Song 184 (Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)--"Eurology")

To those who do not know, I've picked songs from all of the Jethro Tull eras from beginning to end on Sundays; for me this is the current (13th) era. All of the other previous eras can be found in this blog on songs: 100, 107, 114, 121, 128, 135, 142, 149, 156, 163, 170, and 177. In the last 13 Sundays I have covered 13 distinct eras over 40 years. I did this because I really like the band and how their music changes drastically through these eras and at some points doesn't even sound like the same band. This is apparent if you listen to one era and then listen to something from two or more eras away it sounds very different; also this year is the 40th anniversary of the band and was another reason that I did this as well. It will be weird next Sunday to not pick a 'Tull Song.

This current era of 'Tull for me goes from '03 to present. The albums that they released during this period was the Jethro Tull Christmas album and Ian Anderson's Rupi's dance, which I believe is his best solo album. Other than those there were some other albums that had previously-released material in acoustic form and live albums as well as some DVDs. I chose one off of the solo album because the season is wrong to pick a Christmas song and I really like the Rupi's dance album. On the Christmas album they mostly did traditional songs with a jazz, classical, or rock feel as well as some of their previously released songs that were re-done; overall it is a good seasonal album. Rupi's Dance has more of a classic 'Tull sound reminiscent of the late 70's eras mixed with the late 90's era, and is a real treat. The best song on this album in my opinion are: "Calliandra's Shade," "Rupi's Dance," "A Raft of Penguins," "Eurology," "Old Black Cat," and "Griminelli's Lament." Because of Ian's solo band, "Rubbing Elbows," a lot of different Non-'Tull musicians participated in and influenced this era. However, the ones that were official band member changes were: David Goodier has recently replaced Jonathan Noyce on bass, and Jon O'Hara replaced Andy Giddings on keyboards; both from Ian's "Rubbing Elbows" band. David Pegg came back on two tracks on the Christmas album as well.

What is neat about this song is the odd measures; an alternating 7/8 and 9/8 beat. At this point Ian and Jethro Tull have been going about it so long that they make very complicated music sound easy. The musicianship and arrangements in this song are just incredible.

Here is the studio version on YouTube.
Here is a live performance on YouTube.

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