Jethro Tull: Lend Me Your Ears (A Fan History)
By: Richard Houghton - This Day In History Books, $36.00)
Overview: Told in the first person, this new book Lend Me Your Ears is an oral history of Jethro Tull, mixing hundreds of fan anecdotes with memories from the band, their collaborators, other musicians and celebrity admirers garnered from over 50 years of recording and performing.
With many images in full color and previously unseen pictures from fans, this is the Jethro Tull story as it�s never been told before!
Verdict: Jethro Tull were, by the mid-seventies, one of the most successful live performing acts on the world stage, rivaling Led Zeppelin, Elton John and even the Rolling Stones. Now with some 30-odd albums to their credit and sales totaling more than 60 million, Jethro Tull continue to travel near and far to fans, old and new, across the world.
Lend Me Your Ears, an official new book with a foreword written by the great Ian Anderson MBE, is as magnificent, as revealing, as intriguing, as colorful, and as glossy as you could ever have wished it to be, trust me!
Having been oh-so kindly sent one from the UK for review here in the US, I have now finished reading it, lovingly viewing all the wondrous photos, reliving pieces of their past whilst at the very same time, learning more about the band than I ever did before!
Jethro Tull, the man, was an English agronomist, agriculturist, writer, and inventor whose ideas helped form the basis of modern British agriculture.
Jethro Tull, the band, were a British rock band who initially played blues rock and jazz fusion, before soon incorporated elements of English folk, hard rock, and classical music, forging a signature progressive rock sound.
No connection between the two, you say? Wrong, I retort, for both the man and the band soon became renowned figures within their respective genres, formed a substantial following, and over the years both became renowned for being at the forefront of their given career choices.
Moving on, and band wise, the group�s bandleader, founder, primary composer and only constant member is the aforementioned Ian Anderson, a multi-instrumentalist (flute, acoustic guitar, vocalist) who has himself watched as a revolving door of musicians have come and gone; inclusive of
some rather significant contributors throughout the decades.
From the off, author Richard Houghton attempts to bring everyone on board with the Jethro Tull history, opening with the aforementioned two-page foreword from Ian Anderson and then launching into Anderson�s Holy Family Church Hall 1964 memory, before giving us former booking agent Chris Wright�s memories of first meeting Anderson in 1967, and then comes a gig at London�s infamous Marquee Club later that year.
Told at a leisurely pace, never wanting to speed through the deliciously served facts of the time; the band; the man, those are just the opening three stories and trust me when I say there are hundreds more to be found here, all the way chronologically through to 2022�s The Zealot Gene, which was Anderson�s last solo album.
Contributors to the book include former Tull members Jeffrey Hammond, Dave Pegg, Clive Bunker, Dee Palmer and Doane Perry, celebrity fans Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller), Marc Almond (Soft Cell), Steve Harris (Iron Maiden), Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Joe Bonamassa, Steve Lukather (Toto), Danny Carey (Tool), Bryan Josh (Mostly Autumn), Graham Bonnett (Rainbow), TV presenter Lloyd Grossman, Tim Bowness, Mikael �kerfeldt, Seth Lakeman, Jakko Jaksyk (King Crimson), Leo O�Kelly (T�r na n�g), Franz Di Cioccio (PFM), Reverend George Pitcher, TV snooker commentator John Virgo and novelist Mark Billingham.
Lend Me Your Ears will be published in four editions with a Special Edition box priced at �85.00 � ($105.00) which includes the following bonus items:
A pack of Jethro Tull playing cards
A set of Jethro Tull drink coasters
Set of 4 Polaroid photographs of Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull setlist from a 1976 North American Tour
A high quality copy of hand written lyrics by Ian Anderson
Martin & Co guitar plectrum with Ian Anderson printed signature, as played by Ian
Ian�s personal Tour itinerary from the 90�s with handwritten notes by Ian
432 page full color hardback book
Lend Me Your Ears is now published and in stock as a 384 page full color hardback edition at �39.99 ($47.99) and a softback edition priced at �26.99 ($36.00).
Ian Anderson - Lend Me Your Ears [Official Book Reveal]
Official Book Purchase Link
www.thisdayinmusicbooks.com