John's Alembic makes those performances very powerful and did much to really drive the band's sound at the time. I find it very hard to separate the truly great from the absolutely fantastic........
Conversely, though, I find Moon's drumming, while still great, to be less inventive and less ferocious in 75/76 than it was in 69/70.
This guy is very good, and he's got the fills down perfectly. The only thing he's got wrong is that he's using the toms for the double bass drum pattern that Keith repeats throughout the song. If you watch Moon, when he's not doing fills, he's constantly riding on the cymbals not going back and forth between the cymbals and toms. It's his feet that are doing the pattern between the snare hits.
However, on AJ/Sparks, I think Townshend’s guitar playing & performance was consistently more ferocious on the ‘75/‘76 tour than in ‘69/‘70.
I thought so as well. It sounds like he's got a double-bass pedal, too. In any event, his Moon drum covers are the best I've ever seen.
Loving this release!! Different than Leeds, but a great compliment to it nonetheless. Quality is fantastic and the performance is amazing of course!!
Meanwhile, four miles away I'm still waiting for Amazon to arrive. Crank up the volume a little so I can hear it here in Pock will you?
My Amazon IT order for the vinyl shipped this morning and My Amazon US CD order apparently just got delivered. Looking forward to cranking this after work!
Mine made it to Selby by about 12:00 via Royal Mail. Looking forward to a cold one and then getting it on. You might hear it from Leeds
I think the 2013 release being referred to is the same version as 2009 that got re-released in the UK in 2013 as a CD/DVD combo.
In terms of Amazing Journey / Sparks performances, take the time to listen to the Amsterdam 69 version: it's a famous boot with fantastic sound, and catches one of the opera house performances. I'm sure it's on YT. I think it equals any of the officially released shows, especially the Sparks. This Sparks is my all--timer, including a moment in the middle when Pete's guitar kicks out on him, and you can hear Moon screaming in the background while he's playing until it comes back in. Just terrific. This is a Tommy performance when it's all still totally fresh for them (so fresh that there are some big ol' mistakes, but it just adds to the sense of how hard they were playing).
That's a very good show, but it's nowhere near the best Tommy-era show of '69-'70. It suffers from what a lot of bootlegs suffer from, regardless of band: the best sound quality does not always = the best performance.
Which brings up an interesting point. When did each member reach their high point in the it abilities with the band. Here's how I hear it: Roger- 1973 Pete- 1970 Keith - 1966 John - 1971 I believe he lost his voice sometime after this tour.
Love that bootleg. Just listened to those two. Great fuzz tone and soloing from Pete on Sparks. I also love John's bass tone of this era. He set his strings super low and it sounded like slapping when he hit them. It's a clear, bell-like tone. I dig the huge reverb from that hall too. Very exciting to listen to.
FYI, the reverb on the Amsterdam recording isn’t from the hall, it was added in mixing. You can hear the sound of the hall in places when the room mics are mixed up for applause.
