An introduction to "Crest
Of A Knave"
In September 1987, three years after the
release of the innovative yet controversial
"Under Wraps", a new album that would put
Jethro Tull back in the spotlight again, saw
daylight: "Crest Of A Knave". The title
played on the phrase "crest of a wave" and
was thought of when the artwork of the cover was
ready.
Anderson wrote all the songs himself,
without the coöperation of the other band members,
and most of the album was recorded at his home
studio. He explains: "I was very, very
selfish about making this one. I really just didn't
want anybody else to have any creative input on it
all, other than playing the final parts in the
studio. The last few albums involved the other guys
quite a lot, in the arranging and in writing bits of
music, and I felt this time that I wanted to get away
from having input from other people - not because I
thought I could do it better, but just because I
wanted to be very selfish about it and take total
charge" (1, p. 137).
This quote doesn't however give a
motivation for what Ian here calls his selfishness.
I'm under the impression, that Ian realised that the
next album would be a "go or no go" for
Jethro Tull. If he would not be able to stop the
process of alienation between the band and its
fan-base - that started after the big split in 1979
and increased through the keyboard dominated albums
that followed, in spite of their ingenuity - there
would be no future for Jethro Tull at all. He had to
embark on a new course that would make it possible to
write innovative music on one hand, while on the
other hand the music would by the fans be
recognisable as the "Tull music" they
loved.
Looking back from todays viewpoint I
tend to consider the early eighties as a hazardous
period for Tull in which Anderson went through a
musical identity crisis. He must have noticed that
Jethro Tull at that time couldn't keep up with the
fast technical and musical developments in popular
music, the decreasing fan-base and the lack of appeal
with regard to a new generation of youngsters. And on
top of that he must have felt insecure about the
musical future of the band now that the Stormwatch
album turned out to be the final station of the
course the band had chosen in the mid-seventies.
With the exception of the
"Broadsword" album we subsequently see an
overreaction in the form of three keyboard dominated
albums ("A", "Walk Into Light",
"Under Wraps"), brimmed with new technology
like samplers, sequencers and drum-machines, a lot of
experimenting - almost desperately - as to pave new
paths to the future. In this process Peter-John
Vettese played an important role. And though these
albums were/are deserving in their own right - since
they contain some of Ian's finest work - they
exhausted both band and fans. The concerts of those
days reflected this, showing a band stumbling over
their own ambition and complexity.... Or to put it in
the words of a Dutch newspaper in those days:
"Jethro loses grip for wanting too much"
(Elly de Waard in De Volkskrant).
For most former very popular and lasting
bands this situation was the breaking point in their
career eventually leading to their demise - we know
what this did for Led Zeppeling and Deep Purple. Not
for Tull though, as we will see.
So it was time "for something
completely different" and yet all too familiar.
All those years of experimenting had made Ian
familiar with using samplers and sequencers. He now
mastered the new technologies to an extent where he
could apply them in his music in a more well-balanced
manner, thus creating room for both Martin's guitar
and his own flute playing as well.. Since Peter-Jon
Vettese was not available, Ian decided to play all
the keyboard parts himself. The songs were cast in
lower keys to meet Ian's limited vocal range - an
unpleasant souvenir of the "Under Wraps"
tour - and to make them "performable" on
stage.
The outcome was a collection of ripe, warm, melodious
and transparant songs, new in their musical shaping
yet familiar in the overall sound: sturdy rock songs
like "Steel Monkey", "Farm On The
Freeway", "Jump Start", delicate songs
like "Said She Was A Dancer" and "The
Waking Edge". And than of course the virtuosity
of "Budapest" that outclasses all the other
songs on the album. They all featured Martin's
beautiful guitar work, Ian's expanding fluteplaying
abilities and his warm vocals. At last, Jethro Tull
had a winner at their hands.
Apart from Ian Anderson and Dave Pegg,
Fairport Convention violist Rick Sanders guested on
the Album. Gerry Conway made his last appearance with
Tull on this album playing drums on four tracks,
while Doane Perry drummed on two tracks. Nor Doane,
Gerry or Ric were credited on the album cover though.
Peter-John Vettese left the band before the tour,
being replaced by Don Airey, who within a year was
followed up by Maart Allcock, another Fairport
Convention member!
Before the definite release, a
pre-release listening party for "Crest Of A
Knave" was organised in Denver. About 300 fans
had won the chance to participate from a KBCO, a
Colorado radio station. As Russo states: "Ian
Anderson wanted to make sure that the tracks that he
wanted to include on the album were somewhat in
agreement with what the fans wanted. This group of
people was asked to listen to each track to determine
whether it was of high enough quality to include on
the album. If not it would either be considered a
bomus track on the CD, or the song would remained
unissued" (1; p.137). That is why the tracks
"Dogs In The Midwinter" and "The
Waking Edge" were not included in the original
vinyl-version of the album but did actually on the
CD.
Two weeks before the official release of
"Crest Of A Knave", the album was aired at
the annual Cropredy Festival in England. This
folkfestival, where folk bands from all over
Western-Europe come to perform, is organised by
Fairport's bassplayer Dave Pegg and friends and the
1987 edition was to commemorate the 20th birthday of
Fairport Convention's founding. As invited guests,
Anderson and Barre joined Pegg during the Fairport
set and they played a series of Tull classics. Due to
the favorable reaction of the audience Ian asked Dave
what he thought about Fairport as Tull's supporting
act for the American tour. It was decided that
Fairport Convention would start off each night,
giving them the opportunity to present their new
album "In Real Time" to the American
audience and that Dave Pegg would play his bass in
both bands.
