"Homo Erraticus" by Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

I understand this forum has several Jethro Tull fans, including Rob1956, RobbyLake and Paskatefan. The band's 1972 album "Thick As A Brick" reached #1 on the USA album chart and is in the top 10 on many lists of the best concept albums ever*. In my opinion, frontman Ian Anderson's 2012 sequel "Thick As A Brick 2" was better in terms of songwriting etc and his ability to apply modern concepts to 40-year-old themes.

Last month, Anderson released another concept album "Homo Erraticus" (The Wandering Man) and I've found it even better. It covers the past, present and future of the human race, both in Britain and worldwide. It discusses (in addition to many other things) Neolithic man, the first Iron Age, the Roman-Saxon-Viking invasions, US culture, religion, formal education, road travel, rail and sea travel, the British Empire’s rise and fall, World Wars I and II, television, technology, tourism, overpopulation, pollution, climate change and the need to care for the planet and the coming generations.

Anderson has been quoted as saying “If you want to cram 8400 years of history into 50 minutes of music, only the progressive rock album can do that.” According to the Official Charts Company, the album reached #6 (in Britain I presume). I'm hoping Ian and his band extend their "Homo Erraticus" concert tour to Australia and they have hinted this may happen in Dec2014.

* Those best-concept-albums lists seem to be headed by such albums as Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and "Dark Side of the Moon", The Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells".

[joveski]

i read on ultimate classic recently that Jethro is a thing of the past. Ian said that himself:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/no-more-jethro-tull/

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

Joveski,

Yes, I read that somewhere as well. The original Jethro Tull was a 17th-18th Century English agriculturist, who invented machinery which brought great progress to agriculture. In its early days, the band Ian Anderson was in changed its name several times as this was the only way a certain venue would not recognise them and would invite them to perform there again. The name they happened to be using when they started becoming popular was Jethro Tull. Anderson was never comfortable with the name being henceforth associated with the band and rarely with the original Mr Jethro Tull. And now that Anderson no longer records or performs with long-time Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre and drummer Doane Perry, it would be misleading to promote his current band as Jethro Tull.

[joveski]

well, we can all still be 'living in the past'