01	Fly By Night						03:52
	02	Made In England						05:00
	03	Walk Into Light						03:12
	04	Trains						03:21
	05	End Game						03:19
	06	Black And White Television						03:38
	07	Toad In The Hole						03:25
	08	Looking For Eden						03:42
	09	User-Friendly						04:01
	10	Different Germany						05:24

1983 I.Anderson - P.J.Vettese

~ Walk Into Light ~

An introduction to "Walk Into Light"

Ian Anderson's long awaited solo album finally saw daylight in November 1983. His first attempt had been "A" (1980), which eventually turned out to be a group album, albeit with a different line-up. Though the album was not the acoustic one the majority of Tull-followers had been waiting for, it definitely was a remarkable effort, showing new aspects of Ian's musicianship.

Ian explained to David Rees, that he wanted to take the opportunity to experiment with something outside the frame of the Jethro Tull music of the time (1; p.105). Instead of singing and playing acoustic guitar and flute, he turned to the new electronic means of the time like samplers and sequencers, new keyboard technology and the so often cursed drum machine. One should realize, that the early eighties were the beginning of the techno age, of computer driven music, and though the album nowadays sounds hopelessly outdated, it was at the time a revolutionary step in Ian's musical career as he tried to master a new technology in order to find ways to innovate himself musically. Though he wrote most of the songs himself, he didn't do so without the assistance of keyboard wizard Peter-John Vetesse, who was very familiar with modern music technology. Five of the songs were co-productions.



The album contains some interesting songs, but it lacks the passion, the humour and the "sting" of cynicism that features his earlier work. The mechanical approach and the use of the drum machine made it sound sterile and detached, which was a bit of a disappointment for many fans. Greg Russo states, that "Looking at it with a wider view, "Walk Into Light" caught Ian Anderson in transition, bridging the gap between standard rock structures and more technical, experimental song stylings" (2; p.130).

When taking the lyrics in account, it is striking to see that this album - like "The Broadsword And The Beast" - reflects the atmosphere of the early eighties. Anderson implicitely comments on that era by portraying peoples feelings of alienation, fear and uncertainty caused by the economic depression on one hand and the increasing influence of technology on peoples life on the other hand. Both in content and in the applied musical technology this album is a true document of its time and will proved to be valuable when appreciated in that context.
* Jan Voorbij;
Cited works: 1. David Rees: "Minstrels In The Gallery - A History Of Jethro Tull" (Firefly Publishing, 1998); 2. Greg Russo: "Flying Colours - The Jethro Tull Reference Manual" (Crossfire Publications, 1999)





Annotations

Fly By Night

There is an uncanny similarity between the main melody in this song (as played by the flute) and the track 'Time Lapse' by the British composer Michael Nyman, written for the soundtrack of the Peter Greenaway film 'A Zed And Two Noughts' which was released in 1987.
The sixteen bars of melody are copied exactly by Nyman, with the exception of the very last note, and scored at about half the speed. He also extends and develops the melody for a further sixteen bars. I find it hard to believe that Nyman didn't 'steal' this melody line, unless, by some coincidence, both he and Peter-John Vettese were taking their inspiration from the exact same piece of Baroque music -- possibly Mozart.
The soundtrack album for 'A Zed And Two Noughts' is still readily available, if anyone is interested in comparing the two pieces.
* Andy Jackson



Made In England

In this song the economic situation in Britain is implicitely reflected, esp. the crisis in the late seventies - early eighties. This subject has inspired Ian when writing several songs, like the ones we find on the 'Broadsword' album (1982). While he usually describes how this economic crisis has affected the life of common people, we see a person outlined here who is not willing to accept what is happening:
"He accepts no unemployment
and is to indeterminate station bred.
Is possessed of skills and reason.
Flies the flag upon his head."
Is Ian here referring to activists in the Union or in the Labour Party, opposing to or agitating against the policy of the Thatcher government?

