Name Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull
Best known for Standing on one flute playing my leg….
Current city A field outside a small village in the Southwest of the UK. Do people still actually live in cities?
Really want to be in Pretty much where I am right now. Or somewhere like this, near this. Not too far from a train station and a major international airport. But has to have trees and gardens. Not roads and traffic. Or too many people…
Also Read
The 50 Best Albums of 1972
Excited about The release of the new Jethro Tull album RökFlöte [April 21] and then the next project for release in 2024. Plus, visiting old and new friends on tour in several countries throughout 2023.
My current music collection has a lot of Handel and Morrissey.
And a little bit of Foreigner, Frank Zappa, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and The Stranglers.
Preferred format Downloaded and paid-for music on my phone or computer. Long time since I bought CDs or Vinyl records. But important to listen on very good headphones or speakers. But I am not a big music fan. I prefer reading news, politics, and current affairs. With occasional Scandi noir novels or Stephen King.
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
1
The Messiah, George Frideric Handel
Magical, spiritual music for the heart and mind. No drums or bass! Quirky melodies and odd lyrics which were controversial in their day.
2
Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith, Roy Harper
Idiosyncratic modern folk by the master of such intimate and esoteric writing in the late-‘60s who influenced generations of very different musicians, but who not so many people know of. My (almost) only album when I lived hungry and cold in a little bedsit room in North London in 1968. Roy’s guitar playing and vocal phrasing rubbed off on me in some of my songwriting in the years following.
3
No End in Sight: The Very Best of Foreigner, Foreigner
I came to Foreigner quite late, but grew to rate Lou Gramm as the best tenor rock singer of all time. Perfect intonation, diction, and ornamentation. Thank God he can’t play the flute….
4
Poor Man’s Heaven, Seth Lakeman
Contemporary English folk artist. Sings of the historic events of Devon and Cornwall in Southwest England. Great voice and tenor guitar–an unusual instrument these days with four strings and small body. NOT a ukulele! Plays a mean fiddle, too. We have played together on occasion.
5
The Best of Morrisey, Morrissey
I didn’t know Morrissey at all until very recently when I read some controversial comments reported in the media. Having then listened to some early songs, I bought his autobiography in which he reveals the traumas and tribulations of childhood and his early days with The Smiths through to the recent past. But his songs have a real elegance and are built around economical and minimalist melodies. Poetic, insightful lyrics and not half as miserable as people make him out to be! A bit of a humorist, actually. Works with great musicians of that genre and seems to be having a good time on stage. I am a buyer of compilations, generally, as they serve as a good introduction to artists of all times and musical styles.