September finally saw the release of the
album Tull-fans worldwide had been waiting for for so
long. Though ignored or wiped away by the music press
and radio stations, "Crest Of A Knave" had
an immediate impact, hitting the charts in the UK,
Germany and the USA. For the first time since 1979
Jethro Tull once again had a gold album!
The "Crest Of A Knave"
tour programme (1987).
By kind permission of Pete McHugh
(Electrocutas
- The Jethro Tull Archive).
On the 4th of October 1987 a very
successful and productive tour started in Edinburgh,
leading the band through Western Europe and the USA.
The combination Fairport Convention / Jethro Tull
worked very well, most venues were sold out and the
reaction of the audience to the songs from the new
album were very enthusiastic. The Crest-tour ended on
December 16 in Los Angeles.
Here the story of this great album would
come to an end, were it not that to the surpise of
both band and fans it was nominated for the 1989
Grammy Awards in the category "Best Hard
Rock/Metal Performance, Vocal or Instrumental".
It was not just the nomination itself, but also the
categorisation that caused feelings of confusion:
Jethro Tull - a heavy metal band? Since Metallica,
Alice Cooper and AC/DC were also nomitated and were
considered to have a far better chance for obtaining
this award, Chrysalis talked Tull out of showing up.
Metallica was most likely to win the award for their
album ".... And Justice For All".
To the amazement of audience and press,
the Grammy was granted to Jethro Tull, years after
they should have received this recognition in the
first place for their versatile contribution to rock
music. At last .... justice for all, albeit that they
still are not inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of
Fame....
*
Jan Voorbij
The Crest Of A Knave Tour:
photograph taken during the concert at the Hempstead
Nassau Coliseum, NY, November 13 1987.
By kind permission of © Bruce Mironov
Annotations
Steel Monkey
- Implicitely
this songs contains Anderson's critique with
regard to the "overdevelopment" of
cities, industrial areas and rural regions
with a favorable infrastructure: "Well, I won't rest
before the world is made", a
theme he works out more specific in the
following song.
* Jan Voorbij
- At
the time when this album was released, the
'New Man' idea was fairly fashionable - the
concept of a man who was caring, in touch
with his feminine side, faithful, etc. This
idea fell out of fashion fairly rapidly (my
own theory is because while the 'New Men'
were trying to impress the women with their
caring, feminine side, the women were getting
off with blokes who didn't even know they had
a feminine side, and didn't much care) and
gave rise to the 'New Lad' culture -
basically men who refused to grow up and have
any sort of responsibility at all.
This is brilliantly summarized and
anticipated in 'Steel Monkey', which paints
the world view of someone who's not a 'New
Man' and has no intention of becoming one.
The narrator, a scaffolder, has a high
opinion of himself and what he does ("I'm
a high rise jockey, and I'm
heaven-bound" ... "arm in arm the
angels fly, keep me from falling out the
sky"). He's proud of being
an old-fashioned, tough guy who doesn't use
his brain any more than he has to ("Loose brains from
brawn"
... "I work at my drinking and feel no
pain"), and has a low opinion
of those who do - or indeed anybody who can't
do his job ("Now some men
hustle, and some just think, and some go
running before you blink, and some look up,
and some look down from three hundred feet
above the ground"). This
was nicely summarised on the cover of the UK
12-inch single, which had a photo of the 3
wise monkeys - little brass statues in the
poses of 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no
evil', and next to them, a steel monkey with
a hard hat on, arms raised in a gesture of
victory, and a big grin on its face. Some of
these themes resurface in the gloriously
lecherous 'Raising Steam' - ('Left a lady
with a heart all in pieces, come apart').
"The lid is
on": 'Lid' is a slang term
for a helmet - in this case his construction
worker's hard hat.
* Julian Burnell
The Crest Of A Knave Tour:
photograph taken during the concert at the Hempstead
Nassau Coliseum, NY, November 13 1987.
By kind permission of © Bruce Mironov
Farm On The Freeway
Jump Start
- 'Jump
Start' is a song about someone wanting a part
of all the eighties materialism which is
passing him by. He's looking at all the
images which swirl around him - police
fighting the miners, Margaret Thatcher, the
Yorkshire Ripper, and thinking they seem to
be part of a culture which he can't take part
in - he's not rich enough, or clever enough -
he's headed for the scrapheap unless he can
somehow absorb a part of the magical energy
these figures seem to posess ("Hook me up to the
powerlines of your love").
* Julian Burnell
- In
the seemingly simple lyrics, Anderson touches
on a common experience of our times: like in
"Farm On The Freeway" the subject
of alienation comes once more to the fore. In
the turmoil of post-modern Western society,
where individuality and anonimity rule and
local communities tend to desintegrate,
people feel more and more disconnected. The
little criminal, the factory worker, the men
who build ships: it could be anyone of us; it
applies to us all. If it is impossible to
feel committed and connected to other people ("Hook
me up to the powerlines of your love"), our
identity is negatively affected, live loses
its meaning, comes to seem useless and will
eventually make us give it all up ("....
or tow me away"). A fine example of
how an artist observes and criticizes the
times and the society he is living in.
* Jan Voorbij
Continuation
Sources:
1. Greg Russo: Flying Colours, The Jethro Tull
Reference Manual (Floral Park, N.Y., 2000)
2. Karl Schramm (ed.), Gerard J. Burns: Jethro Tull
Songbook (Heidelberg, Germany, 1997)
Introduction 