Tuesday, September 6, 2016

The Who - Lifehouse (upgrade)



The Who – Lifehouse

(soniclovenoize reconstruction)

September 2016 UPGRADE

Side A:
1.  Teenage Wasteland
2.  Time Is Passing
3.  Love Ain’t For Keeping
4.  Going Mobile
5.  Baby Don’t You Do it

Side B:
6.  Baba O’Riley
7.  Mary
8.  I Don’t Even Know Myself
9.  Greyhound Girl
10.  Bargain

Side C:
11.  Naked Eye
12.  Behind Blue Eyes
13.  Too Much of Anything
14.  Let’s See Action
15.  Getting In Tune

Side D:
16.  Pure and Easy
17.  Won’t Get Fooled Again
18.  This Song Is Over

This is a long-overdue upgrade to one of the very first reconstructions on my blog: the doomed rock opera Lifehouse by The Who, the next in a series of alternate Who albums.  Originally planned as a double concept album and the soundtrack to its accompanying film, Lifehouse was too technically complex and conceptually baffling to all except Pete Townshend.  After a nervous breakdown while making the album and the lack of support from manager and producer Kit Lambert, Lifehouse was scrapped and paired down to the single LP Who’s Next, which became one of The Who’s crown achievements, critically and commercially.  This reconstruction attempts to pull the best sources of all tracks associated with the Lifehouse project recorded by The Who and assemble them not only in a pleasing and cohesive track order, but to follow the storyline of the film. 

The upgrades to this September 2016 edition are:
  • Revised track order that follows the Lifehouse storyline more logically, as well as a more sonically-pleasing flow.  
  • “Relay” and “Join Together” are dropped from the tracklist, as there is no evidence they were originally meant to be in the Lifehouse project.
  • “Baby Don’t You Do It” and “Naked Eye” are added to the tracklist as there is evidence they were originally considered for the Lifehouse project in some fashion.  
  • The final Olympic takes of “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Pure and Easy” are used instead of the rougher Record Plant takes.  
  • A unique stereo mix of “Time is Passing” is featured, using the left channel of the track from Odds and Sods synced with the right channel from the Exciting The Who bootleg.
  • Most sources are taken from the Japanese 2010 and 2011 SHM CD remasters of Who’s Next and Odds and Sods respectively, the most pristine and dynamic masters available of both releases.  
  • “Let’s See Action” is sourced from the new The Who Hits 50, which features the full single version.  


Following the critically and commercially successful 1969 rock opera Tommy was no easy task for The Who.  At first the beginnings were modest with a self-produced EP recorded in May 1970 at Pete Townshend’s garage studio (dubbed Eel Pie)—possibly to mimic the stripped and fantastic Live at Leeds, released that month.  Featuring recent songs written while touring Tommy, The Who tracked “Postcard”, “Now I’m A Farmer”, “Water”, “Naked Eye” and “I Don’t Even Know Myself”.  This EP never saw the light of day for various reasons, including questions of marketability and inflated song length.  It's more likely that Townshend had instead concocted an epic idea worthy enough to follow-up Tommy—another rock opera that not only functioned as a soundtrack to a companion film, but would include an audience-participated live performance with the band itself.  That September, Townshend began recording elaborate demos for much of the album, tracking all the instruments himself.  Unlike Tommy, the material for this project—now called Lifehouse—would consist of approximately 20 stand-alone songs, without the need for musical interludes to propel the storyline; each song would be self-sufficient. 

The original storyline itself was simple, albeit Bradbury-esque.  The setting was in the not-too-distant future, in an ecologically-destroyed United Kingdom.  Most people live in the major cities and are electronically connected via special suits to The Grid, a Matrix-like virtual reality computer program that feeds, entertains and pacifies the populace, which is controlled by a villainous character named Jumbo.  Since it is not approved by The Grid, music is outlawed completely; despite this, a hacker musician named Bobby who lives outside the city amongst the hippy-gypsy farmer communes broadcasts a signal of classic rock (called Trad) into The Grid.  Some rebellious few congregate to the secret Lifehouse to experience the music Bobby broadcasts, which are somehow tailor-made for each individual person, the music representing their own life experience (and performed by, who else, but The Who!). 

The story begins with Ray and Sally, husband and wife turnip farmers, also living in a traveling commune outside of the city.  Their teenage daughter Mary intercepts the Lifehouse broadcasts and runs away from her family to seek the source of the pirate signal.  While Ray goes after her, Sally finds Bobby attempting to find The One Note, a musical note that represents all people and unites the universe.  After falling in love, the pair travel to London to find and play The One Note at The Lifehouse. By the end of the double album, Ray catches up to the couple, Jumbo’s troops storm the rock festival at The Lifehouse just as Bobby plays The One Note, and we find the rebel youth have simply vanished, transcended to another plane, along with any civilians attached to The Grid who had witnessed the event. 

