Music

Greatest Hits Live

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Originally released exclusively on iTunes on 19 January 2010. Later released on CD on 23 March 2010 on Geffen Records (B001403202).

DISC ONE

  1. I Can’t Explain (December 12, 1971, San Francisco Civic Auditorium)
  2. Substitute (December 12, 1971, San Francisco Civic Auditorium)
  3. Happy Jack (February 15, 1970, City Hall, Hull, England)
  4. I’m A Boy (February 15,  1970, City Hall, Hull, England)
  5. Behind Blue Eyes(December 12, 1971, San Francisco Civic Auditorium)
  6. Pinball Wizard (June 12, 1976, Vetch Field, Swansea, England)
  7. I’m Free (June 12, 1976, Vetch Field, Swansea, England)
  8. Squeeze Box (June 12, 1976, Vetch Field, Swansea, England)
  9. Naked Eye/Let’s See Action/My Generation (May 18, 1974, Charlton Athletic Football Club, South London, England)
  10. 5.15 (December 6, 1973, The Capital Centre, Largo)
  11. Won’t Get Fooled Again(December 6, 1973, The Capital Centre, Largo)
  12. Magic Bus (February 14, 1970, Leeds University, England)
  13. My Generation (1965, BBC Sessions)

DISC TWO

  1. I Can See For Miles (August 24, 1989, Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA)
  2. Join Together (August 24, 1989, Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA)
  3. Love Reign O’er Me (August 24,  1989, Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA)
  4. Baba O’Riley (August 24, 1989, Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA)
  5. Who Are You (August 24, 1989, Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA)
  6. The Real Me (January 31, 2002, Watford Civil Hall, England)
  7. The Kids Are Alright (February 7, 2002, Royal Albert Hall, London)
  8. Eminence Front (March 24, 2009, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia)
  9. A Man In A Purple Dress (March 11, 2007, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, NY)

Greatest Hits Live spans the band’s career from 1970 to 2007 with previously unreleased and newly mixed concert recordings.

Twenty two recordings of the band’s biggest and best-known hits – most of them never widely available or unreleased and 20 of them newly mixed by the band and its production team – have been collected on Greatest Hits Live (Geffen/UMe), released exclusively on the iTunes Store on 19 January 2010.  Just a few weeks later, on 7 February, The Who took the stage to headline the Super Bowl XLIVHalftime Show at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder has said that “The Who quite possibly remain the greatest live band ever” (Rolling Stone, 2004) and Greatest Hits Live justifies that statement with scintillating tracks ranging from 1965 to 2009, from London’s Royal Albert Hall to the San Francisco Civic Auditorium.

The excitement and raw energy Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon are heard live with ‘My Generation’ from an early  BBC Radio session in 1965 and then in 1970 at City Hall in Hull, with ‘Happy Jack’ and ‘I’m A Boy’, and ‘Magic Bus’. The Who then move around the world to the San Francisco Civic the following year for ‘I Can’t Explain’, ‘Substitute’ and the melancholic ‘Behind Blue Eyes’.” Also from the ‘70s are a medley of ‘Naked Eye’/’Let’s See Action’/’My Generation’ at Charlton Athletic Football Club in 1974; ‘Pinball Wizard’ the anthemic ‘I’m Free’ and ‘Squeezebox’ in Swansea in 1976; and ‘5.15’ and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ at the Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland.

Five recordings from the ‘80s – ‘I Can See For Miles’, ‘Join Together’, ‘Love Reign O’er Me’, ‘Baba O’Riley’ and ‘Who Are You’, are from a legendary performance at the Universal Amphitheatre in California during the band’s triumphant 1989 reunion tour (with Simon Phillips on drums plus a horn section).  The following year, The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Following ‘The Real Me’ performed in Watford in 2002, a Royal Albert Hall benefit performance also that year witnessed a roaring ‘The Kids Are Alright’ –both with Zak Starkey on drums.  Sadly, however, they were among the final performances with John Entwistle, who would pass away that June.  The most recent tracks are ‘A Man In A Purple Dress’ from a 2007 show at the Nassau Coliseum in New York and a scorching ‘Eminence Front’ (with Pino Paladino on bass) in Brisbane, Australia, in March 2009.

Art Direction: Vartan
Cover design: Ryan Rogers
Design: Meire Murakami

 

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