The Who : Classic or Dud

But my god, the remaster of My Generation sounds perfect to me. It pops and cracks whereas the crap mono version clanged and fizzed. It sounds so good cranked up, and having all the B-sides together is revalatory (some of them were actually meant to be released on the original album, until they were encouraged to write some more originals). "Heat Wave," "I'm A Man," "Shout And Shimmy," "Anytime You Want Me" are all great. Check out Daltrey's a-capella version of "Anytime You Want Me." He was already a really strong singer, rivalled only by The Small Faces' Steve Marriott. I'd go so far as to say it's the ONLY Who album that's listenable all the way through. Later singles are generally perfect, but otherwise, Townsend over reaches and loses what made The Who so exciting -- the immediacy of their hooks, the surprisingly pretty melodies that were always given an explosive beat-down by Moon before they've overstayed their welcome.

I didn't know there was a special edition of My Generation. I think I only have the Mono one, and haven't played it in about 10 years.

Never bettered "The Who Sellout" though.

Any one of youz up in this bitch down with the Mike Post Theme, from Endless Wire? If not, Who fans are in for a treat. that is one heckuva song, people. Geez.

What a perfect song that is. Best thing they've done since...yeah, I'll say it, best song they've done since "Who Are You."

You're being too conservative. Best song since Quadrophenia.

I'm not yet ready to rank it above the stuff on The Who By Numbers...but I will say it's easily as good as anything on there.

There comes a time in every little punk's life when he has to write a song for his common law wife...

...reads almost as a continuation of some of the stuff off Quadrophenia. I would have preferred more fleshed-out songs on the "Wire and Glass" section to the sketchy "mini-opera", as some of the themes were pretty engaging. This song is one of the keepers, though.

I just got out of the hospital after five days cuz of a stupid and irrelevant leg infection and treated myself to the "Who at Kilburn Live 1977" DVD. Damn, is it awesome. The bonus 1969 disc is the "Leeds" boiler suit Who, fresh off Woodstock and on fire. Any idiot who doesn't think Townshend can play has to hear "Young Man's Blues" which is essentially the Who trying to kill the audience. Moon is utterly ridiculous and awesome, it almost feels like his drumming is digitally edited in with CGI because it is so fucking unreal. But there is a reason it is named "Kilburn '77"...

Fast forward 8 years. They hadnt played together in a year. What you get is every dude in the Who hating every other guy (not including Keith, who wanted the other 3 to love him). It's prime Townshend, who literally wants to shut the show down midway through, because he thinks it sucks. He's wrong of course, because the Who at Odds is the Who in top form, and the Who is even better when Townshend is pissed off, which he takes to Blackmore-esque extremes here. Check "My Wife" when he throws an equalizer and 3 cups of brandy at his guitar tech. He is unbearably pissed, which leaves the other 3 to react in their typical ways: Daltrey is preoccupied about thinking where he is going to file for unemployment in the morning; Moon is trying to be Pete's puppy dog and not get in trouble; and a totally wasted Entwistle (RIP Ox-you were the best) doesnt give a flying fuck and plays his ass off and plays possible the greatest bass solo in recorded history on "Dreaming from the Waist".

What a fucking awesome DVD. I hope Sara Sara Sara, the biggest Who fan on these boards, has this.

Wow! I actually managed to find a decently titled Who thread in the search engine. What a miracle! I thought about starting a thread for this song, but I held out and searched some more. Hope you're happy mods that I didn't start a new thread. God forbid I override the stupid search engine which doesn't actually work all that well for Who threads, let me remind you. I already started a thread awhile back about how much it drives me crazy when I can't find Who threads on ILM when I want to freaking talk about this band, okay? In fact, the only sane way a person can even find that thread now is if they put "bimble" in the search, and I fixed it that way because I just didn't know how else to fix it. But I rest my case. Good luck finding the "Endless Wire" thread, though! God, that one is impossible to find. I'd love for anyone to prove me wrong, though, and tell me exactly how they did it.

