Spin CD has just posted listings for Thick As A Brick by Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson: Live In Iceland. As the title states, it is the live version of TAAB and TAAB 2 that Ian toured a few years ago. Versions offered include a Blu-Ray video, a DVD video and a 2 CD set. Now I have to interject my biased consumer warning here. I have seen Jethro Tull in almost ever decade since the '70s. Ian/Tull is one of my all time favorite groups. I plan on getting the CD and Blu-Ray editions when they become available domestically. But I saw this tour in Houston. I almost walked out. Ian gave it his all, but he could not get through TAAB, even with the auxiliary vocalist. His voice is shot. I mean late Dylan mumbling shot. It was painful. But why then, aside from being an obsessive collector, would I get this package? Because, when he got to the second set of TAAB 2 the show was OK. The new material is written with his vocal limitations in mind. That part of the show was fine. I did leave during the encore though because it was an older song (I think Locomotive Breathe) and we were back in crap land.

Instrumentally it's all good. Ian is still an engaging performer. It's just he simply cannot handle the older material anymore. In fact, if he even cared about this fan's opinion, he should only sing on material written after say 2000 and just use instrumental versions for anything earlier. So, get this if your a completist. Get it if you loved TAAB 2. But avoid it like the plague if your expectation going in is that you are going to get an enjoyable liver version of the complete TAAB. It's just not there

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Added by Linda:

   

2CD Set
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LR1YT6M/?tag=imwan-20

DVD
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LIUIF6M/?tag=imwan-20

Blu-ray
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LIUIFGM/?tag=imwan-20

His voice was poor when I saw him with Tull in 1994, in fact he was unable to sing at through most of the set.

Haven't seen Tull in a long time. I saw the "Thick as a Brick" tour when they played the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island back in the early 70's and then again around 1982. It's been awhile.

I'll pass on the Iceland unless PES give us a good review. I need to track down the Tull live comp Around the World Live (2013) that came out last year. I have not seen this locally so I best Amazon this in the future.

Rick A.

I saw Ian/Tull at Mystic Lake Casino in Minnesota at the end of 2002.
And his voice was pretty good. Not the Ian of the 70s, but it was a fine show.

It was a small venue, so that probably helped. I was about 50 feet from him.

Has anyone heard about a US release for this? It's almost a month and no Amazon US listing yet.

I've added the British CD, DVD and Blu-ray links to the first post, but being on Eagle, they're almost sure to have domestic pressings "eventually".

Bump: At last, we have domestic releases up for pre-order in the first post now -- a 2CD set, a DVD and a Blu-ray, all due out on August 25th.

My usual battle cries:

1. Any word on the audio bit rate/sampling rate on the br?

2. Any word if it's going to be brickwalled per Eagle's usual? (Stoopid question; of course it is!)

Same question. Assuming I don't care about the video one way or the other, is the blu ray comparable if not better resolution than the CD? Any chance the blu ray is a multichannel release?

Well, I was logged on to dance my little happy dance about the announcement of The Basement Tapes release, so I might as well finish off my comments on this thread. I got both the blu-ray and the cd from Amazon yesterday. I haven't watched the blu-ray yet, but have just finished listening to the cd. Well, eh, I'm not quite sure how to comment on it. The instrumental performances are spot on. His solo band can play, so there are no issues there. Martin is missed, a bit, but we all have to move on. For decades Ian said that Jethro Tull was him and Martin, no Martin, no Jethro Tull etc. So it is first and foremost an Ian Anderson performance.

TAAB did come off better than when I saw it in Houston. That may be due to the wonders of recording technology, which allowed them to turn up Ian's voice a bit (just the volume relative to the band, not any auto-tuning bs). There are parts of his performance that are actually pretty good when compared to what's out there from past concerts. But at other points where he just can't get it across anymore. On at least one segment he just recites the lyrics rather than sing them.

His co-vocalist first comes in at "The Poet and the Painter...". His range touches on Ian's old range, but he has has a more melodious tone. So if you can imagine a sweeter sound than you expect on certainparts, there it is.My Monday morning rock critique is that Ian should have considered letting him do all of TAAB, modifying his role to introducing the piece, bowing out after the first "to be thick as a brick", and just being a musician / narrator as needs be for the remainder. Use the logic that this is a young Gearld Bostwick, you need a young man's voice, etc. There probably wold have been riots in the halls from the hard core fans, but objectively it might have made for a better performance.

And I still stand with my original assessment of TAAB 2. It was the success of this performance. I did enjoy much more than TAAB. You could argue that's because it only exists within the constraints of Ian's current vocal range, so I didn't expect to hear anything other that what he can do now. But to me it just comes off better. This live version I would probably come back to again. It might actually be better than the studio CD. TAAB, not so much. Although I do give Ian props for including the PSA prostate exam segment in the audio cd. It comes across better when you can see it, but it's still entertaining (and informative).

So, where does this leave Jane / Joe Consumer as far as purchasing this package? There's nothing that could be said to hard core fans because of course you've already got it. The casual listener should stay away from it, because you aren't going to like the vocals (it would be kind of like telling a first time Dylan listener, go ahead start with "Modern Times"). For everyone else out there, I'd recommend you stay with the video version, even though I haven't seen it yet. Ian is still a great showman and seeing the show wiill get you over any of the vocal rough spots.

And for the audiophiles concerned with brs and brickwalling, it beats me. The only brickwall I know about is the one I pound my head against at work every day.

Thanks for the informative review PES. Haven't heard it yet as mines on order, but I'll know where to set my expectations!

Thanks CO Kid. Based on your icon, you know what you're in for and you should enjoy it. For the more casual Tull fans out there, I thought of another way you could approach this particular set. Think of contemporary Ian Anderson like you would Bob Dylan. Ian seems to be entering a late period career renaissance much like Bob Dylan did in the late 90s. There has been an extended period between release of new material (his Bobness had seven years between Under The Red Sky and Time Out of MIndwhile Ian had nine years between Rupi's Dance and TAAB 2), both toured extensively and released live and archival material during that interval and there is a feeling of acceptance of by them of the current state of their vocals (by them mind you...I personally think they push it too hard). Ian appears to be on a two year cycle for new material, with Dylan bing on a three year one right now. They are both still on the road, get the hard core fans out and continue to have interesting things to say about the world with their music. Should we ask for anything more at this point? Only Ian, if you do attempt to due APP2 in 2016, please don't follow the TAAB / TAAB2 tour model afterwards.

Another thanks to PES (Eric, right?). I had hoped for a CD/Blu-ray package but since that's not an option I was trying to decide which configuration to pick up. Sounds like the Blu-ray will be the better choice, and if I need to hear the audio I'm sure I could find it in internet-land (or very cheap on CD in about 6 months).

I agree with all of PES's review, including how TAAB2 really benefits in the live performance. The PSA is certainly going to interfere with repeat listening as there's no way to program around it.

Another sample: