An introduction to

"Too Old To Rock'n' Roll: Too Young To Die!"

The album "Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll", like "Warchild", originated more from an ambitious project than being just another Tull-album. Where the basis for "Warchild" was originally a film, the album at hand stemmed from the idea of a stage musical. David Palmer and Ian Anderson started writing songs for this planned musical in 1975. They intended to record 18 songs, of which about the twelve best ones would make it for a new Tull-album. In the original concept the subjects of the songs were to be people from different walks of life: an ageing rock-star, a housewife, an artist etc. The songs written for this musical were intended to be sung by seventies pop-star Adam Faith. The plans for the musical were - like the War Child film - abandoned. The sources I have used do not reveal why. They do reveal however that Ian looked for new forms of creative expression. I assume that the need for a new album, the oncoming next world tour and possibly financial problems to realise this musical, were the main reasons why it never materialized. Anyway, with so much work already done, it seems that the rock-star was the personality that was worked out well enough into a coherent story to make an album out of it.

With this album Ian once again brings an aspect of history to the fore: in this case the phenomenon of reoccurring trends in music and fashion. Is Ian implicitely saying here that there are no real new trends: it all has been seen and done before? (Like the women of Pompeï wearing bikini's 2000 years ago ...). There is, I think, an interesting link in this case with "Thick As A Brick", where the same phenomenon is a subject in the lyrics, but now in regard to morals! ( Remember: the sand castle virtues...). Rees states ".... the plot was pretty straightforward, with the message that the cyclical nature of fashion means that if you don't change your image, it will one day be fashionable again" (1, p. 71).

The story is about a young rocker, Ray Lomas, who clings to his music and fashion, in spite of getting older ("Too old to R & R)", while his old-time mates conform to society and thus become 'square'. He feels isolated, gets fed up with this situation and in a rebellious mood he decides to run away from it all, leaves on his motorcycle and his racing the A1 motorway leads to an accident, that almost kills him ("Too young to die"). While recovering in hospital from his severe injuries, there is a 'new' trend in music and fashion, which after leaving the hospital makes him and his image completely up-to-date again! Once again he is a fashionable teen idol. A comic strip on the inside of the cover of this album illustrates the story of Ray Lomas and connects the songs to eachother.

The album was released in 1976 when punk rock and new wave were about to draw the attention away from the great bands of the late sixties and early seventies. These bands were considered more and more as the "dinosaurs" of rock, as a nuisance "we" had to get rid of in order to break the way for new developments. Rees quotes Ian: "The new punks are doing what the old rockers were doing years ago. They were playing rock and blues, now it's punk-rock, but it's essentially the same thing, both in terms of music and attitude. I started out doing what the Sex Pistols are doing now. OK, I didn't actually spit at people when we played the Marquee, but I certainly insulted them a lot!"( 1; p. 72-73). Remember Pete Townsend of The Who, smashing his guitars and amplifiers, or Jim Morrison of the Doors, provoking his audience throwing up and peeing on stage......

With the Ray Lomas story, Ian shows his sense for history, not only in respect to reoccurring trends in music and fashion but also regarding his own relative position on the rock scene. He must have noticed that he was losing ground: the next generation of teens was not exactly dying of impatience for his music and he surely must have been aware of the fact that he missed the linking-up with them. Though still very popular and successful at the time, especially in the USA and Germany, Ian must have forseen that the band would have to endure a period of neglect, lack of attention and even being flamed by the music press and that eventually the tide would turn again in their favour. Looking back from the perspective of the present day this seems to be confirmed by at least one fact and one phenomenon. In 1987 Jethro Tull got a Grammy award for "Crest Of A Knave", beating the nominated Metallica, evoking new interest for the band and their music. Secondly, the old-time fans see more and more young people getting interested in Jethro Tull: these young fans attend gigs and are present on the internet in forums, chatboxes, newsgroups and with their own Tull-websites appreciating the band in their own way, while at the same time a consistent group of loyal followers (mostly being in their forties or fifties) kept track of the band in all these the years!

Now let's get back to the album itself. It seems to me, that the original plan of writing a stage musical in the end turned out to be a defining, perhaps limiting format for the songs that finally made it to the album. The lyrics are pretty straightforward, the plot is simple and several songs, especially the title song, are quite plain, predictable and thus lacking the 'listening adventure' that always featured Ian's music ever since "Stand Up". Since they should all be performable on stage in the setting of a musical, sung by Adam Faith instead of Ian, most of them are relatively simple and they tend to under-expose Ian's vocal qualities, imposing the idea that the album is alltogether "uninspired and stodgy" (1, p. 71). However, the album still contains some beautiful songs like 'Salamander', 'Pied Piper', 'From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser' and 'Bad-Eyed And Loveless' and the real fan certainly could not do without this one .
* Jan Voorbij; Cited: 1. David Rees: 'Minstrels in The Gallery : A History Of Jethro Tull', Wembley, UK, 1998.

Annotations

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