"Flies the flag upon his head": I think Ian is referring here to the habit among skinheads of tattooing the Union Jack on their foreheads (although more usually it was on the neck somewhere). This became popular around 1977, just after the Punk explosion in Britain, the skinheads being one of the unemployed, disaffected youth movements of that time who expressed both their patriotism and their social rebellion with this unusual act.
* Andy Jackson

".... in England's green and pleasant land" is a verseline from the William Blake poem "A New Jerusalem" (1804), also used in the song Coronach.

"Brunel's tunnels and bridges bold" refers to Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), a British civil engineer, famous for his revolutionary design and construction of bridges, railway structures and steel ships, like the SS Great Britain, the first propellor driven steel ship to cross the Atlantic.
* Jan Voorbij



Walk Into Light

The listeners are summoned to do what one is really good at and enjoys to do ("Stand tall and be yourself"), to take it to the limit ("And do some more") and not to have any fear for exposing oneself in doing so, no matter what others might say about it. In the end that is what will be appreciated by other people:
"They're going to love you anyway".
The sensation of going through that experience time after time is described in the first two stanza's: we see how a parallel is drawn, probably with the band itself. That moment of tension and excitement any performer experiences, when he is about to hit the stage, comes clearly to the fore in the lines
"We're all powered up, switched on, the rig is tight.
Step into joy. Walk into light." and in:
"Shake off that nervous twitch and feel your strenght.
Stand astride the width and walk the length".
If Ian takes Jethro Tull as an example in this stanza's, the line "Never mind what the people say. They're going to love you anyway" might be an implicit reference to the music press and Tull's fan-base, that in spite of hundreds of band-bashing articles, remained loyal over the years.
* Jan Voorbij



Black And White Television

The song is about a man, who has some kind of an after-life experience. It's not entirely clear wether he's dead or just dreams or looks back on his life. The first option is the most likely one, regarding the rest of the lyrics.
"Black and White Television
stared back from the wall.
Is that my life?
Am I here at all?"
He can see all things clearly now that he's dead:
"...saw my face in a dream.
With eyes sharp as diamonds
blessed with clear vision.
Things was not what they seemed."

After he's dead, he's transported ("Down in the High Road") by a hearse. All his relatives are following after in their cars ("motor cavalcades glide...") in a kind of funeral procession. I connect it with "Slow Marching Band", where you can imagine the cars following the hearse to show the last respects to the deceased person. "Black and White Television" refers, IMHO, to the things this person has done in life. The TV shows the 'naked' truth. Nothing's hidden. You can see all the bad things you've done in life ('black'), but also the good things ('white'). Sometimes you're surprised ("Is that my life?"): this line could have been followed by "...was I really like that?".
* Emil Engelund



Toad In The Hole

In this warm love song - one of the album's best - the main subject is the narrator's longing for being with his beloved one. Being with his lady is what makes him feel happy and comfortable. No matter what happens to him, or how hard he has to work, or what he has to go through while on the road: he will be able to handle it all as long as she grants him her love, comfort and support:
"Shush your mouth.
Listen to me.
I won't say nothing -
just let me be your
toad in the hole"
and:
"Got a day's work behind me.
Feel a little devastated
but my nights are assigned to you.
Toad in a hole."
I do not know whether this song is autobiographical or not, but if it is I suspect that the last verselines (or the whole song for that matter) were written in the early years of Ian and Shona's relationship, when Ian was most of the time living out of a suitcase and rented a bed-sit in London, prior to purchasing their new home on the Isle of Skye:
"Shush your mouth.
Let imagination run
here in bed-sit heaven
where all the best wishing's done
to warm toad in a hole."

"Toad in the hole" or 'toad in a hole' is an expression with four meanings here, applied by the narrator to give words to one idea. Basically, 'toad in a hole' is a dish: a sausage or other meat baked in pancake batter. It is clear where the name of this dish comes from: toads and other frog-like animals hide in holes to sleep, to hide themselves from ennemies or to protect themselves for winter's cold, hibernating. In this song the beloved one offers the narrator the sanctuary that makes him feel as safe as a toad in a hole. Finally there is an implicit sexual innuendo, that needs no further explination ;-).

"I Walk along the Strand...": The Strand is a shopping street in London.
* Jan Voorbij

I do not see this as a warm love song at all. I think he is resentful of being a toad in the hole and longs to be out on the road again. "Take your warm hands off me, let the night begin". This was a tough time where the future of Tull was in doubt, look at his expression on the cover, this is no happy boy! He longs to "walk into light" (as in 'on stage'). The "shush your mouth" could be him saying don't say anything, I know I'm late, I know I forgot to call. Just let me be. He feels "a little devastated" (this is not love btw) but his nights spent with her are his sign that he's still hers. "The back door's open": he could sneak out if he wished, looking for Eden.
* Mark Colman



Looking For Eden

Here is another song dealing with Britain's critical economic situation. We see a person here looking for a dream to come true: a delightful place without the worries of unemployment and economic uncertainty, that affected his morale so badly:
"I'm tired of living my life in free-fall".
In this quest he is not the only one who tries to escape from this situation: the two young girls are doing the same by boozing themselves out of their misery:
"... and probably too drunk, too drunk to care".
He asks himself what happened to the world of beauty and harmony he remembers from his childhood days, in which everything went well:
"And where on earth are all those songs of Eden.
The fairy tales, the shepherds and wise men".

There is an implicit reference to the well-known Aqualung character in the lines:
"Just one old dosser lurching down Oxford Street
to spend his Christmas lying in the rain",
that might be his threatening future perspective.
It's interesting to see that Ian produces the two young girls as well as the old dosser here to give the song a more dramatic effect. On the one hand they stress the difficult situation of the main person, while on the other hand it makes clear that the depression affects almost everybody: people of three generations!
* Jan Voorbij



User-Friendly

The song was written in the early eighties, when personal computers just started to become more and more important devices for data storage and communication. It seems to deal with the influence of new technologies on everybody's life: "Do we inhabit some micro-space and interface through wires". Real communication beween people is substituted by virtual, almost 'artificial' contact: "Plug yourself in. Stay for a while. Un-discerning". Is Ian expressing here a feeling of uneasiness regarding this technological change of the world and its consequences for interhuman contact? A similar theme, the lack of communication and the fear for making real contact as a phenomena in todays society, is also apparent in the songs "Trains" from this album and "The Clasp" from "The Broadsword And The Beast".

"... printed on the V.D.U.": V.D.U. is short for Visual Display Unit.The V.D.U. is a device for data storage, handling and viewing and was used by many companies in the late seventies and early eighties. It was in fact the predecessor of the personal computer. Though it has grown obsolete now, the device is still in use at universities for educational purposes and companies all over the world, but it's rapidly losing ground.
* Jan Voorbij



Different Germany

At first sight the song seems to deal with the rise of fascism in Germany in the late seventies and early eighties. Beating up and brutalizing foreigners (gypsies, jews, Turkish and Vietnamese people a.o.), setting fire to pensions were they were hosted and other acts of violence: they were all the results of the agitation of fascist organisations in the past two decades.
A parallel with the situation of the thirties springs to mind: "History repeats somehow". However, this is not at all a specific "German" problem. Due to the economic recession, originating from the so-called oil-crisis of 1973, many fascist and other ultra right wing groups in Europe saw an increase of their following. History teaches us that economic crises create feelings of uncertainty, fear for the future; they make people distrustful towards foreigners, and ask for a Great Leader to make things better. These movements make these ressentiments explicit, speculate on them and thus manipulate people, who are not political defensible enough to resist these ideas, for their own questionable goals. The National Front in Great Britain, Le Pen's Front National in France, the Vlaams Blok in Belgium and the Centrum Partij in the Netherlands are clear examples.

In this song Ian delicately portrays the threatening atmosphere of terror and fear that is brought about by these groups:
"Who turned the clock? (Moved on or back).
And what dark chill is gathering still before the storm?"
and the people they apparently appeal to...:
".... laughing girls whose fastened smiles are not clearly meant for me".

