Pete Townshend
Superstar Concert Series CO 89-11
for broadcast the weekend of June 9-11, 1989
Recorded at the Brixton Academy on November 1 and 2, 1985
This version digitized April 2022. Flac files of wavs. I don't have the cue sheets, but I added a low resolution 72 dpi scans I found at Discogs.com. Disc labels and box at 300 dpi, plus a lower rez version for file tagging.
CD 1 - Sides 1, 2 and 3
01 Intro - Steve Downes
02 Commercial - Miller Lite
03 Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand
04 Won't Get Fooled Again
05 A Little Is Enough
06 Commercial - Miller Lite
07 Commercial - Nestle Alpine White
08 Break - Steve Downes
09 Harlem Shuffle
10 Barefootin'
11 Commercial - Miller Lite
12 Commercial - California Fresh Fruits
13 Commercial - Ghostbusters II
14 Break - Steve Downes
15 Behind Blue Eyes
16 Second Hand Love
17 Save It For Later
CD 2 - Sides 4, 5, and 6
01 I'm Driftin'
02 Magic Bus
03 That's Alright, Mama
04 Commercial - Miller Lite
05 Commercial - California Fresh Fruits
06 Break - Steve Downes
07 Love On The Air
08 The Sea Refuses No River
09 Pinball Wizard
10 Commercial - Miller Lite
11 Commercial - California Fresh Fruits
12 Break - Steve Downes
13 Give Blood
14 Night Train
15 Outro - Steve Downes
16 Promo - Steve Downes
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Pressing Plant ID (stamped in runout areas): KM
Matrix / Runout (Side 1, CO • 89-11-1 MDC KM (stamp)
Matrix / Runout (Side 2, CO • 89-11-2 MDC KM (stamp)
Matrix / Runout (Side 3, CO • 89-11-3 MDC KM (stamp)
Matrix / Runout (Side 4, CO • 89-11-4 MDC KM (stamp)
Matrix / Runout (Side 5, CO • 89-11-5 MDC KM (stamp)
Matrix / Runout (Side 6, CO • 89-11-6 MDC KM (stamp)
The Band:
Pete Townshend - guitar, vocals
David Gilmour - guitar, vocals
John Rabbit Bundrick - keyboards
Chucho Merchan - bass
Simon Philips - drums
Peter Hope-Evans - harmonica
Jody Linscott - percussion
Gina Foster - backing vocals
Coral Gordon - backing vocals
Billy Nicholls - backing vocals
Ian Ellis - backing vocals
Chris Staines - backing vocals
The Kickhorns: Simon Clarke; Tim Saunders; Peter Thoms; Roddy Lorimer; Dave Plews Are you ready for a deep dive into Deep End Live?
On November 1 and 2, 1985, Pete Townshend's band Deep End played a charity concert at the Brixton Academy in London, England for the Double O charity. Double 'O' Charity, Ltd. is a charity established by the rock group The Who in 1976. Pete Townshend took a more active role in the charity after 1983 when The Who had their first of several "official retirements" from touring. The charity supports programs for drug and alcohol rehab, domestic violence and sexual abuse, music education, emergency disaster relief and young people's prison reform.
As a working band, Deep End was only in existence for a few months. Besides the two Brixton shows, Deep End performed at the Tube show, and at the MIDEM trade fair in Cannes, France on 29th January 1986. That Cannes show was later broadcast on Rockpalast TV in Germany.
A third concert at Brixton was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
The two Brixton concerts were recorded by the King Biscuit Flower Hour and have a complex release history.
The set list for the November 1st show ran:
Mary Anne With the Shaky Hands (The Who song)
Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who song)
A Little Is Enough
Secondhand Love
That's All Right (Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup cover)
Behind Blue Eyes (The Who song)
The Shout
Harlem Shuffle (Bob & Earl cover)
Barefootin' (Robert Parker cover)
After the Fire (Roger Daltrey cover)
Love On The Air (David Gilmour cover)
Midnight Lover (John "Rabbit" Bundrick cover)
Blue Light (David Gilmour cover)
I Put a Spell on You (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins cover)
I'm One (The Who song)
Magic Bus (The Who song)
Save It for Later (The Beat cover)
Eyesight to the Blind (Sonny Boy Williamson cover)
Walkin' (Miles Davis cover)
Stop Hurting People
The Sea Refuses No River
Boogie Stop Shuffle (Charles Mingus cover)
Face the Face
Pinball Wizard (The Who song)
Give Blood
Night Train (Jimmy Forrest cover)
The set list for November 2 added Driftin' Blues (Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers cover) between I'm One and Magic Bus.
So...that's a pool of 27 songs from which to draw.
The King Biscuit Flower Hour broadcast tracks from the shows as a two part Pete Townshend show in January 1986.
Pete Townshend Part One KB 611 broadcast on January 19, 1986
Magic Bus
Won’t Get Fooled Again
A Little Is Enough
Stop Hurting People
Blue Light
After The Fire
Eyesight To The Blind
That’s Alright Mama
Harlem Shuffle
Face The Face
Peter Townshend Part Two KB 612 broadcast on January 26, 1986
Behind Blue Eyes
Love On The Air
Midnight Lover
Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand
Save It For Later
The Sea Refuses No River
Face The Face
I Put A Spell On You
Pinball Wizard
Give Blood
Note that Face The Face was on both shows, even though they were back-to-back on consecutive Sundays. Face The Face was released as a single in late 1985, so it's likely the doubling up of the same track two weeks in a row was to promote the record.
The two original KBFH broadcasts account for 19 of the 27 songs.