The story seems to make sense to us, in the internet age.  But the rest of the band members failed to understand Townshend’s concept (specifically Roger Daltrey’s inability to conceptualize wireless communication), and likewise Towshend had difficulty articulating it.  To make matters more confusing, Townshend intended not only live performances of The Who to be intercut within the narrative in the film, but the performances themselves were to be metaphysical music that would be “tuned” to each individual audience member.  The final touch was that The Who, by the end of the performance, would become holograms.  These performances at The Young Vic Theatre beginning in January 1971 and carrying on sporadically until the spring seemed to be unpromoted and open to the general public—anyone curious enough to wander into the Young Vic and discover The Who playing new material!  Unfortunately, The Who were a band who wanted to make metaphysical music that represented the souls of the individual audience members, who themselves casually arrived just wanting to hear the bands’ hits.  The Young Vic performances were a failed experiment and in the end simply amounted to public rehearsals of the new Lifehouse material.  With Townshend disheartened that not only the audience “didn’t get it” but his band as well, The Who relocated to New York to record the new songs properly in the studio, giving Lifehouse one final chance. 

Initial album tracking began at the Record Plant in March 1971, produced by manager Kit Lambert as usual and featuring legendary keyboardist Al Kooper and guitarist Leslie West of Mountain.  At least six core Lifehouse songs were all worked on to completion or near to it: “Baby Don’t You Do It” (allegedly a studio warm-up), “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “Love Ain’t For Keeping”, “Behind Blue Eyes”, “Pure and Easy” and “Getting in Tune”.  By this time the band’s relationship with Lambert had broken down completely.  Lambert was producer only in name, as he was preoccupied with a heroin addiction and was unable to even mix the session!  Townshend (himself by this point a chronic alcoholic) also had problems finding a common-ground with Lambert in regards to the Lifehouse narrative; Kit had helped Townshend flesh out the concept of Tommy two years before, but they were unable to agree upon a script for the Lifehouse film.  The situation reached its boiling point when Townsend overheard Lambert blasting him at their hotel room, including his recommendation that the band should abandon the project.  Townshend in effect spiraled into a nervous breakdown, later claiming to have attempted to jump out of the hotel window.  That was the deathblow to Lifehouse. 

Still needing to finish an album—be it Lifehouse or otherwise—producer Glyn Johns was brought in to mix the Record Plant sessions and to see if it was salvageable.  Johns thought the recordings were up to par but recommended restarting the project with him at the helm, as he could better capture the essence of The Who to tape.  Recording began at Mick Jagger’s mansion Stargroves in April, testing the waters with “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.  Impressed with the results, Johns and the band relocated to Olympic Studios in May to overdub it and to record at least another 15 songs.  At this point in time, Johns urged an already discouraged Townshend to shelve the Lifehouse concept indefinitely and release the best material as a singular, non-conceptual album.  The result was Who’s Next, regarded as not only one of The Who’s greatest albums, but one of the greatest in rock history. 

While Johns apparently made the correct call in whittling down Lifehouse to Who’s Next, Townshend never really gave up on the project.  He continued working on it, adding new songs to the project that regardless found their way onto other Who singles and albums (“Join Together” and “Relay” in 1972, “Slip Kid” in 1976, “Who Are You” in 1977, etc).  After a failed attempt to write a new Lifehouse screenplay in 1980, the themes and basic plot outline were recycled by Townshend for his 1993 solo album Psychoderelict.   Townshend eventually commissioned a Lifehouse radio play for the BBC in 1999 and released a multi-disc boxset of his original 1970 Lifehouse demos, the radio play and its soundtrack in 2000 as The Lifehouse Chronicles.   To top it off, Townshend performed a series of concerts of the Lifehouse material later that year, released as Pete Townshend Live: Sadler Wells 2000.

While Townshend clearly gave his final word on the project, is it possible to rebuild the original Lifehouse that The Who attempted to raise in 1971?  An exact tracklist was never published and Townshend has revealed only the basic plotline, lacking any specifics or subplot descriptions.  And while The Lifehouse Chronicles gives an excellent overview of the material, presented in a cohesive narrative framework, it is very much retro-active, including later 70s compositions not originally included in the 1971 project and based upon the largely rewritten and convoluted 1999 BBC radio play.  For my reconstruction we will attempt to only use the songs originally intended to be a part of the 1971 project, using exclusively The Who recordings with gaps filled-in by Townshend’s 1970 solo demos.  Our tracklist will follow what we know of the original storyline, as reflected in the song lyrics, with further insight from the performance order of Townshend’s Live: Sadler’s Wells 2000.  Structurally, the first disc will be set in the Scottish countryside and follow Mary’s journey to find Bobby, and Ray’s journey to find Mary.  The second disc will be set in The Grid of London and portray Bobby’s search for The One Note and his final confrontation with Jumbo’s army.  No live material is included, as I believe that intent was scrapped after the failure of The Young Vic experiments. 

