Tommy Deluxe Edition Tracklist

http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/projects/thewho/main/diary/display.cfm?id=171&zone=news

I think you need a password to access the above site so the link might not work if you don't have one. Anyway here is the skinny on the Tommy DE.

It's a SACD hybrid and it uses the ORIGINAL stereo mix as well as a 5.1 mix of the original LP and the outtakes. The first disc is the album proper. The second disc is comprised of studio outtakes and Pete demos. Here's the tracklist for disc 2.....


Studio Outtakes

I Was
Christmas (outtake 3)
Cousin Kevin Model Child
Young Man Blues (version 1)
Tommy Can You Here Me (alt take)
Trying to Get Through
Sally Simpson (outtakes)
Miss Simpson
Welcome (Take 2)
Tommy's Holiday Camp (Band Version)
We're Not Gonna Take It
Dogs Pt 2

Pete Stereo Demos

It's a Boy
Amazing Journey
Christmas
Do You Think It's Alright
Pinball Wizard

I'm looking forward to this. The Who's Next DE mastering wasn't that bad. Maybe there will be less chance for Jon Astley to screw the sound up since it's a SACD.

I hope they use the correct studio version of Young Man Blues (House That Track Built version) since Astley not only used an alternate take of YMB on Odds and Sods but he mastered it 7.5% too slow and nuked it with noise reduction. When questioned about this his defense was that the tape box said something like 'Young Man Blues master'. In other words he didn't bother check it against the House That Track Built LP Anyway, I'm excited about hearing the outtakes and will scoop this one up.

Chris

 

Thanks for the info, Chris. Looks interesting.

mud-

 

I hope this isn't a U.K. only release. Is Astley behind it at all? Boy, I sure hope the tapes are not doctored up.

 

This was Jamie's post from awhile back:

My friend that works for SADiE UK spilled the beans about the upcoming Tommy SACD. The email was titled "And The Grammy for Most Hyper-compressed Record of 2003 Goes to..." which I thought was funny.

quote from friend:
Off to Jon Astley's place tomorrow. He's mastering a new SACD surround mix of The Who's 'Tommy' (dunno if he did the mixes or not tho...will know tomorrow). He's getting one of the first DSD8 machines (they're starting to trickle out of here like the first time I didn't need a cathader). Chandos, Metropolis, Jon Astley were first up on the list. Slowly getting there. Funny that one of the first boards to handle true multichannel DSD (and also in "DSD-Wide", which means the processing goes from 1bit to 8bits 'wide' for headroom, then is converted back down to 1bit at the output) will be in my car tonight/tomorrow to be installed by me for the world to rebuy a Who album!

-----

I got a call from my friend (while he was at Jon Astley's house) this morning. He delivering the gear and was listening to the 2 track master tapes for Tommy. He said the master for Pinball Wizard was in his hands. The bastard!

Anyway, Jon didn't do the 5.1 remix. It's already finished and the mastering of the surround and 2 track mixes is going to start tomorrow. No word on who (ahem) did the 5.1 remixes though.

I asked if the hyper compression, no-noise, over eq subject was brought up. It was. Jon said it's the record companies that ask for things to be hyped up and not his personal choice. Uh, okay. He knows people think he does too much processing when he masters. Doesn't seem to change what he does though.

-----this is somewhat unrelated, but it came in the same thread and it's a great story. Well, a great story about something bad----

A guy I went to college with got signed to Dreamworks Records. Has anyone ever heard of Self? Anyway, when the album was completed and they got the mastered version back from Bob Ludwig a guy from the label sent the project back to Bob... along with his stereo. The instructions were to make it sound like it did when his stereo was set to the ROCK setting. There is no end to the ignorance that goes on.

 

SADiE DSD machines don't have any DSD native noise reduction... yet. So any noise reduction that Jon will have done (and he's sure to have used way too much) would've been in an external PCM realmad box. This negates the need for an SACD release. Why not just put it out on DVD-A if you're not going to take advantage of DSD? This stuff really cheeses me off.

 

About time Pete put out some of his Tommy demo's for the public to hear. Guess he got over the guy that stole the demo's to boot them and then returned em at Petes' request. Anyway, I think there will also be a DVD-A. I'm not too worried that these discs will be butchered.

 

Other details:
Release date: Oct. 28th
5.1 mix: "mixed by Pete from the original eight-track tapes"
.... does that mean our tweeters will get a rest?

 

The DVD-A is official, but isn't coming out until a few weeks later.

Bob Katz referred to 'DSD Wide' as 'PCM Narrow' on the Sursound mailing list.

Here is what he was responding to:

Welcome to the beginning of the end.

 

This is sad, very sad! There's people dead and buried that have better hearing than Pete, and *HE* did the surround? I am not looking forward to this release. Think I'll stick with the Japanese pressing for the original mix and the Simply Vinyl for the re-mix.

 

YES! I've not only heard of Self I've seen them live and they're a wonderful live act. And yes, their CDs are hyper compressed. Brilliant music though.

 

Ugh. Oh well, I'll still pick it up for the outtakes.....

Chris

 

It's a little odd that they decided to go with a hodge podge of alternate takes, outtakes and demos, rather than simply releasing all of Pete's demos.

Oh well, I suppose that in a few years we'll get a Tommy box set, with the original album on one disc, Pete's demos on a second disc, outtakes and alternate takes on a third disc, and a live version of Tommy (possibly Tanglewood or the Filmore) on a fourth disc.

 

I hope you mean a DVD video, of the Tanglewood, Fillmore, and Amsterdam concerts, as well !

 

Odd that they didn't include "Eyesight to the Blind" with the alternate vocal.

And the demos for "Pinball Wizard" and "Christmas" are already available on Another Scoop.

 

The Pinball Wizard demo on Another Scoop is edited, and there's a different version of Christmas on the Tommy Demos boot.

This is also missing the alternate "Cousin Kevin".

I wonder which version of Eyesight will be included.

 

No. It's an honorary title. When you read about Yoko re-mixing John's album's you don't actually think of her sitting behind the console, do you? Same thing here. I'm sure it was mixed by a "real" engineer and not a deaf musician. Pete has never mixed anything but his home demos.

 

Pete mixed the Quadrophenia LP.

 

Which is, in my opinion, its weakness -- the John Entwistle remixes for the film soundtrack were better.

I owned the soundtrack first, and when I eventually bought the full-length LP, the original sounded muddy and ill-defined in comparision. It just didn't have the power or drive of the soundtrack. Anyone know if the soundtrack CD follows the Entwistle mix, or merely repeats the approriate tracks from the remastered original?

 

It's the Entwistle mix.

Ryan

PS - I do think the '96 remix is much better than the original, for whatever that's worth. Lots more oomph.

 

Let's not open THAT can of worms again.

Of course, though, you're right.....

 

I still like the MFSL release, which is different than any other released stereo mix.

 

Ditto. I actually like the rough alt. version of 'Eyesight to the Blind". The MFSL CD (UD1) does sound very nice on my system. No complaints....

Todd

 

I predict that, in the not-so-distant future, EVERY Who album will have been released in a Deluxe Edition.

I'm particularly looking forward to the It's Hard Deluxe Edition.

 

Just imagine, actually waiting for the "By Numbers" Deluxe set to come out.
Ugh.

 

My favourite version as well. I've never heard another CD version come close IMHO.