Introduction

When it comes to appreciating Jethro Tull it seems to me that there are quite a lot of different views on the albums, songs, the band's career, their stage performance, their inspiration, the nature of the music and - of course - the lyrics and their meaning. Having read all the contributions to discussions regarding Tull I get the impression that there is a Jethro Tull for every Tull-fan: everybody seems to appreciate this band and their art and relate to it in their own personal way. I conclude that the art of Jethro Tull by no means should be considered as unequivocal. Studying their history and development makes clear that Jethro Tull is a band beset by paradox. To put it short: there seem to be as many Tulls as there are Tull fans. Every fan seems to build his own "Tullscape", which is a mix of interpretations, favorite songs, memories, concert experiences etc. So I consider the self invented term "Tullscapes" a very suitable title for this corner in my website.

The art of Jethro Tull has been a subject for studying by several people who laid their findings down in papers or essays. These people offered us the chance to appreciate Jethro Tull more than we already did in the first place. Their contribution to understand lyrics and music is in my opinion very important and they helped me in finding my way in annotating many of the lyrics. Since they proved to be very informative sources, I thought it righteous to honour the authors by adding their essays to this site. Though I do not concur with everything they state, I'm glad their views had the function of 'sparring partner', fighting my own ideas about the band and their art, that - while being an isolated fan for so long - had grown into self-evident opinions......

So here they are: the Tullscapes I collected for you. I plan to write one of my own once all the albums are annotated on just one subject: the contribution of Jethro Tull to rock music in general. Enjoy these from time to time brilliant essays I selected for you:

Ian Anderson's acoustic guitar in the early recordings of Jethro Tull by Roger L. Anderson

Jethro Tull: Celtic or English? by Neil R. Thomason;
with a comment by Andrew Jackson.

Minstrel in the Gallery: History in the music of Jethro Tull by Judson C. Caswell

Songs from the wood, comments on the Caswell essay by John Benninghouse

Ian's central theme - Aqualung revisited by Jeroen Louis

Love from the fields : The imagery of pagan Britain in the songs of Ian Anderson by Peg Aloi. Originally published in Obsidian Magazine, vol. 1, issue 2 (1998)

"Do you still see me even here?" - Seven years of virtual Jethro Tull community by Jan Voorbij

Jethro Tull: Gutter Prose, Kitchen Rhymes, Art For Your Time by Lawrence Moseley

Jethro Tull, Progressive Rock and thematic Approach By Dave Morris

The Ianesque trails in Edinburgh Capital by Lukas Was (.pdf-document)