CD/DVD review: Jethro Tull,The Who,Deep Purple

February 20th, 2013 by GRTR! HQ

Salvo Sound And Vision [Release date 04.03.13]

Whilst there is nothing new about these reissues, they bring together the CD and DVD version of the gig in one well-priced package.

Two classic Isle Of Wight gigs reflect the rise and rise of Jethro Tull and The Who.

Bonus material and annotation by Ian Anderson enhances the Jethro Tull release (Nothing Is Easy: Live At the Isle Of Wight 1970), an excellent account of their appearance in front of the assembled multitude at an event which many believed – like Woodstock – marked the end of an era in terms of rock music hippie-dom.

Musically Tull are on form with excellent renditions of material from their first three albums plus a nod towards the next one. If the IOW event marked pop culture in transition, Tull was also a band in transition with their progressive leanings (and ‘Aqualung’) still to come. ****

Another memorable concert at the 1970 festival is now captured on 2 CDs and a DVD. The Who (Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970) run through a storming set which is essentially a greatest hits collection including the visceral ‘Substitute’ and ‘My Generation’ of their sixties ascendancy to the then more recent ‘Tommy’. The rock opera tracks appear in edited form on the CD but you do get everything on the DVD. ****

Rounding out this first batch of CD/DVD releases is a 2006 Montreux performance when Deep Purple (Live In Concert at the 2006 Montreux Festival) were promoting the album ‘Rapture Of The Deep’ and Don Airey had not long taken over the reins on keyboard.

The Montreux gig will forever be associated with the band who encapsulated the story of near-disaster on ‘Smoke On The Water.’ Naturally that song is included together with a fair cross-section from their back catalogue.

The DVD includes the non-CD tracks ‘Too Much Fun’ (more poignant now since the passing of Claude Nobs), ‘Black Night’, and ‘Hush’ plus interviews with the band.

However the full set neither appears on the CD nor the DVD: it’s missing several songs including ‘Perfect Strangers’ and ‘The Well-Dressed Guitar’ and it’s a shame that Salvo couldn’t have scooped these up for this package. (These originally appeared on an expensive Japanese import).

Whilst there is no shortage of Purple/Montreux material (1996 and 2011 sets are available) this is worth the investment if you didn’t buy the original CD release. ****

As you would expect from Salvo, these are well packaged and priced reissues with useful liner notes.

Review by David Randall

David Randall presents ‘Assume The Position’ on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio every Sunday at 22:00 GMT.

Original album reviews:

Jethro Tull
The Who

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