Song 149 (Jethro Tull--"Beastie")

For the time being, I have been picking a song from each of the Jethro Tull eras from beginning to end on Sundays. The other eras are on picks: 100, 107, 114, 121, 128, 135, and 142. Each of these "eras" are either a bit different or are night and day from each other. At this point if one listens to this album and then listens to a previous album it sounds like two different bands; but the same soul is still there.

This is my 8th era of 'Tull, which is another era to me consisting of one album. I would say that this era goes from somewhere in '81 to around late '83. Many 'Tull fans cut what they like at '79, however in my opinion there is a lot of good music after '79 as well. This era is a throwback to the '70s in sound a bit, however, it is quite different as well.
During this time Eddie Jobson did not return for another album, but did play with them at later concerts; Peter-John Vettese took over for him on keyboards. To me his playing and sound seems more New Wave and electronic than previous players; probably due to the fact the the band was dabbling in the '80s sounds whilst he was in the band. Mark Craney also left after one album and Gerry Conway took over on drums. In a side note: last year Mark Craney passed away after many years battling kidney problems; the second 'Tull member to pass away.
Much material was written at this session, the songs that weren't included on the album later were released on either 20 Years of Tull Boxed Set or on the Nightcap album as unreleased tracks. I really like this album a lot in every aspect: musically and lyrically as well as subject matter. Every song is incredible and I like all of them, however, my standouts are probably: Beastie, Fallen On Hard Times, Slow Marching Band, Broadsword, and Pussy Willow. Slow Marching Band is also a very interesting song because it is seen by many fans to be a dirge concerning the past history of the band, and almost an apology by Ian Anderson to the other past members.

Anyway, this song, Beastie is about a person's greatest fears in what ever form they take. The musicianship in the song is quite good, and the way that the lyrics are arranged really make the song pretty fun to listen to as well.

Here is the studio version on YouTube.
Here is a live performance of the song from '82 with Too Old To Rock n Roll afterwords on YouTube.

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