I think this is a POLL of shit while John Sinclair rots in prison: THE WHO RESULTS THREAD (ilm artist poll #25)

I always liked this review: http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth/the-who-join-together-baby-dont-you-do-it

“Baby Don’t You Do It” was first born in 1964 as a pleading ballad by Marvin Gaye and quickly thereafter became one of The Who’s earliest covers. Giving it seven years of rough handling in the studio and on the road, it mutated into an apocalyptic beast of heavy Rock. Their live rendition doesn’t sound remotely Tamla nor Motown: it sounds like “Live At Leeds” and the songwriting credits should’ve read Holland-Iommi-Holland instead. It’s a raging soul plea shot with a Benzedrine dart to its heart. It’s a flippin’ template for their forthcoming “The Real Me.” It’s heavy, it fucking moves and it’s got it all: Townshend’s SG guitar power chords roar through dominant HIWATT loudspeakers; pretzel-shaped bomb-bass-tic Entwistlian 4-string runs are tautly performed with the greatest of ease; Daltrey’s throat-tearing vox and the outbreak of Mooning drum frenzy that continues unabated throughout. There are several sections where Townshend’s guitar cuts out and stays that way to leave Moon’s unaccompanied ferocious riding of cymbals and rapid double bass drumming to briefly hiccough then regain their lunatic balance on its rhythmic tightrope. After ending the song with several synchronised band crescendos, Daltrey places the microphone gingerly on the stage floor and instead of clinking it sounds like an explosive-filled projectile going off. Luckily, he didn’t sneeze into it or the walls of the venue would’ve probably collapsed or at very least: rendered them structurally unsound.

I just won a "Live at Leeds" LP with all the inserts on e-bay.

The dude selling just mailed me saying "we've sent all our old Who albums rather than dump them.."

So, I guess they'll probably be the "face dances" and so on stuff...

I never saw the Who, but I have this story: When I was 13, my dad took a friend and me to see U2 on the War tour, which was my first real rock 'n' roll show. I was of course completely blown away by it, being 13, and as we walked back across the parking lot to the car my friend and I were going on excitedly about it. Of course, eventually I had to ask my dad, "Did you like it?" He sort of shrugged and said, "Yeah, they were good. But you should've seen the Who in 1968..."

What a trump card.

I keep thinking of this anecdote told to me by someone who saw the Who at the Marquee in 1968. He said that the audience was packed right up against the stage, which was maybe a foot off the ground. As was normal for the space/times, guitars went through unmiked amps, only the vocals went through the PA, and the drums were unmiked. They were incredibly loud and powerful, as you'd expect. But as soon as they tore into the midsection of "Shakin' All Over," when Keith started his double-bass rolls, the entire audience took a sudden and fearful step back, exchanging glances like "the fuck is going on?!" The guy who told me this said it felt like Keith was stomping on his chest.

it sounds like “Live At Leeds” and the songwriting credits should’ve read Holland-Iommi-Holland instead.

^awesome. There's a version of that song on the Who's Next reissue that has Leslie West guesting on lead and just killing it.

I've been watching the Quad doc -- the studio secretary said she has a ruptured eardrum from when they did their first sound test at Ramport. They said it came out at like, *140 decibels*? O_O

I busted my first pair of speakers, in high school, cranking the Who; the speakers were shit but it was a great way for them to go.

That 140 decibels thing, yeah, kind of scary. Especially since their volume that set the Guinness record for "Loudest Pop Group" was 120 decibels.

Thanks to the poll results I have now heard "Melancholia" for the first time. Great song!

I busted my first pair of speakers, in high school, cranking the Who; the speakers were shit but it was a great way for them to go.

This happened to me too!

did anyone ever read that big biography of keith moon that came out like a decade ago?

i read the dave marsh book as a who-obsessed teen; remember it mainly seeming to consist of long mopey quotes from townshend and insufferable analysis of each song by marsh.

Moon bio is a wealth of info, and you'll feel like you're drunk when you finish it. Supposedly it's been updated since '99.

Marsh bio is beyond essential; his analyses of the state of rock at the time, among other things, elevate it far above most group bios.

I read that Moon bio; it's good but don't expect to like him afterwards. :(

Is it Dear Boy, or Moon: Life and Death of a Rock Legend?

