The Who - John Entwistle Albums

CDs Sampled: Repertoire (Germany), Castle (UK), Sanctuary (USA), Strange Days (Japan)

LP Comments: The Decca (UK) has better sound and vinyl quality than the USA (MCA).

CD Comments: The Repertoire (Germany) CD has excellent sound. The Castle (UK) has been remastered, but unfortunately, someone added some high frequency tones to the midrange, making the vocals unnecessarily bright and the entire CD has an overall poor fidelity "Mickey Mouse" sound. The Sanctuary (USA) should sound similar/identical to Castle (UK) CD - Fortunately, it doesn't. The difference is like night and day as the Sanctuary (USA) CD sounds very good - slightly better than the Repertoire (Germany) CD. The Strange Days (Japan) CD is somewhat in-between the USA & UK CDs. Apparently the vocals weren't mastered quite right for this CD and the different country's pressing plants made the 3 CDs (UK, USA & Japan) sound a bit differently from each other.

Summary: The Sanctuary (USA) CD version sounds better than the LP other CD versions and has a bonus track (see below) as well.

Other Comments: The LP came with a poster of one of John's dogs in his Cadillac Eldorado convertible.

Note: the "single mix" for the Castle (UK) & Sanctuary (USA) CDs <noted below> seems to apply only to "Cell Number 7" which has a different backing vocal entirely (the album version uses John's "Boris" or "Summertime Blues" voice and the single version sounds like it came from "Mr. Bass Man") as well as some other changes. I couldn't hear any mix differences on "Mad Dog". (See Solo Rarities section for MP3 snippet comparison of the 2 versions.)

Track Listing: I Fall To Pieces, Cell Number 7, You Can Be So Mean, Lady Killer, Who In The Hell?, Mad Dog, Jungle Bunny, I'm So Scared, Drowning

Track Listing (Castle (UK), Sanctuary (USA), Strange Days (Japan)): I Fall To Pieces, Cell Number 7, You Can Be So Mean, Lady Killer, Who In The Hell?, Mad Dog, Jungle Bunny, I'm So Scared, Drowning, Mad Dog (single mix), Cell Number 7 (single mix)

LPs (vinyl) Sampled: WEA (UK), Atco (USA), WEA (Germany), WEA (Portugal), WEA (Japan)

CDs Sampled: Repertoire (Germany), Castle (UK), Sanctuary (USA), Strange Days (Japan)

Non-album Tracks: None. However, the single version of "Too Late The Hero" is edited for length.

LP Comments: The Atco (USA) sounds excellent and is my first choice. After that, the WEA UK or German pressings.

CD Comments: The Castle (UK), Sanctuary (USA) and the Repertoire (Germany) all sound excellent. The Strange Days (Japan) CD is a slight step down from the above.

Summary: This is a well-recorded album, with excellent production quality. The Repertoire (Germany) CD and the Atco (USA) sound about equal and are both good choices. However, the Castle (UK) & Sanctuary (USA) have John Entwistle demos for bonus tracks, making it more desirable than the other releases.

Other Comments: The song, "Dancing Master", contains one of the best-recorded bass solos that John has ever released on any album. I use it whenever I demonstrate my stereo system. The demo for "Love Is A Heart Attack" (on the Castle UK & Sanctuary USA CDs) has a completely different music track than the released version.

Track Listing: Try Me, Talk Dirty, Lovebird, Sleeping Man, I'm Coming Back, Dancing Master, Fallen Angel, Love Is A Heart Attack, Too Late The Hero

Track Listing (Castle (UK), Sanctuary (USA), Strange Days (Japan)): Try Me, Talk Dirty, Lovebird, Sleeping Man, I'm Coming Back, Dancing Master, Fallen Angel, Love Is A Heart Attack, Too Late The Hero, Sleeping Man (demo), Dancing Master (demo), I'm Coming Back (demo), Love Is A Heart Attack (demo), Overture (demo)

CDs Sampled: [No label] 1st test CD (UK), Whistle Rymes-limited edition (USA), Griffin (USA), Repertoire (Germany), Castle (UK), Sanctuary (USA)

CD Comments: The Repertoire (Germany), the Castle (UK) and the Sanctuary (USA) sound vastly superior (with an exception) to the two 1996 USA versions (additional comments below). The UK (Castle) & Sanctuary (USA) have better slightly better sound quality than the Germany (Repertoire) and does not have the mastering flaw of the Germany (Repertoire) CD.

Other Comments: Apparently the USA issues of this album are unmixed, which account for a somewhat "thin" (but clean) overall sound. The limited (5,000 numbered copies, with custom JAE artwork and liner notes) Whistle Rymes version sounds identical to the 1st test CD. The Griffin version was supposed to be the commercially released version of the same, but something happened with the record company shortly after its release and few copies actually got issued. The Griffin release might actually be rarer than the limited version. Unfortunately, the artwork on the Griffin is less than exciting and the sound quality, which is similar to the Whistle Rymes release, is just a tad duller.

The Repertoire (Germany) CD was described to me as a "rough mix" version (and brings this album to life). Unfortunately, there is a severe flaw in the mastering. Towards the end of the album's best track, "Life After Love", the song breaks down into nasty digital distortion (which apparently happened by allowing the peaks to exceed maximum tolerated levels during the digital recording/transfer process. This is very unfortunate, because it ruins this song and spoils an otherwise well-recorded version (and vastly improved version) of this album. Fortunately, this flaw was finally corrected for the 2005 Castle (UK) release, which also sounds slightly better too.

This is another CD which has shares some controversy among Who fans. Originally, the album was intended to be released in 1988. However, the FBI closed down the record label and the album went into hibernation until 1996. Having heard this material played live on the John Entwistle Band tour of 1988 and then listening to a radio interview of John (with some samples of the album), I wondered what happened to this album for years. In late 1995, I had the opportunity to work with the newly resurrected John Entwistle Band and was instrumental in helping to get this album released for the 1996 tour. This is the first of John's solo albums where John doesn't sing on any of the songs. Furthermore, he only wrote 4 of album's 10 songs, as this was supposed to be more of a "band performance" versus a JAE "solo" effort. The album does contain some fine music with "classic" John Entwistle song writing and bass playing contributions.

One of the other interesting facets of the Castle (UK) CD is that among the bonus tracks, it features John Entwistle singing lead vocal on "Love Doesn't Last". On the CD, this track is referred to as a "demo", but it is actually a work-in-process version, close to the final version featuring Henry Small (on lead vocals). Perhaps one day the other master tapes will be found (and released) which also features John's vocals on the songs he wrote for the album.

For more pictures and details about the original version of this album, click here.

Track Listing: Stranger In A Strange Land, Love Doesn't Last *, Suzie, Bridges Under The Water *, Heartache, Billy, Life After Love *, Hurricane, Too Much Too Soon, Last Song *, Country Hurricane

Track Listing (Castle UK): Stranger In A Strange Land, Love Doesn't Last *, Suzie, Bridges Under The Water *, Heartache, Billy, Life After Love *, Hurricane, Too Much Too Soon, Last Song *, Country Hurricane, Casualty (Out-take), Light In The Dark (Out-take), Break Your Heart (Out-take), Love Doesn't Last (John Entwistle lead vocal version), Heartache (Early version)

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The Who - John Entwistle Albums:

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