Side A opens with “Baba M1” representing The One Note as an introduction, crossfaded into “Teenage Wasteland”, both Townshend’s demos taken from Lifehouse Chronicles.  Since there is an overlap between this and “Baba O’Riley”, the song is faded out before the redundant passages.  Here Ray introduces the listener to his world: living on the land in a caravan outside of The Grid.  Next, we introduce Bobby who is performing music in his own caravan with “Time Is Passing”.  Here a unique stereo mix of the song is created by syncing the left channel from Odds and Sods with the right channel from the bootleg Exciting The Who.  “Love Ain’t For Keeping” follows (using the Olympic take from Who’s Next with the extended Record Plant jam from Odds and Sods tagged onto the end), character development for Ray who sings this love song for his wife Sally.  The couple and their teenage daughter Mary travel the countryside in “Going Mobile” from Who’s Next, until Mary hears Bobby’s pirate broadcast of “Baby Don’t You Do It” from the Who’s Next 2010 remaster and decides to leave her parents in search of whomever is sending these magical signals.  Ray chases after her, which his perceived betrayal is also reflected in the song’s lyrics.

Side B opens with Bobby experimenting with The One Note in “Baba O’Riley” from Who’s Next.  Mary finds him and joins his caravan, on its way to London to host a rock concert at The Lifehouse, intending to free the populous from The Grid.  Bobby falls in love with Mary as heard in Townshend’s demo of “Mary” from Lifehouse Chronicles, but Mary is reluctant as heard in the Olympic version of “I Don’t Even Know Myself” from Odds and Sods.  Bobby tries to win Mary over in Townshend’s demo of “Greyhound Girl” from Lifehouse Chronicles, and disc one concludes with Ray vowing to retrieve his daughter no matter the cost—even venturing into the city to find her—in “Bargain” from Who’s Next.

Side C takes place in the future city of London, as we see the populace hooked up into The Grid, living a virtual reality life, an idyllic illusion meant to control them.  Here we use “Naked Eye” to create this setting and describe The Grid, using the Eel Pie recording from Odds and Sods; although this recording predates Lifehouse and hails from the scrapped 1970 EP, there is documentation that a version of “Naked Eye” was actually recorded during the 1971 Olympic sessions, thus indicating Townshend’s intent to use the song in Lifehouse.  Following, we are introduced to Jumbo, the controller of The Grid, who attempts to convince the listener he’s just misunderstood in “Behind Blue Eyes” from Who’s Next.  As Bobby and Mary infiltrate the city, they attempt to show people that their Grid lives are an illusion in the original mix of “Too Much of Anything” from Odds and Sods.  Both Bobby, Mary and Ray all arrive at The Lifehouse together and prepare for the rock concert in “Let’s See Action” from The Who Hits 50 and the show begins in “Getting in Tune” from Who’s Next, as Bobby hacks into the Grid and broadcasts The Lifehouse concert live to all linked into The Grid.

Side D opens with Bobby explaining what The One Note is and Mary urging him to use it to free everyone from Grid in the Olympic version of “Pure and Easy” from Odds and Sods.  Jumbo’s army storms the Lifehouse during “Won’t Get Fooled Again” from Who’s Next just as Bobby plays The One Note.  Right as the soldiers close in, all the protagonists and concert-goers vanish from their reality—as well as all the people on The Grid watching the show from their homes.  The closing credits presumably play over “This Song Is Over” from Who’s Next. The final touch being cover art created long ago by I Design Album Covers, we have one of the seminal Albums That Never Were, now better than ever. 


Sources used:
The Who - Who’s Next (2010 SHM remaster)
The Who - Odds & Sods (2011 SHM remaster)
The Who - Exciting The Who (bootleg, 1997 Midas Touch Records)
The Who – Hits 50! (2014 Geffen Records)
Pete Townshend - Lifehouse Chronicles (2001 Eel Pie Records)

flac --> wav --> editing in SONAR and Goldwave --> flac encoding via TLH lv8
*md5, artwork and tracknotes included

116 comments:

  1. Fantastic upgrade. Thanks so much for the post.

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  2. It's funny but this series has made me realize that The Who always made the right choices regarding what kind of album they chose to release:
    My Generation trumps over Introducing with its original rockers and by having, of course, My Generation in it.
    A Quick One is a tad better than the rather mediocre Jigsaw Puzzle, thanks to the redeeming brilliance of the titular medley.
    Who's Lily is quite good, but the concept of Sell Out really elevates the whole album to something extraordinary.
    And Lifehouse, while full of great songs, is still one big mess of a concept album that one cannot comprehend without an essay alongside with it, and its songs simply shine more brightly in a non-story, single LP.
    I still appreciate the hard work you've done. Cannot wait for Rock Is Dead!

