My copy of Jethro Tull's Under Wraps: The Unwrapped Edition arrived yesterday. It has been some years since I have heard either Under Wraps or Fly By Night, so I'm taking a listen and finding I do still enjoy them. They are quite different from much of what went before, and Under Wraps was definitely 'marmite' for many JT fans.  

Like all of the boxsets, it is a lovely job, with a lot of information about the albums, interviews with Ian Anderson, Peggy, Martin Barre and others aboutt he making of, etc.  Each album is presented with the original programmed drums and with updated drum programming (apparently they thought about getting a real drummer in to redo them, but it didn't work).  And there's a live BBC recording from Hammy Odeon (the day after the one recorded on London Fields), and a Bluray with all the music in 5.1 and a couple of videos.

I'm hoping that Crest of a Knave will be the next one out, and then I think I'll have all I want - JT wise, anyway! - to the relief of my wallet!

But these Tull boxsets really are pretty much the gold standard for presentation at a pretty reasonable price, compared to what some people ask for sets with much less quantity or information.

We have a guy who sells records and CDs at the market in Okehampton every Saturday, and our Tuesday market here in Hatherleigh. After seeing him at the Lindisfarne gig recently I got chatting to him about music and after mentioning that I was going to see Steeleye last week, he pulled out a bunch of Steeleye albums (had them all) and Maddy Prior ones, so I have picked up Year, 3 For Joy and Hooked On Glory (the two Maddy Prior Band albums from 1982/3) from him over the last couple of weeks (and Yes' 90125 too) - all for a tenner.

He held it in, but you could tell he wasn't really. They ended up switching out one song because he didn't think the piano could cope with whatever they were planning to play and we got Here's The Tender Coming instead (I wasn't unhappy about that).

Good lord! RT playing a Gibson SG! May not mean much to civilians, but for Thompophiles it’s astonishing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXTp98QwzZo

Can't imagine Adrian was very happy about that!

Agreed. Great rapport with the audience and a really enjoyable set. RIP Dennis.

I've had an unusual (for me, at least) 3 gigs in 5 days. All good, and quite different.

Steeleye Span in Exeter on Wednesday night were excellent - it's the first time I have seen them with Athena on violin.

On Friday evening we went to see Gilmore & Roberts in the tiny Church House in South Tawton - an ancient stone building with probably no more than 50 of us packed in for a totally acoustic concert. No amps or mics. They did a great job.

And then last night we went to see The Unthanks (4 piece version) in Bude.  Despite a piano that was going out of tune as the concert went on, they were excellent as well.  The first time I've seen them but won't be the last if they make the long trip down here again.

Weirdly, I was under the impression that I'd seen him twice at Cropredy, but as we didn't start attending until 2004, it was obviously just the once, in 2012.

I do recall enjoying his set.

RIP

Dennis was on Twitter and he was a top man and funny with it.

Jules

He was brilliant. Sad news.