•
Rating:
NAKED LADIES (LADIES?) BURSTING OUT OF LARGE PAPER BAGS, ASTRONAUT MOONWALKING ON STAGE, DISTURBING DRUM MACHINE RHYTHMS, 80'S KEYBOARDS GALORE AND VOCAL CRISIS IN THE MAKING. THESE WERE KEY INGREDIENTS OF THE UNDER WRAPS TOUR OF 1984.
These are the notes from my CD with which Ian Anderson introduces us to what I consider a unique case. An album, in fact, the most controversial album of the group, but one that everyone agrees upon (agrees that it's a lousy record), there would be so much to say, some consider it awful, some obscene, some don't even mention it in the discography, but is it really a poor work? Let's talk about it:
It’s not a classic, neither of Jethro Tull nor of rock itself, rather, it’s a Techno-Rock experiment and should be understood as such. What to criticize about this album? The DRUM MACHINE? I don't think a real drummer would have added anything since the Anderson-Vettese duo deliberately opted here for a series of sounds as cold as a freezer.
The composition of the tracks? Not that either, just look at the performers playing it, and then these songs worked live like a charm, so?
I’ll try to offer an explanation: I think this type of sounds and music, in general, can only convey so much, nor can it be exploited more than within certain limits. In other words, Jethro Tull did nothing wrong, on the contrary, if composed or commissioned by someone else, this album would have been much worse. Additionally, electronics is a very distant territory, as far removed as possible for fans of the band used to progressive rock and the singer-songwriter style of some previous songs.
The gestation:
In 1982, 23-year-old Peter John Vettese (of Italian origin) joined the group, a young man full of energy and talent who in the BROADSWORD album shifted the sound towards synthesizers and recalls his entry by telling how he responded to an ad from the group that read: INTERNATIONAL ROCK GROUP SEEKS KEYBOARDIST. Vettese (considered a nobody at the time of Jethro Tull's classic achievements) didn’t know much about their music, but he got the job by improvising with great spontaneity on the pieces, remembering with much irony how even today he is credited with destroying the band's sound with his synthesizers. In fact, at the time of UNDER WRAPS, unlike his predecessor Eddy Jobson, he takes not only one hand but both, though he himself admits that both Anderson and Barre were aware and agreed on all the new sonic lines the group was taking under his guidance. What they perhaps didn’t know was the reaction from both fans and critics, maybe Ian Anderson, like a good opportunist, sensed something since for the occasion he shared the credit with Vettese as well as Barre, (a recognition he never gave to other members even in better days). Given Anderson's interest in new technologies, he tries with Vettese a solo album in duo, entirely made with computer programming and without string instruments or drums: WALK INTO THE LIGHT, most of the music is composed by the keyboardist, for which Anderson decides to make a similar album with the rest of the band.
The songs:
If Broadsword had something pompously melodic (perhaps too much), here the songs are lean and rhythmic, as well as brisk, but anything but simple; describing one is like describing them all in the end, there isn’t a real drop, however, Lap of Luxury which opens the album really hits, European Legacy is overwhelming and engaging, Saboteur is flashy and rhythmic, we like it with that double kick work simulated on the drum machine, and then Later That Same Evening, Tundra, Apogee (this really gets inside you), are all songs that work without disturbing the great echoes of the past.
The musicians:
Ian Anderson has a sharper voice here than in Broadsword, and beyond that, he attempts some really peculiar vocals typical of youthful Synth Pop (listen to Tundra for example). On the CD notes, Anderson doesn't clearly state that he was already losing his voice during those concerts, and not at the end of the tour, so much so that Vettese himself admitted that the more Anderson was aware of it, the more it affected him character-wise, which was why the keyboardist, understanding the mood, decided to leave the band, only to return as a guest in ROCK ISLAND. Martin Barre, however, a delightfully measured guitarist (a real number 1 in technique fantasy and taste, without him, they wouldn’t have been JETHRO) reaches the pinnacle here, an exceptional guitarist, just watch his live performances from those concerts, but it’s also the last album where he remains spontaneous and won't be dominated by guitar effects that from CREST OF A KNAVE onwards will slightly (negatively) change his style, ranging from hard sounds like ZZ TOP to long sounds with accompanying whistles. Dave Pegg remains the greatest bassist of the group, if on the STORMWATCH tour he played very well live but got the sound wrong (live, his sound has always been his drawback) his studio work from A onwards will be perfect, this record confirms it, Pegg, a bassist born as a mandolinist, plectrum-dependent, gives a very hard sound and attack to the band, especially in the hammerings. It's strange that he, the folk soul and heart of Fairport Convention, would manage the most electronic era of Jethro Tull. Peter John Vettese, instead, a Jazz-Rock extraction with rigorous classical studies behind him will become an expert in electronics and various synthesizers, and in Jethro Tull of that period much of that contribution will be his, in my opinion, Anderson would be wrong to let him go like that due to his compositional skills that his successors will not have. Noteworthy during that tour was his solo duel with Doanne Perry (support drummer for the Tour) reprising the theme of FLY BY NIGHT from the album WALK INTO THE LIGHT.