On April 12, 1986, KBFH did one of their rare 3-LP shows (90 minutes, as compared to the usual 60 shows that were standard in the 1980s). This was "The Who Superbiscuit" and compiled tracks from a variety of sources. There are two Townshend tracks (Face To Face and Give Blood) that are likely from Brixton.
Tracks from both of these January KBFH shows were compiled into a third show later in 1986. No new tracks were added.
July 6, 1986 Pete Townshend “Best of the Biscuit” #635
Magic Bus
Won’t Get Fooled Again
A Little Is Enough
Behind Blue Eyes
Blue Light (with Dave Gilmour)
After The Fire
Harlem Shuffle
Face To Face
Pinball Wizard
Give Blood
On November 16, 1986, there was a multi-artist compilation show "Thanksgiving Super Concert" I’m One / Save It For Later / Pinball Wizard / Magic Bus / again, likely from Brixton but unconfirmed.
The December 28, 1986 Year End Special had Face The Face...again, unconfirmed but likely
On CD, KBFH also has Pete Townshend August 14 - 20, 1989.
Won't Get Fooled Again
A Little Is Enough
Behind Blue Eyes
After The Fire
Blue Light
Magic Bus
Pinball Wizard
Give Blood
Face The Face
I don't own it, but the cue sheet on Discogs says "Dave Gilmour on guitar" so it's a sure bet to be Brixton tracks.
A VHS tape (U.K.) and a laserdisc (Japan) were released with the following tracks:
Won't Get Fooled Again
A Little Is Enough
Secondhand Love
Behind Blue Eyes
Barefootin'
After The Fire
Love On The Air
I Put A Spell On You
I'm The One
Magic Bus
Save It For Later
Eyesight To The Blind
Walkin'
Stop Hurting People
The Sea Refuses No River
Face The Face
Pinball Wizard
Give Blood
I found several references that call these releases "the complete live performance" but they are clearly not all of the songs played at the show.
The USA saw release of a version called the “Mini Concert” (5 tracks) on VHS. In 1997 an edited version of the concert was also issued in the DVD and CD formats with completely different artwork.
Note that the film versions credits on Discogs say "Film Producer – Bill Curbishley, Harvey Weinstein"
Yeah, that Harvey Weinstein.
In the USA, the first official release of the tracks in an audio format was on a promo EP (Atco Records PR 940) with 4 tracks.
After The Fire
Barefootin'
I Put A Spell On You
Save It For Later
This was a promo-only EP to promote sales of the VHS tape "Pete Townshend's Deep End"
This was "licensed for promotional use only" and the back cover had a facsimile letter to radio programmers that read, "This record will not be available commercially. The only way your audience will be exposed to these songs is through your radio station's airplay, or via the home video."
The response was so great, the entire show was released as a full LP album in August 1986 (just one month after the Best of the Biscuit release) on ATCO Records as Deep End Live. The cover mirrored that of the EP...except on the rear cover, where there is the letter to radio programmers about it not being available to the public...it was overwritten with "RELEASED BY POPULAR DEMAND!" The LP tracks are:
Barefootin'
After The Fire
Behind Blue Eyes
Stop Hurting People
I'm One
I Put A Spell On You
Save It For Later
Pinball Wizard
A Little Is Enough
Eyesight To The Blind
The official release was originally 10 songs, six of which were on the KBFH shows, and adds Barefootin', I Put A Spell On You, I'm One and Save It For Later to the released tracks.
In 2006, a re-release of Deep End Live added Magic Bus and Won't Get Fooled Again, both of which were on the KBFH shows, as bonus tracks.
That brings us up to this release by Westwood One. As usual, we've got a bit of a rock n' roll mystery here. D.I.R. and Westwood One were competitors. They didn't share tapes with each other as a regular business practice. But in 1988 and 1989, Westwood One's Superstar Concert broadcast tracks from the Brixton show as 88-12 (broadcast June 24-26, 1988) and CO 89-11 (broadcast June 9-11, 1989).
The track listing for both WW1 shows was identical.
Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand
Won't Get Fooled Again
A Little Is Enough
Harlem Shuffle
Barefootin'
Behind Blue Eyes
Second Hand Love
Save It For Later
Driftin' Blues
Magic Bus
That's Alright, Mama
Love On The Air
The Sea Refuses No River
Pinball Wizard
Give Blood
Night Train
Songs included on the two KBFH shows but not on the Westwood One 3LP sets include:
After The Fire, Midnight Lover, Blue Light, I Put A Spell On You, I'm One, Eyesight To The Blind, Stop Hurting People, Face The Face
Songs included on the Westwood One shows but not included on the King Biscuit shows include:
Secondhand Love, Driftin' Blues, Barefootin', Night Train
As Secondhand Love was on the VHS/Laserdisc releases and Barefootin' on Deep End Live, these Westwood one shows added another two unreleased songs (Driftin' Blues and Night Train) to released songs.
And that's where things stood for fifteen years until 2004.
The full concert was released on November 16, 2004, as Live: Brixton Academy '85 on Pete Townshend's mail order only EEL PIE label as a 2 cd set, but is now out of print. This has all 27 tracks. It's ridiculously rare; there are no copies on Amazon or EBAY as I write this, and only one copy on DISCOGS with a price of $249.99. I do not have it (yet...) and probably won't (at that price...jeez...).
There is a mention of a sound problem on the Eel Pie release over on the Steve Hoffman boards:
"Finally, in 2004 Pete himself on his Private Label releases put the entire 27 track show out on CD, but there was a major problem with the release in that the bass track was missing!"
As I don't have that release, I can't speak to its accuracy.
UPDATE: (See the thread below) If there is a difference in the bass, it's minor. The track is not "missing".
