Re: stuff/Yvonne Elliman

[Alan McKendree <amck@eden.com>]

On Wed, 3 May 1995, Laura Plummer wrote:

> My brother just sent me this, and I thought you might be interested. IF 
> any of you have it, let me know what you think.
>... 
> You probably have this recorded but I read a review of "The very best of
> Yvonne Elliman" that said the reason to buy the CD is "an out-of-left-field
> version of the Who's 'Can't Explain' featuring truly spectacular guitar by
> Pete Townshend himself."

I have it.  It was originally released on Elliman's album "Food of
Love" (MCA 356) which is also notable for the cover photo of Yvonne
seeming unusually taken with a plate of lime Jell-o (don't ask me).
As you might expect, the vocals are prominently featured in this
version, with some excellent backing voices; they hit those high notes
spot on and sound great.  Pete's guitar is somewhat down in the mix,
although this is an extended version of the song and he gets a solo
verse which IMHO is nice and tasty but not fiery, and seems to drop
out altogether for awhile, where no instrument is really taking the
lead and everything just rolls along with no focus.  I'm surprised
that the review of the "Best Of" would call it spectacular, unless it
was really remixed to clarify and amplify Pete's work.  Nevertheless I
like the version a lot; thumbs-up from this quarter.

Pete is credited with guitar, but not specifically for "I Can't
Explain," leaving the possibility that he plays on other songs on the
album.  I don't think I've ever taken the time to listen to the other
songs (e.g., "Meusli Dreams" and "Casserole Me Over," in keeping with
the food theme I suppose) to see whether I could pick him out.  I
don't recognize any of the names on the credits except Caleb Quaye
(who I thought played bass but is credited with guitar), but one of
the engineers is "John Punter," which sounds like possibly
Townshendesque humor (?) -- maybe he had a hand in twiddling the knobs
on ICE?

Alan
L@L7388
"When I'm onstage...it's not like bein' possessed, it's just -- 
*I* *do* *my* *job*."  -- Pete Townshend