Customer Reviews

Join Together [MCA / BMG Direct]

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3 star:		(1)
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First off, I saw The Who at Giants Stadium in NJ on this tour, and I had a great time. I had never seen the band before (I wasn't even 10 when Moon died), so I thought they really rocked. But bear in mind, this is not your father's Who. The emphasis on this tour (and on this album) is on the horns, not Pete's guitar. And speaking of that, Pete plays mostly acoustic, with a young guitarist by the name of Steve 'Boltz' Bolton playing lead. He is very good, but he is not Pete, and that is a shame. When you listen to The Who, you expect to hear Pete's guitar work, not a session man (unless your listening to I Can't Explain, then you get Jimmy Page, but that's another story). As for the song selections, it's great to hear the boys doing Tommy in it's entirety (mostly-Underture and Welcome are missing-don't know why), and disc two has a great selection of obvious and not so obvious inclusions (don't know when was the last time they did Trick of the Light from Who Are You). As for the playing, this was a very strange period in Who history, so it's a good document of that. This really shold've been, in effect, a solo tour of Pete's (in support for his "Iron Man" project), but since he felt that more people would pay to see The Who than Pete solo, he brought Roger and John along with his current solo band. Later tours up to John's death would lose the horn section and backing vocals, and focus more on Pete's playing. This was still good, just not exactly what you might expect from a Who live album. Check it out if your interested.

Why is this such an un-mentioned recording? It the the best recording of Tommy I have ever heard; forget the rubbish about it 'not being the real Who etc.', the music is bigger than that. Four musicians where never enough to do it justice live ...

I saw one of this concerts on tour, and let me tell you that it was GREAT. The first part was Tommy, with the apperance of Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Patti La Belle, Steve Winwood and Elton John. On the second part they played their usual songs, but with such an energy. The sound was great, Pete Townsend playing with such energy, Roger Daltrey with his roaring voice, John Enwistle with those magic fingers, Simon Phillips was on drums with a huge perfomance, I do remember that at the end of the concert, P.T. made a statment: "It took a lot of people to find someone to replace Keith Moon, on drums the extraordinary Simon Phillips". There were a lot of musicians that at this moment can remember, but all of them made an awesome perfomance.

Well, on this album it is the same thing, BUT, you will not find these: Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Patti La Belle, Steve Winwood and Elton John. But do not worry, because on the original studio album, they were not there, The Who members made all their vocals, and how was it?

The Who, on this one, sounds very different than you are use to listen, but different does not mean bad nor ugly, otherwise, it sounds with quality.

You will get a great experience.

This is the definitive Live Who disc (or double disc) and is in fact possibly the best album the band has done. Unlike many live efforts, this transcends the studio rather than being a pale reflection of it or some crappy sounding bootleg tape. The joy, the energy and the talent of the performers all shine through.

One of the best live albums I've ever heard. The 1989 Who "Reunion" tour has the first disc (1st LP and half of 2nd) being a live rendition of Tommy and the 2nd disc (other half of 2nd Lp and 3rd LP) are live versions of great Who tunes including Eminence Front, I Can See For Miles, 5:15, Love, Reign O'er Me, Trick Of The Light, Join Together (obviously), You Better You Bet, Behind Blue Eyes, and Won't Get Fooled again. Plus 4 Pete Townshend solo songs (Face The Face, Dig, A Little Is Enough, and Rough Boys). These Live Tracks were recorded at Radio City Music Hall, New York, Universal Ampitheatre, Los Angelas, and various other concerts during the US Tour, 1989. This album is dedicated to Keith Moon (1947-1978)

The Who were at the same crossroads, latter 1978, that Led Zeppelin would be almost exactly two years later... the drummer, and a founding member, dead. Two ways to handle it: Hang up the shingle and go home, as Zep did...or make the best of a bad situation and carry on. I'm glad Pete Townsend & Co. chose the latter. I'm really going to step out on a limb here, folks. I don't think either one of these bands sounded very good live! I don't know who did more overdubbing on the studio albums...Jimmy Page ( Zeppelin ) or Pete Townsend with The Who. All I know is that neither band could quite pull it off, with only three instruments and one lead singer onstage. The Who rectified the problem during their 1989 tour by bringing an entourage with them.
Does the brass detract from their classic sound? How about those three backing vocalists? Each individual Who fan will have to decide...I for one find that this is the only Who live album I can get excited about listening to. This recording has another shining star, too: Townsend, Daltrey and Entwhistle knew they could never replace Keith Moon...but they did the next best thing. Enter Simon Phillips, drummer extraordinaire! This man is still playing today, having filled the drum chair for Toto for almost twenty years. He was as full of energy and chops in 1989 as he is today! His contribution on this recording is faithful to Moon's original parts, while putting his embellishments and unique signature on every song.
If you'd rather hear the lean, sparse but unadulterated quartet of the original Who performing live, then stay with Live at Leeds or The Isle of Wight recordings. But if a full-sounding ensemble fleshing out Who classics is your preference, give this one a try ( if you can find a copy reasonably priced! ).

I just recently bought this CD ( 16 years later ) and it really is an amazing live recording captured by John, Pete and Roger. They had alot of help on this one cause the band behind them is huge complete with a horn section and back up singers but one of the best parts of this concert is hearing the amazing Simon Phillips behind the drums. He really adds alot of energy to the music and to hear classic songs from the "TOMMY" album recorded with more up to date drum technology is really something to hear.
It's Awesome sounding.

That's actually what I called this recording, when I learned the Who would tour, but with Townshend's current band, Deep End.

Needless to say, the band rocked its way through "Tommy" and a number of old hits, and it must have been a hell of a show to see (I sadly missed the Foxboro, MA show in '89).

The lineup was different this time for a number of reasons: Townshend was suffering from tinnitus and so Steve Bolton was hired to handle lead guitar (which I thought was good, but a bit more flash than Townshend's). There were the backup singers, extra percussion, extra this and that, and it made for a fuller sound. I rather liked the band doing "Tommy" on this, rather than the all-star lineup you see in the video.

All around, a good solid performance, though perhaps not what purists would like to have heard.

Pete Townshend playing acoustic guitar on the wrong side of the stage, some imitator playing lead, and all backed with a brass section? Not a lot more needs be said to convince a *live* Who fanatic that this is *not* what you're looking for. Buy "Live at:" Leeds, Isle of Wight, Royal Albert Hall, the 2002 Encore Series, or even the '82 'Rocks America', but forget about this one as an example of The Who live. I'm young enough to have seen this tour (after having seen the 'last' US show in '82, Cleveland a week after the Cincinnati debacle in '79, and an *unforgettable* '71 show) and it's why I skipped all the later ones. In relative terms, it was awful.

That said, this is *still* The Who and they were still better than almost any other band on the planet, even on a bad day. The 'Tommy' disk is quite good as a slightly rougher (and unfortunately, shorter) version than the original album while the second disk is a collection of stuff you've rarely heard live in any other releases. Another reviewer mentioned it as a solo Townshend show with Daltrey and Entwistle along, and that's not far off. This ensemble would have been better as a lounge act than trying to fill stadiums with this pale, bloated edition of The 'Oo that I loved. If you've got everything else by The Who, you need this, too. If you've got nothing else by The Who, there are better places to start.

Its the best! simply the best of The Who!