It's really interesting coming from a different time and place... I had Aqualung as a youngster, but I don't love it, it's ok.... so it wasn't until the book set reissues that I got onto Tull, and they're great. Too Old is a pretty good album. Minstrel, Songs, Heavy and Stormwatch are great.
Switching on the tape to play me a track called 'The Passenger', Ian rummaged through a pile of song books to find and read the lyrics. "You see, this one is about a man on a train but it can also be seen as drawing analogies between a passenger on a train and a passenger through life ..." And as if to ward off any suspicions I might be forming: " ... But it's not pretentious, at least I don't think it will sound pretentious when you hear it. It's not like the Kinks making their potted little statements about men in bowler hats." Jethro Tull Press: NME, 31 October 1970 Emphasis mine. I suspect "The Passenger" may have been a working title for "Locomotive Breath."
Ah...and there’s no room for mistake. He’s equating The Kinks to pretentiousness. Thanks for posting the quote.
Interesting: you don’t really think of The Kinks and Jethro Tull inhabiting the same milieu or commenting on each other. I wonder what Anderson had in mind with that quote: I’m thinking maybe ‘Shangri-La’? Even though it was a flop, apparently it got a bit of flak in the music press of the time for being patronising to the working man (something both Davies bros denied was their intention) so maybe Anderson grokked onto that coverage.
Yeah, I was thinking "Shangri-La" too..."the little man who takes the train's got a mortgage hanging over his head, but he's too scared to complain, cos he's conditioned that way." It would have been just over a year old at the time of the interview with Anderson.
The “men in bowler hats” would be successful, or would be successful, bankers, stock brokers, insurance men etc. No carpet layers or other laborers here. A bowler hat was part of the uniform for well respected men working in The City.
Sorry to take this thread way off topic. I can stop with this Tull stuff for now. I just wanted to post this to back up what I said earlier: The original idea for the album was to be a rock musical, similar to the Kinks’ mid-1970s outputs e.g., Preservation Act 1 (1973), Preservation Act 2 (1974) and Schoolboys in Disgrace (1975). Too Old To Rock'n'Roll, To Young To Die - Jethro Tull Oddly, it doesn't mention Soap Opera there.
Well he tried I guess, but it is epic. Do you have to be a fan in total denial to like it? Even Passion Play has merit.
I love APP. TOTRaR is fine. It just sounds like re-writes of songs from previous albums, which is why people don't like it much, I guess. For what it's worth, I really like the title track. And it's very Kinks-ish.
This is a nice enough song. It needs something a bit more to take it to the level of Dave's best songs. The repetition of 'do you wish to be a man' during the chorus... and the build up of tension in the last two choruses ("Do you wish to be a man? Do you wish to be a man?") only to be relieved by... 'Oh do you wish to be man?".
Little side note, but certainly Kinks related. I was using FaceTime to talk to my family earlier, and when you hang up there is this sound. It reminded me those first 2 notes from “Phenomenal Cat” proper (after the jazzy flute intro). Just me? Here’s that sound:
Do You Wish To Be A Man? Another new one for me. Obviously got some folk going on here. Sounds sort of Celtic to me. I think the best part of the song is the guitar after the first chorus. Delicate and lovely. I don't like the chorus though. I guess it's the repetitive nature, partly. But just sort of boring. Love the harmonica. Assume that's Ray. So an ok song here.
Do You Wish to Be a Man I'm a bit embarrassed to say I forgot all about this song! But I did recall the chorus as soon as I read it's title, so Dave must have done something right... A bit folky, as others have noted... I like the part at the end where he hangs on that 7th or diminished or whatever chord it is when he says "man." The melody reminds me a lot of nursery rhymes but not in the way that Ray's earlier toytown psych songs did... not sure how to describe it, but I think that style is distinctly Kink-y: it always seems familiar, but never uninspired. Interesting to hear the harmonica again. Last song that had one (chronilogically speaking) was Last of the Steam Powered Trains (which being a retro blues piece, is pretty fitting) but before that it was Susannah's Still Alive (iirc). Not sure if my sample size of two songs is conclusive enough to say so, but i find it interesting how the Davies brothers had their own favorite instrument choices; I can't think of any Dave songs with a harpsichord, for instance, but Ray had several. One thing I've noticed about the quality of Ray and Dave's respective lyrical melancholy is that Ray's songs (from this era at least) are often not sung from the singer's point of view. I don't mean to say they're not in the first person, but that they're usually character sketches and it's kind of implied that he can be singing about himself in the songs... Dave's are a lot more directly vulnerable; in every Dave song you get the feeling he's singing about himself, whereas with Ray that's not always the case. I imagine soon we'll get to the songs "Are You Ready" and "I'm Crying" which are probably the most emotionally direct Kinks songs from the era. Not to say one style is better than the other, of course, just intersting how their lyrical styles differed...
Great, I knew Jimi mentioned YRGM to Dave on a flight but didn't know he also complimented Waterloo Sunset also!
