JETHRO TULL - Kneeling before Ian: Fifty years of attachments

Although the official chapter ended in 2011, Ian Anderson, 71, has kept the band alive both live and with new releases as Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson. With the three-CD box "50 For 50" he and the Warner label celebrate half a century of band history. Let's not kid ourselves: Nobody knows whether Tull music will still be played by one of the leading group members - above all Anderson - in ten years' time. This year's celebrations are therefore the ideal occasion to talk to the man who stands for Jethro Tull like no other about his life's work.

eclipsed: Jethro Tull celebrates his fiftieth birthday. How did you choose the tracks for the anniversary box "50 For 50"?

ROBERT PLANT - Tragic Hero

Meeting Robert Plant for the interview is a real state act. There are strict conditions regarding certain topics of conversation in which the artist is extremely sensitive (this of course includes everything around Led Zeppelin), the timeslots become shorter and shorter (from forty-five minutes in the early nineties to twenty minutes in 2017) and since recently there is even a plan (due to the copyright process of 2016) for an assessor from management or record company. Which provides for an unrestrained discussion situation and above all one clarifies: The man has not only one problem, but equal several. And all have to do with the past, with his twelve years as frontman of Led Zeppelin, as rock star and sex god. "Sometimes it really seems like a curse," he confessed at the last eclipsed interview. "Like a thing that's been following me my whole life and that I just can't get rid of. Which is bad.

THE PRETTY THINGS "We are not Verdi"

Health reasons force singer Phil May to step considerably shorter, as guitarist Dick Taylor explains in an interview with eclipsed. He himself, however, is not thinking of retiring. Nevertheless, the last act of the band, founded by May and Taylor in 1963, is within reach. And again not: seventy-five year old Taylor, who plucked the bass of the Stones for a moment ago, wants to keep his own glorious formation alive in some way.

eclipsed: A world without Pretty Things concerts is hard to imagine. Why did you decide to end the band right now?

THE PINEAPPLE THIEF - Group work with spirits

Are the Internet and social media a curse or a blessing? On "Dissolution", The Pineapple Thief deal with this burning question. Although they themselves clearly benefit from the possibilities of online communication and without them the new album could not have been created this way, they take a critical view of the development that platforms like Facebook have taken in recent years. Bruce Soord (45), as a non-digital native, gives information about his experiences with the beautiful new world. And about the new band member Gavin Harrison.

eclipsed: How did the work on the new album go?

MARILLION - At the destination

"The performance at the Royal Albert Hall was sold out in four minutes", Steve Hogarth is still amazed today. "The requests for tickets came from all over the world. "I'm still amazed Marillion have such a strong fan base The foundation for this was laid by the British band founded in 1979 with their first frontman Derek William Dick, better known as Fish. With him she experienced her international breakthrough. Ten years later Steve Hogarth took over the microphone, which he has not given away since. Hogarth was (and is) not undisputedly the successor of the charismatic Scotsman. Fish's singing, his lyrics and his stage performance gave Marillion an identity. But in the end Hogarth was convinced by the fact that he didn't copy Fish, but sets his own accents as a singer and stage fix. With him the group cleaned up at the Royal Albert Hall, with him they shone at countless shows before.

URIAH HEEP - Forever 49

Cologne's Hilton, not far from the main train station, is the obvious place for interviews. Here you are undisturbed and yet right in the middle of it. The journalists have a comfortable journey, the musicians a perfect starting point to explore the city. While Mick Box sips a Coke, Phil orders his fourth Kölsch before four in the afternoon. Mick comments: "He thinks it's rock'n'roll", which encourages Phil to note that these test tubes are not really beer at all. Once this detail has been clarified, Phil enjoys the eclipsed cover of the current issue with the cover story for the 1968 musical year:"I got married there, but only lasted seven years. I never made that mistake again after that." Mick, on the other hand, regrets that his German is not enough to read the story. "Jeff Beck's'Truth' I have to listen to again, one of my absolute favorite albums."

eclipsed: "Living The Dream" surprises with many vintage organ sounds and more backing vocals.

BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST - Anniversary for two

Their performances in Berlin in front of the Reichstag and in Treptower Park are still among the biggest single concerts this country has ever seen. Barclay James Harvest brought the most triumphant moments of her career in 1980 and 1987, respectively, to around 200,000 people. A career that began fifty years ago and brought fundamental stylistic changes: From melodious symphonic rock to hymn-like prog to elegant pop rock, the skills of the English group still exist today. In double version.

DEEP PURPLE 50 - Part 5: Live albums, tributes and epigones

What will remain of Deep Purple once the "The Long Goodbye Tour" is over? Will the tribute bands and epigones take over and do justice to the hard rock legend? Can they re-create the myth of Deep Purple in their songs or concerts? Or does the group, which is celebrated as the Liverock band, remain unique because of all its facets? These and other questions are addressed in the fifth part of our series of articles on half a century of Deep Purple.