I Refuse to Call This Post Living in the Past

On the latest Sound Opinions (the podcast isn't up yet for a direct link), the Sun-Times's Jim DeRogatis said that the new Decemberist's album, The Hazards of Life (due out on Tuesday) is the best album on "this ilk" since Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick. Now, once upon a time, I was a massive fan of Tull, and I considered Thick as a Brick to be their masterpiece. I did sort of lose much of my enthusiasm when I started following punk and new wave (which seemed to coincide with a change of direction and, for my money, a general decline in the quality of Tull's output), but I still enjoy a lot of their material before 1980. What DeRogatis was getting at in terms of the Decemberists, though, is that they're mixing folk music with the heavier guitar rock (there may have been some mention of metal, but "heavy metal" in 1972 meant something entirely different than it does now), which was very much what Tull was doing back then. DeRogatis was annoyed that, although the Decemberists namecheck various folkies as influences but never mention Ian Anderson or Jethro Tull. Sound Opinions only played some snippets, and if DeRogatis hadn't made the comparison, I must say that it wouldn't have occurred to me, so I'll have to hear the full album before arriving at my own opinion.

Another Tull tidbit that I haven't had a chance to drop into conversation yet concerns their 1976 album, Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! The cover, as well as the comics story that made up the gatefold sleeve, were drawn by Dave Gibbons, who went on to fame a few years later as the artist for Watchmen. I read an interview a while back in which he said that he wasn't particularly a fan of the band, though, but a record album job is a good gig.

Also, this one threw me for a bit of a loop a few years ago. As I've mentioned (and not even very long ago), I'm allergic to legumes, which makes Indian food a bit of a minefield for me. There's plenty that I can have at an Indian restaurant, I just need to know what I'm eating. So one night before I was getting ready to have an Indian meal, I thought I'd do a quick check on the Internet to see if I could identify which dishes I should stay away from. I don't remember exactly what I googled for, but I was essentially looking for a guide to Indian food. One site that came in near the top was Ian Anderson Indian food guide. I took a look and found it very informative, but I'd be curious what someone who's more conversant in Indian food might think.