Why does Ian Anderson keep singing?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Daniel Falaschi, Aug 11, 2015.

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  1. rstamberg

    rstamberg Senior Member

    Location:
    Riverside, CT
    I truly never noticed any decline in Ian Anderson's singing voice. True, I haven't bought all Jethro Tull's later albums but I have Anderson's solo records. I haven't seen him or Jethro Tull live, either ...
     
  2. Daniel Falaschi

    Daniel Falaschi Live detective Thread Starter

    Location:
    Edinburgh
    Let´s be fair with the man. He turned 67 YESTERDAY and is still a very active musician.
     
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  3. on7green

    on7green Senior Patron

    Location:
    NY & TN
    I saw him in 2013. He looked in good shape and his voice sounded OK to me (flute too). Filled Massey Hall in Toronto.
     
  4. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    It was a new day yesterday, but it's old day now .....
     
  5. jwb1231970

    jwb1231970 Ordinary Guy

    Location:
    USA
    The real question is why do people keep buying tickets? If they want to see him that's their choice, they're fans. Truth is they would pay to just see him and talk with him. Ian could show up and do two hours of Q&A and it would be really interesting to his fans. Same goes for all other musicians. Fans, it's about the fans.
     
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  6. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    The kid was annoying, and Ian looked like a putz stepping aside to let him sing.

    He's not slated to be on the upcoming tour.
     
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  7. cwitt1980

    cwitt1980 Senior Member

    Location:
    Carbondale, IL USA
    Probably because he couldn't get the job as a greeter at Wal-Mart.
     
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  8. Forklifter

    Forklifter Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    To see Ian Anderson play and sing is seeing a bit of history and a chance to see live one of the most creative and original individuals produced in Rock music....so what if his voice cracks now and then.
     
  9. joepepitone

    joepepitone Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    That was painful to watch on several levels. My last Tull show was 2005. I probably should have called it quits in the mid 90's. The bar just gets lowered every tour and remarkably there are punters to go see Ian. I wondered about the large crowd and then realized it was a festival. Glad I never bought into the Ryan thing.
     
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  10. PC31

    PC31 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ottawa, CAN
    Live in Iceland 2012
     
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  11. Diamond Dog

    Diamond Dog Cautionary Example

    Anderson continues to sing because it is the perfect accompaniment to his "intepretive dancing".

    That and the fact there is only so much flute-playing in a rock context that anyone can tolerate before they rush the stage with murder in their hearts...

    D.D.
     
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  12. Dylancat

    Dylancat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    From the clip that I could play in this thread (Isle of Wight) it wasn't all that bad. Or painful.
     
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  13. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    Age doesn't do that to a voice - smoking does.
     
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  14. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    He was under 40 when his vocal problems began-- on the Under Wraps tour, the rest is well documented.
     
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  15. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    Why does Ian Anderson keep singing?
    Oh, my, my, my, oh, my, my, my. Already answered;>)
    Singing my song, feeling so lonely,
    I'll sing very softly, so if the phone rings
    I can hear it, I can hear it.

    Singing all day, singing 'bout nothing,
     
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  16. joepepitone

    joepepitone Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    That was one of the levels I was talking about. When he starts pacing the stage whilst playing the flute, I just want to take a running jump.
     
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  17. brunofaetten

    brunofaetten Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    I think I've likened Ian's current singing to someone passing a kidney stone elsewhere, and I stand by that. "Painful" is the most common descriptor, and it's apt, because if you have any music in you at all, you feel Ian's pain; straining his whole body to grab those elusive notes. The fact that he still goes out there exposing himself, standing on one shaky leg fluting away, while his backup band seem to have mugged Clive Bunker for his old stage clothes, is bound to stir emotions for better or worse. There's quite a bit of heroism involved, along with some resignation. That quote earlier about his voice "slowly exiting the stage" sounds very him, as he's been play-wrestling with his rock star identity since early on, and the "old rocker" myth is now playing out in a very real way. Not for him the Olympian excesses of Zeppelin, or the self-destruction of the Morrison-Cobain poet-martyr. His struggle is grander still, as he battles vainly but valiantly with time itself.:wantsome: And sells tickets for it. :D
     
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  18. Frosst

    Frosst Vinyl-obsessive kiddo

    Location:
    Sweden
    But he was born in 1947 so he wasn't yet 40 in 1984, he did turn 40 in 1987.
     
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  19. Yes some people can't stand the flute. Mozart himself wasn't wild about it. And I think even Ian ain't so crazy about it either...

    Me I like it a lot, in any old context. And IA improved hugely as a player (not so much as an improviser though...) with the years. A little while before the Divinities project, he relearned his technique thoroughly (proper fingerings), which at the age he was then and given his accumulated experience, was quite commendable I think.
     
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  20. CCrider92

    CCrider92 Senior Member

    Location:
    Cape Cod, MA
    For the same reason that at the age of 74 I still keep teaching. It's what he does. It's what I do.
     
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  21. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    good for him...if ppl pay to see him then more power to him....there are far worse croakers out there refusing to give up...power to the people behind the microphone.
     
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  22. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    LOL...I was going to write that as well...
     
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  23. Bathory

    Bathory 30 yr Single Malt, not just for breakfast anymore

    Location:
    usa
    money
     
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  24. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    I read once that one of several reasons Dave Pegg left Jethro Tull was that he found it embarrassing being in a band with such a terrible singer (this was in the mid-90s).

    I've heard many reasons given for Ian's determination to stay on the road. Perhaps the least convincing was that he wants to provide his band members with a means of paying their mortgages.

    It could be that he had some Scots Calvinist work ethic drilled into him when he was young (listen to 'Son' for an example of what I mean) and it's something he can't/doesn't want to shake.
     
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  25. Brian Lux

    Brian Lux One in the Crowd

    Location:
    Placerville, CA
    True, Anderson's voice is no where near what it used to be and I'm guessing some ego is involved (you don't get that far in the music business without a strong ego) but I'm guessing the main reason IA still sings is because he likes to and no one would want to hear Tull with a different vocalist and no one is forcing anyone to go hear him. I saw Tull at the Oakland Coliseum in the mid 70's and Ian sounded GREAT! If I were to see Tull today would I want to hear another singer? No way! Pretty much no one plays or sings as well at 70 as they do in their late 20's-- that's to be expected. I'm just super glad he's still out there doing it!
     
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