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  3. Well thought out. But your Side C is awfully beefy for a vinyl record in '71 at nearly 23 minutes.

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    Replies
    1. Well, side A of Abbey Road is nearly 25 minutes long...

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    2. Dylan's Desire is about 56 minutes in total...

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    3. Echoes by Pink Floyd from 1971 is also 23 and 1/2 minutes...

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    4. I didn't mean that it was too long, I just thought it seemed a bit out of proportion to the other three sides. But maybe not

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  4. Bummer; was hoping for Homegrown. Maybe next time ?

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  7. Looking forward to hearing this. Thanks!

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  8. Thank you very much for the alternate upgrade!
    I'm sure you have a few other Who releases for the future... hopefully.
    Really looking forward to your take on Neil Young's "Homegrown".
    One of the best music blogs around! Keep 'em comin'!

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  9. Thanks for sharing. I've made variations of this for myself over the years, the weak spots always being the mono Time is Passing (so amazing to hear your stereo remaster!) and the solo-only Mary and Greyhound Girl (too bad you couldn't dummy up some fake Who versions... maybe next time around...). And I prefer your hybrid Love Ain't For Keeping to either original (frankly not one of my favorite Who songs, but given new life here).

    At some point, having been listening to Who's Next for countless years, I just have a hard time enjoying a lot of those songs these days. So last year I took a different approach to Lifehouse, making an imaginary album (titled Join Together) composed of all the early 70s non-album tracks OTHER than those on Who's Next, and I still listen to that one all the time. Setlist is:

    Pure & Easy. Naked Eye. Postcard. Too Much of Anything. Relay. I Don't Even Know Myself. Put The Money Down. Let's See Action. Join Together. Now I'm A Farmer. Water. When I Was A Boy. Love Ain't For Keeping (electric). Waspman. Baby Don't You Do It. Long Live Rock.

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  10. I've had that sync of the two channels of Time Is Passing for a few years now, but only in MP3 form. Great to have an upgrade. Thanks! There's an early version of Pure & Easy I have somewhere that trumps both the Odds & Sods and Who's Next bonus track versions. I'd definitely substitute (pun intended) this version.
    And personally I wouldn't include both Teenage Wasteland and Baba O'Riley. Nor do I feel inclined to include Baby Don't You Do It. So I think my version would keep Join Together and Relay. Both of these songs fit thematically.

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  11. Are you sure that The Who re-recorded Naked Eye at Olympic? I always presumed that the documentation concerned the 1970 version being dusted off for possible inclusion, and that there was no actual remake.

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  12. I've built and rebuilt this album numerous times. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd come up with the perfect version, only to rethink it again. There seems to be a question as to whether the "Greyhound Girl" demo was recorded in '71 or '72. I finally decided to do an only Who version (no Mary or Greyhound Girl), and used the setlist at the Young Vic (minus the Tommy songs, My Generation. Road Runner and Bony Maronie) as a basis for the Lifehouse tracklist.

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  13. Would you consider creating a fourth Jimi Hendrix Experience album, consisting of the late '68 - early '69 sessions, before the departure of Noel Redding? I did a version of it myself, called "The End of The Beginning", which consisted of the following:
    Side A
    1. (Here He Comes) The Lover Man
    2. Somewhere
    3. It's Too Bad
    4. My Friend
    Side B
    1. Look Over Yonder
    2. Hear My Train A-Comin'
    3. Tax Free
    4. Calling All The Devil's Children

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  14. This is great-thanks for the clear storyline as well-my favorite blog

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  15. Great as usual! Two thumbs way up!!

    Side note - would you ever do a version of Badfinger's unreleased 1975 album "Head First"? An out-of-order and not the best sounding version was released in 2000, and I think you could do a lot better.

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  16. As always, wonderful work sonic! This is my definitive Lifehouse mix from now on. :)

    If anyone wants to have a look, iv'e created a new blog inspired by sonic's work but revisiting the complete 70s discography by The Beach Boys: including full alternate liner notes, alternate tracklist and cover art. Check it out!

    http://bboysaltdisco.blogspot.ca/

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  17. Like the Prince post, but not the Stampede one, the download is quite rightly blocked by Kaspersky as you get one of those your computer is at risk/broken phish attacks if attempt to download without it. UK fan of your great site, so may be a UK specific.

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  18. Great!