A musician's opinion on the record:
Ian Anderson speaks very well of it, considering it a good product, perhaps embodying all his naivety of the moment caught up in those new sounds and that new way of working. Barre instead praises it as the best of his discography and considers the track "Paparazzi" the best piece he has ever worked on. Barre recalls how he found himself in great difficulty managing the various machinery with all that technology, skillfully programmed.
The Album live:
Not much considered in the years following Anderson's vocal surgery, perhaps because the pieces were difficult to reprise vocally, at the time, Apogee, Later That Same Evening, more Under Wraps 1, and at the end of the concert also European Legacy were performed, later Under Wraps Part 2 in the 90s, but also Paparazzi in instrumental version, during the Roots to Branches tour Later That Same Evening returned but to my knowledge always INSTRUMENTAL...
Considerations:
The last, (attention) Project of the band, from CREST OF A KNAVE onward, even increasing in compositional quality, the band would add nothing, becoming a cover band of itself, recycling the past, which is why I rate this as the last important work of the group.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Lap of Luxury (03:36)
The money won't last forever ---
rent man called twice today.
I hope some day you'll find me
in the lap of luxury.
Searched for a new apartment
but they don't grow on trees.
Just want to lay my head
in the lap of luxury.
Stepped out on a new horizon ---
felt a new spring in my feet.
Found a job, it could set me up
dangling in the lap of luxury.
And the gaffer is a man of substance ---
drives a jag and takes high tea.
Lives beyond the industrial wasteland,
laughing in the lap of luxury.
I need money, now, to soothe my heart!
Buy me a Datsun or Toyota ---
get the tax man to agree
all expenses I can muster
from the lap of luxury.
03 European Legacy (03:22)
She smiles at me
from beyond the eastern sea-shore.
Flashing jewelled eyes,
she hoists her skirts so high.
Nouvelle cuisine or an oyster bar ---
it's really up to her.
I'll write every cheque she brings to me.
I shoot on sight ---
it's my European legacy.
Round the castle walls ---
about the Highlands and the Islands
the faint reminders stand.
A visitor who took a hand
a thousand years ago, or so ---
stranded high and dry by tides ---
washed up a new identity.
The channel's wide ---
but it's their European legacy.
I strain my eyes
against the southern light advancing.
On whiter cliffs I'm high.
The sea birds roll and tumble as they fly.
I hear distant mainland music echo
in my island ears.
My feet begin to move instinctively
to the warmer beat of my European legacy.
She smiles at me
from beyond the eastern sea-shore.
Flashing jewelled eyes,
she hoists her skirts so high.
Nouvelle cuisine or an oyster bar ---
it's really up to her.
I'll write every cheque she brings to me.
She shoots on sight ---
it's her European legacy.
05 Saboteur (03:32)
In and out of shady places ---
walking on cold corners of the maze.
Following the trace you leave unwittingly.
I wanna be no Saboteur.
Oh, no, me no Saboteur.
Painted ducks across your landscape ---
happy in your domesticity (it don't come free).
Misfortune, like a Sparrow Hawk, hangs over you.
Wanna be no Saboteur.
No, no, me no Saboteur.
Deepest regrets I humbly offer you
as I cut into your life.
With clean precision, all is simplified ---
pass the hat and pass the knife.
By now you must be worried, wondering
who is me and what lies behind my art.
