The Who Album: “Thirty Years of Maximum R&B”

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.

This is a big pill to swallow. It is a huge pill. Five hours of a band that has built the reputation of being the hardest rocking band out there. The Who have been around since the early sixties, and this box captures it all. Not every track, but plenty enough to capture an acurate picture of the band at every stage of their career from The High Numbers through the 1989 Reunion Tour. In addition to the unforgettable and unforgivable songs in their illustrious catalogue, this collection is peppered with amusing snippits of concert dialogue, comedic radio sitcoms, and studio false starts. Alternate versions of already familiar songs help keep this collection fresh, and the book that comes with it is detailed and enlightening. There is more than enough here to introduce the uninitiated to The Who, and there is certainly enough unreleased material to keep the ititiated interested. This is comprehensive. It is what a box set is supposed to be. However, don't expect to be listening to it start to finish repeatedly. Rather, it is like a cherrished book that is lovingly read every once in a long while and fondly remembered in between.

It's not that this is bad material (with some exceptions, like the horrible alternate "The Real Me" that should have stayed unreleased), just that there are a LOT of little mistakes and annoyances that really add up. One or two mistakes or annoyances would have been understandable and easy to ignore, but not when they keep happening over and over again. The constant seguing of the songs is by far the worst error. This technique only works well when the end of the first song and the beginning of the following one sound enough alike to phased in and out simultaneously. Many times there isn't even one single nanosecond of breathing space between songs. There are also a few songs which are a mix of studio and live versions, like "A Quick One" and "See Me, Feel Me." Other big errors are mislabelling "Sparks" (the live Woodstock version) as "Underture." They never did "Underture" live. The live "Bargain" on here is also shortened by about a minute; the full-length version of this particular live rendition is found on the rarities compilation 'Who's Missing,' which was released some years before this boxed set came along. There are also a number of errors in the booklet, like giving incorrect chart positions for some songs and reinforcing the common but incorrect belief that Keith Moon was born in 1947; he was born in 1946 but lied about his age so people would think he was younger.

Besides the constant seguing, the other most annoying thing on here is the inclusion of way too many songs from 'Sell Out,' a total of eight of the original thirteen. There's also too much material from 'Who's Next' and the original LAL. Giving more than three or four songs from each album is no longer just giving a little sample of each album represented, and it feels jarring hearing them all played out of order, with so many songs from those albums included. Maybe that's the reason why there were barely any songs from their sorely underrated Eighties catalogue, with only one song apiece from their final two studio albums and then the next two Eighties songs being really poorly representative of that period. They could have picked a better song from 'Who's Last,' as bland a live effort as it may be, in lieu of the live version of "Twist and Shout" they used, as well as a better song from the '89 triple-LP 'Join Together' over the endless live rendition of "I'm a Man." The final song, a '91 cover of the Elton John song "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)," is fun and peppy, but could have been included somewhere else if it had to be included at all. That is not the track you use to close a boxed set with; it should have been so obvious that the final track should have been a blistering live version of "WGFA" or "SMFM"!

Still, the material included here is by and large great, along with some cute Keith skits done for the BBC, interviews, onstage dialogue, and studio conversations held before songs. There are also a lot of songs that were unreleased before this boxed set came along, though since then most of them have been released as bonus tracks on the CD remasters. And some of the songs are still hard to find on CD, are only on vinyl, or are hard to find altogether, whatever the format they're available on, like the irresistably cute ditty "Dogs," "Call Me Lightning," and the High Numbers-era material like "Here 'Tis" and "Zoot Suit"; before this, only the High Numbers song "I'm the Face" was available on an official release. It's too bad they couldn't have cut some of the superfluous songs to make room for more rarities, like "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" or some of the songs on the out-of-print 'Two's Missing.' Overall, the many mistakes and annoyances aren't enough to overlook the fact that it's still great material. I'm lucky I found a used copy of this, complete with the booklet, for only $35 in a used record store!

First, I must say that my rating of 1 star is not a commentary on the Who's music itself. For that, see the other customer reviews of this album. I have given this box set one star because of the weakness of the collection itself.

A box set is supposed to do two things: 1. Give a proper overview of the group's work to listeners unfamiliar with the band and 2. Provide obscure and unreleased tracks for those listeners who are already familiar with the band's work, and are interested in more than just the albums. A box set should also offer definitive sound quality and full length tracks, wherever possible.

This set fails in all these areas. First, The Who were a concept album band, and offer several strong, cohesive albums. I recommend "Tommy," "Who's Next," and "Quadrophenia". They also have several singles, such as "The Seeker" and "Magic Bus" which are not found on any album, and other singles, such as "Who Are You" which are found on otherwise worthless albums. A proper box set should offer the definitive studio versions of these singles. Instead, shortened versions are included. The third area of interest for Who neophytes is live Who recordings. Although many cuts from "Live At Leeds" (another essential album) is included, little else is offered. These problems make the box set a poor introduction. If you are new to the Who, get all 4 of the albums mentioned above, plus "My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who."

Greater problems are found with this box set for those old fans looking for new stuff. As a general rule, everything of interest that could be included on the box set is already released. Infinite greatest hits compilations and live albums are available. All the old albums have been re-released since this box set came out, and offer superior rarities as bonus tracks. The "Odds And Sods" album has now been doubled in length and contains an amazing number of quality rarities. All interesting song demos (and, many, many more) are included in Townshend's "Scoop" and "Another Scoop" series. The few things not already released are missing here. For example, no BBC cuts are found (due to contractual problems?).

To top off problems related to content, the sound quality of almost all tracks is inferior to the more recently released albums. And, as stated above, too often an edited version of a song is present instead of the full length version. Also, the tracks are presented in an awkward, chronological order interspersed with dialogue and demo tracks. Box sets work better when each disc is cohesive (as in The Doors box set), because listening sessions are rarely 5 hours long.

Anyway, to sum up my review, skip this box set and go straight for the albums, and slowly move deeper into their catalog. This box seems to have been slapped together to make a quick buck and offer another ego trip to Townshend, instead of to offer a great package to the consumer, which was certainly an option due to the Who's large catalog of music.

This box set is excellent. It contains songs from their time as The High Numbers up until their reunion in 1989. The only problem is that "Quadrophenia" was not touched upon enough, but it does have a previously unreleased version of "The Real Me" that rocks, and it has possibly the best Who song ever, "Love Reign O'er Me". The early songs as the High Numbers are a must for a true fan. Although the 4th disc is pretty lame aside from a few songs, the collection as a whole is very good. I too was upset about the single version of "Who Are You" being used instead of the full length version, but oh well. "Can't Explain","Substitute","My Generation","The Kids Are Alright","Anyway,Anyhow,Anywhere", and many more great Who classics more than make up for that mistake. This is the first Who CD I've bought,and it's a great overwiew. I suggest buying this and then purchasing other CD's such as "Who's Next", "Tommy",and "Quadrophenia".