Jethro Tull - Ring out Solstice Bells
If you were tripping balls and wearing a kaftan back in the mid 70s then you were probably hot for Jethro Tull, Britain's most lovably eccentric prog outfit who dropped this bizarre festive nugget back in 1976. Tull were less about twenty minute guitar solos and humourless philosophising, these dudes were into their cider 'n' mushrooms folk rock in a big way and succeeded in notching a few extremely unlikely hit singles back in the 70s alongside fellow hirsute nutbags Hawkwind and King Crimson - they managed to eke things out for longer than you might think too, hanging around in the background to famously deny Metallica the 'Best Rock Performace' Grammy award in 1989 back when they could still rock your balls off and Hetfield hadn't cut his hair or gone to rehab. 'Solstice Bells' is a pleasant hey-nonny-nonny slice of festive folk and it clearly brightened up what I presume was a fairly dull Top of the Pops back in what was possibly pop's worst year of all time (just look at that fartknocker presenting the show - he looks about 90!!). This was the atmosphere from which the Pistols emerged in late '76 don't forget, they had a lot of ground to cover back then. Tull still rules though, these guys put the freak in folk like nobody else - now that the genre's back in, where are all our googly-eyed flute playing frontmen to pick up where Ian Anderson left off? Come on kids, look lively!
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