Thirty Years of Maximum R&B

by

The Who

Edit

You would have to spend a lotta money to get all these songs on their original discs. This is the best "best of" compilation ever...but at the cost of superior sonics. The sound quality on these discs is horrible. Listen to any track on the box's discs from WHO'S NEXT and then listen to the remastered WHO'S NEXT from just a few years ago and the difference will amaze you. I can stand for the sound to be a little wooly on the older stuff but for the tracks on disc 3 and 4 to sound the way they do is a crime. The box is only worth it to me for the hard to find tracks like JOIN TOGETHER and LONG LIVE ROCK and THE KIDS ARE ALLRIGHT. Other wise save your money and by the remasters of WHO'S NEXT and LIVE AT LEEDS.

For a band to obtain such a high status as the Who have, they sure had some crummy treatment from their record companies with numerous substandard compilations. 30 Years Of Maximum R&B was an honest attempt to try to set the record straight but there are some problems with it. There are 79 songs on the box set but at least five of them are edited down from full length. They are: Jaguar, Shaken All Over, Bargain, Dreaming From The Waist, and Who Are You (which is NOT the single version it proclaims to be; I know because I have the single). Furthermore, A Quick One, While He's Away and See Me, Feel Me both alternate between live and studio versions in the same songs. Happy Jack also is not the single version but an alternate version with a different drum track. And for those who are looking for the studio version of Substitute you won't find it here. On the plus side there are a number of unreleased live tracks where the Who really shines, among them Naked Eye, Dreaming From The Waist, and My Wife. There are also unreleased studio tracks, studio banter, and live verbal diatribes with the audience (there's even the assault, both verbal and physical, between Pete Townshend and Abbie Hoffman at Woodstock!!). And there's the awesome full length version of The Kids Are Alright which is finally available in the U.S. Personally, I would drop a couple of unreleased tracks to get the full length version of the above mentioned songs. Still, I suspect it will appeal to completists who have everything else and will want the unreleased stuff. But for those who want the hits I suggest picking up My Generation-The Very Best Of The Who which delivers the hits, and then explore other cds (Tommy, Who's Next, Live At Leeds) to get better examples of what this great band has accomplished.