The Who - John Entwistle Albums

Other Comments: This album was John Entwistle's first CD release of songs from his original LPs. Most of these tracks have been remixed from the original versions and some of the changes are pretty cool!

Track Listing: My Size, What Are We Doing Here?, I Believe In Everything, Ten Little Friends, Apron Strings, I Feel Better, I Wonder, The Window Shopper, My Wife, Roller Skate Kate, Peg Leg Peggy, Made In Japan, Drowning, Mad Dog, Fallen Angel, Dancing Master, Too Late The Hero, Red Red Robin

CDs Sampled: King Biscuit Entertainment (USA), King Biscuit Entertainment (UK), Disky (NL)

CD Comments: This is a great CD! All of these versions sound about the same.

Other Comments: This CD was remixed by Andy Macpherson, who also mixed "Live At Leeds". As a result, this CD sounds like, "John Entwistle: Live At Leeds". A very powerful performance and a great recording.

KBFH: Heaven And Hell, Whiskey Man, My Size, Boris The Spider, Not Fade Away, Cell Number Seven, Who Cares?, Give Me That Rock And Roll, My Wife, Interview

Boris The Spider: Boris The Spider, My Size, Whiskey Man, Who Cares, Give Me That Rock 'n' Roll, Cell Number Seven, Not Fade Away, My Wife, Heaven And Hell

CDs Sampled: J-Bird (USA), EastWorld (UK), Koch Records [Deluxe version] (USA)

CD Comments: This is one of the worst sounding CDs I've ever heard (all versions). The J-Bird (USA) was released in 1999 and the mastering was so "thin" that it just sounded horrible. To compensate for this problem, the EastWorld (UK) CD is "overmastered" to tone down the high end. Unfortunately, the result of the frequencies shifting causes the vocals to become muffled. Even with the high end is toned down, the high end peaks too loud, including a terrible digital distortion in "The Darker Side Of Night" which could potentially damage the tweeters in your speakers. The Koch Records [Deluxe] version suffers from shrill top end on many of the songs and the mastering seems to differ from song to song (The newly added songs seem to sound slightly better than the previously released songs).

Other Comments: Sadly, there are some great performances buried under one of the worst recorded and produced albums I've ever heard. There is so much distortion, dropouts and loud cymbals in this recording that ruin this CD (a result of poor recording, bad mixing and bad mastering). The drums are recorded as if someone is banging drum sticks against a bottle (which is ironic since the "producer" is the band's drummer).

Before its release, the band went back to the studio to "fix" some of these songs. However, you can hear the overdubs as if they were "layered" over the existing recording. This is especially evident on the vocals of "905" and the harmony vocals of "Cousin Kevin" (Deluxe version).

Compare this album to the 1975 King Biscuit release for what a live John Entwistle CD should sound like.

Summary: If you had to make a choice between these 3 releases, I would recommend the "Deluxe" version since it has extra tracks, which oddly enough sound a little better than the previously released tracks.

Left For Live: Horror Rock, The Real Me, Darker Side Of Night, Success Story, 905, I'll Try Again Today, Under A Raging Moon, Endless Vacation, Too Late The Hero, Had Enough, Shakin' All Over, Young Man Blues

Left For Live Deluxe: Bogey Man, Horror Rock, The Real Me, Sometimes, My Size, You, Darker Side Of Night, Love Is A Heart Attack, Success Story, Trick Of The Light, Cousin Kevin, Under A Raging Moon, Boris The Spider, 905, Had Enough, Endless Vacation, I'll Try Again Today, Whiskey Man, Too Late The Hero, Young Man Blues, Shakin' All Over, Heaven & Hell, Summertime Blues, My Wife

Note: "Bogey Man" is not a live version, but rather an audience recording of the ending of the studio version (from "Van Pires") played through the PA. "Horror Rock" is also credited incorrectly (on the Deluxe version) as "Horror Rock (Nightmare)". This is misleading as "Nightmare" is the last song on "Whistle Rymes" and "Horror Rock" is the first song on "Van Pires" (i.e. two completely different songs).

Non-album Tracks: There is a limited edition CD single of "When The Sun Comes Up" and "Horror Rock", which features the versions of the songs from Versions #1 & #2.