    And you might find this fun and lovely:
    http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1296-the-people-vs-mike-love/

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  19. Long time listener, first time commenter.

    Thank you for this. As always, the reconstruction is much appreciated, and I think this improves on the 2012 version.

    Just looking for clarification/confirmation: the 2012 version contained the track "Put The Money Down", but it has been omitted this time around and was not mentioned in the list of upgrades. Is it safe to assume that it was omitted for the same reason that "Join Together" and "Relay" were omitted this time around?

    Just curious. Love what you've been doing here - keep up the great work!

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    Replies
    1. Yep because they were 1) added to the concept retroactively and 2) will be on Rock is Dead/Long Live Rock anyways.

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  20. As always and awesome job and a gift for all of us out here.

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  21. Awesome! Thank you so much for the upgrade.

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  22. A final T. Rex album would be a good project. Enough songs were recorded in '77. There have been a couple of attempts to compile them ("Final Cuts" and "Billy Super Duper") but both were marred with the inclusion of earlier recorded outtakes. Tracks most likely should include Shy Boy, Love Drunk, 21st Century Stance, Hot George, Foxy Boy, Mellow Love, 20th Century Baby. There may be a few more, but I'm finding a good chronological order of Marc Bolan's recording sessions to be near impossible.

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  23. Radiohead - Here It Comes

    Cover:
    http://s16.postimg.o...23_10_21_53.jpg

    Side A
    Molasses
    Maquiladora
    Banana Co
    Killer Cars
    India Rubber
    How Can You Be Sure?
    Bishop's Robes

    Side B
    Talk Show Host
    The Trickster
    Lewis (Mistreated)
    Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong
    Permanent Daylight
    Lozenge of Love
    You Never Wash Up After Yourself

    http://www.mediafire.com/file/uw850o0yiviwr26/Here_It_Comes.rar

    ReplyDelete
  24. Radiohead - Lost Child,

    Cover:
    http://s13.postimg.o...23_10_11_18.jpg

    Side A
    Lull
    Lift (my personal edit)
    Pearly
    Meeting In The Aisle
    A Reminder
    I Promise (my personal edit)

    Side B
    Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)
    Palo Alto
    Melatonin
    Big Ideas (my personal edit)
    How I Made My Millions

    http://www.mediafire.com/?ih250y6k71cufhz

    ReplyDelete
  25. Radiohead - untitled or "bear"

    Side A
    It Follows Me Around (my personal edit)
    Fast-Track
    The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
    Trans-Atlantic Drawl
    Kinetic

    Side B
    True Love Waits
    Cuttooth
    Worrywort
    Fog
    Life In a Glasshouse
    I Froze Up (my personal edit)

    http://www.mediafire.com/?tm9h3kgg1a2vc9o

    ReplyDelete
  26. Radiohead - Up = Down

    http://s10.postimg.o...l07g9/cover.jpg

    Side A
    Mk2
    Up on the Ladder
    Bangers and Mash
    4 Minute Warning
    These Are My Twisted Words
    I Want None of This

    Side B
    Mk 1
    Down is the New Up
    Go Slowly
    Harry Patch (In Memory of)
    Last Flowers to the Hospital

    http://www.mediafire.com/?ut10hak06nkgk09

    ReplyDelete
  27. Radiohead - Tanning Trouble Only Hail

    cover:
    https://s17.postimg....3uzj3/cover.jpg

    Side A
    Where Bluebirds Fly
    Gagging Order
    Big Boots (my personal edit)
    I Am A Wicked Child
    Follow Me Around (my personal edit)

    Side B
    Paperbag Writer
    The Boney King of Nowhere
    You (my personal edit)
    I Am Citizen Insane
    Fog (Again)

    http://www.mediafire.com/?r7bzn338he255hm

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hi, SLN! I have been posting to you my own projects. Some days ago I wrote about finding older music sounding strange on newer systems and such... Well, it was a long time ago I used vinyl and now I am usind CDs. I opened up one of your files in Sound Forge and saw how dynamic it was. CDs might be generally better than vinyls, but with this loudness war the dynamic is way much better on CD. I actually just found this out. I have noticed that all new remastered 60s music is loud as hell on CDs.
    My projects are not from vinyl rips, but from CDs. I really understand now why CDs don't have the same dynamic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi!

      It isn't the fault of the medium, because CD could inherently have MORE of a dynamic range than vinyl as well as no worry about time constraints, bass levels and sibilant issues. In theory, CDs should produce a better--or at least more accurate to what the artist heard in the studio--recording.

      But as you've noticed, since there's a much higher ceiling to make an album louder on CD, mastering engineers pushed that envelope and have made masters more compressed and loud as possible, decreasing the dynamic range. I don't buy into the "This is so loud, it's unlistenable!" mentality, but for many albums it's a real problem. One of my only complaints about the new Radiohead album, for example, is that it is REALLY loud, much louder than the music itself implies that it should be.

