Ian Anderson started his musical career in 1962 and five years later he helped to form Jethro Tull, the band he led for more than 50 years and that became one of the most influential of all time.
Progressive Rock music certainly wouldn’t be the same without them and they only were able to make a unique kind of music because of the variety of influences the band had. One of them was certainly The Rolling Stones and Ian Anderson once said which was a great album by the band according to him.
The Rolling Stones album Ian Anderson said was one the best
He had the chance to see the band up-close during their peak in the 60s. Especially when they recorded the film “The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus”. Jethro Tull was one of the bands invited to be part of that show. In an interview with Gary James in 2014 he praised their 1968 album “Beggars Banquet”.
“They had just finished recording ‘Beggars Banquet’, which I’ve always thought was one of their… Well, possibly one of their best records to me in terms of having lots of really great songs on it. But I remember lots about it.”
He continued:
“It was not a great experience for anybody, including The Stones. But it was shelved as a project for many years ’til the rights to it were actually owned by Allen Klein, who’d been The Stones’ manager and secured rights to things they didn’t know about,” Ian Anderson said.
Talking with Rockonteurs in 2021 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), he also praised the record. “That was a great album. One of the reasons that I found it as an observer, because we only had a very small part to play in. Having to stay there for the full two days, for the rehearsal and the recording day. You know, being an observer, fly on the wall. (I was) watching all of this take place, it was really quite a place to be,” Ian Anderson said.
“Beggar’s Banquet” was released in 1968 and performed quite well on the charts. It peaked at number 3 in the United Kingdom and number 5 in the United States. It has famous songs like “Sympathy for the Devil”, “Street Fighting Man” and “Salt of the Earth”. At the time the band was formed by Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.
Curiously, during that performance recorded for the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, Jethro Tull had Tony Iommi on guitar. He was in the band only for only two weeks and then decided to leave and focus on Black Sabbath.
The difference between The Beatles and Stones in the early days according to Ian
Although the members of both bands were good friends and used to help each other, the fans and press created the myth that there was some rivalry between them. Since he had the chance to see those bands active still in the 60s, Anderson once explained in his opinion, what was the difference between them.
He talked about the groups in an interview with Classic Rock in 2021. “In terms of influencing others, the perception of The Beatles as bad boys in Hamburg is a bit of a misnomer. Lennon was probably the only one who’d be handy in a fight. The Rolling Stones were initially seen as ruffians. But that wasn’t so much an attempt to emulate the grubbiness of the formative Fab Four as it was a calculated reaction to their moptop image. Mick Jagger always looked too self-conscious to be considered a tough guy. He looked like he’d fall over if you blew on him,” Ian Anderson said.