I was looking at Dear Boy recently and thinking about picking it up

Moon: Life and Death of a Rock Legend

They're the same book. Different titles for UK and US.

Cool! I was wondering why they were both by the same author, lol. 'Wow he must really like Moony'

I once worked in a pub where the landlord was a Who fanatic. His solution for clearing reluctant customers at closing time was to crank up Won't Get Fooled Again to scary volumes. Trouble was, they liked it and wouldn't leave.

Crank some Squeeze Box, that'd clear the corners, lol

I once worked in a pub where the landlord was a Who fanatic. His solution for clearing reluctant customers at closing time was to crank up Won't Get Fooled Again to scary volumes. Trouble was, they liked it and wouldn't leave.

A local bar tried the same tactic years ago, only they normally played alt/punk/metal and after closing time they started playing Frank Sinatra, figuring that would clear the place quickly. But to their dismay, they found lots of their patrons liked Sinatra and stayed to listen. It nonetheless became a tradition there for a couple of years.

The Who - 20 Greatest Songs

Q - The Who SE

Q Special Edition May 2004

As Voted By Q Readers.

• Won't Get Fooled Again
• My Generation
• Substitute
• Pinball Wizard
• Behind Blue Eyes
• I Can't Explain
• Baba O' Riley
• 5:15
• Pure & Easy
• I Can See For Miles
• Bargain
• The Real Me
• The Kids Are All Right
• Who Are You
• A quick One While He's Away
• Tattoo
• I'm A Boy
• Pictures Of Lilly
• See Me, Feel Me
• Love Reign O'er Me
• The next 5....
• Naked Eye
• Boris The Spider
• Dreaming From The Waist
• My Wife
• Anyway, Anyhow Anywhere

2015 Farewell Tour!

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/24/the-who-quit-touring-after-2015-pete-townshend

New book by original drummer Doug Sandom, with a foreword by Pete (which is part of the preview on Amazon).

New film on managers Kit Lambert & Chris Stamp, so far getting raves at Sundance.

Just heard "I Can't Reach You" on a web radio station — so, so good. Checked to see where it landed in this poll and #12 is too low.

out on the road today i saw a bullseye sticker on a red scooter

There's a lengthy recorded message from Townshend at the beginning of this Dave Marsh panel. He says they're friends--so he's joking around like friends do, or else he actually kind of hates Marsh!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXu0alWqjOA

Something VegemiteGrrl inquired about above: Townshend's 1971 review of Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy for Rolling Stone. I found it on the Rolling Stone site--they don't identify it as such, but it is--then when I went back, it was behind a paywall. So I went icongnito and put it on a Google Doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-_XAr43Q4GB7YKz3GitV868DOGzdTokiRWIgZvRu6TI/edit?usp=sharing

:D

I think Pete and Dave are genuinely friends, but Dave never let that get in the way of, say, calling out some of Pete's bullshit politics. In early 2002, Townshend posted the following on his website:

"Dave Marsh took me to task in Before I Get Old - his book about the Who - for doing a commercial in 1967 for the U.S. Aerospace Programme during the Vietnam War. Maybe I was naïve. But recent events make me wonder who was right or wrong. ... I am grateful for American military might."

I sent a link to that post to Dave, who wrote a column about it (and I can't for the life of me remember the site...it wasn't Addicted to Noise), pointing out the numerous problems with Pete's "reasoning." It ultimately led to Pete removing the message board and many blog posts from his site. So yeah, there's been some bumps in the road, but they're still friends.

The ad in question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1VR-QnIw3Y

Marsh wrote in his column:

As my colleague John Swenson said when he read my book, "If I'd heard that spot in 1967, I'd never have become a fan of the Who." The teenage boys who loved the Who took such things personally in 1967. Not only because we didn't want to get drafted, but because we didn't want to kill. It was way different for Townshend, who did not live in a country with military conscription and whose father had been part of the heroic Royal Air Force (albeit in the band) in World War II. Still, my wife was involved with anti-Vietnam demonstrations at the London School of Economics in '67, so the atrocities of Vietnam weren't unknown in Pete's neighborhood.

In Before I Get Old, Marsh wrote that Townshend was "mortified" that he'd ever done such a thing, and how it was fortunate that the ads weren't widely aired.

Interesting, thanks.