Favorite Releases Of 1996

Favorite Who Reissue For 1996
        
- -The Who By Numbers (Remastered)

The remastered mix is like night and day compared to my old copy on CD. I
think this CD is truely underated by many. I can't get enough of it! They
should have put on more live tracks from Swansea. That show sounds amazing!

The Who Live At The Isle Of Wight comes in at a very close second. It's
great to hear a show from that period in Who history. Now maybe they can
release the entire Swansea show on CD. That would be a great treat.

Favorite Non-Who Release For 1996

- -Trouble At The Henhouse by The Tragically Hip

Those of you on the list from Canada know how huge The HIP are in Canada.
Just check out the number of sold out nights of their recent Canadian tour.
The Hip have been exploring many new areas musically on their latest
release. I can't figure out why they haven't caught on in the States? Gift
Shop, Springtime In Vienna, Ahead By A Century... are all great songs.
You've got to check out one of their live performances to truely experience
and appreciate this band.

No Code by Pearl Jam comes in a close second for my favorite release of
1996. I know there has been some badmouthing about Eddie Vedder as a
songwriter on this list. Most either love him or hate him as a songwriter.
We shouldn't really be badmouthing Eddie since he is a true Who fan like us.
He always plays a Who song or has some reference to the Who in a Pearl Jam
show. He is exposing The Who's music to a whole new generation of people who
may become Who fans in the process. 

Like The Tragically Hip Pearl Jam are also exploring new areas musically.
I'm sure many Who fans who first heard Pete experiment with keyboards were a
little worried about where the band was heading musically. But time has
proven that we shouldn't be afraid of change. If Pete didn't experiment with
keyboards we wouldn't have Who's Next, Quadrophenia, Who Are You... to
enjoy. No Code is a CD that really grows on you after a few listens. The
first few times I heard the CD I thought it really sucked. I read many Pearl
Jam fans complain about what direction the band had taken on their latest
release. I would rather have a band reinvent itself and grow musically
instead of hearing songs like Alive or Baba O'Riley become a formula that is
beaten or milked to death. So like with a good wine I'm sure the music will
age better with time. 

Steve