It is not for nothing that this song is called "Different Germany". It is a different Germany indeed, since the second largest Jethro Tull fan-base is to be found there and the phenomenon Ian describes here is quite contrary to the sympathy and cordiality the band has experienced in Germany over the years. In fact it is this duality that frightens him to the bone....

Finally. this song is not the first one to deal with the threatening rise of fascist and other ultra right wing groups in Europe and the USA. The Heavy Horses' song 'No Lullaby' had the same subject packed in a kind of nursery rhyme format.
* Jan Voorbij












Ian Anderson
Walk Into Light
BGO Records (BGOCD350)
UK 1983

Ian Anderson, vocal, flute, guitar, bass;
Peter-John Vettese, keyboards

Tracklist:
1. Fly by Night - 3:55
2. Made in England - 5:00
3. Walk into Light - 3:11
4. Trains - 3:21
5. End Game - 3:20
6. Black and White Television - 3:37
7. Toad in the Hole - 3:24
8. Looking for Eden - 3:43
9. User-Friendly - 4:03
10. Different Germany - 5:24

total time 39:21

joe

After 15 years helming one of the most successful British groups of the 70s, Ian Anderson finally decided to release a solo album under his own name. This decision must have raised more than a few eyebrows, for excepting the band's debut album, Anderson pretty much was and is Jethro Tull, to the point that people even think that's his name. So why bother?
Anderson explains this album as an attempt to step away from the organic aspects performed on the more traditional instruments that had defined Jethro Tull up to that point. From the liner notes of the CD, Anderson recognized that the 70s were closing fast, and wanted to do his best to remain relevant with the direction British pop music was moving in by embracing the new keyboard technology being utilized by new wave bands on the rise. Walk into Light actually represents a collaborative effort between Anderson and keyboardist Peter-John Vettese, who co-wrote half the songs here, something up to that point that would be unheard of for a typical Tull album.

Indeed, a picture says a thousand words: compare the dapper Anderson in business-like attire amidst the grey monochrome here with the album cover of Songs from the Wood, six years previously. The sound is light years from the folky earthiness of late 70s Tull, and dominated by synthesizers that have long since passed into history: the Rhodes Chroma (released just the year before), the popular Yamaha CP80 electric piano, and a small company of Rolands: the Jupiter 8, Promars, and MC202. When backed by the Linn Drum machine and a pristine sound quality, you should get the picture. Finally, the lyrical imagery also falls lock-step into place. There's no way "Jack o' the Green" or "Hunter Girl" could survive in this synthetic environment, so instead we have songs about television, trains, computers, and other objects of modern industry.

Yet, this isn't a bad album. Despite the de-emphasis of the flute and overemphasis of the synths and Linn, many of the songs still basically sound at heart like Jethro Tull tunes. The intricate counterplay, odd time signatures, richly descriptive lyrics, and Anderson's very particular phrasing of melody (even the verse of "Walk into Light" sounds in parts somewhat reminiscent of "Mother Goose" from Aqualung), combined with Vettese's virtuosity (check out that solo on "Different Germany")... these just wouldn't show up on a Depeche Mode album. This album has got some decent songs, my particular favorites being "Fly by Night," "Made in England," "Looking for Eden," and "User-Friendly." The very catchy "Trains" would have made a good single. Given the times and comparative primitiveness of the technology, Vettese must be given credit for drawing a wide variety of interesting sounds and effects out of these keys.

In retrospect, one can get an understanding of why Walk into Light was a commercial and critical failure. The songs were still too much like Jethro Tull to reach a new audience, while at the same time not nearly Jethro Tull enough in instrumentation to be accepted by loyal fans. In short, an album that ended up on the fence, rather than on either side of it where it stood more of chance. A shame, since again it's not too bad an album, if you can get past the datedness. Anderson would give it one more shot, taking this sound as well as Vettese to the mother band for their next album, the similarly rejected Under Wraps.

12-28-03