Isle of Wight

Eagle Records’ 2010 release of The Who Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 is essentially a repackaged reissue of Legacy’s 1996 archival release, containing the same 30 songs over two discs. This, of course, makes sense: both CD editions contain the entirety of the concert, which was heavily bootlegged before the official 1996 release. Eagle Records doesn’t change anything but the cover art, but it doesn’t need to: this is one of the Who’s legendary live shows, not as good as Live at Leeds but running a close second, and is certainly worthwhile for any serious fan.

Isle of Wight was a posthumous live album by Jimi Hendrix, released in November 1971 by Polydor. The album documents Hendrix's performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival on August 30, 1970; his last performance in England before his death in September. The album was engineered by Carlos Ohlms (a British based engineer). The cover photo is from Berlin.
This CD might not have the entire concert but it does have the best sound.

This double CD is pretty similar in sound and content to the expanded Live at Leeds album, except there's much more from Tommy, and a few semi-obscure numbers like "I Don't Even Know Myself," "Water," and "Naked Eye." Hardcore Who fanatics seem to prefer Live at Leeds, which was recorded only a few months before this material. That viewpoint is understandable: the performances are sharper on Leeds, and if you're not a big-league fan, that single-disc set is a more economical survey of the band in concert during this era. If you do like the Who a lot, though, Isle of Wight is worth having. The sound and performances are decent, although be aware that the band's on-stage version of Tommy omits some decent songs from the opera, such as "Sensation" and "Underture."

Although it was technically the band's second show together, rock historians generally regard this performance as the real debut of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The first ELP album was still months away and no one in the crowd had ever heard of the band or its music, but the trio put on a great show that was touted as a huge popular and critical success. In retrospect, there can be little debate that this performance at the legendary Isle of Wight Music Festival launched ELP internationally and, listening to this disc, one can definitely hear flashes of the innovation and daring that would later thrust ELP to the forefront of the progressive rock movement. Though bearing the wrinkles and spots typical of a festival recording, this CD (created using original soundboard masters and digitally remastered 27 years after the actual event) is an experience beautifully illustrating what made ELP - from day one - a group unlike any that had come before…