Playing To The Gallery

In 1975, Jethro Tull decamped to the French Riviera to record their eighth studio album, Minstrel In The Gallery. As the record celebrates its half-century, Ian Anderson recalls the story behind its creation in between breaks in a lengthy touring cycle that would eventually lead to the departure of their zebra suit-wearing bassist Jeffrey Hammond.

James McNair

In spring 1975, had you been in the vicinity of Radio Monte Carlo’s premises in Monaco, you might have seen Ian Anderson dismount his Ossa trials motorcycle and go inside. It was there, in a sprawling live room big enough to facilitate games of badminton between takes, that Jethro Tull recorded their eighth studio album, Minstrel In The Gallery, between May 15 and June 7. While Renaissance made Scheherazade And Other Stories at London’s Abbey Road and Mike Oldfield tracked Ommadawn in rural Herefordshire, Tull were getting it together in another country. It was the first time they’d recorded an LP outside the UK and they’d shipped the Maison Rouge Mobile Studio out to Monaco along with Anderson’s bike. Now all he, guitarist Martin Barre, pianist John Evan, bassist Jeffrey…

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Prog Italia (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 158

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