The Who - New Box Set for 2015?

Re: the reality of getting the archives in order, I'm hearing a giant and sad LOL from a friend at the prospect of that actually happening. Stranger things have happened but I hope for the best .

 

Does your friend know the secret handshake?
And the password.

I believe someone Here the other day observed those in Who land were more interested in preserving info and not sharing it.

There must be a reason they announced a career spanning box set. They played songs from it yesterday on the Beeb

 

I imagine there are so many inside insiders in The Who camp over the years and personal dramas and legal issues and this and thar that none of us likely even know what actually exists and if it does will likely not hear it but there are a finite number of concerts the band has played too and not all of them recorded but there has been a lot that has been released From management to soundmen to techs to roadies to fans to record company people to friends of friends to collectors to the band members themselves, it's stuff we will never fully know, but we do know or assume they apparently own Largo and Philly 73. WV claims ownership of Cow Palace video which is great video. Maybe a better audio source could be found or fixed and a monetary agreement reached to release it. If Townshend has a quality recording of a '73 Edmonton Sundown performance that has been only rumored afaik and Maria Koleva ever changes her mind about her footage of Paris 72, well, right there without anyone having to hardly find or research anything, but agree in business terms, you could have up to 5 Who concerts from a period of relative live inactivity of 72 -73 without any one 'insider' dong a darn thing. Add the whole concert from Backstage Pass of where the '72 MB is from and who would even really need archival material in the foreseeable future from those years other than all that? But, they sit on most of it instead, like with the entirety of the San Fran concerts and even the complete YV concert. The label, mgmt, the band. Charlton '74 another one. They could 'blow out' the vaults on the 71-74 stuff alone without any fan or collector doing barely a thing. But the label, band, mgmt haven't gone full on for those options quite yet. There's still time. I know Shea 82 isn't on every fan's radar, as is our right, but to me it is an archival release and one I have some interest in and I feel like if I don't get it, well my own wants or demands for more archival material has a little less truth about it but that's just me. Fans want the moon and as well they should. Fans know the box set is coming out. We just don't know much what's on it and when. I imagine sometime in the fall as previously speculated.

According to thewho.net the band played only 46 concerts between 72 and 74 yet the potential which is a big IF in specific cases shows that up to at least a combintion of 7 of those 46 are either on multi track, soundboard, or video or film. For '71 they should have at least 3 multi track recordings too. Collectors and bootleggers have always given freely on some level or with renumeration. Providence, Springfield, Houston 75 to name a few from that tour.

 

Just give me, in complete and unedited form:

Woodstock 1969
San Francisco 1971
Philadelphia 1973
Swansea 1976

If I had the power, I'd do it myself.

 

There were a handful of complete Woodstock sets released for the 40th anniversary such as Santana, Sly Stone, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, Joe Cocker, Jefferson Airplane -- it was the perfect time for Universal to finally release The Who's complete set. One would imagine that the label would have realized the tie-in opportunity with all of the promotion surrounding the box set and individual concert releases. Either Universal was asleep at the wheel, or Daltrey/Townshend blocked plans for a release. Either way, it was a lost opportunity. As a side note, Roger's alleged distaste for the Woodstock performance may very well be rooted in his recollection of the festival itself being a turn-off because the band's performance was actually quite strong.

The release status of the San Francisco '71 tapes is somewhat boggling. Prime live music from The Who; yet most of it has remained unreleased for well over 40 years. The San Francisco '71 situation is puzzling.

Philly '73 (or perhaps Largo) was scheduled for release in '98. At least it almost happened. It is unclear why the release was cancelled; rumors suggest Townshend changed his mind.

One imagines that Swansea '76 was finally penciled in for a nearly complete release on the aborted Who By Numbers Deluxe Edition that was mentioned as being in development about 10 years ago. Nevertheless, it would be nice to have the complete show officially released in what could potentially be the best-ever sound quality for its contents.

 

For poor a band whose reputation is based so much on their live work specifically in the 70s, it is puzzling how little has been released and some of the odd decisions that have been made. According to Entwistle, the original release of SF 1971 (circa 1972) was cancelled because it was too similar to Live at Leeds. Which is an odd conclusion to draw, given that of the 14 songs we know were performed in SF, only 7 were in the Leeds setlist and only four appeared on the original Leeds album. It would have been easy to assemble a single LP Live at SF album that contained no overlap with Leeds if they'd wanted.

It's also surprising they didn't release a double live album in 1976 or 77. Everyone was doing it, they were at the height of their live powers, and there was an over three-year gap there in which they released no new material, the longest gap between releases in their active recording career (1965-82). A double album of Swansea would have been perfect and fit in perfectly with the times in 1977.

And now here we are in 2015, and we have four complete shows released from the Tommy tour, but nothing released from 1971-76 except a few odd tracks here and there. Meanwhile they've made what, dozens of shows from this century available in one form or another. Bizarre.

 

Yep!

 

This!

 

The band is filming the current tour, and I'm certain there will be a Who Hits 50 tour video released. The current culture surrounding the band is very much focused on Townshend and Daltrey. Releasing archive material strictly from the Moon / Entwistle years is perhaps too far off course for them to consider at this time. That said, I'm picking up Shea '82 today as there is some excellent playing from that show- plus I was there. Also, the new PT compilation "Truancy" is being released today- I'm buying that as I believe the mastering will be an early indicator of what to except on pending future PT / Who re-issues.

