Search - Jethro Tull: Nothing Is Easy Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 on DVD

This is Great!

A. Miller | Durham, CT USA | 05/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is no way this isn't 5 stars. This is live music at it's best. Jethro Tull was never a mainstream classic rock band. But this is whole performance was/is pure classic metal. Clive Bunker (drums) is one of the best ever. Martin Barre (guitar) is better than average. Glen Cornick (bass) who left the band less than a year after this was really the only hippy in Tull. Ian Anderson of course (vocals, flute, acoustic guitar) is incredible. And John Evan (piano) was the main parts of the roots of the band back when he was a drummer in the John Evan Smash and with the album Benefit was back in the band.

These are the rankings of each song in the order of CD listing:

1. My Sunday Feeling-This was there official debut song off of This Was. And this is an extremely good perforance of it. Ian Anderson is late on his flute fills because even he can't sing, dance, and play the flute all in one. 8/10

2. My God-A classic song from the Aqualung album. And this is a pretty good rendition. 9/10

3. With You There to Help Me-The opener for 1970's Benefit. Clive Bunker is very powerful on the drums. But when he's not playing it seems that the band is off beat and Evan plays part of By Kind of Permission off Living in the Past. 7/10

4. To Cry a Song-Also off of Benefit. With a great riff and guitar solo gets a 10/10.

5. Bourée-Released as a single in 1969 is a classical song picked up from Bach. 9/10.

6. Dharma For One-Originally released on This Was. This version is rearranged but why. It was a great song before it was rearranged why change it. But if you look past it Bunker has a great drum solo for his effort it gets 8/10.

7. Nothing Is Easy-The first song off of 1969's Stand Up. This is the title of the album and I can see why. 10/10.

8. Medley: We Used To Know/For a Thousand Mothers-These are my two favorite songs off of the album Stand Up (besides A New Day Yesterday.) Barre doesn't use the wah-wah pedal so the guitar solo in We Used to Know doesn't have the same feel as the studio version. But For a Thousand Mothers is great. The only problem is Anderson sings the verse that starts with "baby" with only John Evan and it doesn't have the same feel. But regardless it still gets a 9/10.

This is a classic live performance during the golden age of rock music."

Simply a great performance

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 11/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 1970, the final Isle of Wight Festival was held (at least until 2002 when the Isle of Wight festival ban was lifted). It was an event that I felt had more interesting music acts than did Woodstock, because it had acts that Woodstock wouldn't take. Woodstock rejected the Doors, because they felt the band had too dark and gloomy of an image for the "flower power" audience. Neither would Woodstock have had bands like Chicago or Lighthouse (who were basically a Canadian Chicago or Blood, Sweat & Tears who scored a hit with "One Fine Morning"). And Woodstock did not have prog rock acts, Isle of Wight did, like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, of course, and Black Widow, who flirted with occult matters in a prog rock context. But I can understand why prog rock acts weren't featured in Woodstock, it was 1969 America, and many British prog groups at that time were still trying to make it in Britain, never mind America (and King Crimson won't release In the Court of the Crimson King until October 1969, two months after Woodstock). The 1970 Isle of Wight Festival was an event that had more diversity, in my opinion, than did Woodstock, because they weren't thinking all the hippies were of the "flower power" type the way Woodstock did (at least the impression I get), so they had groups that catered to more tastes.

The focus here is on Jethro Tull at the Isle of Wight Festival. Here you get new footage of Ian Anderson stating his opinion of the group's performance there, as well as the social and cultural impact, not to mention how Jethro Tull came to be, as well as footage of the group's performance there. From watching this, you get the impression that the Isle of Wight was a bastion of conservative old people, and it's true the island is home to many well-to-do retirees (apparently not the kind of place to raise a family, and many young people who live there do leave the island for mainland England for better opportunities). And thanks to that, the locals there did not take too kindly to the event, so much so that a ban was in place after 1970, a ban that didn't get lifted until 2002 (by which brand new Isle of Wight Festivals been held each year since). Ian Anderson seemed awfully delighted that this was the end of the hippie ideal, although I seriously doubt he'd want to say that in Glenn Cornick's face, because the hippie image he had (the long hair and headbands, which I happen to sorely miss, even if many other people would think that was very dated). And you'll notice a lot of angry, bitter, and disillusioned people who felt many of their generation had turned against them (you hear this one guy complain to one of the people running the event that she was "the second establishment" and that it was a "big business trip", I can see where some of these people were coming, once they get to see how the music industry was like, say in 1978, it's really hard to not think the music industry by then really was "big business", with disco and AOR groups like Styx and Foreigner making it big). Although I felt many of these people were overreacting over the admission price, compare that to the price they're asking for the current Isle of Wight Festivals (which would put anyone in shock who thought £3 was too much way back in 1970), or of course, Woodstock '99. And of course, I don't blame Ian Anderson or Tull's manager of the time, Terry Ellis, for having a problem with the organizers of the event who were trying to remove people from the premise as the band were doing their soundcheck (neither Ellis nor the band had any problems with having people watch them do their soundcheck).

