Anyone bought Who: Instant Party yet?

[Sckott]

I might go buy the Who Instant Party, but it's like $70 and 3 discs.. but I'm not sure if it's really worth it.... Any feedback? I know we talked about the ICE article. Any 1st hand accounts?


Who's buying? Aaahh!

-Sckott

[lukpac]

Garbage. All dubs from commercial CDs.

[Unknown]

Luke -- Is this information first-hand?

[czeskleba]

Here is a thorough first-hand review from alt.music.who. Don't waste your money on this one:

From: White Fang (rwhitefang@aol.com)
Subject: "Instant Party" (new boot review)
Newsgroups: alt.music.who
Date: 2001-09-08 04:12:22 PST

Liars, cheats and thieves! `;-() ("Don't you get fooled again!")

The back cover of the newest Who release on the HIWATT label says:

"Featuring the original 45 mixes sourced from the original masters including
the "lost" TALMY tapes"

Which is *not* true as anyone can quickly realize after a quick listen... (more
on that below)

[The full title of this new release is, "The Who Instant Party: The Complete UK
& USA Singles Collection"]

What we do have here is the *nicest* packaged Who CD boot that has ever been
released (to date). Featuring glossy, *very* rare, high quality pictures,
including 3 books (which are stuffed into this odd multi-multi-fold out cover)
that contain some very unusual content ranging from a large pictorial of Who
picture sleeves (some/many of which are from the same collection or just lifted
off of the 2000 tour book), another book which features the 1967 USA tour book
and another with various articles... all that with several mini-postcard pix
loosely stuffed in with the books as well...

As for the content on the CDs... that's another story entirely...

As I suspected (after reading a review of the same on alt.music.who), this
collection consists primarily of dubs off of other CDs, which is noticeable
immediately upon hearing the common simulated stereo versions of "I Can't
Explain" and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere". They used the *stereo* mix of "Daddy
Rolling Stone, which appears on "Two's Missing" and the "30 Years... Box
Set"... as well as the stereo mix of "I've Been Away". They did however, use
the correct mono mix of "I Can See For Miles" (as opposed to the CD mono
version with the overdubbed bass).

Sadly, there are quite a few songs on here which suffer from "chopped" starts,
which was just careless dubbing since the <obvious> source discs don't have
that problem. They also goofed and used the UK "Rarities Volume 1&2" CD, which
chops off the ends of "Baby Don't You Do It" (live) and "Water" (the subsequent
German release of the same doesn't have these "space saving edits"). Some of
the Shel Talmy tracks were taken from the "Who Sings My Generation" CD, which
is apparent by their very tinny sound...

Missing from this "complete" collection, is the 1966 USA ATCO version of
"Substitute" and "Waltz For A Pig" (which really isn't a Who song, but was
featured as part of the original single releases) as well as the singles which
include: "I'm Free", "We're Not Gonna Take It", "See Me, Feel Me", "Overture",
"Won't Get Fooled Again", "Behind Blue Eyes", "My Wife". And what happened to
the singles past the September, 1973 UK release of "5:15" (i.e the USA "Quad"
tracks, "Post Card", "Squeeze Box", etc... Technically, they were correct to
leave off the "Ready Steady Who" tracks of "Disguises" and "Batman" since that
release was officially an EP. Perhaps they didn't offer a 3rd disc to complete
the set due to certain country's copywrite laws on material over 18 years???

Then of course there are the "bonus" tracks (which are not only incorrect
versions, but also out of track order). As listed on the packaging, they are:

"I'm A Boy" (Long version from Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy)
"Magic Bus" (Long version from Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy)
"Anyway Anyhow Anywhere" (French E.P. version with alt. vocals)

However, the correct order (and description of the same) are:

"Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" (French EP version)
"I'm A Boy" (Long version from Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy)
"Magic Bus" (*Short true stereo version* from Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy CD)

Kinda funny how they got careless here, but accidentally included something
that is sort of rare now (the stereo version of "Magic Bus").

The price tag (the going price seems to be between $75 & $90) is very high on
this release for a 2 CD boot. Especially true, when the music tracks are
basically pirated from legitimate releases. However, the packaging *is*
extraordinary--but I'm not sure worth the price tag. Anyway, here's the
<uncorrected> track listing below:

Disc 1: I Can't Explain, Bald Headed Woman, Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, Daddy
Rolling Stone, Anytime You Want Me, My Generation, Shout And Shimmy, A Legal
Matter, Instant Party (Talmy Version), The Kids Are Alright, The Ox, La La La
Lies, The Good's Gone, Substitute, Circles, (Who Version), I'm A Boy, In The
City, Happy Jack, I've Been Away, Pictures Of Lily, Doctor, Doctor, The Last
Time, Under My Thumb, I Can See For Miles, Someone's Coming, Maryanne With The
Shaky Hand, Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde (US version).

Disc 2: Dogs, Call Me Lightning, Magic Bus, Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde (UK version),
Pinball Wizard, Dogs Part 2, The Seeker, Here For More, Summertime Blues,
Heaven And Hell, I Don't Even Know Myself, Let's See Action, When I Was A Boy,
Join Together, Baby, Don't Do It, Relay, Waspman, 5:15, Water, I'm A Boy (Long
version from Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy), Magic Bus (Long version from Meaty
Beaty Big And Bouncy), Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (French E.P. version with alt.
vocals)

-wf