      But then again, was it an artistic choice? Did they intentionally do that? Maybe. For example, the band Oasis used it as a creative tool, and even felt it covered up some of the band members' sloppy performances. Let's also remember that often in rock music, the album is attempting to replicate the band playing live. If you've ever been to a show, it is LOUD. Wouldn't that make sense that the album is overcompressed and LOUD as well? I can see that side of the argument.

      Luckily, it's a mixed bag. There are some digital sources that do have pretty great dynamic range-- Specifically all the Who reconstructions, all those Japanese SHM remasters sound great, often better than vinyl imo. For Jigsaw Puzzle I A/Bed five different pressings of A Quick One--including two different vinyl rips by respected rippers--and the best was that SHM CD. Modern mastering technology has advanced so much, that they can now capture a more accurate sound image of the music from the mastertapes than they could even ten years ago. So assuming the master isn't totally brickwalled, modern CD remasters SHOULD (in theory) sound better than the original vinyl releases. I try to find them and use them on this blog, if available. Thanks for listening!

      Delete
  29. I don't think many of the Radiohead tracks above are released on vinyl...

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  30. Not being a Radiohead head, could you put some context of what these recordings represent? I love the whole idea of creating albums in this alternate universe. Has anyone read Lewis Shiner's "Glimpses" which is about that very thing.

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  31. Yours posts are always strange, but interesting when we are trying to compare with the official records delivery. It's amazing and thank you for that

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  32. I love your work, including your original Lifehouse construction. But I'm sorry, there's no way Pete would've put a Marvin Gaye cover (Baby Don't You Do It) on his opera. Okay, so he snuck a Sonny Boy Williamson cut onto Tommy...but even the title (Eyesight to the Blind) fits that concept.
    That aside...here's an easy potential project..The Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo with Gram Parsons' vocals restored.
    Keep up the great work

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    Replies
    1. The GP Sweetheart album is easily done by getting the reissue cd, and sequencing the songs in the correct order. All the original GP vocal tracks are on there. You can replace the McGuinn vocals with those, and add a bonus track or 2 if you wish. I added Pretty Polly after 100 Years From Now ( I used the alternate take of that as well ), and deleted Life In Prison, and replaced it with All I Have Is Memories. Works a lot better than the released lp : closer to the original concept.

      Delete
  33. If you ever want to do a quick project, the original double-album version of "McCartney II" would be an easy one. All of the material was released on the Archive Collection reissue and the sequence from the original test pressing is preserved on a bootleg called "The Lost McCartney Album".

    A1 Front Parlour [Full-Length Version]
    A2 Frozen Jap [Full-Length Version]
    A3 All You Horse Riders
    A4 Blue Sway
    B1 Temporary Secretary
    B2 On The Way
    B3 Mr. H Atom
    B4 Summer's Day Song [Original Without Vocals]
    B5 You Know I'll Get You Baby
    B6 Bogey Wobble
    C1 Darkroom [Full-Length Version]
    C2 One Of These Days
    C3 Secret Friend
    C4 Bogey Music
    D1 Check My Machine [Full-Length Version]
    D2 Waterfalls
    D3 Nobody Knows
    D4 Coming Up [Full-Length Version]

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    Replies
    1. When I bought the McCartney II box set in 2011, the first thing I did was reconstruct the double album version. I think the double album is far superior to the released single album.

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  34. You all might dig this mix of "Time Is Passing" I found whist picking around YouTube one day:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAFivDYeiJI

    This is the best sync-up I've heard so far... it's gorgeous.

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    Replies
    1. Sorry my sync isn't good enough for you!!!

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    2. Well, it's a notoriously hard song to sync up... the two channels flub way out of sync with each other (yay for tape machines running tiny bits faster and slower!). Your attempt is way better than anything I could come up with (even after hours of tiny tweaks in Audacity)...

      Just thought I'd share somebody else's (result of extremely expensive software or an alternate universe) attempt. *shrugs*

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    3. Yeah I'm j/k ;) Rob's is better than mine. I tried to contact him for permission to use his mix in my reconstruction but he didn't bother even returning my call. So I did it myself, and it's fine.

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    4. Well, the nerve of that guy... XD

      I'm glad you ran the sonic gauntlet when you could've just stuck us with the mono mix, so thank you.