OK, now let's focus on the music. Well, in 1970 Tull was yet to be considered progressive rock. They were a band in transition, moving away from the blues and more of a hard rock direction. While Benefit was their latest album, I am rather baffled why no material from that album is featured on this film (although two songs from that album is featured on the bonus audio CD, "With You There to Help Me" and "To Cry You a Song"). Instead the group focuses on Stand Up and This Was, with Martin Barre no doubt having no problem filling in Mick Abrahams shoes for the This Was material. The songs include "My Sunday Feeling", "Dharma For One", and "Nothing is Easy". They also premiered "My God" which as everyone knows, would appear on their forthcoming album Aqualung. This one has a more extended flute solo, and some lyrics that differed from the eventual studio version. "A Song For Jeffrey" was taken from the Rolling Stones Rock n' Roll Circus (filmed in 1968, but not released until more recently), with Toni Iommi (later of Black Sabbath) appearing (he only appeared for the movie, as Tull was able to get a hold of Martin Barre shortly thereafter). They performed "Dharma For One" much like they did on the live part of the Living in the Past album, that is with vocals, although the drum solo is even more extended (I am certain the band got these ideas from Cream's "Toad", which I'm sure inspired "Dharma For One" as much as it did "Moby Dick" for Led Zeppelin).

This version has an audio CD as well of the complete performance, where you get a couple of songs from Benefit, plus "Bouree", as well as what you heard on the DVD.

Watching it now will obviously bring you in a culture shock. Seeing all the long hair and clothes that no one wears these days. Not to mention how the band looked. Since you see Ian Anderson how he looked in 2004, you might forget he had all that hair back in 1970, not to mention the beard (giving the impression of British outdoorsman, notice I didn't say English, since Ian Anderson is actually Scots). Also it's a big shock that you scarcely see anyone over 25 in that event, but that's understandable, as there was that "don't trust anyone over 30" mentality, and many over the age of 25 were more nostalgic for the 1950s, making it more difficult for them to relate to the psychedelic and prog rock acts featured on the Isle of Wight Festival.

Overall, this was a fantastic performance, despite the bad vibes (the same kind of bad vibes that brought Joni Mitchell to tears). I highly recommend this to all Tull fans."

This is IT Tull fans

coot veal | 04/30/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw Tull for the first time on their first U.S. Tour at the good ol' Fillmore East back in the day. They were so great that I can't even remember who the headliner was (Savoy Brown? Jeff Beck?... oh well)and I became a fan for life. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of concert video of this period when Tull was still young, brash and filled with juice. Well, it's been a (way too) long time but here it is. Yes, they WERE as great as we thought they were. Just know that there's only about 4 or 5 songs on this DVD, it's not a full set by any means, but you'll love it. The rest is padded with some rockumentary stuff about the Isle of Wight festival which was badly run, which you probably won't care about, and pieces of an Ian Anderson interview which is delightful. In my opinion, of the various Tull DVD's floating around (though Montreux is a very good performance by the elder Tull)this is the best."

Great, and great value!

simon wagstaff | Frederick, Md. | 03/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great video of Jethro Tull at a peak performance prior to the release of Aqualung etc. though I have been a Tull fan for nearly 40 years (!!!) this is the first time that I realized that they could rock with as much awesome power as any of the big time bands of the time. The video itself is very well done, interviews with Ian Anderson from 2004 with his memories of the times, well shot and edited performance footage and lots of back stage scenes of the times, starring "the hippies" and "the new man", who turns out to be us!

A big bonus is the CD that is included with this set which gives you the music, uncut and without the interviews spliced in.

Much more than just a concert DVD, this is highly recommended."