Jethro Tull Living In The Past--John Glascock playing a Gibson Thunderbird Bass

[Ivan May]

This live performance from 1976 shows John Glascock playing a sunburst Gibson Thunderbird Bass.

 

 

I find this a little interesting, because Glenn Cornick actually played a Thunderbird (if I remember correctly) on the original 1969 release of Living In The Past. But the way John Glascock plays it here--it is so similar to Cornick's playing, you can't tell the difference!!

Now, John Glascock usually played a Fender Precision Bass amped with an Ampeg SVT amp during much of his tenure in Jethro Tull, but around the time Stormwatch came out, John was playing a red Wal bass and a Gibson Thunderbird bass. My guess is that either John Glascock did own one (which seems likely), or it was rented or borrowed from Ian Anderson, who owned a Gibson Thunderbird and used it on Jack In The Green from Songs From The Wood, as well as the Stormwatch album. (Ian played on all but 3 tracks off Stormwatch, as John became to ill from a congenital heart defect during the albums recording and died shortly after.)

 

I hope you enjoy this Tull video.

[Mark Schmieder]

Yeah, and I regretted my Thunderbird gold-painted 50th anniversary edition that cost so much but sold for so little when I got rid of it months later. Couldn't stand the feel or the sound; it seemed more like a guitar than a bass. All the Tull bassists primarily used Gibson models. I've never figured out how they got them to sound so good!