The Who – Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970 (Eagle/Shock)

Author: stereonerd [16-05-2009 12:44]

As I get progressively older and more gnarled, I find it more difficult to see what all the fuss is about The Who. As a callow youth, I enjoyed the energy of their more raucous early power rock singles, and their ’60s pop songs (‘Pictures Of Lily’, et al) still have a very real charm. But by 1970, when this album was recorded, they were starting to sound bloated.

Of course, this opinion goes against the majority of critical opinion, and the public masses, who consider The Who as one of the top 5 greatest rock bands of all time. But I’m unrepentant.

Casual fans of The Who wanting a slice of the group live, in concert, could do much worse than this double disc, however.

Recorded the year after Woodstock at a fractious Isle Of Wight festival (angry hippies stormed the gates, claiming they should all get in for free), it captures the group still bathed in the glow of their Tommy concept album, and the great majority of the performance is a rendition of songs from that record.

The disc begins and ends with a short clutch of non-Tommy songs, and the whole thing sounds quite a lot like Live At Leeds. Like that album, Live At The Isle Of Wight features a brace of old rock’n'roll numbers at its conclusion, like ‘Summertime Blues’ and a medley of ‘Shakin’ All Over’, ‘Spoonful’, and ‘Twist & Shout’.

Overall for those investigating The Who it’s an essential purchase, as it’s a complete, unadorned set at a crucial time for the group, and features some pretty funny inbetween commentary from Pete Townshend.

Eagle Rock has also gone back to the original multitrack tapes, and done a remarkable job of cleaning them up; the resultant sound, while hardly clean by 21st Century standards, is fat and brawny. DVD and Blu-ray disc also available for those want the pictures as well.  GS

3.5 Stars