01	Quizz Kid						05:11
	02	Crazed Institution						04:48
	03	Salamander						02:52
	04	Taxi Grab						03:56
	05	From A Deadbeat To An Old Greaser						04:11
	06	Bad-Eyed And Loveless						02:12
	07	Big Dipper						03:38
	08	Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die!						05:43
	09	Pied Piper						04:35
	10	The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive)						05:23

I.Anderson - M.Barre - J.Evan - B.Barlow - J.Glascock

~ Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die! ~

An introduction to
"Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die!"

The album "Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll", like "Warchild", originated more from an ambitious project than being just another Tull-album. Where the basis for "Warchild" was originally a film, the album at hand stemmed from the idea of a stage musical. David Palmer and Ian Anderson started writing songs for this planned musical in 1975. They intended to record 18 songs, of which about the twelve best ones would make it for a new Tull-album. In the original concept the subjects of the songs were to be people from different walks of life: an ageing rock-star, a housewife, an artist etc. The songs written for this musical were intended to be sung by seventies pop-star Adam Faith. The plans for the musical were - like the War Child film - abandoned. The sources I have used do not reveal why. They do reveal however that Ian looked for new forms of creative expression. I assume that the need for a new album, the oncoming next world tour and possibly financial problems to realise this musical, were the main reasons why it never materialized. Anyway, with so much work already done, it seems that the rock-star was the personality that was worked out well enough into a coherent story to make an album out of it.

With this album Ian once again brings an aspect of history to the fore: in this case the phenomenon of reoccurring trends in music and fashion. Is Ian implicitely saying here that there are no real new trends: it all has been seen and done before? (Like the women of Pompei wearing bikini's 2000 years ago ...). There is, I think, an interesting link in this case with "Thick As A Brick", where the same phenomenon is a subject in the lyrics, but now in regard to morals! ( Remember: the sand castle virtues...). Rees states ".... the plot was pretty straightforward, with the message that the cyclical nature of fashion means that if you don't change your image, it will one day be fashionable again" (1, p. 71).

The story is about a young rocker, Ray Lomas, who clings to his music and fashion, in spite of getting older ("Too old to R & R)", while his old-time mates conform to society and thus become 'square'. He feels isolated, gets fed up with this situation and in a rebellious mood he decides to run away from it all, leaves on his motorcycle and his racing the A1 motorway leads to an accident, that almost kills him ("Too young to die"). While recovering in hospital from his severe injuries, there is a 'new' trend in music and fashion, which after leaving the hospital makes him and his image completely up-to-date again! Once again he is a fashionable teen idol. A comic strip on the inside of the cover of this album illustrates the story of Ray Lomas and connects the songs to eachother. Dustin Poe points out, that Ray Lomas is not the 'hero of the story', but the personification of what is being ridiculed. This is most apparent in the last part of the album, with Big Dipper, the title track, and Pied Piper. Ray is one of those people who are so caught up in living in the past (no pun intended), that when they enter the real world they can't deal with it. Ray Lomas is treated with that trademark Ian treatment of irony and sarcasm which is for me the greatest appeal of his lyrics.

The album was released in 1976 when punk rock and new wave were about to draw the attention away from the great bands of the late sixties and early seventies. These bands were considered more and more as the "dinosaurs" of rock, as a nuisance "we" had to get rid of in order to break the way for new developments. Rees quotes Ian: "The new punks are doing what the old rockers were doing years ago. They were playing rock and blues, now it's punk-rock, but it's essentially the same thing, both in terms of music and attitude. I started out doing what the Sex Pistols are doing now. OK, I didn't actually spit at people when we played the Marquee, but I certainly insulted them a lot!"( 1; p. 72-73). Remember Pete Townsend of The Who, smashing his guitars and amplifiers, or Jim Morrison of the Doors, provoking his audience throwing up and peeing on stage......



