Jack in the Green: Live in Germany Reviews

• Cool footage from a brilliant band's non-classic period

  
  By A1SC682D5FO0KC on 2008-05-23
  This is a nice video for a Tull fan, although it seems odd they would release this when there's no official DVD of their classic golden age throughout the 70s! Despite the "1970-1993" subtitle, most of this DVD comes from the mid-80s Tull with Peter Vettese on keys.
  The first 1/2 or so is a show from the Broadsword & The Beast tour. Sadly, despite Ian's liner notes of the elaborate pirate ship stage show, this (and the rest of the disc) has no stage "show" to speak of save musicians playing instruments. The set list (although abbreviated - only about 7 proper songs) is a nice mix of then-new, classic early 70's, and (a treat for us fans who've missed this material in recent Tull performances) some gems from the late 70's. Ian's voice was still great. Martin's guitar is rather shreddingly metal. Gerry Conway's rather basic drumming on the new material is countered with some nice playing on the classic stuff - he adds his own percussive touch to Heavy Horses, not Barrie Barlow but fine drumming nonetheless. Peter Vettese gets a chance to show off his chops in an extended keyboard solo, which is welcome. Dave Pegg, of course, is there to provide his excellent bass skills and some backing vocals. A note - I'm pretty sure it's an abridged version of Heavy Horses, though! There is a nice instrumental jam of "Black sunday" at the end of the show.
  The next batch of performances come from a few years later: 1986, where Gerry Conway has been replaced on drums by Doane Perry (who would go on, with a few breaks, to be Tull's longest-standing drummer). The real shock here is how much Ian's voice has deteriorated - unfortunately Tull's least popular album "Under Wraps" also strained Ian's voice (he's never been the same since, although sometimes better than others). It's a shame because thy do some great songs: an (also abridged) rocking version of Hunting Girl, a long (10-minutish) bit of Thick As A Brick, and one of their best early-80's songs "Black Sunday" (this time with vocals). (There's also an OK version of the OK songs "Too Old To Rock'n'Roll, Too Young To Die"). The treat here, though, is some nice instrumental jams - Pegg brings out some of his Fairport folk for a bit, and Martin does a guitar showcase that really gets good when Ian's flute and the band come in. One final note on the '86 stuff - the camera tends to wander off and waste time showing the sound engineers and people walking through the audience for no apparent reason!
  Then there's a couple tunes from '93 of old material. A performance of "My Sunday Feeling" sounds great - Ian's voice may be weaker now, but he's using it to best effect at least, and then-new keyboard player Andy Giddings sounds great. The other song from this era is a fun acoustic performance of an old blues standard (at least that's what it sounds like - I'm unfamiliar with the song). The band in these two songs seems to really be enjoying themselves!
  The DVD ends with some early TV footage, from 1970. "With You There To Help Me" goes into the (unlisted) John Evan showpiece "By Kind Permission Of" (which would have been a selling point for me - don't know why it's not listed on the DVD case!). Followed by a rocking "Nothing Is Easy" (with a false start) which just ends suddenly mid-way when someone makes a mistake!
  It all seems to be TV recordings - only the 80's stuff is actual concert footage, and there's various song titles and program text up on the screen throughout.
  Not a bad release, especially for the various jam and improv bits, although it seems a shame we don't get to see the stage show!
  
  
  

• 1982 Tour video

  
  By A1Q5JG6OAJJJPP on 2008-05-09
  I own this on VHS and converted it to DVD. An excellent show from German TV in 1982 with multi camera angles, etc. The Broadsword LP live. Eventually I'll probably buy the official release to make up for the mediocre quality my VHS had. Any Tull fan will be happy.
  
  

• This is great

  
  By A2EUV5X57341CV on 2008-06-20
  This dvd of Jethro Tull live in Germany is, in a word, GREAT. This contains some of the clearest footage of Tull in concert I have ever seen.
  And what a treat to see the "Broadsword and the Beast" era Tull on a concert video.And the sound..well, it's very clear and precise, and what more could a Tull fan ask for? In my opinion, the footage of the Broadsword tour is worth the price alone. Highly recommended to any Jethro Tull fan.
  
  

• Fantastic Band

  
  By ASXBYYWXWFT2 on 2008-06-19
  This "Jack in the Green" DVD was filmed in Germany at various times over a 20 year period, and manages to capture a fantastic band playing some of their best music.
  
  The audio and video quality is surprisingly good for the time period in which it was shot. Tull's front man, Ian Anderson, is full of energy and his voice is strong (something that later became a problem for him). He is a truly amazing performer, and is in rare form on this disc. Martin Barre, Tull's lead guitar player, is also featured and, once again, displays that he is one of the underrated guitarists of all time.
  
  Jethro Tull has always been very popular in Germany, and the shows reflect their enthusiasm for playing there and the fans' appreciation for the band.
  