Are You Ready?. stereo mix (4:03), recorded 8 Jan, 1969 at Pye Studios (No. 1), London Well in this new love that you've found, Are you positive, are you sure, And are you ready girl? Are you ready? Though it's fun you talk about, It's the night life you explore. And are you ready girl? Are you ready? 'Cause you're living with a man Who will find no (understanding) or (no one to stand) Do you mind if I laid down and cried? Do you ever know the way, That I feel for you each day? So are you ready girl? Are you ready? Are you ready girl? Are you ready? Are you ready girl? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready girl? Are you ready? He'll buy you diamonds, he'll buy you rings, He'll buy your time, he'll buy you sin.[?] So are you ready girl? Are you ready? He'll keep you laughing for a while, ( sounds like - He'll give you laughter for a while - to me) Then he'll leave you with a smile. So are you ready girl? Are you ready? 'Cause you're living with a man Who will find no understanding. Do you mind if I laid down and cried? Will you ever know the way, That I feel for you each day? So are you ready girl? Are you ready? Are you ready girl? Are you ready? Are you ready girl? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready girl? Are you ready? Written by: Dave Davies Published by: ? This is possibly my favourite of the three ballads in a row, and it may come down to it having a slightly country flavour, and my love of three and six beat rhythms. This seems to be one of those, ok you have found this new guy, and I see some of the things that you see in him, but I think you're making a mistake, and the chorus seems to be Are you ready to make that mistake.... but it is one of those Dave tracks where a- some of the lyrics are hard to decipher, and I am not convinced the ones here are quite correct, and b - there is a mildly ambiguous nature to some of the lines ..... Probably the main things that appeal to me here are the chord progression, which has a beautiful melancholy, and I often find melancholy suits me, the melody of the vocals, and also that three beat feel .... I don't know why but three beat feels always get me. The downside.... We again get a one phrase chorus, but I think the phrasing here is better. The weary delivery and the emotional force Dave puts in here also helps to sell this one to me, and as with the others, I think the biggest issue is all three of these being grouped together on the releases we have been given..... I think all of them put these songs together and that is just not very flattering to the songs and flow of the songs as an album. Come to think of it, another thing that appeals to me here is the simple arrangement. An acoustic guitar, what sounds like a pump organ, a tambourine beat at the end of each bar. The harmony vocals just add enough to colour to flavour this up enough for me. I suppose to some degree it may be slightly long, but when you are getting into it, that isn't too much of a problem. Anyway, I think this song, and the preceding two would work much better spread apart, and after the two powerful openers, the linking of these three together gives the wrong impression about what else we have here, spoils the flow, and would likely get folks who aren't big Kinks fans stepping away from the album before it gets to some more of its songs, that happen to be really very good, and much less maudlin. I could also speculate that this lyric is a somewhat imaginary reflection on where Sue is now, and is this guy really the one who will give you the true love I offered you...... Writing can certainly work as self help therapy, but you need to approach it with a somewhat more objective mindset, than a wallowing in self pity perspective..... A good song spoiled by sequencing for me.
Unlike Mark, I am rarely a fan of music with a country flavour, and this is my least favourite track on the Dave would-be album thus far.
I really feel would be the natural closer for the album: the longest track, the hymnal musical qualities, perhaps a sense of resigned acceptance of the situation with Sue after working through the turmoil of other songs. It has an atmosphere of resolution that nothing else on the record really has. Downsides are the lyrics are pretty weak by Davies standards (relying on shopworn ‘diamonds and rings’ and ‘ain’t got a dime’ cliches) and like a lot of these tracks it has a small scale demo quality that maybe doesn’t fulfil the potential of what the track could have been. While I do enjoy and appreciate most of these tracks, I can totally understand why Dave didn’t think them fit for release at the time. You can kind of tell his heart wasn’t quite in making a full length album statement at this time.
Are You Ready is another of those long-unreleased often-bootleged songs that sit somewhere between rough demos and semi-finished tracks inventing the 90’s americana and lo-fi genres. And it’s one of the best of the bunch, drenched in unabashed sadness and pain. As usual, @mark winstanley covered it beautifully in his opening post. I agree the chords are fantastic, at the same time perennial and surprising, Dave managing to add some of his typical aching gutsy celtic folk chords to what otherwise would’ve had an archetypal country waltz structure (like the wonderful Maria McKee/Jayhawks song posted above). In many ways, with its march-like rhythm and deliberate chord changes, this also announces Strangers. The song ends up being like a late night campfire elegy, or something you could sing at a funeral. There's a powerful hymnal/farewell sadness to it, enhanced by the backing vocals (Rasa ?). @ajsmith may be right about Dave's heart not being in finishing a proper album, but it's most certainly beating hard in this song. His “o-oh” lament at the 1’40’’ mark, right on the chord change, is nothing short of sublime, one of his best little moments ever.
Are You Ready Yes, the slow tempo makes this song more a closer rather than a speed bump in the middle of an album. I don’t mind a weary ballad like this but I think it would have been better had it finished at the two minute mark. Dave’s slow songs are ok but they really prove he’s a rocker.
Mindless Child of Motherhood A great song, shame it got a bit buried. The title is very memorable and striking. Thanks for the helpful explanations of what it means, though it still has me scratching my head reconciling the title with its supposed meaning. Sounds good though. Hold My Hand This is one treasure that can stay hidden. Do You Wish To Be A Man Busker-level sixties folk. Are You Ready Much better. Very pleasant melody and singing. It seems overall we have some great songs among this bunch but not necessarily a whole great album.
When writers say tapes that were submitted to Reprise, what does that mean, and what about Pye? Is there any reason to think Hidden Treasures is anything resembling sequencing of an album (tracks 1-13)? This is in a similar (or identical) vein re FMRG, except that one was actually cut from the tapes, albeit unreleased.
