I Got The Blues

["Mark R. Leaman" <mleaman@sccoast.net>]

All right, finally Blues To The Bush arrives. And going into this, I think
it's only fair to tell you that I wasn't expecting a lot from this live set.
In fact, I hate it when bands tour and release live CD after live CD (The
Stones and Pink Floyd leap to mind), and this wasn't even after a tour.
That being said, I will say BTTB has its good and bad points, as follows.

Cons:
1) Took three weeks to the day to arrive.
2) They're on burned CDs.
3) Yet another live version of Baba, BBE and WGFA ("Wowie zowie! This is how
we do it in 1999!").
4) Townshend's backing vocals are more often a scream than singing, a trend
I noticed first during the Quad tour. It might be he is forced to do this by
"Father Time," however he didn't for Storytellers so I don't think so. I
hope he doesn't do it this summer, but I'd bet he does. Pity.
5) Booklet print small enough to remind me once again I need to give up and
go buy a pair of effin' glasses.
6) As someone has already mentioned, JAE should have been mixed higher in a
lot of songs.
7) Townshend's guitar sound doesn't work too well for me during the soft
parts. Sounds a bit thin. I miss the SG sound of Leeds.
8) Cheesy packaging, making me almost miss MCA. But I'm sure that will pass.

Pros:
1) Wow! Are these guys in their mid-50s? LAL 2 indeed! I hope they're this
good next summer.
2) Live versions of AAA, After The Fire, Getting In Tune, The Real Me and
Pure And Easy.
3) Daltrey sounds like a Bluesman. I wish he'd do Please Please Please and I
Don't Mind.
4) Zak Starkey. Best durn drummer for The Who since Keith, IMHO.
5) Best live released material from The Who since LAL hands down, as has
also been said several times here.
6) JAE's bass sound. Yes, I hear the thunder.
7) Even as a Oldies show, it outdoes similar live albums released by other
bands (No Security, uh, no names need be mentioned...but Hell has frozen
over and I've still got a Pulse...barely). Pete, give the band some effin'
new material and show them all how it's done!
8) It makes me excited about the tour, and hopefully it will do the same for
non-fans too.

That's all for now...first impressions. I hope those who are waiting but
haven't gotten it will yet get it soon, and those waiting to see pull out
their credit cards in a buying frenzy and order this sucker ASAP.


               Cheers                         ML