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ANOTHER Who live album?!?!?


Big Al

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Tommy sounds better live than on the original album.

Couldn't agree more. The original version of Tommy, while it certainly does have it's charms, seems like "demo"-quality material to me, often.

I even prefer the live version of Tommy from the '89 tour, which I know from the "Join Together" double-CD release. I know "Join Together" gets panned often, and the 2nd disc is kinda hit-n-miss for me, generally.

But there's something about that original version of Tommy (the one in the studio), that never seems finished to me. AND, I should go on record as saying that it isn't that I've got anything against demos, per se. I love quite a bit of the material Pete's released on the various "Scoop" releases, which are all demos. I don't know, then, quite what it is then about the studio "Tommy" that just seems kinda 'limp' to me.

Hate to admit this, but I've never heard the other live version(s?) of Tommy, which I do know exist, and I think even one or two have been released legally, correct? (Isn't there one from about '71 that's out as a legit release??) I like The Who and Townsend's solo work a fair bit each, but they just haven't been much of a $pending priority for me for several years.

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Guest mary mcgoon

Quadrophenia is one of my favorite Who albums. But my outright favorites are the pre-Tommy stuff (Live At Leeds is great):

My Generation

A Quick One

The Who Sell Out

I think The Who Sell Out is definitely their high point, along with some of their non-lp singles, though I would put in a good word for The Who By Numbers, which I think better than Tommy, and as strong as Quadrophenia or Who's Next, (though my enthusiasm for the last one has been tempered by overexposure).

A "Rock Opera" is kind of like a "Jazz Symphony", a marketing attempt to make something seem more important than it is. Tommy seems like a collection of loosely related songs with some exposition added to make it seem like a unit.

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Tommy was mixed the way it is on purpose by Chris Lambert, the band's then manager to allow the concept to breathe. I've read that, but I forget who said it. I'll pick Tommy at Leeds over Isle of Wight any day because the mix on Leeds is great, evrything is up front, especially Moon. That's pretty much what they were trying to do all along, I think. I like the first half better. Once the story really kicks in on side 3, I think the songs get weaker. That's what I think was more successful on Quadrophenia, each song was a seperate point in time rather than a connecting linear story. It's having to write songs to describe action taking place that make it weak, though I understand why it's been done; i.e. Miracle Cure, Do You Think It's Alright (though I like this one, especially that last chord), Underture (why this is there, I don't even know; seeing Sparks played in The Kids Are Alright from Woodstock visually looks totally exciting).

And yes, all the B-sides from the 60's I love also even though some aren't even good songs, I just loves that time of music.

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JohnJ Posted: Aug 5 2003, 08:39 PM 

DrJ, I think you would do well to follow your own advice and listen again to the four studio releases of The Velvet Underground. As rock albums, they are at least the equal of anything else recorded in the '60's, IMHO. The critics just might be right. 

I agree with you, they're wonderful, some of the best rock albums ever made. But still, I find the Velvet Underground to be ridiculously overpraised these days, like they never did anything mundane or less than other-wordly. I have and DO listen to these albums frequently, and while they are wonderful, I honestly don't think everything has held up all that well (LOADED in particular, which despite having a few killers sounds suspciously like some of the magic was wearing off already), certainly not well enough to merit the essentially universal positive reviews. What, there's not a SINGLE critic anywhere who doesn't care for the VU? Why is it that we have critics who say straight-faced that the Who, Stones, Beatles, and Beach Boys were overrated but you NEVER see a single one say that about the Velvet Underground?

When I see that happening, I smell groupthink at its worst, and it bothers me. VU was certainly not flawless, and they were no better than the aforementioned bands in my view - just different.

I also think that VU breaking up so early will of course mean their consistency quotient is higher than for the other groups who carried on. But when you look at the solo track record of the VU artists, you realize they went through much of the same "wilderness years" problem as the other aging rockers did, they just did it individually rather than collectively. It's a truism that aging gracefully on record in rock is difficult at best, and generally a hit-and-miss proposition.

Edited by DrJ
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Well, I'll say this...when it comes to the first two VU albums, they are, far and wide, close to perfect albums. Plain and simple. The self titled album had some great moments, and I agree, had they not split after Loaded, they would have, well, sucked a monkey's pole. But Loaded does have sweet jane, who loves the sun, rock and roll, Oh Sweet Nuthin' and Cool it Down, all really great songs. Those first two albums, in my mind, are defining moments for Rock's avant garde, which sadly, has always been far too small of a segment.

If that's the critics pose, then lucky them...they finally agreed with me and got it right.

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