| 12/10/68 |
JETHRO TULL (with Tony Iommi) - 'Rock And Roll Circus' - Intertel Studios |
Wembley |
|
England |
A Song For Jeffrey |
In late 1968, Tony Iommi left Earth to pursue an opportunity to play guitar for Jethro Tull. Tull were invited to record an appearance for a planned TV special called ‘The Rolling Stones Rock 'N' Roll Circus. The taping took place on December 11th and 12th, 1968 at Wembley Arena in London. Also featured were such acts as The Who, Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and of course, The Rolling Stones.
Jethro Tull consisted of the inimitable Ian Anderson on vocals and flute, Clive Bunker on drums, Glen Cornick on bass and Iommi on guitar. Tony was replacing guitarist Mick Abrahams, who left shortly after the release of Tull’s debut album THIS WAS.
Tull performed the song “A Song For Jeffrey” from that album for the special. There are some people who claim that the Stones felt that the original audio track of this performance was unusable, so it had been replaced with the album version of that song, which makes it appear as if the band is miming to the song.
Regarding this, Alistair Blockley wrote: “Whilst it was true that the band were miming to the studio track, Ian Anderson actually sang the vocal live, so giving it a different - and more intelligible - mix than the album version. It doesn't have any bearing on Tony's role but it's a fact that audio-only versions are of interest to Tull fans whereas they'll mean nothing to Sabbath fans.”
It would have been interesting to hear Iommi play slide though, since he never did with Sabbath!
Allen Klein (who was managing the band at the time) opposed the idea of doing this TV special and refused to pay for it. The Stones were so behind the idea that they went ahead and financed the production with their own money. In the end, The Stones found themselves recording their performance in the wee hours after a brutally long day of taping the other acts. Running on empty, the Stones went ahead and did their bit in the 11th hour after a powerhouse set by The Who. In the screening room, Allen Klein was quick to point out how The Who overshadowed The Stones, thus convincing Mick and the band to shelve the film.
Ironically, Allen Klein took this film with him when he and the band parted ways shortly thereafter. With the color masters under lock and key for nearly 30 years, only bootleg copies of a black & white work print circulated among collectors during this time. Finally in October 1996, “Rock And Roll Circus” made its world premiere at the 34th New York Film Festival. It was shortly thereafter made available commercially on both video and CD.
Official Videos: ROLLING STONES-Rock And Roll Circus [released 10/15/96] (This is really the only title here worth seeking out, since the audio bootlegs do not contain Iommi’s playing. This version of “A Song For Jeffrey” is simply the album version from Jethro Tull’s 1968 debut THIS WAS.)
Official CD’s: ROLLING STONES-Rock And Roll Circus [released 10/15/96] (see above)
CD Bootlegs: ARCHANGEL RIDES AGAIN
Vinyl Bootlegs: ARCHANGEL RIDES AGAIN
CD-R’s: MORE SABBATH STUFF!! |
