Song 142 (Jethro Tull--"Crossfire")

For this, my 7th era of Jethro Tull I decided to pick Crossfire from their 1980 album "A;" the other eras can be found on song picks: 100, 107, 114, 121, 128, and 135.

This was a hard era for me to define, while this album is somewhat similar to the '84 album Under Wraps, which is more dissimilar than alike in my opinion. And then of course there is Broadsword and the Beast from '82 between them, which is completely different from either one.
This is an album that was supposed to be an Ian Anderson solo project, but ended up as a 'Tull album for various reasons. The only band members to continue with 'Tull was Ian Anderson and Martin Barre, everyone else quit or died. John Glascock died in November of '79 from complications with a heart surgery caused by a tooth abscess. David Pegg replaced Tony Williams (of Stealars Wheel fame) on bass; (he was filling in while John Glascock was sick). Mark Craney took over on drums, and Eddie Jobson took over keyboards.
This is either their second most hated album or their most hated album depending on who you ask. I picked up this album from a local record store quite early in my fanhood of Jethro Tull, so I like a bit more material off of it than most 'Tull fans do. The album took on a more "electronic" feel than its predecessors and the band's image changed quite a bit as well. The standout songs for me on this album are: Crossfire, Fylingdale Flyer, Black Sunday, Protect and Survive, 4.W.D. (Low Ratio), and The Pine Martin's Jig. The musicianship on the album is quite excellent as always, especially Eddie Jobson's keyboards.

The song itself was written about the storming of the Iranian Embassy, which unfolded on the television whilst the songwriting process of the album was taking place; a good song on an otherwise adequate album.

Here is the studio version on YouTube.
Here is a live recording of the song on YouTube.
Here is a mimed performance from German Television in 1980 on YouTube.

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