Its autumn, and whenever the seasons change, I find myself reaching for certain types of music more than others. Sure there are thematic classical pieces such as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, or New Age music such as George Winston’s Autumn, and there are even groups that seem to have based their career around a season like the Beach Boys and their Endless Summer of surfing and cars. For me, in the summer, I like to listen to ska and reggae. In the winter, well there’s Christmas music, and maybe a little more jazz or classical.
But when the weather starts to turn cooler, I find myself reaching for…
Jethro Tull.
Yes, Jethro Tull, but only certain albums, specifically the three “pastoral” albums: Songs from the Woods, Heavy Horses, and Stormwatch.
Ian Anderson has said that the three are linked thematically, in that they all deal with the environment, and loosely the seasons. Songs from the Woods is the “spring/summer” album. The songs (except for Ring Out Solstice Bells) deal with plants growing, May days, summer rain, Beltane, velvet greens, and sex. This album is seen as a positive, “come all ye” type of album, celebrating the joys of an agrarian culture.
Heavy Horses is the autumn album, it contains songs about animals, October leaves, cold mornings, tea, coming snow, and oh yeah, sex. This album continues the themes of agrarian culture, but is becoming darker. It starts to see the incoming tide of technology, and the effect it will have on the traditional rural lifestyle.
That leaves Stormwatch as the winter album. The songs deal with cold, the constellation Orion, home, the coming dark ages, ghosts, and old gods. This album continues with the darkness that started to rear its head on Heavy Horses. Technology has taken over from the traditional rural lifestyle, and has brought about changes that are not necessarily positive. The album seems to say that the reliance on technology and bureaucracy will bring on a long, dark winter.
For more info, check out the Tull website, Cup of Wonder: http://www.cupofwonder.com, and in particular, the articles discussing Tull albums and songs: http://www.cupofwonder.com/essays.html.
Velvet Green from Songs from the Wood
Heavy Horses from Heavy Horses
Dun Ringill from Stormwatch
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