Jethro Tull - Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970

Starring:Jethro Tull
Studio: Eagle Vision USA
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Just three years after their founding, Jethro Tull played the final day of the legendary Isle of Wight festival in 1970. With the crowd estimated at close to 600,000 people, the band was one of many impressive acts on this day, including The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Moody Blues, Free, and many more. The set mostly contains material from their first three albums, with the exception of "My God", which would appear several months later on their legendary "Aqualung" album.

In this stunning snapshot of the last hurrah of the hippie movement, Award Winning Directo Murray Lerner captures the tension between the crowd and organizers for the final day of the festival. Ian Anderson provides his thoughts throughout the program as well, to give the viewer a unique perspective on what Jethro Tull was about at this moment in time. They were still a relatively new band, yet superstardom was in the near future. The band lineup for this show consists of: Ian Anderson (vocals, flute, acoustic guitar), Martin Barre (electric guitar), Clive Bunker (drums), Glen Cornick (bass), and John Evan (keyboards).

Jethro Tull has earned 11 gold and 5 platinum albums over the course of their 37-year history.

Description

Jethro Tull was formed in the late 60's and released their debut album This Was in 1968. Led by charismatic frontman Ian Anderson, they have been touring and recording almost constantly ever since. Jethro Tull has registered #1 albums on both sides of the Atlantic, achieved a succession of gold and platinum discs and won a Grammy award. They remain a massive live draw wherever they play around the world.

In 1970 Jethro Tull played the Isle Of Wight Festival in front of 600,000 people. Earlier that year they had released their third album, Benefit, which had seen the introduction of a full time keyboard player to the band's lineup. The set was drawn from across the three albums with popular tracks such as My Sunday Feeling, Dharma For One, Bourée and Nothing Is Easy and also featured My God, a track that would appear on the following year's classic album Aqualung, probably their most famous release.

Nothing Is Easy is a true concert film, combining the classic performances from the festival with a new interview with Ian Anderson, specially shot for the film, and with backstage footage and original interviews from 1970 with Isle of Wight residents and fans attending the festival. Also included in the film is footage of the band's appearance in the Rolling Stones' Rock And Roll Circus performing A Song For Jeffrey with Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath on guitar.

As a bonus feature on the DVD there is a photo gallery of 26 original pictures of Tull's performance at the Isle of Wight taken by celebrated photographer Claude Gassian.

DVD Tracklisting:
1) Bourée (excerpt)
2) My Sunday Feeling
3) A Song For Jeffrey
4) My God
5) Dharma For One
6) Nothing Is Easy
7) Medley: We Used To Know / For A Thousand Mothers

CD Tracklisting:
1) My Sunday Feeling
2) My God
3) With You There To Help Me
4) To Cry You A Song
5) Bourée
6) Dharma For 1
7) Nothing Is Easy
8) Medley: We Used To Know / For A Thousand Mothers

Customer Reviews:

Excellent view of early Tull.......2007-06-23

This is excellent in several ways. It has an overall commentary of the performance by Ian himself. Then his comments on what the festival signified--Its somewhat similar to "Woodstock" by Michael Wadleigh...showing the atmosphere as if you were there yourself. I particularly like the fact that its not "re-mixed" or "re-" anything, the video and sound are basically as it was recorded. Its not scratchy or choppy at all, its exceptionally well documented, and just a great peek into some early Tull when "My God" was considered a new piece. There are parts of this floating around the net, but if you want the whole insight into the festival, the band, and the music, then this DVD is a must. Any Tull fan will appreciate the set, new or old. The insert included with the DVD, which basically states Ian's thoughts about the film and festival, is several paragraphs long, and the extra features of the disc include a photo gallery. No behind the scenes or anything we are used to nowadays....But back then, they werent filming with the creation of a DVD in mind. Historically great (hippie ideals, free concerts, etc), One of the last great large concerts showcased, and early Tull packaged into a fantastic set of disks.

