Is this Tony Iommi playing? (Jethro Tull-"A New Day Yesterday")

[WheelsOfConfusion]

I was browsing around on youtube listening to some Jethro Tull as I was considering getting a best of cd. I know that Tony Iommi was briefly in Jethro Tull when Sabbath was still called 'Earth'. But I don't know the details of this brief venture and I don't know what Tull songs have Tony Iommi on guitar.

I happened to play the Tull song "A New Day Yesterday" and it has a brief guitar solo. I could absolutely swear this was Tony Iommi! It was incredibly reminiscent of his solo work on Sabbath's very first album. It even had those trademark Iommi trills, which Iommi used a lot, especially in his earlier work.

Here is the youtube clip of this song. The guitar solo is from about 1:48-2:00. If someone replies and tells me it is NOT Tony Iommi I would be absolutely gobsmacked because part of the solo is incredibly similar, if not nearly identical, to some of the solo of "Warning".

So here is the youtube clip. I'm just dying to have confirmation if this is Tony Iommi playing?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH9YwZ60Mhs

[David86]

Nope. Tony only had the JT gig for a couple weeks. Never recorded a single note.

[WheelsOfConfusion]

Nope. Tony only had the JT gig for a couple weeks. Never recorded a single note.

Well that blows me away. Are you absolutely sure? I would have put money on a bet that it was Tony Iommi playing, as it is just so nearly identical to solos in "Warning" and generally so Iommi like.

[David86]

Absolutely. It's Martin Barre playing on Stand Up, no one else.

[WheelsOfConfusion]

Absolutely. It's Martin Barre playing on Stand Up, no one else.

Would you agree that the solo is extremely Iommi like?

[Gardener]

Iommi was in Jethro Tull only for two weeks in early december 1969. He didn't have the time to record anything with Tull. He was then replaced for a few weeks by David O'List, and then Martin Barre stepped in, recorded the following album and stayed in the band until today I believe.

But it doesn't surprise me that the guitar sounds a little like Iommi sounded at the time. When Tull was looking for a guitar player and heard Tony onstage, they asked him to join. They were looking for this kind of sound at the time. So I believe Barre also got the job because he could deliver this kind of sound too.

[WheelsOfConfusion]

But it doesn't surprise me that the guitar sounds a little like Iommi sounded at the time. When Tull was looking for a guitar player and heard Tony onstage, they asked him to join. They were looking for this kind of sound at the time. So I believe Barre also got the job because he could deliver this kind of sound too.

Well thanks for the explanation. It's just uncanny how this sounds like something off Sabbath's first album-incredible!

[fishtowner]

Apparently he is credited somewhere with co written a song with Tull. Don't remember which one. He didn't play on that either and I believe it was barre who did.

[The Rules Mob]

I was browsing around on youtube listening to some Jethro Tull as I was considering getting a best of cd.

A good idea. If you're looking for a "best of" I recommend you track down "M.U. The Best of Jethro Tull" and "Repeat The Best of Jethro Tull Vol. 2." That should give you all you need. Some of the later single disc compilations miss too many great tracks.

[Ady]

Apparently he is credited somewhere with co written a song with Tull. Don't remember which one. He didn't play on that either and I believe it was barre who did.

It was Nothing is Easy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=optmciK5W2Q. Tony mentions it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wj2NnF4NCc

Another Jethro Tull song that reminds me of Iommi is Nothing to Say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvibauF6Ah4

[thesithempire]

Tony used to be credited with writing the intro of "Aqualung", though I imagine that's long been dismissed.

"Nothing is Easy" has always been my favorite Tull song, no surprise. Shame Sabbath never covered it during the 69-79 period.

[Wicked Cricket]

Tull's first album, like Zeps and Sabbath's was full of the hard rock/heavy blues sound, inspired by Clapton's Cream. Clapton got most of the aclaim, IMO more than he should of, because he came out before the others, but Martin Barre, Page & Iommi, and you can include Blackmore in there for sure, were as good or better than Clapton. So it's not surprising it sounds like Tony, Martin Barre and him have similar styles.

[kentuckyfan]

Ok if you get the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus movie Tony IS on that playing with Jethro Tull. I belive the song is Nothing is Easy.

[Ady]

Ok if you get the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus movie Tony IS on that playing with Jethro Tull. I belive the song is Nothing is Easy.

The song is A Song For Jeffrey and they're just miming there.

[Monster Boy]

I think that maybe Tony remembered it wrong and actually wrote part of the riff for "A New Day Yesterday" instead. During the verses, that le-sol-fa-sol-me deal (can't remember the key, but if e then the notes would be c-b-a-b-g) sounds very Iommi like. But, as somebody else mentioned, it could have just been that Ian Anderson was trying to write an Iommi-like riff there. In any case, Iommi received no writing credits on the album.

[Axeman77]

No it's me playing from when I was in them,

[Wicked Cricket]

Early JT with Martin Barre, who sounds a lot like Iommi, their first album of blues rock sounds very much like Sabbath's first album, and the riffs in Aqualung, the album, particularly the song My God sound very Iommi like. Martin Barre is a very underrated guitarist, and Tull were considerred a heavy hard rock act in the early years.

[TrogDawn]

The song is A Song For Jeffrey and they're just miming there.

Apparently, Ian was singing live but the band was miming to a backing tape - from the Jethro Tull FAQ:

Did Tony Iommi ever play guitar with Tull?

Sort of. During the brief time in 1968 after Mick Abrahams left but before Martin Barre joined, Tull appeared on TV in a film called "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus." They performed "A Song for Jeffrey," though only Ian was actually live; the others mimed to a backing tape. Tony Iommi was the guitarist seen in this film clip with Tull, and apparently he nearly joined the band. Mick Abrahams recalls, "Tony only did the Rock & Roll circus thing. He phoned me up afterwards and told me he couldn't stand it - he quit straight after that."

http://remus.rutgers.edu/JethroTull/FAQ.html

Color footage shot from TV screen: http://youtu.be/Gz5L-n1b4NE
B/W workprint footage: http://youtu.be/20DyhOwqnqM?t=1m5s

I always thought Tony and Mick Abrahams (and to a lesser degree, Martin Barre) sounded similar. When I first heard Mick's post-Tull band, Blodwyn Pig, I was immediately drawn to the guitar tone/style because it sounded very Iommi-esque.

Check some out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Dk-...OMacZkgbXCxY1g

[Billy Underdog]

I actually joined this forum only to post a thread similar to this one. I still belive it's Iommi playing this, not just the solo, but the whole song, it's all very typical Iommi. I remember Ian Anderson stating the song was recorded a time before the rest of the Stand Up-sessions, in early 69, not long after Tony's stint (still don't remember where i read it though, as someone asked on that other thread), so there might have been some of Tony's demo-recordings used (atleast that's my theory). In his book he says he was in the studio rehearsing with them a couple of days (when he was told by Tull's manager that he was lucky to be along on the ride), so it's not a very impossible thought. As to why he wasn't credited, well, we all know the strange workings of Ian's mind.

And i never thought Barre sounded like Iommi at all, there's a distinct difference in their attack, where Tony's more agressive, Barre is the careful one.