Jethro Tull fans might as well buy tickets to Ian Anderson's solo tour. The vocalist, long the frontman for Tull, has more or less confirmed that the prog-rock band has called it quits. It was possible that the solo album from Anderson, the second consecutive record the performer's put out since Tull last released a record of its own, could have been just that: another solo album. Alas, Anderson seems to write the epitaph to his former band in the liner notes to Homo Erraticus, the new album.
"The huge body of work that is the Jethro Tull catalogue stands firm close beside me and in good stead... But I think I prefer, in my twilight years, to use my own name for the most part being composer of virtually all Tull songs and music since 1968."
An interview with Billboard indicated that the decision wasn't strictly a personal decision for Anderson.
"To me, Jethro Tull is...the vast body of repertoire that's Jethro Tull, the record catalog, the music, and I think that, if we look back on it, it kind of came more or less to an end during the last 10 years or so," he said. "It's a body of work I rather think is now kind of historical, since the weight of it lies back in the '70s and '80s in terms of volume. And I rather think it's nice to kind of leave that as legacy."
The good news for Tull fans is that all the members of Anderson's solo touring group were at one point or another members of Jethro Tull. So it's entirely possible that the vocalist/flautist could tackle hits such as "Aqualung" and "Thick As A Brick" at his solo shows. Then again, he may hate the idea of playing "the classics." As Anderson also revealed to Billboard, he has long hate Tull's name because it was thrust upon them by a booking agency, and he's long felt that the group has been guilty of misappropriating the name of the real Jethro Tull, a notable figure in British agricultural history. Let it be known that the original Tull perfected the horse-drawn seed drill.
