Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Barre, Martin
Label: Edifying Records
Release date: 29.09.2014
Running time: 66:09
Rating: 3/5
Ian Anderson once said that Jethro Tull can’t exist without longtime guitar virtuoso Martin Barre. In his view, carrying on under the same name after parting ways with his guitar partner would be utterly pointless. In 2011, it happened: Ian and Martin ended their long collaboration, and Jethro Tull, after more than forty years, ceased to exist. Since then, each of them has struck out on a solo path in their own way. The most ironic, if not downright tragicomic, part of it all is that both Martin’s and Ian’s live shows still lean mostly on Jethro Tull material, and the attachment to the legacy of the famous prog-rock outfit remains present in the studio too.
While on the acoustic-leaning album »Away With Words« (2013) Martin moved fairly successfully between new takes on longtime Jethro Tull favorites and solo creations, on the live album »Order of Play« he has almost completely ‘sailed’ back into the past, and along the way remembered some of his blues heroes who had a major influence on his guitar technique. For his live shows, Martin has gathered a good backing band around him, though it might have been better if he’d stuck to an instrumental base, meaning no singer.
Dan Crisp’s vocals are rather incompatible with the Jethro Tull legacy, and he chronically lacks Ian’s charisma and emotional fire, which blows the soul out of the classics in an instant. He’s far more convincing singing beloved blues standards like »Crossroads« (orig. Robert Johnson) and »Watch Your Step« (orig. Bobby Parker), where his voice ‘settles in’ perfectly, as if on a bet. Martin, whose guitar contribution on »Order of Play« can, as usual, hardly be praised enough, has gotten back into the blues lately, so it’s no surprise that he re-arranged some Jethro Tull standards in a somewhat bluesier way.
»A New Day Yesterday« was already a blues-rock number in its original form, on the Tull album »Stand Up« (1969), but this time Martin put even more emphasis on its blues elements and fully tailored it to Crisp’s voice, which stirs up rather mixed feelings. The same goes for the »Catfish Rising« (1991) standard »Still Loving You Tonight«. »Minstrel In The Gallery« came off much better, vocal interpretation aside, with Martin staying quite faithful to the original version. The often ‘forgotten’ classics »To Cry You A Song« and »Teacher«, which Jethro Tull rarely played in later years, also come off nicely. Credit is due as well to Richard Beesley, whose saxophone and clarinet convincingly make up for the absence of Ian’s trademark flute, which is almost key to keeping Martin’s lineup from coming across as just another Jethro Tull tribute band.
Martin’s guitar artistry is the main and only truly good reason to listen to »Order of Play«, which is otherwise completely dispensable, if not downright unnecessary, as a live recording. In every single performance (blues classics aside), it reminds you of the sad fact that Jethro Tull standards, without the joint effort of Martin and Ian, no longer have that real soul, no matter how impressive the playing is from a technical standpoint. If you were to ask whether there’s even a sliver of a chance of a Jethro Tull reunion, Martin would probably answer ‘I’m too old for this crap’, but still, much like Ian, he clearly enjoys basking in the long shadow of his former band.
Lineup
Martin Barre – guitar, mandolin
Dan Crisp – vocals, acoustic guitar, bouzouki
Richard Beesley – saxophone and clarinet
Alan Thomson – bass guitar
George Lindsay – drums
Production
Martin Barre
Track list
1. A New Day Yesterday
2. Fatman
3. Watch Your Step
4. Crossroads
5. Minstrel In The Gallery
6. To Cry You a Song
7. Steal Your Heart Away
8. Thick As a Brick (excerpt)
9. Sweet Dream
10. Song For Jeffrey
11. Rock Me Baby
12. Teacher
13. Still Loving You Tonight
14. Locomotive Breath
