Jethro Tull – Heavy Horses: New Shoes Edition, 5-disc set (9 February 2018)

OK I'm quite biased in favor of A Passion Play and its whole mythology - the concept was technically successful when the tour hit Montreal, best show I ever attended, etc. And I do realize that Ian Anderson wasn't any better as an improviser on the sax as he is on the flute. So given that no one should have been expecting any reincarnation of John Coltrane, can you give me an example of actual bad sax playing on his part, on the two or three albums where he plays it? I know that Ian said it was wrong himself, but I just don't hear it as wrong...

 

I don't uniformly hate the saxophone, but for my tastes there's a place for it and I don't care for songs that overuse it.
https://music.avclub.com/dont-blow-it-10-great-songs-nearly-ruined-by-saxophone-1798212377

True, Ian's soprano and sopranino saxes produce a different sound than the mid-range saxes. His exploration of the instruments was a dead end, abandoned after 1974, but I'm not bothered by what he did with them on APP and WarChild.

 

^I believe he also plays some on Thick As A Brick. Very subdued though.

 

This.
(There seems to be endless confusion between mixing and mastering on this forum, for some reason )

 

But he's a quick learner!!!

 

No confusion here. I know what he does, but that doesn't mean he never would do a remix, does it?

 

Interesting, I did not know that. I thought it sounded "strange" for a sax but thought that was just the way Ian played it. Not into it regardless though.

P.S. My first musical instrument, back in like 5th grade, was a saxophone btw. That might partially explain my hatred of all things sex, er I mean sax.

 

It's interesting that relying on the audience recordings I've heard (not much I admit), Ian seems to have played on stage his full sax part of the Prelude of A Passion Play only until the band left for a couple of weeks break in England before resuming the long American tour. Then from that point on, audience tapes and films reveal that he decided to drop this part entirely, and instead to take the stage, after the rest of the band had started playing, just in time for the flute break following the part with the (omitted) saxophone.

 

A lot of it comes down to bad tone. That is to say, there barely is any personal tone. This isn't surprising - it often takes years to develop one.

While it may be true that this isn't so much a defect as an absence, I find it to be obtrusively noticeable. It's like you've got professionals doing everything else, and they hired someone's kid from a high school band to do the sax parts. It's technically adequate - mostly because nothing particularly challenging is being attempted - but it's so noticeably without shape or character. Not saying that they needed to bring in Steve Lacy to do the sax parts on APP, and it's not like I'm trying to find something to complain about, it's just that - in the context of a remix thread and what one might want from a remix- it's what came to mind.

 

He is pretty much actively against remixes.

 

Oh. This I did not know. Apologies.

 

Anyone got the new Heavy Horses vinyl? Any comments?

 

No apologies needed!

 

He occasionally remixes. For example, Take It As It Comes from rhebatee

He does do them from time to time though. I believe Take It As It Comes from the stereo layer of The Doors best of quad release on Audio Fidelity is a remix. Nat King Cole Welcome To The Club on Audio Fidelity is also, I think, a transfer of the multis, mixed afresh in stereo.

So I guess he does them if he feels they are necessary as part of mastering a product (that is, the tape source is inadequate or something.)

 

He hasn't done a real remix since the 80s.
The Doors one you mention isn't his work. I believe the Nat King Cole stereo mix is original, while the multichannel layer is just a flat transfer of the three track tape.

Check his last posts on the subject: he is firmly in the 'no remix ever' camp nowadays (which I find a bit silly but that's just my opinion).

 

Thinking about it, *I* may have been in the "no remix" camp a few years ago. Having experienced these Tull releases, I've done a complete 180.

 

Ask Steve if he would do Stormwatch late next year

 

I am talking about Take It As It Comes on the stereo SACD layer of the best of on Audio Fidelity. I am sure I read a post from Steve in the thread on here about that release that he did a new stereo mix of that track because the tape wasn’t in a condition he considered usable. I’m not talking about Bruce Botnick’s 2007 remixes.

I’ll take your word for it regarding Nat Cole/Welcome To The Club. I didn’t think there was a multi-channel mix of that one included - just a stereo mix that was a new because Steve didn’t like the existing stereo mix. I do have an Analogue Productions SACD of St Louis Blues that contains a multi-channel mix, a stereo mix and a mono mix.

Anyway, none of this is meant to contradict your point. Just thought it was of interest.

 

You could be totally right on these two, I admit I'm a bit foggy concerning the details!

 

I do, since the day it came out. In fact, I thought I’d already replied to this question of yours.

Anyway, what’s prompting this is the fact that I’m playing it right now (for about the fourth time) and that sent me back to this thread while listening.

I’ve always been on the fence about this record (or at least about the original release)
I don’t know why but something clicked today with my playing it -it could be the great weather or, more likely, the fact that the neighbours have effed off to Crete leaving me free to blast all my music out loud this past week.

Whatever... it really clicked this afternoon*. Absolutely fantastic on vinyl - a must-own. So great, I feel like returning to Side One and playing it all over again.



* I played it back-to-back with Songs From The Wood.

 

It has been a more involving album over the years to songs from the wood to me at least, a far more mature album that still gives more with each passing year.

 

In case anyone is looking for the SW mix on vinyl, it’s currently $11.42 on Amazon US.

Heavy Horses (Steven Wilson Remix) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079ZSVNCG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_pYUABbECAFC54

 

Thanks. I just purchased it. I wonder why it’s so cheap? Are they trying ruin the profit of vinyl?

This one feels like such a no brainer.

 

Ian speaks to this point himself in the DVD interview included with the first Stand Up deluxe. The catalyst being his memory of spontaneously purchasing a mandolin (or was it a balalaika?) in Sweden that he played on that album. He notes the freedom afforded by the very limitations of being a beginner on a new instrument ~ wherein you'll give yourself permission to explore melodies you might prematurely dismiss as too simple on your own instrument....so you go to different places. And some bear nice fruit.

Eddie Vedder's Ukelele Songs seems like a lovely example of this concept to me. Hope he wouldn't mind my saying so.

 

Good Lord, has anyone seen the price of Stand Up Elevated Edition lately? You're lucky to find it for under $200. Didn't it just come out last year? If anyone is at all on the fence about picking up any of the Steven Wilson Tull boxes you should grab them if you see them for a decent price. All save Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll... are currently out of print and fetching silly money online. I've got to get Stand Up and Warchild and I'll have them all.