and when I was lucky enough to see them myself at the NEC in Birmingham some years later. They were brilliant.

Over the years I have seen quiet a few bands and artist including big names, up and coming artists, and small local bands. In terms of the big names I have always picked them carefully and avoided the artists and bands that are over produced on records or are likely to use computers to improve vocal pitch. I would just feel cheated when they performed live if they didn't match what they sound like on record. It would be like paying for a high quality leather sofa only to find when it was delivered it was made of cheap PVC and it was falling apart at the seams. 

What I thought I would do over the next four Mondays is starting today is to feature bands that I have seen in the past that have influenced some of my idea's about music in some way with live clips. Clearly starting with Jethro Tull who started it all off and a live performance of "Thick as a Brick'. It might not be to everyones taste but the quality of the vocals and musicianship is excellent.