With the Ray Lomas story, Ian shows his sense for history, not only in respect to reoccurring trends in music and fashion but also regarding his own relative position on the rock scene. He must have noticed that he was losing ground: the next generation of teens was not exactly dying of impatience for his music and he surely must have been aware of the fact that he missed the linking-up with them. Though still very popular and successful at the time, especially in the USA and Germany, Ian must have forseen that the band would have to endure a period of neglect, lack of attention and even being flamed by the music press and that eventually the tide would turn again in their favour. Looking back from the perspective of the present day this seems to be confirmed by at least one fact and one phenomenon. In 1987 Jethro Tull won a Grammy award for "Crest Of A Knave", beating the nominated Metallica, evoking new interest for the band and their music. Secondly, the old-time fans see more and more young people getting interested in Jethro Tull: these young fans attend gigs and are present on the internet in forums, chatboxes, newsgroups and with their own Tull-websites appreciating the band in their own way, while at the same time a consistent group of loyal followers (mostly being in their forties or fifties) kept track of the band in all these the years!

Now let's get back to the album itself. It seems to me, that the original plan of writing a stage musical in the end turned out to be a defining, perhaps limiting format for the songs that finally made it to the album. The lyrics are pretty straightforward, the plot is simple and several songs, especially the title song, are quite plain, predictable and thus lacking the 'listening adventure' that always featured Ian's music ever since "Stand Up". Since they should all be performable on stage in the setting of a musical, sung by Adam Faith instead of Ian, most of them are relatively simple and they tend to under-expose Ian's vocal qualities, imposing the idea that the album is alltogether "uninspired and stodgy" (1, p. 71). However, the album still contains some beautiful songs like 'Salamander', 'Pied Piper', 'From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser' and 'Bad-Eyed And Loveless' and the real fan certainly could not do without this one .
* Jan Voorbij; Cited: 1. David Rees: 'Minstrels in The Gallery : A History Of Jethro Tull', Wembley, UK, 1998.

I wonder if many fans haven't been a little too quick to dismiss this entire album because of it's having originated from the hare-brained scheme of producing a stage musical. It seems to me that it is characteristic of Ian Anderson to write lyrics that appear to be very thoughtful and reflective, then to package them up with some gag that serves as a fig leaf to shield him from possible ridicule. The "Gerald Bostock" newspaper thing that went with "Thick As A Brick" and the nutty "Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" story in "A Passion Play" are prime examples of this. It's as if Mr. Anderson is saying "If you agree with or are impressed with my opinions, that's great; if not, well, I was only joking anyway." (From bits of interviews I have heard and read, it seems to me Mr. Anderson also tends to downplay the meaningfulness of his lyrics when questioned about them, as well.) I don't doubt that there is truth behind the well-known stage musical story, but maybe we ought not overlook how such circumstances provided Ian Anderson with a very convenient ready-made "gag" to safely hide some profound thoughts behind. To me, interpreting this album only in terms of the comic strip that comes with it (as many seem to do) makes about as much sense as basing your entire interpretation of Thick As A Brick the fake newspaper that comes with that.
* John W. Loosemore



Annotations

Quizz Kid

Under the cover of the story of Ray Lomas, this particular song contains an ironic description of the television quizzes that were so very popular during the sixties and early seventies, esp. in the USA and in Europe: "It's a try out for a quizz show that millions watch each week, following the fate and fortune of contestants as they speak". These quizzes were often criticized. I remember clearly how we as young students considered them with desdain as symptoms of the consumer society, where material things like cars and washing-machines seemed to be the only things that really mattered. Big prizes were at stake. The second point of critique in those days had to do with the dullness of this kind of 'amusement for the masses', of its lack of intelligence and its lack of appeal on - let's say - creative thinking of the viewers.

We see how Ian in the second verse depicts that as a quizz-contestant it is not at all easy to be yourself, being manipulated in this media circus: "They'll wine you, dine you, undermine you; better not bring the wife" and that people who take part in these quizzes are as it were 'extradited' to the public opinion: "Answerable to everyone, responsible to all" (and) "May be barbaric but it's fun". The last part of this verse, starting with "May you find sweet inspiration ...", is very ironic: it contains 11 good-luck wishes in different wordings, taking a prayer-like shape!

