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Liner Notes: Life is Good…In the Wood

Songs from the Wood was released on February 21^st in North America, just two days before the second leg of the American tour. The first leg began in January when Jethro Tull played seven shows, from California to New York, performing the new album material even before it was released. After a brief British tour, the band was back to formally introduce their US fans to this very popular album. To be sure, there were many critics still dismayed by the lackluster Warchild and Passion Play releases. Even Too Old to Rock'n Roll was considered a failed experiment by the harshest in the media. Many were ready to tear apart the new release despite the fact that it had reached number 8 in the album charts. Others were more objective and properly characterized the album in the context of the times….

“Songs from the Wood is a vindication of Anderson's uncompromising attitude towards Tull's music, and an album that demands they be considered as one of your first division British bands. The whole album is a celebration of an English way of life long since gone, not perhaps as it was, but how it should have been. What Anderson's done is immerse himself in traditional music and translate it into contemporary terms, utilizing all the technology the '70s can muster, without losing the essence of the music. Apart from producing, singing, playing flute, guitar, mandolin and whistle, Anderson wrote every song, and it's a tribute to him that they have a traditional appeal, yet retain a freshness of their own.”

Patrick Humphries, NME, 1977

For Ian Anderson, it was a changing time as well. New band line-up and new circumstances were having a positive influence on the Band's music….

“….I had got married, bought a house and had a baby, and I was generally speaking very happy with life. The album obviously reflects the way I felt at the time and consequently there is no anger, no social critique at all, which is probably what is wrong with the album! It's a nice album. I do like it a lot, but it might have been a little bit quaint and twee, and dangerously close to folk music, which I loathe.!” Anderson, 1977

There was also the addition of David Palmer to the line-up. Mr. Palmer had conducted the orchestra used for sections of the prior album, Minstrel in the Gallery and was considered to be a long time friend and collaborator. For the new album he was formally asked to join the band and play keyboard. This gave Jethro Tull two keyboard players for the first time as David shared that role with John Evan. Ian Anderson wrote all the songs for Songs from the Wood and by most accounts took full advantage of the talents and format of the new band line-up.

The second leg of the US tour began in San Diego and spread across the country. One of the PRRP staff saw the tour performance just 4 days before this recording was made; a memorable event to be sure. Stop number 14 for the tour was the Louisville Gardens Convention Center in Louisville, Kentucky; a large venue used as a basketball arena according to one source. Luckily for Tull fans, that evening's performance was witnessed by a taper and two of his friends. One in this group had a tape recorder along with a Memorex MRX-2 Oxide C-120 tape while the other two had cameras. The result of their efforts is a great recording and lots of photos to mark the event.

From one who was there….

“This was a mindblower of a concert. I remember waiting for Martin to hit a single chord in 'Thick As A Brick' and when he did it felt like someone had hit me in the chest with a sledgehammer. It was that loud. And in a basketball arena, that's loud.

John Glascock and Barrie just worked so well together. Glascock, I think, really fired up the rest of the band too. David Palmer brought a "silly seriousness" to the show that is hard to describe. By this time the band was very familiar with the material and they were really having fun. The material was still fresh and the band was fluent in its execution. They were having a ball, and so was everyone in the audience.”

Jethro Tull finished this US tour and then set off across Europe. Australia was visited for twelve shows in September and then the year ended with another thirty shows in the US. With the popularity of the new album growing, 1977 was considered a success. The band returned home and, after a much deserved rest, began work on the next album, Heavy Horses, which would be released in April of the next year.

PRRP Staff

Notes from the Re-Master

This project began with a digitized version of the master tape. As noted above, the show was recorded on a Memorex C-120 tape and is essentially complete. There is a brief cut during the opening dialogue for the second set but no music is missing. We also have the tape end before the end of the last song. Sadly, this section is gone forever. We are also missing the beginning of the guitar solo that begins the encore. It seems that the taper tried to save tape during the long applause at these two points and suffered these minor consequences. Still, there is no evidence that he even had a second tape so it is fortunate that we have most of the show, thanks to his efforts.

The speed of the recording was the first thing checked. We used standard live and studio references from the period and found that only a small speed correction was needed for the disc 1 material. The disc 2 material was speed correct. The next step was to deal with the noise within the recording. The detail of the sound was quite excellent but some was hidden under the volume of the hiss. Using multiple techniques, the noise was reduced to reveal a much better signal to noise ratio. Now, the quality of the recording really stands out.

Tonality adjustments were made to compensate for a “muffled” character that was present in certain sections of the recording. This may have been due to hiding or moving the microphones. An overall tone adjustment was also made to try to compensate for the acoustics of the venue. The dynamics seemed flat so the recording was adjusted to bring out the highs and lows that are so frequent in Tull music. As usual, bumps, clicks and pops were repaired as were other tape imperfections. Finally, the show was re-tracked. This is always difficult with Tull shows given Ian's propensity to ramble on for a while between songs. We had to strike a balance between having 20 tracks per set and just noting the beginning of each song.

PRRP Staff

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