      Delete
  35. Yes, indeed. The loudness isn't the problem, in it self, it's the loss of the peaks. So that it sounds undynamic. Yes yes.
    I mainly listen to the japanese remasters of The Beach Boys
    Often modern CD remasters sounds better than newly released albums, because they try to stay true to real deal. The CDs today do not sound like the finished work. The vinyls sounds more like it does in the studio, maybe not in quality, but in dynamic.
    Sometimes I ripp My CDs and do a clipped peak restoration, turning down the volume 1,5 db, on each track. It can improve some albums, I did try it on A Moon Shaped Pool. The Radiohead album The King of Limbs really suffers on CD. I don't even listen on the CD version. I ripped it from vinyl and gently turned up the volume a bit. It's a different album on vinyl, I like it a lot.

    http://www.mediafire.com/?9b0udng74euucvr - tkol

    Some albums really suffers out there.
    On all old music albums I have uploaded to you, the dynamic is fine and there is no clipping, but on these Radiohead songs the sound was clipping all over. I have been revisiting them and am working on them.
    The main point in making them is because I did not enjoy the track order, and now not the quality, on the collectors editions. I went looking at Radioheads own tracklists on their EPs.

    Thanks for your work. You did give my father joy with this album, before he died last week. Thank you.

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  36. Great post! Have you ever thought of doing A Hole in the Sock of (Dave Davies)?

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  37. Here's one I've been working on.. a 1991 album by alternative band Hüsker Dü if they hadn't broken up in 1987 - from the albums that songwriters Grant Hart & Bob Mould put out around that time. I think it stands up well next to what R.E.M & Nirvana released in the early 1990s. https://open.spotify.com/user/1231007472/playlist/5ZXv0s387eJoHzZQQe40aa

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  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  39. Thanks for the share Sonic. Cheers from DownUnder AR

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  40. Hoping for at least one more album before the end of the year. :)

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  41. Hey - you missed "Join Together"! That was a Lifehouse song.

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    1. Ignore me - I've just read that you're only concerned with the 1971 project. Pity, though, as Join Together captures the essence of Lifehouse very well.

      Delete
  42. Folks, I've created a blog, based around this one, to show my versions of some of the lost albums, most of them mentioned on these comment sections. Here you go: the-reconstructor.blogspot.com

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  43. Postscript: downloading and listening to 'Lifehouse' from start to end has been a wonderful experience. Thank you! (I'll work out for myself where best to position Join Together...)

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    Replies
    1. Between "Getting In Tune" and "Pure & Easy". :)

      Delete
  44. Folks, I've created a version of what would happen if Paul McCartney & Wings hadn't broken up, using the tracks they rehearsed in oct.80, Linda's "Love's Full Glory" and some tunes from Denny's "Japanese Tears", and I liked the results a lot:

    Paul McCartney & Wings - Last Flight
    Side A
    1. Coming Up
    2. Take It Away
    3. Clock On The Wall
    4. Keep Under Cover
    5. Love's Full Glory
    6. Ballroom Dancing
    Side B
    1. No Values
    2. Rainclouds
    3. Silver
    4. Average Person
    5. Same Mistakes
    6. Ebony And Ivory

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  45. Ever think of trying to make a version of Jeff Buckley's My Sweetheart the Drunk that never was? It'd be interesting to hear what songs you'd include out of his posthumous release of the work he'd gotten done.

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  46. Love all the stuff you've done... but can you save Purple by Baroness?

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    Replies
    1. Right?! Never has an album deserved better sonics!

      Delete
  47. I constructed a 3-album version of Lifehouse that I think works really well:

    SIDE A
    1. Baba O'Riley
    2. When I was a Boy
    3. Now I'm a Farmer
    4. Going Mobile
    5. Time is Passing
    SIDE B
    1. Love Ain't for Keeping
    2. My Wife
    3. Water
    4. Bargain
    5. Greyhound Girl
    SIDE C
    1. Baba M1
    2. Teenage Wasteland
    3. Too Much of Anything
    4. Young Man Blues
    SIDE D
    1. Mary
    2. Baby Don't You Do It
    3. Behind Blue Eyes
    4. I Don't Even Know Myself
    SIDE E
    1. Baba M2
    2. Pure and Easy
    3. Naked Eye
    4. Gettin' in Tune
    SIDE F
    1. Let's See Action
    2. Won't Get Fooled Again
    3. The Song is Over

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  48. Hello again Sonic; I love your version of this. I have the material that Pete offered with the radio show and everything and it is kind of a jumble. This sounds like a valid album and like all of your releases; sounds like a regular album on earbuds!! Thanks Again!

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  49. its all rather interesting to hear these speculative versions of this album. Here is another sited version, though the quality is not as good as they refuse to use any previous released material.

    http://bbchron.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Who

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  50. according to the liner notes for the remastered who's next cd water, relay, and join together were recorded for the lifehouse project (as was Mary but the tape was damaged or lost)

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  51. Thanx so much for all the hard work!!!

