Ian Anderson on the guitarist too unique to copy: “Quirky but controlled”
As one of the most important figures in the progressive rock genre, Ian Anderson’s leadership of Jethro Tull is perhaps one of the most formidable to have emerged from the movement’s peak in the 1970s. Seeing as he is the band’s sole continuous member throughout their existence and has guided them in various different and experimental directions, it can be stated that without his leadership, the band would never have had the drive to become one of the greatest prog acts of all time.
Alongside the likes of Yes and King Crimson, Jethro Tull were one of the defining bands of the UK prog scene in the early ‘70s, releasing albums like Aqualung and Thick As A Brick which were not only regarded as important landmark records at the time, but are still regarded as touchstones for progressive rock acts emerging in today’s world. Their influence is immeasurable, and there have been very few acts to have risen in the years since that are as important as Jethro Tull are to the history of progressive rock.
However, once the band had found their way into the 1980s, over a decade into their existence by this point, things were looking considerably different to how they were in the earliest years of the band, with Anderson having shifted the lineup of the group around to be almost unrecognisable. Only he and guitarist Martin Barre were still present from the earliest incarnations of the group, and the band had begun to change with the times, focusing their attention on making music that was reflective of the era they found themselves working in.
One of the most significant groups to emerge during the 1980s that had a huge impact on the directional shift of Jethro Tull wasn’t even a prog rock band per se, but the musical proficiency of Dire Straits and their guitarist and frontman Mark Knopfler was hugely influential to the direction that Anderson wished to take, and his love of the fellow British act meant that they attempted to follow their lead on their output during this decade.
Dire Straits’ 1982 album Love Over Gold was one album in particular that had a profound effect on Anderson, with him regarding it as one of the most life-changing albums he has ever heard. In a 2005 interview with Guitar World, he stated that the first time he ever listened to Knopfler’s work on this record, his perception of songwriting was forever altered. “The quirky but controlled and percussive fingerpicking style of Mark Knopfler intrigued me from the first moment I heard ‘Sultans of Swing’ on a car radio while on tour in the USA,” he told the magazine.
“I bought this album and greatly admired his controlled and spacious solos on ‘Telegraph Road.’ A man with musical discipline combined with the fiery flurry of youthful exuberance,” Anderson continued. Their 1987 album, Crest of a Knave was the first release that showcased this influence to a noticeable degree, and Anderson isn’t afraid to admit that they had taken a significant amount of inspiration from listening to Dire Straits so intently.
He had even said that he’d asked Barre to play like Knopfler, but that his style was so inimitable that it was virtually impossible to replicate without having direct comparisons and accusations of plagiarism being levelled at them. “There’s only so many sounds you can get out of the electric guitar,” Anderson admitted. “If you’re playing the blues ,and it was on our bluesier tracks that it was most noticeable, then you’re going to sound like Knopfler who made that sound his trademark.”
