The Who View From A Backstage Pass (2007)

From thewho.info

Live 1970-1974 – not a bootleg

I will break this mini-review into a “Disc 1” and “Disc 2” kinda thing since the material on these discs is from different concerts and each disc has its own “sound and feel” to some extent.

One thing consistent between both discs – I consider these “roughly mixed” vs. “fully mixed” – I’ll try to explain what I mean by that as you read on…

Disc 1 contains primarily tracks from Hull 1970 and San Francisco 1971.

What I found most fascinating were the Hull tracks (Happy Jack, I’m A Boy, A Quick One While He’s Away). The mix sounded nothing like “Keith Moon Band” mix from the 2012 CD (which was also featured on the 2010 “Live At Leeds” box set). The mix was more like Live At Leeds (as it should be), but not as “defined” (or “refined”). I refer to this as a “rough mix” (not to be confused with the Pete Townshend album title) as you can tell someone moved the levers on the mixing board, but didn’t “fine tune it” to perfection.

I actually prefer the “rough mix” of Hull to the “wrong mix” of Hull. Listening to the Hull tracks on this disc was wonderful as opposed to “WTF”? As I was listening to “good Hull” (and enjoying it), I had to wonder the whole time, how they screwed the mix up so badly on the “official Hull”. Was it due to the “taking the bass parts from Leeds” on the first several tracks and as a result, having to mix down the bass for the rest of the concert to make this work?

IF this were true – what a STUPID thing to do! Rather than “import” John Entwistle’s bass from one concert to “complete” another concert for release, but while doing so screw up the entire mix, they would have been better off using Pino Palladino (or an equally talented session bassist – who could copy John’s style and “add the bass back” for those 3-4 tracks). 

What’s the lesser of the “evils” ? Replacement bassist for 3-4 tracks and have an otherwise fantastic concert? Or, have “genuine” bass from John Entwistle (from a different concert) on this concert (which is mixed lower than John would ever have played at that period) and have a completely disappointing mix for the rest of the concert (on CD)? The other theory is that someone just wanted a mix of the “Keith Moon Band” and <Riker>’d it up. Crazy, isn’t it?

“Magic Bus” is from Colorado, 1970. I can see why John was “bored” by playing this.  I actually liked this version, although it went on and on forever. Very different from Live At Leeds and very different from Dallas ’89. Sort of a long jam, but without the “heavy pounding” that Leeds develops into… You sort of “wait for something to happen” (like “Leeds”) but it never seems to. That’s OK, it’s not “good or bad”, just different.

Onto the San Francisco tracks (I Can’t Explain, Substitute, My Wife, Behind Blue Eyes, Bargain, Baby Don’t You Do It). These tracks are just great. This concert was originally recorded with intention for release, but never happened. Several tracks have been previously released and again, benefit from a more detailed mix (vs. the “rough mix”) – but these don’t sound “bad” in anyway – just not as “refined”. Very listenable, very enjoyable…

Disc 2…

Things start to “fall apart” here…

Where the “rough mix” worked well enough for Disc 1, it doesn’t work well here.

I suspect this is partially due to how some of the material on disc 2 was recorded. The 1973 tracks were recorded by the King Biscuit Flower Hour (The Punk Meets The Godfather, 5:15, Won’t Get Fooled Again) – most of us are familiar with the whole Largo/Philly/Whatever tracks from either “on the air”, Wolfgang’s Vault or (bootlegs). Is this the best thing they have in the vaults from 1973? A person with better attention to detail on the mixing console *may* have made these tapes sound much better = MAYBE. I don’t know. I do know that those particular King Biscuits weren’t recorded as well as they could be.

Charlton 1974 (Young Man Blues, Tattoo, Boris The Spider, Naked Eye/Let’s See Action/My Generation Blues). These tracks seem to vary a bit. I didn’t like the sound of the vocals in “Young Man Blues” and a few of the other tracks. I’m thinking again this “rough mix” doesn’t work well here. To me, if the vocals don’t work, nothing works well. Great performances, but in need of more refinement to put each performance (vocals, drums, bass, guitar) in the proper sound field and order…

The rest of the tracks came from Swansea 1976. These tracks sound about the same as Charlton (above), with the same mixing/refinement issues. I’m thinking if a little more time and effort went into the production of the CD; it may have been “outstanding” versus “questionable”. Personally, I prefer *not* to pick at things and pull them apart. I much rather sit back and “enjoy the music” (like I do for so much of The Who catalog). Things seem to happen to some of these recordings that make no sense (i.e. Hull). Oh well…

BTW – I know I left off comments of the first track, “Fortune Teller” (from Michigan 1969). Why? Once you’ve listened to the Leeds version, is this one any better or significantly different? Nope. Next track for me. Sorry!

Track Listing:

DISC 1: Fortune Teller, Happy Jack, I’m A Boy, A Quick One While He’s Away, Magic Bus, I Can’t Explain, Substitute, My Wife, Behind Blue Eyes, Bargain, Baby You Don’t Do It

DISC 2: The Punk And The Godfather, 5:15, Won’t Get Fooled Again, Young Man Blues, Tattoo, Boris The Spider, Naked Eye/Let’s See Action/My Generation Blues, Squeeze Box, Dreaming From The Waist, Fiddle About, Pinball Wizard, I’m Free, Tommy’s Holiday Camp, We’re Not Gonna Take It, See Me, Feel Me/Listening To You