Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!
Occupation
- Ian Anderson - flute, vocals, percussion, acoustic guitar, harmonica
- Martin Barre - guitar
- John Evan - keyboards
- Barrie Barlow - drums, percussion
- John Glascock - bass, vocals
Album
The concept album is about the fictional character Ray Lomas, an older rock musicians who rebels against the current trends of today. The majority of the songs were initially written by the head of the group, Ian Anderson with David Palmer for a stage play, which was but then not realized. Palmer wrote the orchestral arrangment for From A Dead Beat To An Old Greaser and played saxophone. On the album 'n ' roll were also Maddy Prior as a background singer in Too Old to Rock: Too Young to Die and Angela Allen involved; latter institution sang at Big Dipper and Crazed.
Lyrics and comic
The continuous action that is based on the lyrics, is illustrated by a two-page comic on the two inner sides of the hinged cover of the LP. But the lyrics, which were printed on the back of the album give, not all the details of the plot of the comic again. Some of them deal with other issues. So is Crazed Institution in comic for the store Horrids (meaning Harrods ), while the corresponding song is a song about Glamrocker, who have drifted away from reality. All song titles are included in the comic text in red color, in addition to the theme of Living in the Past of the same previous album, while the rest of the text is black.
Content of Comics
Ray Lomas, an aging, low -heeled rockers, wins a washing machine at a quiz show. However, he noted that the company has changed with time. He meets a young woman named Salamander, he finds interesting because of their bust size. She invites him to a party. First they steal an empty taxi, drive around and think about each other after.
Ray is fascinated by salamander visual stimuli, but she's not interested in him, as they him for a "workers' lout " ( working class lout ) holds. Before a pub they stop and put off Salamander Ray to eight clock because they still want to freshen up and says that she wanted to meet him there later. He goes to the pub, orders a beer and bitters. There he is approached by an old acquaintance. They talk for an hour until Ray says to him that the friend live in the past. Then Ray leaves the pub, waiting outside on salamanders, however, puts him so that he disappointed in his hotel goes.
The next day he decides to go back to his hometown, and dreams during the journey from ancient times, when he was named big dipper ( German "roller coaster" ) because he had numerous women's acquaintances at the time.
However, he is at home still ridiculed because of his appearance. Therefore, he decides with his old bike he affectionately calls Doris ( a Triumph Bonneville ) to take a ride. During this journey, he reflects on the events, is annoyed that he is not more popular, with the result that it is unfocused and too fast is when it rains. This ends up in an accident that puts him into a coma for a long time. During this time, there is again a change of generation by the fictional music group Norton and the Wheelies, which revives the style of the 1950s again.
When Ray wakes up from a coma, his style is back in fashion, and he looks for the necessary operations younger. The consequence of this is that young women are interested in him again. After he broke up with a woman for a spin on his motorcycle, he invites her to his house yet and they end up in bed. There's a knock on the door and Ray receives a telegram: a record company offers him a record deal, made him a pop star.
Effect
The title track Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die was initially fiercely debated in England, as some critics auffassten as personal opinion of Anderson. Ian Anderson wanted to write claims to be an autobiography of himself as an aging songwriter.
The album reached # 25 in the UK and number 14 in the U.S.. In Allmusic the album received three out of five possible points.
Title list
Original edition
Side A
Side B
Extra title
The revised CD also contains these two titles: