A mythical live set & Magic Bus

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

>Do you think that they put live cuts on the re-releases to squash that
idea?

Dr. J:

I think they put them on to make certain bootlegs illegal, since in some
European countries anything live that's not officially released is legal.
But if one single song is released, the entire bootleg is suddenly illegal.
This is the same reason we got the Anthology series from the Beatles, and so
on. I also think they put them on there in order to sell us what we'd
already bought once before (and in my case, counting the gold discs of Tommy
& Quad, twice before). I believe labels love selling us the same thing over
and over. It's a lot easier than developing new artists, and taking that
sort of risk. I'm HOPING that with the new century, this sort of thinking
will go away...but I'm a known optimist...

>I still would like any greatest hits live as well, but it seems your idea
may
>have somewhat be done already.

There is plenty left to release, and many songs released are not from their
period. Putting it together myself, from bootlegs, I can make a 5 disc set.
Unfortunately, the quality is often just the best I can get my hands on.

>Aren't the live cuts on the re-releases era cuts?

Usually, but where's a WN era Baba (for instance), or even MG from 1965? You
KNOW they must have done almost all of their first album live! None has
surfaced, although ALL of it would be among the best live Who ever (at
least, I think so given the quality of the two acetates from O&S).
To give you a better idea, this is the track list from my first disc
(covering 1964-1968):

Here Tis/Dance To Keep From Crying/Young Man Blues/Smokestack Lightning
Jam/Please Don't Touch/Runaround Sue/Jingle Bells/You Rang?/Baby, Don't You
Do It/Daddy Rolling Stone/I Can't Explain/My Generation (talking
version)/Uptight (Everything's Alright)/A Legal Matter/Barbara Ann/The Kids
Are Alright/I'm A Boy/Anyway Anyhow Anywhere/Substitute/My Generation/So Sad
About Us/Little Billy/My Way/Relax

See? Disc 2 is three songs from Tanglewood and TLAL. Disc three has yet to
be made because I'm still searching for good quality live material from
1971-72, four is the KBFH Largo/Philly show, and five will be the rest
including stuff like Dance It Away. There's PLENTY of material!

In the meantime, yesterday I picked up a used vinyl copy of Magic Bus and it
does have the short stereo Magic Bus, believed by some to be the best
version. Worth seeking out, if you're a completist.


            Cheers                              ML