Jethro Tull, Locomotive Breath - A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction
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Published 2022-10-13
Here’s the link to the original song by Jethro Tull:
• Locomotive Breath (2001 Remaster)
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Amy Shafer, LRSM, FRSM, RYC, is a classical harpist, pianist, and music teacher, Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Director of Harp Studies for The Harp School, Inc., holds multiple degrees in harp and piano performance and teaching, and is active as a solo and collaborative performer. With nearly two decades of teaching experience, she teaches privately, presents masterclasses and coaching sessions, and has performed and taught in Europe and USA.
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Credits: Music written and performed by Jethro Tull
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All Comments (21)
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Leave your questions ONLY here, please!
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Entire album is a masterpiece.
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I feel so privileged to have lived in this time period and enjoyed the excellence of all the artists!
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You need to see him play this live. He is like a Court Jester. My generation, In my opinion, Took music to a whole new level of experimentation using technology as an art form unrivaled to this day. Rock ON.
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EVERYTHING from Aqualung is a work of rock art, but THIS is an unparalleled masterpiece. So much going on with melody, different tempoes and instrument textures, truly draws you into the song along the way. Ian on the flute is fantastic, above and beyond what the instrument should be able to do.
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They don’t make bands like this anymore. So great .
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I had one of my favorite moments in music thanks to Jethro Tull. I was a young soldier serving in Germany and attended one of the "Monsters of Rock" concerts that included JT as one of the headliners. This was held in the Nuremburg Sportsplatz and there were around 80k people attending. When JT came on, Ian Anderson walked out, went up to the microphone and when he lifted his flute to his mouth, 80k wild rock fans went dead silent...I could see him grin...and he didn't just milk the moment, he cast it in bronze and let the people gape in awe at it's wonder. Suddenly, he ripped into a solo and the band joined in bringing thunder and we lost our collective minds with joy. Thank you for your response to his music. It's a song I've done on stage as a singer and for karaoke. It's always well received as it's both a driving, well phrased bit of music and it has evocative, passionate lyrics. One of my favorite bits of music is something you touched on near the start of the song where the keys and guitar are doing this funky counter-point mirror imaging with ascending and descending riffs...brilliantly done. It's so much fun watching a professional musician from another genre encountering the music that I love to listen to and perform! One thing you didn't catch that adds so much to Ian's vocals is the little primal, guttural vocalizations that he incorporates into both his flute and singing that add so much to the "feel" of his performances.
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That's the talent of Martin Barre on guitar. I met Martin in Asbury Park, and he's still going strong. An amazing musician.
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I have to tell you, I’ve listened to this song, hundreds if not a thousand times, and I’ve never imagined images, passing landscapes etc. that is until now, you have given me a new way to re-listen to old songs in a different way, thank you!
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Tull's take on Bach's Bouree is an absolute must listen!
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I think all of us Jethro Tull fans wish this went on for longer! Cheers
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Listening to JT is one thing. Watching them perform live is quite another.
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Martin Barre on the guitar his guitar work in the studio version of “aqualung“ is absolutely unreal. One of the most underrated guitar players ever.
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Jethro Tull was the ultimate in Progressive rock. Ian Anderson was a musical genius and Martin Barre far underrated as a guitarist
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As an engineer and producer i instantly noticed the panning when it shifts from the piano-jazzy intro to the main song/theme ... the whole piece gets out of the stereo field just into the right channel and then opens up the stereo field again ... this creates an interesting feel, the shift in tonality is accompanied by this somehow technical shift as well. This is not only a masterpiece musically, but also it is really well produced
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Seeing Jethro Tull live is freaking epic. Mind blowing live
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Locomotive Breath goes by like a speeding train. Before you know it, it’s come and gone. All part of the intensity and movement of the song.
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The term "Locomotive Breathe" ..... itself is EPIC ... You don't even have to hear the song you just expect it to be something else.... Who agrees?
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Ian Anderson (composer, vocals, flute, acoustic guitar) is self taught on flute. He certainly change rock music. The pianist is longtime Tull member, John Evan. Electric guitar is by the hugely underrated Martin Barre. Interesting facts. Ian doesn't read music and after his daughter started on the flute he realized he'd been playing it all wrong and completely relearned the instrument.
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This song is and always has been genius in both composition and arrangement. The classical-stylings of the piano intro and the room ambiance and mic placement of the piano’s recording, then next the wailing guitar deep in the rear of the sound field with an incredibly tuned small hall reverb always makes me weep with emotion. It connects so viscerally. And the first section then terminates with the guitar compressor releasing to keep the level constant while the tone changes as the strings mute. That, combined with simultaneously increasing the guitar distortion was a real jolting transition that was gorgeous. That aural transition from airy, to painful expression of guitar, still airy and then that transition to a very compressed vocal and guitar is nothing short of oppressing, matching the lyric. Mr. Anderson was a master of subliminally manipulating emotion in this piece. The term for the treatment you were struggling for with the interplay between vocal and guitar in the verse is called “call and response” which is heavily used in slave era gospel music, from which it was adopted by the blues and in-turn became a huge influence in rock.