The "dunce's cap" in the second verseline is a paper cap that some decades ago was used in schools to humiliate stupid or annoying pupils. They had to stand in the corner of the class room wearing it by way of punishment.
* Jan Voorbij



Crazed Institution

The irony spills over to this song, but here the would-be life of being a star seems to be the subject matter.In the first verse the image(-building) of the star is described eventually leading the star to belief he really is someone special: "be the man that you really think (know) you are". Now the star has made it to the top, he becomes frightened: "hold your breath and light a candle", for he discovers he cannot live up to expectations ("the man that you really know you are"), being not the big personality the public believes him to be since he is a star in their eyes: "the corridors that echo in your brain filled with empty nothingness, empty hunger pains". Is Ian here deliberately relativizing his own position as a rock star?
* Jan Voorbij

Although surficially rather 'earthy', the second verse says quite a lot and reinforces the theme of living in the past. "Is it them or is it you, throwing dice inside the loo awaiting someone else to pull the chain". In verse one, a star was created, perhaps a musician with a hit single, an actor in a hit film, or a world champion sportsman. Let s pursue the metaphor with a rock star. Now he's living on the past glory of that one hit, relying on it to maintain his fame - but the winning streak won't last forever. Eventually, a critic will turn on him, or another band will have a new hit single - he'll be flushed from public consciousness. "Well grab the old bog-handle, hold your breath and light a candle". Rather than wait for someone else to do it, the rock star has to put his past glories to one side and produce something new. Inevitably, there's a degree of hype remaining about his previous release(s), certain expectations from the public, and a lot of bull from critics, promoters and hangers-on, which all must be dispelled before starting the new project."Clear your throat and pray for rain". The classic pose of the constipated! And that's the problem. As the rest of the verse shows, the rock star can't produce new material." ...and pray for rain to irrigate the corridors that echo in your brain filled with empty nothingness, empty hunger pains". He can't think of stunning new lyrics, or a killer riff to match the previous single. He's getting worried that he might be a one hit wonder, who can ONLY live in the past.
* Neil R. Thomason

Ian applies in 'Crazed Institution' a mix of irony and sarcasm. "Ring a crown of roses 'round your cranium. Live and die upon your cross of platinum". This being a reference to Jesus, saying that not only do the public tends to look on pop stars as messiahs, but quite often the stars see themselves in this way.
* Dustin Poe



Salamander


I discovered some information pertaining to the song Salamander. I was watching a TV show last night about magic and magicians, and they said that somehow there was an old folk tale or something which connected salamanders with fire-walkers. They said that over time, the term 'salamander' has been applied to such things as fire-eating, fire-breathing, etc. So then I realized that the song Salamander has many references to fire: "born of the sun-kissed flame. Who was it lit your candle, branded you with your name?" (and) "Salamander,burn for me, and I'll burn for you". That still doesn't explain the song itself very well but it does explain why it was named Salamander. I looked up 'salamander' in the dictionary, and apart from the expected definition, there is a second definition of the word. Here are the exact words: "a mythical being, especially a lizard or other reptile, thought to be able to live in fire". So that's what they were talking about on that show; it was from the mythical salamander that the name got applied to "fire magicians".
* Dustin Poe

"Salamander, burn for me and I'll burn for you". If we accept the central theme of living in the past, the woman in Salamander is its antithesis; someone who lives for the moment, who has brief, passionate affairs and then moves on. In terms of the album's story, Salamander goes along with Ray's spur-of-the-moment taxi grab.
* Neil R.Thomason




From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser

In this refined, pensive, acoustic song we see how Ray Lomas, being an old early-sixties rocker or greaser, is confronted with someone from an earlier generation, who like him, cannot let the past go and clings to ideas, fashion etc. in this case of the fifties' beat generation. This beat is living in his memories and idealizes that era. Ray is bored by his stories: he cannot relate to it and leaves: "Think you must have me all wrong, I didn't care friend, I wasn't there, friend". I suspect, that Ray intuitively feels that he will end up like this beat guy, if he continues living his life the way he does.

