MOTORPSYCHO – premiere Jethro Tull cover

MOTORPSYCHO premiere Jethro Tull cover ‘Up to Me’ from new tribute album “Aqualung Redux”

MOTORPSYCHO square the circle with the second single taken from the forthcoming MER Redux Series release “Aqualung Redux“. The Norwegian psychedelic rockers, very much like the British icons, hold a particularly strong and unique musical identity that has always remained clearly identifiable despite a multitude of stylistic changes in their ongoing careers. On their tribute track ‘Up to Me‘, the trio from Trondheim unite two seemingly opposed artistic achievements: making the song their own while at the same time amplifying many of the features that define the sonic individuality of JETHRO TULL.

Parallelto “Aqualung Redux”, Magnetic Eye Records will release the customary companion album entitled “Best of Jethro Tull Redux” that contains 8 cover renditions of deep cuts and all-time classics from across JETHRO TULL‘sextensive catalogue recorded by some of the heavy underground’s most exciting artists.

Pre-sale available: http://lnk.spkr.media/jethrotull-redux

MOTORPSYCHO comment: “Jethro Tull is a band that made a niche of their own; and pretty much stayed there”, vocalist and bass player Bent Sæther begins what is essentially a grand declaration of love. “Around 1972, they caused a rash of flautists to take up space on stage with more heavy folk-rock bands than you could shake a stick at – before permanently going out of fashion a couple of years later. Huge in influence for a brief time and much loved by some, they were equally derided and scorned by others. The British were wonderfully original musical iconoclasts. Just like The Dead, Rush, and a select few other ‘True Legends of 70s Rock’, Jethro Tull’s intractability and sense of self-control rang as true as Fugazi’s 20 years later – and have been as great an inspiration to Motorpsycho over time.  
 
My personal Tull window pretty much shuts after ‘A Passion Play’. This is not due to any big changes in the music, but rather because the ambition and self-confidence seemed to have receeded and diminished around that time – along with the hair (someone should do something on Ian Anderson as a modern day Samson. Now, there’s a concept album!). A lead vocalist who is seemingly stuck in a perpetual self-defence mode isn’t sexy, and much less cool. From the mid-70s on, they somehow just seemed like bitter and serious men in search of some kind of validation, no matter how humorous and light they tried to appear.
 
But from 1969 to 1974 their roll was immaculate. If you ask me for my favourite Tull albums, I am torn between ‘Stand Up’ and ‘Thick as a Brick’, but there’s a freshness and a humour in all this early stuff that is all very smart and great.
 
It’s a pity they became misers after they first went down that road, and never eased off to turn into jolly old men instead – like they should’ve. They deserved to, because generations of weirdos love their strangely delightful music and that’s the best validation that you can ever hope for in this business. Everything else you can buy, but a fan’s love is pure and true. And if that is not enough in itself, you’re in the wrong business, mate. Is there maybe more truth and self-awareness in the character Aqualung than we thought after all?
 
‘Up to Me’ is a quirky acoustic number on ‘Aqualung’, and for me one of many highlights on a great album. We first tried to play it like we thought an electric Tull might’ve done it in 1971, but it just sounded respectful and flat. Their decision to do it acoustically seemed a better one to us than ever before, after trying this out for ourselves. Well, fooling around with a drum-machine and doing a less Geezer Butler-ish bass line than Cornick or Hammond-Hammond would seem to have solved the issue. We eventually ended up with this frantic take that manages to blend our first impulse to do something far more modern, and hopefully avoids becoming retro-for-the-sake-of-it and ‘too true to the original’ – like covers tend to do when you just love the original too much.
 
So in the spirit of the original Jethro Tull – at least it’s something different!”

Explaining MOTORPYSCHO to a rock audience is a bit like carrying coals to Newcastle or whales to Trondheim. In this ancient city on the Norwegian west coast, the trio was founded in 1989. Bass player and vocalist Bent Sæther is the sole remaining original member. When the Norsemen started out, their sound was strongly influenced by heavy metal, hard rock, punk, and alternative with dashes of progressive elements. This is most strongly audible on their debut full-length “Lobotomizer” (1991). Yet right from the start, MOTORPYSCHO had their own trademark sound, which somehow survived even drastic stylistic changes of course in the following decades. Over the course of the next albums, “Demon Box” (1993), Timothy’s Monster (1994), ‘Blissard’ (1996), and “Angels and Daemons at Play” (1997), the trio gradually reduced their metal influences and introduced more psychedelic and experimental sounds. When MOTORPYSCHO entered the new millennium by storming the Norwegian charts all the way up to the top fot the first time with “Let Them Eat Cake” (2000), they were a changed band on the outside. Yet they have always continued to be true to themselves, which also meant that during tours in the 90s, each show could very much differ from the others with huge spaces for improvisation, reflecting the mood of the day. You can never predict what you get from MOTORPYSCHO – except that it will be great, in a known way or a new other. Their latest album “Neigh!!” was released in September 2024.