I'm only removing broken sea-shells from the beach ---
oh, no, me no Saboteur.
There's at least one of me inside your ranks
in your factory or school.
I anticipate a cleansing opportunity
to take the horns by the bull.
History forever writing
pages to be cut or painted grey,
or celebrated like Jesus in his
temple rage
as he chased the money-men away.
I wanna be no Saboteur.
Be no, be no Saboteur.
07 Astronomy (03:38)
The middle lane has trapped my car in red-light claustrophobia. I slip the shackles, cut the rope --- stand naked with a telescope as the cat walks alone under a big sky. Against the dark so thin and white --- gonna be a big sky night. Miss Galileo, come with me and view the new Astronomy. Black hole dressing on salad plate --- quasar at the kissing gate. Now the cat, he walks alone under a big sky. Umbrella dome pin-pricked in lights --- gonna be a big sky night. My spectacles, my white lab coat --- my coffee, thermos and my notes. I pat my pockets. I got the keys to the secrets of the observatory. And closing the door, I feel a new dawn as the darker slides align --- you to yours and me to mine. And now you stand, assisting me --- I can touch what I can see, see, see. I look in wonder, I feel no shame --- see the consequences of the game. Expand the universe. Head for the Big Bang. Reach for my switch and shout --- gonna turn the big sky out. There's got to be astronomy. Astronomy.
08 Tundra (03:41)
Short Arctic desert day ---
and someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Look around every which way
but I can't see just where the footprints go.
Is it a casual disappearance? ---
Plucked from the middle atmosphere
like straw wind-blown.
No speck on the horizon ---
no simple message scrawled
upon the snow.
Unearthly visitation ---
someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Hungry buzzard flier
circling round and round
rattling death's tambourine.
Have to run it down the cold wire ---
late insertion in tomorrow's lost and found.
Should I spread out searching?
But I'm a little thin upon the ground.
So I raise my lips to coax
the last drop of brandy from the bottle.
Rest my feet and contemplate
the mystery that's haunting
this Siberian space.
Show-shoes they bind me down ---
I'm just one more parasite of the surface layer.
I begin to get the feeling
I've been on this stage before
and I'm the only player.
One more Arctic desert day ---
another set of shoes out in the tundra snow.
I make my fade to white-out
and you can't see me where my footprints go.
09 Nobody's Car (04:08)
Black Volga following me ---
Nobody's car.
Mr. No-one at the wheel of
Nobody's car.
Wet pavements, thin apartments ---
quiet dissent from darkened doorways.
I want out alive.
Speak up for me if you can.
So, careful how you drive
in tourist city.
Slap in front of my hotel ---
it's Nobody's car.
Is that my limousine?
No, it's Nobody's car.
Are you on routine assignment?
Plastic shades on black-browed eye-hole.
I read this book before.
I even saw the film.
How did the ending go?
(Intourist city.)
Black out.
It's a weird scenario.
I've seen a thousand times before
but only on my video.
Feel my steps quick in the headlights
of Nobody's car.
Down cobbled alley with no exit from
Nobody's car.
Doors slam, two figures silhouette ---
somewhere before, I feel we've met.
Can't tell you any more.
I agreed to go along with all they asked of me.
Intourist city.
I drive Nobody's car.
10 Heat (05:37)
When the rats are running
and the boys are gunning
for heads on a tin plate ---
you can hear the footfall
softly in the back yard.
And the black jack is called
face up on the last card.
You'd better call your witness
in your dirty business.
Trop tard sera le cri.
Better run while you can ---
better set the tall sail.
Better make deep cover
before the boys have you nailed.
There's just one chance to get away ---
I'll catch up with you another day.
I'll close my eyes and count to ten
and come right after you again.
Grab your credit cards ---
cash in on your resources.
Take your passport from the drawer,
don't stop to change the horses.
Get out of the heat.
Now can you feel the pressure?
Have you got the measure
of being a wanted man?
Cold drink in your hand ---
hot sweat on your brow.
And there's no understanding
going to help you now.
Grab your credit cards ---
cash in on your resources.
Take your passport from the drawer,
don't stop to change the horses.
Notify all parties
of an earlier vacation.
No use trying to board the train
after it's left the station.
Get out of the heat.
