The 1969 Amsterdam Broadcast. 1969 was a pivotal year in the history of The Who - the May release of Tommy was a watershed moment for the band, and the live performances in support of the album completely rejuvenated their career. Pete Townshend, who had been searching for a new musical direction for some time, had a made a breakthrough in 1968 when he abandoned drug use and began to study the teachings of the Indian mystic Meher Babar. By August, he was describing in press interviews his idea for a new rock opera, steeped in the teachings of Babar, which would transcend the standard three-minute rock format but could work both as standalone songs and as a cohesive whole. His ambition was for the music to be able to be performed live, in contrast to recent work by The Beatles and The Beach Boys which had made heavy use of the studio and which was difficult to reconstruct on stage. On its release in May 1969 Tommy became an instant hit, attracting plaudits from across the music press, many of which held that Townshend had fashioned a new genre of music. The Who performed material from the album live during several shows in the spring, but by the time that they embarked on a US tour in May, they had reduced the Tommy part of their set to about 40 minutes. After high profile shows at The Royal Albert Hall, Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival, and with sales of the album soaring, the band expanded their stage presentation to incorporate more of Tommy. At Fairfield Halls in Croydon on September the 21st the opera was performed in a more complete form, alongside legacy songs like My Generation that were re-worked to include passages from Tommy. On September 29th, 1969, the band took to the stage at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and delivered the stunning performance presented on Loud Vibration Land a two-hour concert broadcast by the Dutch station AVRO. After 10 hits to open up, the band plays almost all of Tommy (only three tracks from the album Underture, Cousin and Welcome are omitted) in a seminal record of The Who during one of the most important moments in their history. TRACK LISTING CD 1 01. Heaven And Hell 02. I Can't Explain 03. Fortune Teller 04. Tattoo 05. Young Man Blues 06. A Quick One, While He's Away 07. Substitute 08. Happy Jack 09. I'm A Boy 10. Overture 11. It's A Boy 12. 1921 13. Amazing Journey 14. Sparks 15. Eyesight To The Blind (The Hawker) CD2 01. Christmas 02. The Acid Queen 03. Pinball Wizard 04. Do You Think It's Alright? 05. Fiddle About 06. Tommy Can You Hear Me? 07. There's A Doctor 08. Go To The Mirror 09. Smash The Mirror 10. Miracle Cure 11. Sally Simpson 12. I'm Free 13. Tommy's Holiday Camp 14. We're Not Gonna Take It 15. Summertime Blues 16. Shakin' All Over 17. My Generation
E**.
UPGRADED SOUND TO ALMOST 30 YEARS OF CD BOOTS!!!
i have so many copies of this show on both cd & vinyl that it could just be me but the sound on this edition is FANTASTIC!!! no do not expect this to sound like an official live album (99% of wich are touched up in the studio) but this is probably as good as it gets and is as close to soundboard quality as i have ever heard this show in the 35 years i have been buying boots of this gig, i have some really nice vinyl editions of this ( color vinyl etc etc) but none of them hold a stick to the sound on both these two cds that shockwaves put out, i admit im a real die hard who collector so that is what suits me as i ordered the other set of this same show as well but if you never had this show before or a lower sounding grade of this gig i can promise YOU WILL LOVE THE SOUND ON THIS FROM BEGINNING TO END!!!! i would not say this comes with a booklet but a nice two page essay on what was going on with the who in 1969, also i like the front live shot of the era on the front of the inlay!!! a lot of official releases are not this nice these days so there is nothing to complain about here!! both discs are loud & crisp
A**9
Sound Quality vs. Performance? Who cares!
The Who's first performance of Tommy for a European audience held in a posher than normal venue for The Who. This latest edition of this well known concert recorded for Dutch radio is in much better sound quality than my original 2-CD bootleg set titled "Live In Amsterdam" on the famous The Swingin' Pig label, issued in 1989. It's also much better than another later bootleg release titled "Amazing Journey". Despite the somewhat simplistic mixing, the separation of the band instruments is very good and all vocals are loud and clear. It's Keith Moon who perhaps loses out the most as his drums are at times nowhere near heard as dynamic and powerful as they should be when compared to Entwistle's bass which remains a constant. Performance wise The Who certainly have their moments, with the set's opening section with several set staples - for the era - and leading off with Entwistle's fixed asset set opener, the seriously underated Heaven and Hell. Fortune Teller and Tattoo, both carried over from their 1968 setlist are performed with precision. I Can't Explain sounds as like every other gig they ever played. The version of Young Man Blues, brand new into the set is still quite some distance from the ferocious power that would be injected into its performance in 1970. The main item, most of Tommy, perhaps there's just too much of the Tommy album included in this set - despite that being the very purpose for the performance, to show off their new masterwork. However, the band are obviously very well rehearsed and overall it's a very good performance and fully demonstrates the potential as a stage work. The closing section of the Tommy finale, We're Not Gonna Take It is excellent, as are the set's remaining numbers. Summertime Blues is performed to perfection, Shakin' All Over contains a bit of Smokestack Lightning and the finale, My Generation, stretched out into a rampage through Daltrey's stalwart So Very Long, bits of which later became Naked Eye, more Pinball Wizard riffs, some riffing from 1965's Moon showpiece The Ox and back into Sparks. A typical Who ending to a pretty good gig all things considered. This is a real proper good Who concert and perhaps one that will be listened to again and again.
T**O
Cracking show, great quality
Great release of one of the 1969 concerts, this is a classic that most Who fans will have either heard in worse quality from old bootleg versions or have heard about through the grapevine. Basically its Tommy live, which works great considering it's the 50th anniversary. Never can be sure what your going to get with these broadcast cds, but its rich sounding with a good bottom end which properly captures Moon and Entwistle's cracking interplay. A great gig, good price...do yourself a favour and grab it!
M**Y
Great Radio Show
Heard this from a friend and was blown away. This is a must have for any Who collection!
J**N
What Is The Difference Between This And Live In Amsterdam'69
I would like to know, what is the difference between this CD and Live In Amsterdam '69? It's the same show, from what I could tell from the song credits, just different covers. I can't give a proper review since I haven't bought it, but I would like to know, why put both these CDs out there? Does one of those CDs sound better than the other? How will we know? This is very confusing, as well a ripoff. I realize these are all "grey area" recordings, but which is the better recording? Buying both would be really redundant, not to mention expensive.
R**Z
Who's This?
Tommy Can you hear Me? Upon my first listen my initial reaction was what a fabulous concert this was! If only there could be a video recording to supplement the Who at their best in those days with their first live rendition of Tommy. Totally brilliant as the other tracks are performed to a brilliant standard including a Quick One which seemed a little longer than usual! A must for any Who fan.So much so, I bought a copy for my brother who instroduced me to the The Who way back when A Quick One was first released! He loves it too! 'TYVM' he said. (Thank You Very Much).
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