With "dead beat" Ian refers to the beat generation, also known as beatnix or beatniks, a movement started in the USA by poets and novelists. They criticized the establishment, the consumer society, the rat race (a term they introduced btw) and materialism. In 1956 beat generation drew the attention of the public with 'Howl and other poems' by Allen Ginsberg and the novel 'On the road' by Jack Kerouac. They adopted a life style of chosen poverty and anarchistic individualism, striving for 'extatic' ("beatific") experiences: "... sharing wet dreams of Charlie Parker, Jack Kerouac, Rene Magritte ...". Many of them were travelling the US from coast to coast constantly ("sat in the station ...") and/or used drugs, trying to flee from the dullness of a moralizing and fixed society. The theories of Zen-buddhism influenced them, as well as those of the french experimental authors of the twenties. When it comes to music, bebop and hard bob jazz (Charlie Parker) were very popular among the beatnix, while the influence they had on jazz music of those days is reflected in the free jazz style of Ornette Coleman a.o. Young intellectuals, students and artists were attracted by their life style and ideas, but the nucleus of the beat generation fell apart in the early sixties. The well-known authors of this movement continued to publish: the poets Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder Phil Walen and the novelists Jack Kerouac, Chandler Brossard and Wiliam S. Burroughs, while some of the older authors like Norman Mailer and Kenneth Rexroth were clearly influenced by them (1.).



Rene Magritte (1898 - 1967), mentioned in this song, was a Belgian surrealist painter, writer, essayist and film-producer, who became very popular in the UK and the USA. One of his most famous paintings is the above "The treachery of images" (1929). It depicts a pipe, but the painter tells us it is not ("Ceci n'est pas une pipe"): it's just a representation of what we see (2.). More information about his ideas and examples of his art can be found at The Official Magritte Site.
* Jan Voorbij ; Sources: 1. Encarta Encyclopedie Winkler Prins Editie 99, Amsterdam 1998; 2. The Official Magritte Site.

The term 'greaser' derives from the perception of motorcycles as dirty, greasy machines, and their riders being much the same! I think the term originates from the 1960s rivalry between the motorbike-riding Rockers and the scooter-riding Mods.
"... coffee bars; black tights and white thighs
in shop windows where blonde assistants fully-fashioned a world made
of dummies (with no mummies or daddies to reject them).
When bombs were banned every Sunday and the Shadows played F.B.I.
All images of the good old days - comforting and fairly tame.

And tired young sax-players sold their instruments of torture
sat in the station..."
You could be right about this line referring to beatniks constantly travelling the US from coast to coast, but I ve always received the image of busking sax-players in the London Underground. Virtually all the other images in this song are very English and fit the theme of harking back to better times in good old England.
* Neil R. Thomason

The verseline "When bombs were banned every Sunday" refers to the slogan "Ban The Bomb"of the peace movement in the early sixties. In Britain these peace activists organised protest marches that were originally held on Sundays.
* Jan Voorbij



Bad-eyed And Loveless

"I'm self raising and I flower in her company". The play on words (Self-raising flour) is fairly obvious, isn t it?
* Neil R. Thomason


Big Dipper
The song is about a bunch of youngsters going up-town for their weekend rage of which Ray Lomas is the champion: "I'm the Big Dipper". The lyrics contain several references to the Golden Mile in Blackpool: the Pleasure Beach, the roller-coaster, the Tower ballroom and the penny arcades. See also the annotations on "Up The 'Pool". The verseline "... we don't mean anyone any harm, we weren't on the Glasgow train" probably refers to the football hooligans from this city, who are notorious for their vandalism during their journeys to support their clubs.
* Jan Voorbij




"Weekend happiness seekers pent-up saturation. Well, we don't mean anyone any harm, we weren't on the Glasgow train". Two points. The Glasgow supporters WERE notorious (and usually only at matches between the two main Glasgow teams, I think), but not to the same extent as English fans. More importantly for the song, Glaswegians wouldn't be travelling to Blackpool for the football, since English and Scottish league teams don't play each other. I suspect a specific event inspired this line, giving Glaswegians a bad reputation at the time. "I'm the Big Dipper": Its really important to note that Ray WAS the champion in his youth, but on this visit, he's just laughed-at. This is the final straw motivating his fateful bike ride.