Tracklist “Aqualung Redux”
1. Chris Goss & Alain Johannes ‘Aqualung’
2. The Well ‘Cross-Eyed Mary’
3. Osi and the Jupiter ‘Cheap Day Return’
4. Huntsmen ‘Mother Goose’
5. The Otolith ‘Wond’ring Aloud’
6. Motorpsycho ‘Up to Me‘
7. Big Scenic Nowhere ‘My God’
8. Saturna ‘Hymn 43’
9. Mammoth Volume ‘Slipstream’
10. The Sword ‘Locomotive Breath’
11. Domkraft & Arvid Hällagård ‘Wind-Up’

JETHRO TULL are musical giants with a unique sound – or rather sounds that have remained singular in the canon of rock music. Founded in Blackpool, Lancashire, in 1967 by the Scotsman Ian Anderson, the band has undergone several stylistic shifts and changes of image during their still ongoing career of many decades. Yet largely due to the characteristic voice of their frontman and the inclusion of a flute as an essential instrument, JETHRO TULL have always had an inimitable and easily recognisable trademark sonic fingerprint.

JETHRO TULL have pushed the limits of what defines rock music from the start. Elements of classical music, jazz, and traditional music such as compound time signatures have led to the band being classified as art rock and later progressive rock – among a host of other terms. The British legend has managed to balance the tightrope between art, wide appeal and commercial success with seeming ease. This was helped by the outstanding showmanship of Ian Anderson, whose stagecraft and performances even rivalled his contemporary, the legendary British singer Arthur Brown.

With their best-selling album “Aqualung” (1971) that has by now sold more than 7 million copies worldwide, JETHRO TULL achieved their major breakthrough and became a global household name as a rock band on radio shows and on tours. “Aqualung” primarily revolves around religion and faith but also tackles other subjects such as homelessness, but according to Ian Anderson it was not intended as a concept album. While the band continued to use elements of blues, hard rock, and psychedelia, it also added more folk style acoustic moments. The single track ‘Locomotive Breath’, taken from “Aqualung”, is probably the best known and most covered tune of JETHRO TULL.
 
Magnetic Eye’s Redux Series was created to pay homage to classic albums from across music history. The label has charged themselves as chroniclers and archivists to contribute to keeping the memory of outstanding artists and records alive and transfer their music to the sound of new generations. Heavy music has always experienced evolution in many directions, but the idea that a band led by an eccentric, mercurial Scotsman who integrated art pieces, social critiques, off-kilter humour and yes, even a flute, proved to be delightfully appealing and finally irresistible.
 
That eccentric geniuses such as JETHRO TULL could become one of the most memorable and recognisable acts of the 1970s that continued to amaze throughout the next decades very much shows what a fun and crazy time those early days of rock’s exploration were.
 
With “Aqualung Redux” and “Best of Jethro Tull Redux”, Magnetic Eye pay heavy tribute to the original art rock masters through an array of renditions by bands both iconic and new. JETHRO TULL were singular and a similar band might never come into existence today, but it is cool as hell that their legacy continues to live on more than five decades later. Magnetic Eye proudly uphold and endorse their lasting greatness with this respectful homage.

The Magnetic Eye Redux Series features hand-picked classic albums from across the history of rock and metal re-imagined in their entirety from start to finish. Artists we love from within and outside the heavy rock landscape choose tracks to make their own, bringing these milestone records into the new millennium with crushing heaviness and searing energy. To date, we’ve produced Redux editions of PINK FLOYD’s “The Wall”, HELMET’s “Meantime”, BLACK SABBATH’s “Vol. 4”, HENDRIX’s “Electric Ladyland”, ALICE IN CHAINS’ “Dirt”, AC/DC’s “Back in Black”, and SOUNDGARDEN’s “Superunknown” which have included artists like RED FANG, MATT PIKE, PALLBEARER, THE MELVINS, ALL THEM WITCHES, KHEMMIS, ASG, SUPERSUCKERS, ZAKK WYLDE, MARK LANEGAN, RUBY THE HATCHET, and many other amazing artists.

Join us for our eighth foray into Redux territory as we pay proper respect to the unique British rock legends JETHRO TULL! 

Artist: Various Artists
Album: Aqualung Redux
Label: Magnetic Eye Records
Style: Doom, Stoner Rock & Metal, Psych Rock et al.
Release date: December 6, 2024

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