Music
My Interests I like classic rock - rock coming from the '60s, '70s, etc. The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Eric Clapton being my favorites. I also don't mind Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin, as well as countless others.

Some music links - surf at your own risk:

What'd I Say

While a stereo mix of Ray Charles' What'd I Say has been available for years, it has always been a bit different from the original mono single mix. The mono mix was edited down to make it more commercial - the stereo mix must have just been what was on the master tape - unedited. Here's a stereo mix of the song, in MP3 format, edited down to match the mono mix. The "talking" from the mono mix has been edited in.

The Who The Who is where it's at, period. I always liked Behind Blue Eyes, Won't Get Fooled Again, Who Are You, etc, but didn't get obsessive until 1995 or so. Since then I have worked on building my collection, getting new CDs as they come out, as well as picking up old out of print ones. I was fortunate enough to see the Who July 23, 1997 at the Marcus Ampitheater in Milwaukee - great show!

Magic Bus

Here are two mp3 files I made of the song Magic Bus. They are both combinations of the long mono mix (found on the MBBB LP) and the short stereo mix (found on the MBBB CD, among other places). In both, the long mono mix is on the left channel, and the short stereo mix on the right. The 'short' file is the length of the short version - the stereo mix plays through on the right, and the mono mix is edited on the left. The 'long' file is the length of the long version - the mono mix plays all the way through on the left, and the stereo mix is muted where sections were edited out. Enjoy!

If you have the newly reissued Odds & Sods CD you probably have realized that "Time Is Passing" is in mono and the liner notes state it was mastered from a damaged master tape. The 'damage' was that the right channel had dropouts or was missing completely (probably - I haven't heard the master tape to comment on it). On a bootleg copy of the song (Exciting The Who, Midas Touch 61311), the opposite is true - the right channel (with electric piano and steel guitar) is there while the left channel fades in and out. For my own personal enjoyment, as well as yours, I have sync'd the two mixes together to form a stereo mix - probably what was meant to be heard all those years ago. While not perfect (the two tracks are not exactly in sync), I am very pleased with the results. If you would like to take a listen please click one of the links below to download a sound file in MP3 format:

Probably the best concert bootleg I have ever heard has to be Live At Leeds Complete. As the title infers, it is a 2 CD set of the entire February 14, 1970 Leeds University show. All the songs are there, including all of Tommy, and there are no edits within the songs. The sound quality is (as the cover states) stereo soundboard, which is as good or better than the original Live At Leeds LP/CD. I have written an essay to comparing the remastered CD to this bootleg version. Take a look!

There are currently a few very good places to find Who information on the Web. The first is the Hypertext Who. This site has a fairly complete discography, along with lyrics to almost all Who songs. There is also information on the band and its individual members. Chris's Who Links has just about every Who link on the 'net listed. Odds & Sods is home to the Odds & Sods mailing list. Also be sure to take a look at Baba O'Riley's Bootleg Page, a listing of many popular boots.

The Stones Another one of my favorites has to be The Rolling Stones. I especially like their early (London/Decca/ABKCO) material. The only problem is, most of the CDs here in the US are pretty bad, and while better versions were available overseas in the past, they are out of print almost everywhere. Luckily I've been able to amass a fair amount of good sounding stuff. For my own sanity, as well as the interests of anyone else, I've done a bit of research and compiled a list of early tracks that have shown up in stereo (just about everything was released in mono only in the '60s).