Muy bueno.......2007-01-21

Es muy interesante ver los comentarios de Ian Anderson sobre el momento y la puesta en escena del concierto. El sonido es muy bueno igual que la imagen, lástima que no tenga la opción de Widescreen, sin embargo vale la pena tener este concierto. Adicionalmente tiene el bono del CD con otros temas adicionales.

Los amantes de Jethro Tull deben tener este DVD.

I gave this as a gift,........2007-01-03

I cannot comment on the quality myself because I gaveit as a Christmas gift to my brother. He did tell me he loved it, but he could just be saying that.

Muy bueno.......2006-08-14

Es imprecionante ver a Jethro Tull, en su epoca ya que no es facil conseguir videos en vivo de una epoca donde la musica era innovadora y existian bandas muy importantes simultaneamente, este DVD lo puedes ver completo y te vas a quedar con ganas de ver mas de Jethro Tull me hizo recordar mucho a Led Zeppelin

This is Great!.......2006-05-28

There is no way this isn't 5 stars. This is live music at it's best. Jethro Tull was never a mainstream classic rock band. But this is whole performance was/is pure classic metal. Clive Bunker (drums) is one of the best ever. Martin Barre (guitar) is better than average. Glen Cornick (bass) who left the band less than a year after this was really the only hippy in Tull. Ian Anderson of course (vocals, flute, acoustic guitar) is incredible. And John Evan (piano) was the main parts of the roots of the band back when he was a drummer in the John Evan Smash and with the album Benefit was back in the band.

These are the rankings of each song in the order of CD listing:

1. My Sunday Feeling-This was there official debut song off of This Was. And this is an extremely good perforance of it. Ian Anderson is late on his flute fills because even he can't sing, dance, and play the flute all in one. 8/10

2. My God-A classic song from the Aqualung album. And this is a pretty good rendition. 9/10

3. With You There to Help Me-The opener for 1970's Benefit. Clive Bunker is very powerful on the drums. But when he's not playing it seems that the band is off beat and Evan plays part of By Kind of Permission off Living in the Past. 7/10

4. To Cry a Song-Also off of Benefit. With a great riff and guitar solo gets a 10/10.

5. Bourée-Released as a single in 1969 is a classical song picked up from Bach. 9/10.

6. Dharma For One-Originally released on This Was. This version is rearranged but why. It was a great song before it was rearranged why change it. But if you look past it Bunker has a great drum solo for his effort it gets 8/10.

7. Nothing Is Easy-The first song off of 1969's Stand Up. This is the title of the album and I can see why. 10/10.

8. Medley: We Used To Know/For a Thousand Mothers-These are my two favorite songs off of the album Stand Up (besides A New Day Yesterday.) Barre doesn't use the wah-wah pedal so the guitar solo in We Used to Know doesn't have the same feel as the studio version. But For a Thousand Mothers is great. The only problem is Anderson sings the verse that starts with "baby" with only John Evan and it doesn't have the same feel. But regardless it still gets a 9/10.

This is a classic live performance during the golden age of rock music.

Jethro Tull - Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970

Average customer rating:

Worth the price
Jethro Tull-'Nothing Is Easy:Live At The Isle Of Wight,1970' (Eagle Vision)
Annoying Editing Ruins Brilliant Jethro Tull Performances
great for die- hard ian anderson fans
"And The Graven Image You know Who With His Plastic Crucifix"

Jethro Tull - Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970
Starring: Jethro Tull
Manufacturer: Eagle Vision USA
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull - A New Day Yesterday: The 25th Anniversary Collection, 1969-1994
Jethro Tull - Living with the Past
Message to Love - The Isle of Wight Festival
Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970

ASIN: B0007OY42O
Release Date: 2005-03-22

Description

Just three years after their founding, Jethro Tull played the final day of the legendary Isle of Wight festival in 1970. With the crowd estimated at close to 600,000 people, the band was one of many impressive acts on this day, including The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Moody Blues, Free, and many more. The set mostly contains material from their first three albums, with the exception of "My God", which would appear several months later on their legendary "Aqualung" album.