Other Comments: This is another CD with a "long story" associated with it. The original concept behind it was a soundtrack to a kid's TV show. However, after several years of delays, the TV show was long forgotten and the album finally got released.

The first recording sessions produced some great songs, which ultimately got rejected by the TV show because they were a little too "strong" for a kid's show. "I Wouldn't Sleep With You" was one of those songs as it featured John's "sick humor" lyrics at their finest. Another track, "Left For Dead" was re-recorded with different (toned-down) lyrics.

One of the more interesting aspects of this album is that it features Keith Moon's drums on the track, "Bogey Man". Apparently this track was intended for the "Who Are You" album, but rejected. The 1978 unfinished track had vocals, bass, horns and drums. For "Van Pires", the John Entwistle Band added guitar, keyboards and backing vocals to complete it.

The album has basically gone through 3 revisions. Versions #1 & #2 featured a different song order as well as the following changes:

Version #1: "When The Sun Comes Up" features Alan St. Jon on lead vocals and a different mix than Version #3, "Horror Rock" has backing vocals, which were removed from version #3, "Don't Be A Sucker" features Steve Luongo on lead vocals, "Face The Fear" features a different, more grittier lead vocal than version #3.

Version #2: Has the same versions of "When The Sun Comes Up" and "Horror Rock" as version #1, "Rebel Without A Car" features lead vocals from Billy Squire. The mastering has less bass than Versions #1 or #3. "Face The Fear" is the same version as #3.

Track Listing: Horror Rock, Darker Side Of Night, Sometimes, Bogey Man, Good & Evil, When You See The Light, Back On The Road, Left For Dead, When The Sun Comes Up, Rebel Without A Car, Don't Be A Sucker, Endless Vacation, I'll Try Again Today, Face The Fear

DVD-A Comments: Same concert (and tracks) as "King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents" with yet another variation of the track list order.

Other Comments: While the 5.1 mix offers the opportunity for greater separation of instruments (and some of that is noticeable), unfortunately, the mix on this DVD-A is inferior to the 2-channel "King Biscuit" CDs. Especially notable are the drums which are mixed more like "tin cans" than the great drum sound on the CD versions. Another oddity about the 5.1 mix is that it is balanced poorly. The center channel is about 16db louder than the front and rear speakers, and has to be turned down in order to make the DVD-A sound "normal".

The DVD-A also features photos of John Entwistle for each of the tracks (if you play the disc with a TV monitor connected).

Track Listing: Cell Number Seven, My Size, Give Me That Rock And Roll, Heaven And Hell, Whiskey Man, Not Fade Away, My Wife, Who Cares?, Boris The Spider

CD Comments: The studio and live King Biscuit tracks are clean, but suffer from too much compression - which is not present on the original source CDs (or LPs where relevant). Whereas this additional compression makes the sound quality suffer on these tracks, it actually helps on the tracks taken from "Left For Live" whereas the original source CDs there were virtually unlistenable.

Note: Both UK and USA (Promo) copies have identical sound quality.

Summary: A nice compilation, but most of the songs sound much better from their original source(s).

Other Comments: A fairly comprehensive track listing, spanning entire John's solo output. "Made In Japan" is missing the "Dinner Is Served Sir" ending. Unfortunately, some of the artwork used in this CD was taken from this website without permission or credit.

Track Listing: My Size, Pick Me Up Big Chicken?, What Are We Doing Here?, Heaven And Hell, Ted End, Ten Little Friends, Apron Strings, Thinking It Over, Who Cares?, I Wonder, I Was Just Being Friendly, Do The Dangle, Made In Japan, Roller Skate Kate, Peg Leg Peggy, Lady Killer, Mad Dog, Cell Number 7 (Live), Whiskey Man (Live), Boris The Spider (Live), My Wife (Live), I'm Flash, Space Pirates, To The Chop, Blast Off, Try Me, Talk Dirty, Too Late The Hero, Love Doesn't Last, Life After Love, The Real Me (Live), Success Story (Live), 905 (Live), Had Enough (Live), Bogeyman, Back On The Road, When The Sun Comes Up, Don't Be A Sucker

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The Who - John Entwistle Albums:

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