First time hearing this new release outside of the new MG track and what was included in its form on the Fillmore boot. First impression of Summertime Blues is the savage and eviscerating sound Townshend and Ox make together. On Fortune Teller, it seems the vocals are mixed back a little further or rather perhaps how that song works is a little more dependent on vocals? With all the drums not ideally recorded and the vocals seemingly mixed back a bit, I'm not quite as captivated as I thought I would be with Fortune Teller and I kinda feel similarly about Tattoo and Little Billy, on first listen to this mix and the sound of it. As a result, am looking forward to giving them another listen at another time. In general though, on the big plus side is the inspiring clarity and sound of the guitars, some of the vocals and even a few pieces of the kit, as well as the amount of range of comfort level there is with the listening volume in the mix and in the mastering. I also feel like on repeat listenings more goodness will be revealed despite a few of the shortcomings from the recording of the drums. The sound and performance of Happy Jack and Summertime Blues though seem to stand out to me above some of the other early numbers. Relax is intense and exploratory, and the guitar and bass (even the drums sound pretty good to me at time) sound very good. The time spent hearimg the 1st LP just sort of flew right on past me in a blur. Couldn't even imagine being there in person. At this point of listening to the concert, it seems at the time a single LP release of this FE show (akin to just 6 tracks on Leeds) seems like it would have been a pretty strong release with Happy Jack, maybe Summertime Blues, and Relax a part of it. I think I'm A Boy and AQO speak to the effective use of dynamics that iirc Marsh alluded to or implied in his comments in his book when putting the entire performance in context. Multiple kinds of emotions, volumes, songs, and approaches to playing coalesce into something equal to its parts and greater than the whole of them imo. Anyway to quit my unsolicited yapping now I'll just opine the more the band perform and the concert goes on I'm just simply more impressed in general by the quality of the songs, performamces and the sound of the whole 'production' and release, despite the drums being maybe at times only half or perhaps more like only two-thirds imo of what they ideally could or should sound like if only recorded better. My Way into C'mon Everybody into Shakin' All Over is close to a breathless kind of medley for what would otherwise be a proper encore.
Finally bought my copy from Amazon US. Will be here Sunday/Monday. Hoping to get it at a lower price (and somehow missed every sale of it in our Marketplace) or wait for a download, but I couldn’t take it anymore and bought the 2CD set. Will crank it up nice and loud when it arrives and then give my thoughts.
It had been $25 plus change for ages on Amazon US, but I just noticed it dropped five bucks. I also notice a separate listing for a "UK Deluxe Edition" which has the exact same track listing as the regular version. Not sure what that is all about.
Maybe the poster? Which I need to find the post/page number where it was posted so I can have better artwork...
It just *is* a Deluxe Edition, there isn't a special release. The poster apparently either never existed or disappeared extremely quickly.
Hope I die before I get old. Well, I'm glad he didn't. Still can't believe that a lot of my childhood/teenage idols are in their '70's now.
Luke, do you concur the reverb was added to the official release for sweetening? I think overall the official release mix is a definite improvement over the bootleg acetates. The stereo separation is wider on the official release, the vocals aren't as loud and the guitar is overall more prominent, all of which are mix improvements IMO. But with that said, the dry bootleg acetates of the April 6 show tracks still sound quite good (I'm referencing the Shakin All Over CD on the Gold Standard label which appears to be a high quality dub of the original acetates and is superior sound to the original TMQ Fillmore lp's). You still need the bootleg for five songs from the April 5 show: A Quick One (incomplete, comes in at Ivor The Engine Driver), My Gen (incomplete, fades out after approx 10 min), My Way, Boris, Shaking All Over Too bad they couldn't have issued a limited edition special release of all (salvageable) tracks from both shows. I would love to hear the full length My Gen from April 5 as this truncated version appears to be just as incendiary as the 33'' version from the next nite's show
I saw an interviewer ask Pete, "Do you still hope you die before you get old?" Pete laughed and answered, "it's too late!" The interview was in 1993, when Pete was 48 years old.
There’s also some reverb on the boot; it isn’t just a dry mix from the 4-tracks. There’s no question that as a whole, the new release sounds better than the boot, due to the lack of mistracking and the somewhat thin mastering of the acetate and/or boot. That said, it’s hard to give a good assessment of the boot mix itself due to those factors. A proper mastering from tape would surely sound much better. Stereo separation varies on both the boot and the official release. Some things may be due to the recording, while others are due to the mixes. For example, the official release mixes the guitar track center until 30 seconds into Little Billy, while the boot has it mixed to the side that whole time.
Great release, however, I MUCH prefer the 4/5 version of "Shakin' All Over". It just has the inexplicable 'something' that does IT for me.
It seems Pete's guitar in a couple of the verses in I'm A Boy is either very quiet or nearly absent. The performance of Boris The Spider seems to me more flexible and nimble than later ones while still being weighty enough. The performance of AQO really impressed me. I like the My Way-C'mon Everybody-Shakin' All Over sequence. I like the looseness and spontaneity of some of these performances, there are unexpected momemts and kinda surprising instants of playing in some of the songs. Some of Pete's solos and leads SOUND really good to my ears. I love the guitar tone he has. John's vocals on stage and his 'lead bass playing' can hardly be overstated in their importance for hearing this band in concert. I almost feel guilty not being able to talk more about Moon because he is also leading the band and he's on top of it (the other guys were just recorded better and they play good, and sing pretty good too, lol). Fortune Teller, Tattoo, and Little Billy sounded better to me on a 2nd listen to them on this album. I think Roger sounds good on many of these songs and stronger on others. The 2 LP's sound excellent imo. I think I'd be satisfied with them by themselves! Then there's that extra half hour of MG Feeling spoiled here and that's without Lily and Substitute too. 'Crucial' concert release here imo of The Who before Tommy. I'm surprised and happy that the sound seems so much more ear-friendly than I ever imagined. I don't find it too shrill, too unbalanced, nor even overly tinny. It sounds rather agreeable and mostly 'deligtful' to me and I prefer that to how else it could have sounded if mixed and mastered differently.
...on the other hand, Uncut gave the album 9/10 stars but referred to Bill Graham as Billy (!!!!!) and said that Pridden was a roadie (wasn't he their soundman?). I think they got the rest of it right.
Finally got round to purchasing this & It's nice to have a pre-Tommy Who live release but I wish Keith's drums were captured better, it sounds like he's falling down the stairs most of the time.
May 25, 2018 : it was 40 years ago today ... in 1978 Keith Moon played his final "gig" at Shepperton Studios for Jeff Stein's cameras ...
Dear @FloydMaui, please stop posting the same thing and all Who threads. Create a new one and put it there. Thank you. If you don't stop an intervention will be scheduled.
