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Live from Toronto

The Who - Live from Toronto Audio CD

A fair review of the The Who "Live from Toronto" 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.

Band: The Who
Title: Live from Toronto
Rating:

Release Date: 2006-10-03
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: My Generation 2: I Can't Explain 3: Dangerous 4: Sister Disco 5: Quiet One 6: It's Hard 7: Eminence Front 8: Baba O'Riley 9: Boris the Spider 10: Drowned 11: Love Ain't for Keepin' 12: Pinball Wizard 13: See Me, Feel Me 14: Who Are You 15: 5:15 16: Love Reign O'er Me 17: Long Live Rock 18: Won't Get Fooled Again 19: Naked Eye 20: Squeeze Box 21: Young Man Blues 22: Twist and Shout

A Who classic!
I saw this comcert on tv when I was in high school,and listened to a stereo fm feed on the radio. . those were called 'simalcasts'. It was billed as the Whos farewell concert,which in time proved not to be the case. The music scene at that time was post punk new wave. Who fans know that the Who really were the first English punk band,and had a big effect on music back in the `60s,and any decade there after. Simon Phillips on drums did a good job. This concert is a really good example of the Who doing what the do best. . . live and loud. Also worth mentioning is that this cd release offers some live Who tracks not found elsewhere.

The Who in Toronto
This originally was brodcast on HBO in the U. This is yet another legendary show by the worlds greatest rock band The Who. S. and it's great to finally have a copy.

They Did the Best They Could With What They Had
It was blissful because I had just seen The Who the previous October in Rosemont, Illinois at the old Horizon. I remember watching this performance as it happened on December 17, 1982, the first day of Christmas vacation during my sophomore year of high school. It was the first of five times that I would see my favorite band, and watching the pay-per-view concert (on a pay service called ONTV) at a friend's house in Chicago was a great way to begin '82's Holiday Season (I also met my first love whilst watching the concert at that friend's house -- quite the bonus).

Immortal did a very, very good job in terms of packaging and transfer. They had limited source material and while, at time, seeing that live concert that fabled December night was thrilling, under the microscope and after the passage of time, it's not one of The Who's best performances, not by a long shot.

From the count-in of "My Generation," Pete Townshend rarely lifts himself out of his bad mood while Roger Daltrey attempts to keep things lively in spite of Kenny Jones' thoroughly lackluster playing. He rarely leaves his snare drum during the entire show and, for me, the irritation factor increases until, by the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again," I want to get out one of my Townshend live, acoustic-only CD's and just forget about drums for awhile. The only member of the band that puts something into the performance at all is John Entwistle. His playing is near flawless and it's the one truly bright spark in a dull show. Tim Gorman, whilst a good, competent player, doesn't have the personality of Rabbit, the band's regular touring keyboard player.

There are some musical "worth mentions" like the high-spirited version of "Drowned" and songs from It's Hard that make their only live appearances, particularly "Dangerous" and "It's Hard. " One reviewer spoke of the re-mixed live bonus tracks from this concert on the remastered version of the It's Hard CD. He was right. Everything is brought out and even Jones' drumming sounds more tolerable. Plus, "Cry if You Want" was edited out of the video, and it features a great Townshend solo. Anyway, back to the recording at hand, I would NOT recommend this performance to a Who neophyte. Even the newly-released Kilburn performance, as ragged as it is, gives a better introduction to what The Who were all about than the Toronto show.

The Who were on their last legs and it's very apparent. Everytime I watch/listen to this show, I thank God that the surviving band members decided to get back together, employ drummers infinitely more suited to The Who's style than poor Kenny Jones ever was, and even put out a great new CD, Endless Wire.

Sorry to disagree with a lot of reviewers out there, but The Who got better after Kenny Jones left and got back to the business of rocking
out, which they do better than 99. 9% of just about any other band of which I can think. I indeed had a great Christmas that year, and this performance had a lot to do with it, but nostalgia isn't, and never should be, a measuring stick as far as musical quality is concerned. Hats off to immortal for doing such a fantastic job with such decidedly un-fantastic raw material.
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A nearly great CD

It was a great performance with a really good song lineup for this time in their career. At the time of the concert, this was billed as their 'farewell' show, coming a few years after Keith Moon's death, and it was broadcast around the world. It's Hard, Eminence Front, Sister Disco and Love Reign O'er Me are standouts. The only bad thing is the mix, Pete's guitar is often lost in the overall sound.
But Roger's voice is great, as is Entwistle's on the songs he sings. Definitely worth adding to your Who collection.

Nice, yet riddled with minor problems
It is The Who (circa 1982) and you have the hits played live. The Who - Live From Toronto is a decent enough live release. That being said, this release really doesn't do the band any favors.

The sound quality is not all that great, but it ain't bad. Other reviews call this a glorified bootleg. I would say that it is better than a bootleg, but not by much. I think it is satisfactory for the average music consumer.

This also does not include the entire concert. It edits out "Cry If You Want. " One of the band's least-essential songs, but it should've been kept in, if only to keep the entire concert intact. [I realize that CD time limits may have necessitated the need to edit this release, but still. . . ]

The packaging is terrible. The b/w cover shot (and color booklet cover) of Roger Daltrey is from 1985's Live Aid! The other shots on the cover (and inside and back cover) are stills from the video/broadcast of the same concert. Ho hum. The disc holder inlay photos are 60's-era shots of the band. Huh? Can you say, "out of place?" [I also personally hate digipaks, but we don't have a choice here. ]

Finally, there are no producer (or other similar recording) credits here. I guess that Immortal Records doesn't want to give credit where credit is due?.

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.