Jethro Tull has earned 11 gold and 5 platinum albums over the course of their 37-year history.

Set List:
1. My Sunday Feeling
2. My God
3. Bouree
4. Dharma For One
5. Nothing Is Easy
6. Medley (We Used To Know/For A Thousand Mothers)

Customer Reviews:

Worth the price.......2007-01-20

The few good cuts make the DVD worthwhile: Nothing is Easy, My Sunday Feeling, We Used to Know, My God.
Alas the movie focuses on annoying crowd complaints in the middle of other songs. To Cry You a Song is left to play behind the end credits. Dharma for one is boring.
I enjoyed Ian Anderson's comments throughout, though they should have been reserved for another part of the DVD.
Worst part? Inserting Song For Jeffrey from the Rolling Stones' Circus concert (or whatever it was called) right into the middle of the Isle of Wight concert. The song is atrocious - at least in this rendition. Jeffrey, you deserved better.
All in all you get your money's worth, and unless you find other live footage of Tull, this is a must.
Just play Nothing is Easy or My Sunday Feeling to anyone who thinks of Tull as a little weenie Bungle in the Jungle studio band.

Jethro Tull-'Nothing Is Easy:Live At The Isle Of Wight,1970' (Eagle Vision).......2006-06-09

Personally,I liked the audio CD of the same title better(see my review).I've waited a little while to see this DVD of vintage Tull and even though the live footage of the songs are great,the overall editing job of this music DVD should have been done differently.Whoever put this retrospect together should have put the seven songs FIRST,then put the interviews with Ian Anderson,which provided some super nice 'words of thought' and perhaps facts about Tull that many of you didn't already know.Also dug the footage of the angered fans that were speaking their mind about the famed Isle Of Wight event.Had a fantastic time checking out the perfectly focused(sometimes that doesn't happen with old concert films as such)and never off centered performances of "My Sunday Feeling","Bouree","Dharma For One" and "Nothing Is Easy".If you're an old school Jethro Tull fan,with some time AND patience,do check this DVD out when you can.

Annoying Editing Ruins Brilliant Jethro Tull Performances.......2006-02-23

Poor Ian Anderson! It's not clear to me if Lerner edited this film or merely shot the original footage, but whoever did the edit apparently does not care much for Jethro Tull music.

It's so frustrating to watch incredible concert footage interrupted every 30 seconds by some angry young man enjoying his 15 minutes of fame.

I find this DVD virtually unwatchable and heartbreaking. It's not about the band or the music, this is a DVD about the end of the 60's except it was not done very well even from that perspective.

If you love the band, brace yourself for disappointment.

great for die- hard ian anderson fans.......2005-11-16

much better footage than you would expect a must -have item

"And The Graven Image You know Who With His Plastic Crucifix".......2005-10-23

From perusing the various reviews it's obvious there are some serious Tull purists let down with the incomplete footage. Be that as it may, what is presented is outstanding! The footage of one of my all time Tull picks, "My God," alone makes this more than worthwhile. Anderson's take on our religious misdirections and misgivings are far more wry and lyrical than say, those of another favored staple of that era, the darkly iconoclastic Black Sabbath. Speaking of which, this documentary includes the bluesy chugger "Song For Jeffrey," from the Stones Rock And Roll Circus, with none other than Toni Iommi on guitar shortly before he joined up with Geezer Butler to form Sabbath.
The narration by Anderson is fine on its own although is repetitiously interspersed with performance footage that makes it drag a bit. Maybe it would've worked better as an aside on the menu with the live footage left to stand on its own. However, it's a minor criticism given the band was fully alive and in top form, replete with frazzled, unkempt-bearded Anderson gyrating about within a devil-may-care catharsis of expression.

Nothing Is Easy-Live at the Isle of Wight 1970

Average customer rating:

Nothing Is Easy-Live at the Isle of Wight 1970
Starring: Jethro Tull
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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