  This is definitely worth a purchase, because you will want to watch it again and again.
  
  

• Jack in the Green is.....

  
  By A3OGU0X4BV2ZM on 2008-07-12
  Pure Gold Vintage Tull. First, we have a DVD without breaks or comments during songs - Full Songs are Great. I find other DVDs with the comments and chatter mid-song a distraction.
  
  The picture quality is excellent, even with the picture expanded. For the age of the film stock I was surprised at the clarity, even in the brighter scenes. I noted a prior review which indicated the picture quality was grainy - Mine was not through a 480P DVD player (Does not upconvert) and a 1080I 50 inch TV.
  
  As some reviewers point out, the surround sound is a bit off - But with some tweaking of your system, the sound is excellent. The dolby 5.1 does sound somewhat muddy. The DTS soundstage has good high notes, but the low bass was just a little quiet. The stereo soundtrack actually sounded pretty good, but still needed slight improvement.
  
  I tried a few other sound modes in stereo with different decoder settings and was still not completely satisfied. I found the best setting was to set the DVD audio to DTS 5.1, and then set my amp to 7 ch stereo - WOW - what a difference. The sound filled the room perfectly and the sub-woofer was ripping.
  
  Never to Old to Rock and Roll....
  
  j.
  
  
• An exciting addition to your Tull library...
  By A3GNN4U7I9795K on 2008-06-06
  This is a 'must have' for Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson enthusiasts. The quality of the audio, and especially the video, is very good, and the selection of numbers is wide-ranging and representative of the breadth of Tull's music.
  Buy it -- you'll be glad you did.
  
  
• Tull Live in Germany
  By A1Q9X3M1E8J5IQ on 2008-06-23
  This is an excellent show from Tull.Audio and video are great.This is a great buy for Tull fans.Buy it now and don't miss out.
  
  
• Another Great One with Ian
  By AMFIOJHXTGH0K on 2008-06-27
  This video is a really great show. Ian never seems to quit. Always a fantastic performance by Jethro Tull. A timeless treasure to please all fans of this great band.
  
  
• An excellent DVD *
  By A21PBAYGV5RKSX on 2008-07-08
  I've been a Tull fan most of my adult life and have all of their commercially released albums and CDs as well as their DVDs. I was fortunate enough to be in the Air Force stationed in Germany during this period from 1983-88 and was at the "Out in the Green" concert (although we dubbed it the "Out in the Rain" concert and I still have the ticket stubs). I also was fortunate enough to have attended the Rocksummer 86 concert which was outstanding.
  
  The first 9 songs on the DVD are from 82 and feature Ian when his voice was still strong. "Hunting Girl" is the only song from the 1986 "Rocksummer" tour followed by a slightly different version of Thick As A Brick from the "Out in the Green" show.
  
  Skip to 1993 next and one of my favorite Tull songs "My Sunday Feeling". You can tell Ian's voice has deteriorated some and he struggles to hit the high notes. The last two songs from 70 - 71 from the Beat Club feature "With you There to Help Me" and (as previously mentioned) fades into "By Kind Permission Of" which sounds almost identical to the Living in the Past rendition.
  
  Overall, for a Tull fan, this is a must have for your collection. For the casual listener, a mixed bag. While there are great songs featured, the last song, "Nothing is Easy" is just a rehearsal and Ian has some type of pain in his left side causing him to stop in the middle of the song. They try to play it through again, but they get about half way through, then Ian holds his ribs and says he can't play it. Fade to black. When I watched it I was thinking, what the hell was that? Why bother including a half hearted attempt at a rehearsal song? They might as well have feature the guy sweeping the floor after the show. They definitely should have left that on the cutting room floor and included a live or at least a complete rehearsal song. Also as previously mentioned, the camera work leaves a bit to be desired. Not the quality, the picture is excellent, but why keep showing 20 seconds of the audience watching the show and people going in and out?
  
  Overall, an outstanding DVD but the editing, at least for me, left a bit to be desired.
  
  
• Irregular quality
  By A2P8ZULIE8H3P4 on 2008-07-09
  This is a mix-up of old materials. Recorded shows, mostly. The first songs, for instance, were recorded quite a long time, and the image quality is very poor (sometimes, appallingly poor: lots of grain). Sound is not too good, either, at least in the first songs. I'd say it's not up to a minimum quality standard, frankly. I wouldn't bother to buy it if I've got other DVDs with Jethro Tull material. Only for Jethro Tull fanatics who must to have everything the band has published...
  
  From a quality point of view, I'd go better with
  "Jethro Tull: Live at Montreux" or, yet better,
  "Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull" DVDs
  
  

• Live from Texas
• This Was (Collector's Ed.) (2 CDs)
• Jethro Tull: Live at Montreux
• Shine a Light
• Yes: Live at Montreux 2003