11 Under Wraps #2 (02:14)
Keep it quiet. (go slow.)
Circulate. need to know.
Stamp the date upon your file ---
Masquerade, but well worth while.
Wrapped in the warmth of you ---
Wrapped up in your smile.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.
Wear an air --- (keep mum)
Of casual indifference.
Careful how you go
About your usual business.
Wrapped in daydreams of you ---
Wrapped up by your eyes.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.
Under wraps! i've got you under wraps.
Tell you when --- (not yet)
Soon the great unveiling.
Bless my boots! upon my soul!
Secrecy, it is my failing.
Wrapped in your summer night ---
Wrapped in your autumn leaves.
Wrapped in the winter of your sleeping.
12 Paparazzi (03:47)
Paparazzi, can't make the man.
Paparazzi, can't break the man.
Next to the transit lounge
see the Paparazzi tears.
No-one came in today
from Boston or Tangiers.
And in departures ---
only faceless trippers trip,
loaded with duty free
held in white knuckle grip.
Snap it up, flash away ---
steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type ---
the news is running late tonight.
Be-decked with Nikon necklaces
hear the Paparazzi cries.
Under their noses walk
the famous in disguise.
Conspicuously huddled there
but no-one stops to look.
They've got their crayons out
to colour in the book.
Snap it up, flash away ---
steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type ---
Paparazzi won't be home tonight.
Paparazzi --- write it down.
Paparazzi --- turn it around.
Paparazzi --- take it, fake it,
break it.
`Cos it's a story.
Now someone's cut the lines
communication's down.
All photo film is fogged.
Celebrities surround
and jab their fingers at me.
They kiss but I can't tell.
Even poor Paparazzi
must have privacy as well.
Snap it up, flash away ---
steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type ---
the news is running late tonight.
Snap it up, flash away ---
steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type ---
Paparazzi won't be home tonight.
13 Apogee (05:29)
Sailing round the true-blue sphere---
is it too late to bale out of here?
Well, there has to be some better way
to turn back the night,
spin on to yesterday.
The old man and his crew---
after all these years,
it's apogee.
Pilot training and remorse---
spirit friends fly too,
at apogee.
Apogee --- solar bright.
Apogee --- through the night.
Apogee --- overground.
Don't think I'll be coming down.
Screened for a stable mate
with nerves of ice we flew,
at apogee.
No creativity allowed
to pass through stainless veins of steel,
at apogee.
Apogee --- put the kettle on.
Tight-lipped --- soldier on.
High point --- communicate.
Don't forget to urinate.
So glad they put this window in.
How to explain, how to begin?
See! Tennyson and Wordsworth there
waiting for me in the cold, thin air.
Beware a host of unearthly daffodils
drifting golden, turned up loud.
Tell the boys back home,
I'm gonna get some.
The Wrong Stuff's loose in here ---
I'm climbing up the walls,
at apogee.
So hoist the skull and bones ---
death and glory's free,
at apogee.
A stranger wind, a solar breeze ---
I'm walking out upon the starry seas.
See pyramids, see standing stones ---
pink cotton undies and blue telephones.
Goodbye, cruel world that was my home ---
there's a cleaner space out there to roam.
Put my feet up on the moons of Mars ---
sit back, relax and count the stars.
14 Automotive Engineering (04:05)
In the hands of science ---
the complete appliance.
We're moved to motor.
Do you fly a Spitfire?
Do you slide on a tea-tray?
Or walk on a short trip (Sundays).
Or drive come what may (enjoy).
Automotive science and engineering.
When big was better ---
and fast was chic,
the oil was cheaper ---
now we're up the creek.
But the Japs are coming
and everyone's turbo'd
and carbon fibre
is the way to go, go.
Down at the robot factory
things are humming.
New radical suspension ---
no humans testing.
(Wind it up, wind it up.)
Take a trip
in your Freudian slip.
Doctor Ferdinand (Ferdie)
has you in his grip.
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By the green manalishi
'Under Wraps' is Jethro Tull’s worst album: cold, too technological, not acoustic enough, not melodic enough, and especially lacking the flute that made the band famous.
It’s official: the most horrendous song Jethro has ever written is General Crossing, a pointless piece that communicates nothing, except perhaps annoying sounds.