 

I have never been able to decide whether there is either a desire to strictly control the release of classic live material as part of a concerted marketing strategy (i.e. hold onto a bulk of good stuff to trickle out in future years when current activities have all but ceased) OR simple lack of interest in best serving Moon era material. There is no shortage of releases audio / video from recent tours, maybe from a belief that this will sell best NOW whilst the memories are fresh. In other words, an unreleased 1972 gig being released forty years later would be of great significance, but a 2015 gig being released even ten years from now (let alone in 2055) becomes a minor footnote in the legacy of The Who.

Yet archive releases keep on coming - which fans needs are being served by Shea Stadium 1982 being resurrected? Those like me that first saw The Who in 1982? It was good at the time but not good enough to endure 30 years hence...The Moon era stuff really does endure, however, even for those of us who were too young to catch the Who in its glorious 1970s stride.

I'm not sure of how The Who's fan base is configured these days. To be blunt, from my perspective I cannot quite understand the interest that they still generate live (although I'm glad they are still around to do it). I'm probably a bit jaded after seeing the Glastonbury set on TV - they went down well, got good reviews, and stood out a mile from some of the other younger acts. But being objective, it just felt too much like a band too old and too musically depleted to be bothering. All the songs sounded much, much better in the past, even in the early Kenny Jones era. Daltrey's voice was very ragged (and at 71 he can hardly help that). Songs were too slow (especially "My Generation") and that bass player is a poor choice for a band that really needs a dynamic bass sound to fully deliver the goods.

 

RE: 1971- 1976

Released in 2012 - The Who in Texas 1975 DVD

I really enjoyed watching that film, however I recall that it it didn't sell very well.

From the 1970's- We also have

Isle Of Wight 1970
Tanglewood 1970- A few tracks released on the 30 YRS MRB VHS
Kiburn 1977
Shepperton 1978 from TKAA
Chicago 1979

*Plus other 70's footage I may have overlooked

 

Excellent post! Choice cuts from various shows and eras have been released of course and we do have an 'almost" complete Live at Leeds release, but there's so much more available. San Francisco 1971 is on just about everyone's wish list... but for unknown reasons the complete show remains in the vault. Same with Fillmore 1968, Charlton 1974, Swansea 1976 and many others. They seem keen on releasing contemporary, as-is shows, via download, but archival material comes out in dribs and drabs. No doubt the box set will have more tantalizing live cuts, but unless someone inside the camp gets the ok from Roger and Pete, complete shows seem quite the pipe dream. Strange. Ron

 

But the fact that it [Texas '75] was bootlegged to death wouldn't have helped sales..........for just a slight upgrade in quality.
I'm sure some of the others you mention sold respectably though.

 

Hey oates based on your own research, how many of these lost 68 tracks would be available for the box set, and how complete are they

Do you want kids kids.
Shakin all over
Joys
Facts of life

Also I've been reading It Was You, is likely going to be included, what sort of recording is that, High Numbers or Detours. Are there any published versions of it besides the Naturals.

 

However, the record label may view the sales of Texas '75 as a reference when considering releasing future proposed 1970's archive film releases. It's likely that a Live In London 2013 or Who Hits 50 2015 will out sell a Cow Palace 1973 100 to 1 if not more. I hope Shea 1982 sells a profitable amount of copies. Who fans need to buy that release to show support of the labels film archive restoration efforts.

 

Who Hits 50? Sure. Live In London 2013? I can't imagine that.

Not buying Shea Stadium though. I've never been a completist in that regard, and it really doesn't interest me.

 

Well my research is out of date - the only song definitely in the Who tape archive when I was involved was "Shakin' All Over" - there was no trace of the others as Who recordings, and until proved otherwise, I suspect the remainder will turn out to be PT demos.

 

Well ok thanks. Still I have to wonder why they were listed with the other Who tracks from the 68 sessions. Townshend could have demoed those at home without having them logged as Who sessions. Still Shakin would be great to have.

 

They could well exist in Who versions - as I say, my knowledge is not up to date. To be optimistic, material has emerged over the last few years and may continue to do so.

 

Woodstock is poorly recorded and is already out there if you want it. It's the least desirable classic Who release for me. Philadelphia 1973 now has a great boot so I'll pass on that as well. Swansea 1976 isn't a very good recording and I hope there is something better from 1975-76. San Fran is ok but, I really like the Stockholm 1972 recording of Magic Bus and would rather have this show. I guess I'm not overwhelmed by your choices and hope for better.

 

None of that bothers me. Those shows were recorded just fine, but we've not gotten good mixes.

 

Agreed. Simply for historical purposes, it's a damn shame and a travesty that Woodstock hasn't been officially released yet. Yeah they hated the festival, were tripping off their heads (not by choice) and were surly, but that manifested itself in a brutal, heavy, fantastic performance. Just listen to Sparks from that show or watch the available film footage. THAT is the Who.

 

The drums could sound better, but I don't agree with "poorly recorded". And while the whole show is out there, it's mono and not of the same quality of what's been officially released.

 

Most of the drums weren't miked at Woodstock so your not capturing all of Keith.

 

When I hear Tanglewood 1970, I think of that being a well recorded Who show from 1969-70.