Like 'Up the 'Pool' this song too is about Blackpool. In the album sleeve's cartoon, the panel entitled 'Home' actually shows the Tower. There is a Big Dipper on the Golden Mile.
* Neil R. Thomason



Too Old To Rock'n' Roll: Too Young To Die!


"So the old Rocker gets out his bike to make a ton before he takes his leave". 'A ton' is slang for travelling at 100 miles per hour."Up on the A1 by Scotch Corner": The A1 is the main (hence trunk road) north-south route on the eastern side of England. The Pennine mountain range down the middle of northern England means that there s the A1 to the east of the Pennines, and north-south traffic on the western side of the mountains follows the M6. The A1 is effectively a motorway (nowadays the correct name is in fact the A1(M) ), with multiple lanes in each direction. Near the small town of Scotch Corner, it narrows and becomes a more minor road. This means a huge volume of traffic becomes concentrated onto a smaller road, and theoretically has to decelerate. However, if one has been driving at 70mph (more likely to be 80-90mph...) for a couple of hundred miles, it s difficult to readjust to the lower speed limit on the smaller road. Unsurprisingly, Scotch Corner is an accident black spot . There's something about this song that puzzles me. According to the album s story, Ray travels down to London, in south-east England, then to Blackpool, in north-west England, but his bike accident occurs near Scotch Corner, in north-EAST England. So where was he going? If he was heading from Blackpool to London, he wouldn t go via Newcastle! Similarly, the logical route to Scotland stays on the west of the country; even if he was going to eastern Scotland, he'd be likely to stay on the west almost until Glasgow. Something to consider: was Ray driving too fast just to release his frustrations, or was it suicide?
* Neil R. Thomason

Lawrence Westhaver points out that a "Rocker" was not just a rock & roll fan (notice that Ian capitalizes the 'R' in Rocker as if it is a proper noun). To be a rocker was a lifestyle in the late fifties, early sixties in Western Europe, esp. in the UK. In a way they can be considered as the European equivalents of the Beatnix - a subculture that goes back to the mid-fifties in the USA (see above). Apart from racing the motorways on their bikes, the cafe's where they met were important elements in this youth culture ("the transport caf' prophet of doom..."). There is more detailed information on the subject on these sites: The Rise Of The Caferacer And The Rocker, A Rocker's'Tale: Bikes, Burnin' and Birds, Rockers: An Amercian Perspective, Written In The Sixties.
* Lawrence Westhaver, Jan Voorbij



The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive)

"The sunlight streaks through the curtain cracks, touches the old man where he sleeps. The nurse brings up a cup of tea two biscuits and the morning paper mystery." It's probably just coincidental, but this verse is very reminiscent of 'Cheap Day Return' and 'Nursie'.
* Neil R. Thomason

The song 'Chequered Flag' almost brings tears to my eyes, as it seems to me this is Mr. Anderson's vision of the end of his own life. Finally coming to "the hard road's end" as "the deaf composer (God?) completes his final score", he is now a weak old man in a nursing home. The words "sunlight streaks" are reminiscent of 'Aqualung,' and help evoke an image of loneliness and failing health. But the old man takes comfort in knowing that he lived with a "gladiator soul" and was at least once "the taker of the day". He has created works that will live on beyond him and will continue to "play to the stand" long after he is dead. Having done his best in life, he sees no reason to fear death and boldly charges "the chequered flag" as if it were "the bull's red rag." This song, and especially the line about the "still-born child", reminds me of a famous quote from Theodore Roosevelt: "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
* John W. Loosemore

"The deaf composer" obviously refers to the deaf Ludwig van Beethoven -- as there is actually a Beethoven quotation: Right after the words "he'll never hear his sweet encore" you can hear four characteristic notes from the first movement of the ninth symphony (two intervalls downward: ba-baaaa, ba-baaaa). It's quite unremarkable, very sophisticated, very covert (especially as the notes are not totally equal to those in the symphony; but the quotation is definite).
By the way: there is another Beethoven quotation: "Dark Ages" is paraphrasing the first movement of the fifth symphony. Listen to the motif tam-tam-tam-taaaaam. The tempo is much more slow and the pitches of the notes are not the same as in Beethoven -- but the architecture is resembling the symphonic one: developing the music out of just one characteristic motif.
* Armin Raab