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  52. For the two people who don't know, Richie Unterberger wrote a book about, amongst other albums, Lifehouse:
    http://www.richieunterberger.com/Who70s.html
    I read other books by Richie and if they are anything to go by, the book on The Who will not disappoint.

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    Replies
    1. FYI, this book was a actually a crucial source for this reconstruction, in sorting out the details and chronology. Highly recommended.

      Delete
  53. What a great share, thank you!! HOWEVER, after successfully d/l the first, I have found it impossible to d/l the 2nd & 3rd. I just get adware and efforts to get me to d/l Java and/or other various programs I do not want. Is there any chance you can steer me how to get them? I am at wmgray8atgmaildotcom – Thank you very much

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  54. Great track list ...thanks for all the effort!!
    Can this be made available for download again please?
    Thanks

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  55. I greatly preferred your first version of Lifehouse.

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  56. Both files appear to be down... Would you mind reuploading?

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  57. ANY CHANCE OF RE-UPLOADING? The files are down.

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  58. OK here you go:
    https://mega.nz/#!rowAhASB!La8hUaTDwpU921ykPEfQggX1eCFAZZNpFtCNQcHGHMo

    https://mega.nz/#!n5xgiC6Z!fY7fOaz-wiwVBqkWrWjl8TZmN5ZGnjFrZGOXF0keHHg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sonic

      I see these links are still working.
      Had to stroll through a lot of comments to find them.....
      Thanx again. Cheers.

      Delete
  59. Mega says this file is no longer available. FYI.

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  60. Mega says this file is no longer available, any chance of re-upping it?

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  61. THANK YOU!!
    Thank you so much! I love this album to death. its amazing pete trashed it. I decided I was going to make a rock opera myself, and im so happy to have music to refer to as I make it. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I am greatful intently. it sounds amazing and I enjoy it so much. THANK YOU!!

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  62. Great track list! One question though - I'm wondering why you didn't include Water

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  63. I suppose these are older reworkings by some one else .
    I wanted to dl yours but the links are down.
    For someone who had a huge cultural gap your WHO postings help a lot.



    http://bbchron.blogspot.com/2012/05/who-this-old-lifehouse-bootleg.html

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  64. Can you repost Lifehouse please or an mp3 zip please to lynnjf@comcast.net! Thank you if posssible

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  65. I also would love to see a repost ... Thanks!

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  66. MP3 https://mega.nz/file/WsoH0SxQ#9ScxCRsOQzdbKynzm96_T38M5omnxKWwjob8vZrHAh8

    FLAC https://mega.nz/file/G0pjiKhb#VZotxvWZF_qsy4dk_aewmFrKmc7BCjwOpKbUOFu7P7w

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    Replies
    1. Youy're the best! i love your work <3

      Delete
    2. Hola amigo soni, no puedo descargar The Who - Lifehouse (actualización)
      Me pide clave.
      Un saludo eres un genio

      Delete
  67. Here's my song order of all 32 songs composed for this XD Let's say is a hypotetical version of it's full potential. Hope you considering making your own version of it (you're better than me on finding/making the best versions and all). Every song has a proper narrative on the order, if you want to know more about it i can dissert. So i just love your work and wanted to share this "full" version with you :)
    https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7hCjAPsP5jDWdcGMVrXR4g?si=333c75523a9b4656

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  68. enviame la clave porfavor colega.

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  69. Looks like I missed it. Please keep me informed next time you post it. Thanks!

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  70. Hey the MEGA links are down again, repost please? Thx.

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  71. Gh1CxYbS#4BGmnTRTfjpx521YI5410Uzn9VzxpaCGL3XRTmnCuG4

    ah1W3IRB#XgcnO6bztgyl9X5P4CifdQhbELvY26bQB1N6iQyQZnU

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  72. I wanted to point out a small but annoying issue. I downloaded the FLAC album and the song "Mary" has a flaw that sounds like a CD miss-read at 2:34. Would really appreciate if you could post an update that fixes that song.

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    Replies
    1. I'll look into it, but I'm waiting for the upcoming Who's Next box before I upgrade this.

      Delete
  73. Wierd how nobody pointed it out, but the FLAC file for Won't Get Fooled Again is corrupt. It shows a size of 0 bites, and is unusable. Is this only a problem on my computer?

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  74. I love your work and thanks very much. Is there any chance of a restoration of the MEGA link please? I have this in mp3 but would like the FLAC link.

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  75. Could you please re-post the links? Thanks

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  76. Theres a new Who's Next/Lifehouse box set coming out this September which has a lot of new material for a future upgrade for your recreation:
    https://www.thewho.com/the-who-announce-super-deluxe-multi-format-release-for-whos-next-life-house/

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  77. Hi, can you please repost? I'd love to hear it! Ty

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