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Liner Notes: Italian Catfish

Since the band first came onto the rock scene in the late sixties, Jethro Tull has been through more line-up changes than just about any other group in history, save for King Crimson perhaps. And just as Robert Fripp has carried the torch of KC from the very start, Ian Anderson has been and remains to this day, the true spirit behind Jethro Tull. Anderson and his best friend and alter ego, Martin Barre (at Ian's side since Tull's 2^nd album) have led Jethro Tull through three decades of musical changes. Musical styles and commercial interests may have come and gone very quickly during the last 30 years, but the music of Jethro Tull has survived it all by staying true to its roots. The band's most unique blend of rock and roll, baroque, folk and progressive styles has given Jethro Tull one of the most easily recognizable sounds in the music business.

From milestone albums such as “Stand Up”, “Auqalung”and “Thick as a Brick” to more underrated works like “Songs from the Wood”, “The Broadsword And The Beast” and “Crest Of A Knave”, Jethro Tull has always stayed true to itself and has always offered a quality product to an ever growing army of fans around the world. The show presented here was performed at the Palatrussardi in Milano, Italy. It is now called the Mazda Palace but had the former name back in 1991. The Palatrussardi was built in the mid-1980's, replacing another famous venue, Teatro Tenda Lampugnano, and normally hosts artists for audiences of 3000 to 6000 people. Jethro Tull had played there in 1989 promoting “Rock Island” and now returned with the new album “Catfish Rising”.

The new album was met with mixed reviews. Andy Stout of Rock Power wrote the following just before this concert, "This is Tull in headless chicken mode, the occasional embryonic good idea sacrificed to the gods of market forces…” The Tull press considered this to be the worst album review in the history of the band. One month later supporters such as Chris Welch wrote, “Undoubtedly the most convincing and satisfying work they have produced in years. Here are songs rich in the Tull essentials -quick humour, melodic sophistication and diverse influences”. From one extreme to the other to say the least.

Nevertheless, showing that they were not overly concerned with criticism, Jethro Tull continued their tradition of playing both old and new songs during shows, much to the delight of their fans. From one who was there that night: “I had a place in the area reserved for the press. It is situated right in front of the stage, behind the mixing board.... The audience, I would estimate at 4-5000 people, seemed to be enthusiastic and I hope this feeling is well captured in the recording. I found the tracks from “Crest of the Knave” really good, especially 'Farm on the Freeway' but most of us were disappointed that 'Budapest' was dropped from the set list. I remember that I particularly enjoyed 'Kissing Willie' and 'Doctor To My Disease'. The old classics were present too, although the choices were not very different from the previous tour. In any case, a pretty good show indeed. It will give you a good idea of the Tull sound in 1991.” Ian Anderson would probably hate to have any kind of label printed to the music of Jethro Tull, but when a band can successfully blend so many influences in such perfect musical harmony, what else can you call them but 'progressive'. Enjoy the show.!

Notes from the Re-Master

This show came to us as a CD version of the original digital mini-discs used to record the event. The equipment used that night was a Sony DAT with external Aiwa microphones. Three discs were used to capture the show so 3 tracks were provided; Two on one disc and one on the other. As a result, tracking each song separately needed to be done. Fortunately, changes in recorder disc were made during audience applause so the complete show exists here.

The quality is outstanding. Modern equipment and a quiet section of the audience led to good acoustics and very good clarity of the music. Music signal was present all the way up to 16,000 Hz. The left channel was about 15% lower than the right and lacked sufficient bass. Boosting the bass and amplifying corrected this problem. Hiss was light to moderate so it was reduced throughout. Audience applause was quite loud in some segments and was therefore reduced as well. One 90 second section during disc 2 had very harsh crackle. This was smoothed multiple times to minimize it without causing any damage to the music itself.

Shortly after the beginning of the show, the band has some technical problems which last over three and a half minutes. We decided to keep this segment to maintain completeness of the show but tracked it separately so it can easily be skipped by the listener. At the end of the show there is a 90 second applause and band introduction section that is also tracked separately for similar reasons.

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