[Darmok]

I finally got around to listening the remastered CotF CD (received it a couple of days ago) and just wanted to say WOW what an amazing work they did with it! Almost like listening to a new album.

[Darmok]

I always thought the hommage was to the song Jessica, from the “Brothers and Sisters” album, and the title was just referencing a different song of the band as a further “clue”. I don’t know the live version, though. Will check it out.

[Darmok]

Being not an Olaf fan by any means, I was impressed by his creative and tasteful playing especially on August and Superstooge (there were some other good moments). For the first time I saw him really fit in the band and understood why they chose him. Though I still wonder why he plays most of the new(ish) stuff in such a straightforward style (see Lucifer).
Bent and Snah seemed in really fine form, much more so than when I saw them in Trezzo earlier this year. Makes you think about how big of a toll the extensive touring must take on their energy.

[Darmok]

It’s a really good record, not only a collection of pretty songs but also a really solid album in the way it flows together near perfectly (the exception being Go to California, which is a fun song in itself but to me feels a bit “off” in the context of the album, it doesn’t seem to share the same mood). It’s by far my favorite of the pop trilogy, and the only one I’ll listen to gladly without skips. Actually, if I were to compile a “best of” from LTCE and Love Cult, Phanerothyme would still be better. Those other two records have their moments (The Other Fool, Stained Glass, Serpentine) but they also have pretty significant lows.
I’d love to hear more from Phanerothyme live. I’ll never dislike Go to California but it’s sad that in 14 concerts that’s the only song from the record that I got to hear, and I’m still bummed that I missed For Free this year.

[Darmok]

Wow! I was wondering how this one could be so long given the setlist, that could be (part of) the answer. Hoping for a recording to surface!

[Darmok]

So, do you guys think that those two dates in October (Sofia and Athens) are the prelude to another leg of the tour? Or just a couple of isolated shows?

[Darmok]

Fuck this looks so much better than what they played in Trezzo, now I’m even more bummed

[Darmok]

Well for me it’s just the opposite, the more I hear them live the more I hate them haha. Yeah I know they play those often, but non *that* often, 3 and 5 times until now this year, only once together… I can tolerate one, not both (same thing happened in Trezzo in 2017, but at least then it was The Tower tour so I knew Sonata would be in there).
I really don’t understand why Upstairs is so much more “valued” than other songs from that period they never play anymore. After hearing it 4 times I’d love to get even The Slow Phaseout instead of it. :D

[Darmok]

@The Other Anders

Upstairs and Sonata.

• This reply was modified 7 months ago by Darmok.

[Darmok]

Yeah there were definitely many more people than the last couple times in Trezzo. I’m happy for them and I hope the fantastic new album has earned them some new fans, but this also probably means they’ll stick to the Live Club, which is my least favourite of all the venues they played in recent years in or near Milan (Bloom, Magnolia, Santeria). Obviously it’s also the biggest.

[Darmok]

That was probably my un-trippiest MP concert ever. No epics at all, only a few jams. I mean, the old hits were fun (especially Sinful and Starmelt, Hey Jane felt strangely flat) but I wouldn’t want Motorpsycho to turn into a nostalgia act. The best moments for me were the songs from the amazing new album (especially Balthazaar), but it left me wishing for more.
But don’t mind me, I’m probably just displeased that I got, once again, to suffer through both the only two songs in their entire live catalog which I actively dislike.

[Darmok]

Wow, the new album is seriously great. I’m not a fan of the “best since…” trope, but I can’t remember being so excited with new MP offerings in a while, maybe a decade or so. (Which is of course not to say recent albums have been bad, but this really seems something else)

[Darmok]

@suntripper

Agreed, my personal favorite from the “folk trilogy” is Heavy Horses, which has imho some of their most memorable melodies, but I think your description applies to all three of those albums (Woods-Horses-Stormwatch). I also really like their introduction to the 80’s, “A”: I feel it still has a sense of adventure in the way it mixes classic Tull sound with the keyboards of that era. It’s not Rush, but it’s not bad either. After that they weren’t really relevant anymore, but the same could be said for so many 70’s bands, and I’ll still pick Crest of a Knave over any “Pop Genesis” album.
Perhaps Bent is focusing too much on the only two real “bumps in the road” for 70’s Tull, War Child and Too Old To Rock’n’Roll. Also, his characterization seems to consider only Ian Anderson, who in his old age has indeed become a little insufferable. However, I saw the Martin Barre Band a few years ago and it was all fun and smiles (and solid r’n’r renditions of Tull classics, though sadly with no flute). I would describe Martin precisely as the “jolly old man” Bent wants them to be.

[Darmok]

Eh, come on, Tull didn’t end in ’73. Sure, they released some subpar stuff, but Minstrel and especially Heavy Horses are great.

[Darmok]

A bit bummed that they’re “coming back” to Trezzo, since Santeria (where they played in the last tour) was in my opinion a much better choice for them. I mean, I’ll still go, obviously, but I’d prefer a more intimate venue.

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