Entwistle Comes Alive on CD
When bassist John Entwistle died of a heart attack on June 27th on
the eve of the Who‘s summer reunion tour, he left behind many
aggrieved fans and several unfinished projects. Some of that
business will be settled on November 26th with the release of
Left for Live: Deluxe, a twenty-four-track expanded
version of the John Entwistle Band’s 1999 Left for Live
album.
In addition to a healthy dose of Entwistle solo material (“My
Size,” “Love Is a Heart Attack,” “Too Late the Hero”), Who songs
(“The Real Me,” “Boris the Spider”) and classic covers (“Summertime
Blues,” “Shakin’ All Over”), the album features a never officially
released Keith Moon drum track behind “Bogeyman,” the band’s
walk-on music.
“This is something John and I planned to do before he died,”
said Entwistle’s long-time friend and drummer, Steve Luongo, who
produced the album following Entwistle’s death. “I had listened to
board mixes and there was no rush about it [at the time]. We
thought the expanded version was a great opportunity to recreate a
full one of our shows so people could hear what the band sounded
like live. I re-sequenced things and added his stage chatter from
different shows, because that was half the fun of it, how loose he
was on stage. He was a very different guy in his own band than when
he was with the Who.”
The album chronicles more than fifteen different dates from the
1998-99 Left for Dead: The Sequel tour by the band — Entwistle,
Luongo, guitarist Godfrey Townsend (no relation to the Who’s Pete)
and keyboardist Gordon Cotton. It tacks twelve previously
unreleased songs onto the 1999 original.
“This album is the best representation of this band that exists
in the world,” Luongo said. “And it lays to rest that whole ‘quiet
one’ thing. John always used to say that when the Who were first
taking off, Keith was the maniac, Roger [Daltrey] was the face and
Pete [Townshend] was the intellectual, but nobody knew what to do
with the bass player, so they made him the quiet one. Well, he
wasn’t, and you’ll hear that on this album, which is what John
intended.”
In addition to his thundering bass lines, Entwistle’s signature
dark humor is all over the set, none of it more chilling than in
the introduction to “Darker Side of Night.” “This song is probably
the last song I ever wrote,” Entwistle says of the track from the
never officially released Vanpires soundtrack album.
Luongo quickly corrects his pal, saying, “most recent song . . .
let’s hope it’s not the last.” In an ironic twist the morbid
bassist would have loved, Luongo says, it was the last
completed song Entwistle penned on his own.
Earlier this year, Entwistle teamed with Luongo to write a dozen
songs for possible inclusion on a potential Who album. Luongo said
he is also considering recording one of the scotched Who songs for
the debut record from his new band, Torque. Another Entwistle Band
studio album might also eventually be released, composed of a least
a dozen songs recorded for a never-aired second season of the
syndicated Vanpires animated show.
In the meantime, Luongo is editing an Entwistle documentary he
shot with Justin Kreutzmann, son of Grateful Dead drummer, Bill.
“It covers his life from the time he was three years old and
dancing on tables at a working man’s club to how he was feeling
about going out on tour with the Who this summer,” said Luongo of
An Ox’s Tale, which has not yet secured a distributor.
Left For Live: Deluxe track listing:
Bogeyman
Horror Rock (Nightmare)
The Real Me
Sometimes
My Size
You
Darker Side of Night
Love is a Heart Attack
Success Story
Trick of the Light
Cousin Kevin
Under a Raging Moon
Boris the Spider
905
Had Enough
Endless Vacation
I’ll Try Again Today
Whiskey Man
Too Late the Hero
Young Man Blues
Shakin’ All Over
Heaven & Hell
Summertime Blues
My Wife