Jethro Tull - "Too Old to Rock'N'Roll: Too Young to Die" (1976) This concept-album about a rock star named Ray Lomas (the whole story can be read in the comic inside of the fold-out cover) was a major disappointment after progressive masterpieces like "Aqualung", "Thick As a Brick", "A Passion Play" and "Minstrel in the Gallery". There are no impressive and lengthy progressive pieces here, just a limp mix of uninspired rockers and boring ballads of the straightforward kind. It's always a pleasure to listen to Anderson's voice and flute, but those two things alone can't save the album. The album opens with two decent but still far from fantastic tracks ("Quizz Kid" and "Crazed Institution") and it goes straight downward from there. "Salamander" could have been a nice acoustic ballad, but the problem is that the track is nothing else than a weak re-write of "Cold Wind to Valhalla" from the previous album. "Taxi Grab" attempts to re-create the sound of very early and blues-based Tull. A rather strange thing to do when the band had worked very hard the whole first part of the 70's for establishing themselves as one of the leading progressive rock acts! The best-known track here is the repetitive and annoying title-track. "Big Dipper" is just plain embarrassing, and the ballads lack memorable melodies (with the possible exception of the closing-number "The Chequered Flag (Dead or Alive)". And there's not a single track here close to being a Tull-classic. For serious Tull-fans only.





Jethro Tull - Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die

Released: 1976/2002
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Cat. No.:
Total Time:


Reviewed by: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck, December 2002
This is the very first Jethro Tull album in the series of remasters that I was not in awe of. The odds have it that eventually there had to be some kind of a letup or break in their endless flow of excellent albums. This was a good recording mind you, just not a real great album like all of the prior releases. There are some fine moments found on this CD, enough to give it a whirl on your stereo and add it to your collection.

Ian Anderson discusses in his continuing stories of how each album started and ended and how originally "Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young Too Die!" was intended for a musical about an over aged biker. The liner notes include a comic strip to tell the story. This planned event was brilliantly rock 'n' roll in concept but it never happened. Well, at least not until the album became a reality.

"Quizz Kid" has some great rockin' guitar parts courtesy of the great Martin Barre, and the title track is irresistibly catchy and classic JT in every aspect. I am sure that you have it heard at some point even if you have not collected the band's recordings over the years. The bonus tracks are not so generous on this release; there are only two, "A Small Cigar" and "Strip Cartoon." They are quite different and enjoyable as usual. One of the album's sleepers is "Chequered Flag (Dead or Alive)," it is also one of the more interesting tracks musically and lyrically. It will suddenly catch you off guard. It is about racecar driving and how wonderful it is to see that flag waving and being in the winner's circle of life enjoying all the adulation whether you are dead or alive. As if to say it would not matter, even if it kills you, winning the race is the most important thing. I always enjoyed the way Anderson wittingly looks at life square in the eye and builds his stories around his feelings and thoughts. The funny thing is that it always hits home and it will be somebody's truth, if it happens to be humorous or not.

With straight As in the class of progressive rock, I would have to say that their grade was a B this time out. It was a very nice gesture on Ian's part to dedicate this remastered version of the album to their short-lived bass player John Glascock, whom died suddenly of heart failure before he had a chance to go back into the studio to record another album.

Rating: 3.5/5

More about Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die:

Track Listing: Quiz Kid / Crazed Institution / Salamander / Taxi Grab / From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser / Bad Eyed And Loveless / Big Dipper / Too Old To Rock N Roll Too Young To Die / Pied Piper / Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive) / Bonus Tracks: Small Cigar / Strip Cartoon

Musicians:
Maddy Prior - vocals
Ian Anderson - electric and acoustic guitar, flute, harmonica, percussion, vocals, producer
Martin Barre - guitars
Angela Allen - vocals
Barriemore Barlow - percussion, drums
John Evan - piano, keyboards
John Glascock - bass, vocals
David Palmer - synthesizer, keyboards, saxophone