Writing to Charlesworth/Catalog Upgrades/Bonus Tracks

[B0RN2RUN@aol.com]

<<This [the Tommy box] is really a GREAT idea (who ever thought of it)!!
 Does anyone on this list have access to Chris Charlesworth??>>

Thanks.  I too would write like to write to Chris Charlesworth.  Could
someone please post an address?  I figure it would be a waste of time writing
to MCA, since Charlesworth (along with John Astley) is probably going to make
the decisions.

I read the article in Billboard, and Astley says they now have access to the
three-track session tapes of the Shel Talmy material, so the reissue of the
first album should sound great.  Apparently, Astley remixed with the goal of
replicating the original mix as closely as possible.  In fact, he did such a
good job on some tracks that I suspect that there may have been no remixing
at all.  Clearly, the Sell Out material was remixed, but I can't figure out
why Astley would remix the A Quick One material to MONO, especially when the
the High Numbers material was remixed to stereo.  I'm particularly surpised
about the decision to keep the studio segments of A Quick One in mono while
the segments from Rock and Roll Circus were in stereo.  Since I already have
the current import CD of A Quick One, which is in mono and sounds great, I'd
really like to see the upgraded CD be in true stereo.  As for Sell Out, I'm a
bit torn between having bonus tracks and having both the mono and stereo
mixes available on one CD.  According to the discography in the box set's
booklet, the mono mix of Sell Out featured different guitar parts.  Perhaps
everyone on the list should write to Mobile Fidelity (or e-mail them, since
they have an e-mail address) and suggest that they do a Sell Out Ultradisc
containing both the mono and stereo mixes.  They did a great job on their
mono/stereo two-fer of Cream's Disraeli Gears, not to mention the straight
reissues of Tommy, Quadrophenia, and Who Are You.

In ICE, Charlesworth indicated that all of the rarities discs (Odds and Sods,
Who's Missing, and Two's Missing) would be deleted.  I really don't see how
it would be possible to reissue all of the previously available Who material
without having a rarities disc (or two).  Between 1968 and 1972, the Who
released only two studio albums, Tommy and Who's Next.  There simply isn't
enough room on Who's Next (and there's no  room  available on Tommy) to
accomodate all the additional material from this period, and I don't want to
see songs from one period tacked onto later albums.  Charlesworth also
indicated that Face Dances and It's Hard would be reissued on one CD (further
marginalizing the Who's post-Moon work).  Does anybody know the running times
of these albums?  It sounds like a tight fit.

I'm wondering what kind of bonus material there is for By Numbers and Who Are
You.  I suppose they could always add single edits (perhaps they could use
the real Who Are You single version this time), but I don't know of any
studio outtakes from this period.  I wouldn't mind seeing some of the Swansea
live material tacked onto By Numbers, and they could always add bonus live
material from Moon's last two performances (both recorded for The Kids Are
Alright)  to Who Are You.

To bring things around full circle, I was wondering whether we could compile
a list of all known "bonus" material that we could forward to Chris
Charlesworth.  This would include every nonalbum single and b-side, rare long
or short versions of songs (e.g., the long version of Magic Bus available on
the Meaty Beaty LP), all the material from the rarities albums, promo-only
releases, and all known outtakes.  Although I have much more confidence in
Charlesworth than I do in the people at MCA, I'm still concerned that some
material (e.g., the studio version of Young Man Blues, the live version of
Dancing in the Streets found only on a CD single, and the material on
Lifehouse to Leeds) is going to slip through the cracks.