Who live retrospective

That was an interesting letter from the MCA representative. On the live
Tommy aspect, i.e., whether to use one entire performance or the best songs
from a series of shows I  have to go with the views expressed by the rep.
Once a record is officially released it is out for good and contributes, for
better or worse, to the public's permanent estimation of the band. It seems
wrong to me, and likely to diminish the Who's ultimate place in the rock
pantheon, to put out a live performance of Tommy which contains obvious
mistakes such as an out-of-tune guitar, flubbed vocals, or mic failure. To
those concerned with authenticity I appreciate the concern up to a point.
But subjecting a live album to repeated listenings is different from being
at the show where the full performance occurred.  In that context, the show
was heard once and the flubs were less likely to be noticed in the
excitement and "experience" of the concert. It isn't fair to a band (IMHO)
to present live material which has goofs in it and but which may be taken -
particularly by the casual or average fan -  as representative of the band's
live sound. Take for example Sparks/Underture. The versions on Woodstock,
PRT and LAL are all fairly similar, but to the purist each has its strengths
and weaknesses. The one on LAL sounds the best but PT plays a false note
right at the end which I think weakens the track overall. The PRT one is
great, but PT's single-note and power chord soloing are cleaner and better
played, and Moon's drumming slightly more deft, on Woodstock. I'd go with
the Woodstock one for the live album, and take the best of the other Tommy
songs from the available '69 to '71 shows - a small enough group of shows to
have effectively a temporal, as well as musical (SG/Hiwatt; Moon), unity.
But what I would really like to see is a 3 CD live Who retrospective as
follows: one CD is Tommy, the second previously unreleased versions of other
Who songs, and the third an album of covers.....Gary M.