IAN ANDERSON Reflects On TONY IOMMI’s Brief Stint With JETHRO TULL: ‘Everything Worked Out Fine’

In a new interview with Jonathan Clarke, host of “Out Of The Box” on Q104.3, New York’s classic rock station, Ian Anderson reflected on Tony Iommi’s sole appearance with JETHRO TULL, which took place in December 1968 for the filming of THE ROLLING STONES’ film “Rock And Roll Circus”. At that time, JETHRO TULL was in need of a new guitarist after the departure of Mick Abrahams.Asked how much of the JETHRO TULL performance was actually live, Anderson said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, the only person who was live was me. The band, we were performing to a tape because we were playing a piece of music that had been… Our guitar player by then had left, Mick Abrahams. And so Tony Iommi, who we knew and had done a bit of playing together with he, he came in to mime the guitar part. But he was a little embarrassed. I think his fellow bandmembers in EARTH, who, after a name change, became BLACK SABBATH, I think he had his hat pulled down over his eyes so they wouldn’t recognize him as playing with JETHRO TULL — or whatever. But he was actually miming to the part, and I was singing live to the backing tape that the rest of them did. It was a bit embarrassing, really, because everybody else on THE ROLLING STONES’ ‘Rock And Roll Circus’ was indeed performing live, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono and Keith Richards and the members of THE WHO, as well as the members of THE ROLLING STONES. It was all very live and very genuinely a live performance. And I felt a bit of a charlatan by virtue of the fact that I was singing to a backing track. But we’d been asked to do it. And we explained what the situation was, and they seemed happy enough with that. So we turned up for a couple of days in a TV studio near London.”After performing with JETHRO TULL at “The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus”, Iommi quickly came back to EARTH.”Well, everything worked out fine,” Anderson told “Out Of The Box”. “Tony had a lot of fun playing with us for a couple of days, and he was a great guy. We’re good friends today. But Tony’s natural place, given his very distinct musical style, was certainly embedded in the prototype BLACK SABBATH and came to fruition a year or two later when BLACK SABBATH became increasingly a major force. And I guess today they are the epitome of what heavy metal is. It was where it really began.”Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, “The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus” was originally conceived as a BBC special and was filmed before a live London audience in 1968. The film centers around the original lineup of THE ROLLING STONES — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts and Billy Wyman — who serve as the show’s hosts and featured attraction. It starred the band performing fan favorite classics like “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, as well as extraordinary live performances by THE WHO, JETHRO TULL, and more.This performance marked the first musical concert in which John Lennon performed before an audience outside THE BEATLES, as part of supergroup THE DIRTY MAC, which also included music legends Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell. “The Rolling Stone Rock And Roll Circus” was also the last time Brian Jones would perform with THE ROLLING STONES in front of an audience.”I learned quite a lot from [Ian Anderson], I must say,” Iommi later said. “I learned that you have got to work at it. You have to rehearse. When I came back and I got [EARTH] back together, I made sure everybody was up early in the morning and rehearsing. I used to go and pick them up. I was the only one at the time that could drive. I used to have to drive the bloody van and get them up at quarter to nine every morning, which was, believe me, early for us then. I said to them, ‘This is how we have got to do it because this is how JETHRO TULL did it.'”Four years ago, Iommi told the “Backstaged: The Devil In Metal” podcast about his brief stint with JETHRO TULL: “I felt really weird not being with the other [SABBATH] guys. I really missed them. But the thing was I felt a bit out of place ’cause I was joining basically an established band and I wanted to be a part of an established band; I wanted to be able to earn my own dues, if you like. I didn’t wanna join a band that was already doing well and I was just gonna be the guitar player. I wanted to be in a band where you all worked together and you are a band. I didn’t wanna be the guitar player in JETHRO TULL and like a side musician; I wanted to be a part of a team. So I said to Geezer [Butler], ‘Let’s get the band back together,’ which is what we did. We called Ozzy [Osbourne] and Bill [Ward] from London, and we said we’re coming back. ‘If everybody’s really serious about this, I’m willing to leave and we’ll get back together again and really work at it. And that’s what everybody suggests.’ So that’s what we did.”[embedded content][embedded content]