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The Who - Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 Audio CD

A fair review of the The Who "Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Who reviews here, or go back to the The Who tabs.

The Who Band: The Who
Title: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970
Rating:
Release Date: 1996-10-29
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Heaven and Hell 2: I Can't Explain 3: Young Man Blues 4: I Don't Even Know Myself 5: Water 6: Overture 7: It's a Boy 8: 1921 9: Amazing Journey 10: Sparks 11: Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker) 12: Christmas 13: Acid Queen 14: Pinball Wizard 15: Do You Think It's Alright? 16: Fiddle About 17: Tommy, Can You Hear Me? 18: There's a Doctor 19: Go to the Mirror! 20: Smash the Mirror 21: Miracle Cure 22: I'm Free 23: Tommy's Holiday Camp 24: We're Not Gonna Take It 25: Summertime Blues 26: Shakin' All Over/Spoonful/Twist and Shout 27: Substitute 28: My Generation 29: Naked Eye 30: Magic Bus

The real WHO
The recording sounds a bit rougher than the Live At Leeds stuff (recorded soon after that) but because of the period recorded it well worth getting. I can only consider a The WHO Live recording when it's with all 4 members and Keith Moon is here and sounds great.


It's too tired
Maybe if the sound was recompressed, remixed and washed out a couple of times it might be tolerable. Everything about this release is wrong, except for the content. It seems most of The Who's punch from "Live at Leeds" was lost in the open air of this festival. I've heard better bootlegs, but not to say that this recording is "dirty", because it's not. If anything is too quiet, clean and tired. I'd pass. .


who did this?
I was at this show and it was nothing like this muffed miss mix they so shamelessly put out here. this is by far the worst live disc I have heard. Townsend owes me and every other fan a personal apology.


(4.5 stars) the Who's other live classic
And there's a good reason for that: this is the Who, a legendary live act, at their prime, playing a really good show. This is a heavily acclaimed live album, at times compared favorably to Live at Leeds. Sure, you could complain about all the overlap with the one-disc Leeds reissue - "Young Man's Blues", "Heaven and Hell", "Summertime Blues", and a multitude of the early hits ("I Can't Explain", "Substitute", "My Generation", "Happy Jack", "Magic Bus") appear on both discs - but that doesn't matter much, and I'll tell you why: those songs, both originals and covers, represent the Who at their absolute prime. Other than those, most the album is devoted to one of two things. There are a lot of Lifehouse outtakes: "I Don't Even Know Myself" (a fun little rocker that switches to jaunty ragtime), "Water" (an awesome epic rocker with Pete packing more guitar heroics into eleven minutes than most guitarists can fit into an album - it obliterates the version found as a bonus track on Who's Next), and "Naked Eye", which only rules slightly less than "Water"; or, the reason you probably bought this in the first place, a performance on Tommy that's more or less in its entirety, though "Underture", "Welcome", "Cousin Kevin" and "Sally Simpson" are absent, and the order is a bit off - "Tommy Can You Hear Me" is for whatever reason placed before "Go to the Mirror?", even though it makes no sense when placed there. The Tommy performance is as good as if not better than the original version, since Townshend plays a lot of guitar, and there aren't many better guitarists than Pete. It's loaded with energy, too. Okay, so the piano part on "1921" is missed, as are all the French horn parts. The "Amazing Journey"/"Sparks" medley is always classic (Especially "Sparks", where Townshend gets in more of those guitar heroics you heard on "Water" - it's enough to rival Jimi Hendrix, and Entwistle plays another genius bassline, the kind he could knock off without even thinking too hard about it - Keith Moon goes crazier than usual, and it's too bad they never gave him a drum solo. That would be amusing), "The Acid Queen" is graced with one of Pete's most distinctive vocals; "Pinball Wizard" is "Pinball Wizard" (need I say anymore? By the way, how did he manage to play the intro with only one guitar? Does Roger do double-duty or something?), they rampage their way through "Go to the Mirror!", not like that's a bad thing; "We're Not Gonna Take It" is still the same desperate prayer. And even some of the "minor" songs have their good points - "Christmas" and "Eyesight to the Blind" aren't favorites of mine, but they are performed quite well. Sadly, an ear-bursting "I'm Free" doesn't at all fit the subtlety required for that song, and it ends up being the only real disappointment on the album, along with "Substitute", which they seemingly can't get right live. The rambling "My Generation" is much better, though, and an easy highlight. Great guitar solos, and I like the random quote from "Water". So no, this album can't match Live at Leeds, but what can?.


A Superior Performance, And CD Release, To Live At Leeds
In my opinion, it is better than their "Live At Leeds" concert. The Who's performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival was phenominal. Leeds seemed to be more polished, but Isle of Wight shows more of the authenticity of The Who's early-day live performances. The music is played with much energy, and the banter between songs gives it more of an actual concert flavor, unlike Leeds. The Leeds concert sounds like a studo album that just happened to have an audience.

Not only is this a superior performance to Leeds, it is also a better CD release. Leeds omitted songs, chopped up other songs, was presented out of order, and was re-released with inferior sound quality. Isle of Wight has none of those qualities, and is a perfect release in every way. Of course, die hard fans will want both this and Leeds, but if you are trying to choose, this is easily the better buy.


You can see a complete list of all The Who discography, or go back to the The Who tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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