Now here's what I want the topic of my pretend thread to be, this song "Who Are You?" right? The album this comes from is the only Who album I've never owned, no lie. Why? Because I tried to listen to it in the store when I was in the midst of my big Who buying spree, and I didn't much like it. But I still like this song, and I've heard the earlier demo version of it somewhere on my Townshend boxset thing or other and it seems to me he'd hit an unexpected pot of gold here in his songwriting at the time. As good as earlier Who? Probably not, but I love it anyway, for what it is.

Is it this one. Bimble? I did it by typing "Endless Wire" and searching for posts.

"The Who to release new album in umpteen years."

If not, here are all mentions of "Endless Wire" on ILX. There are only a few pages of them.

Oops: http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/FullTextSearchControllerServlet?terms=%22Endless+Wire%22&offset=0&searchtype=text&startdate=&enddate=&artefact=messages&idtype=null&sortorder=Relevance&boardid=41

Also, you want SISTER DISCO

Bimble is so happy right now he's out of words to express it.

No, see, I feel I should be able to search the words with quotes around them "Endless Wire" and come up with at least something, but it gives me nothing at all. As I said before, if you don't remember that word "umpteen", you're fucked.

How did you get the next set of results exactly?

That is what I did... Maybe you're missing changing "Threads" to "Posts". Threads just looks for thread titles with "Endless Wire" in it, posts looks in the text of individual posts.

To get the next set of results, go to the bottom and click "Next".

The reason you're getting no results for Endless Wire threads is that there aren't any thread titles with Endless Wire in them.

Hahahhaha but DUDE don't you think there should be a THREAD with Endless Wire in the title? I mean thanks for the advice, I understand, I've taken this advice to heart, and I won't forget it, and I'm not being ungrateful, but REALLY...shouldn't there be a thread? Haha.

Look, I've just decided I have to rip a very old goth LP from vinyl now that has nothing to do with the Who. So I must leave for awhile. Thanks very much for your help.

i love this song so much and can't really find anything else like it in the who back catalogue (can't believe i posted to this thread in may 2001 jesus):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7SliN-82P0

The Scoops and Rough Mix veer more into this territory, if memory serves. Also half of all Yo La Tengo songs sound like this as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0duuXQPi0

The picture of the Who Sellout is a bit misleading on this, as it only came as an extra on the CD issue. It dosen't really fit in with that LP. Nevertheless, one of their finest moments.

I saw the Who in '89. Always loved them.

This is a song I'd somehow overlooked until quite recently (also a bonus track on the CD):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkibmgLoRa0

the bonus tracks on that cd are super great. some of my favorite who moments

this is awesome! live at tanglewood 1970. whooooooooooooweeeeee. guitar heaven, man. for realz.

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/the-who/concerts/tanglewood-july-07-1970.html

stormy and gorg need to listen to this show. "water" will slay you.

"Apologies mean nothing when the damage is done
But you can't switch off my loving like you can't switch off the sun"

The way they pull off this line is fantastic. Until that point the song remains kinda hazy: there's been a break-up and the narrator is sad about it. But there's something out of whack: why just say that you're sad in such a majestic way? And then this coupled comes, and it's the payoff: it's not really a break-up, because his love is cosmically strong: that's how how strong his love is. But that won't get you back again. I love how the bass swells in the last third of the song after the payoff couplet (I guess it's a bridge?), as though with articulation his love is growing stronger yet. There are lots of little touches to love about the song: the weird way the voices are mixed together: I guess it's Daltrey on lead vocal but it's mixed with at least one other voice, sometimes a little out of time with each other. And after the payoff line, the fusing is done in a way that their individual identities are clouded (whose love are we talking about? not just a person's but a band's, a multiplicity's? no wonder it's so strong!). And the guitar harmonics, just little flourishes here but to be able to use hooks so great as just a flourish reveals such confidence.

just a q: did they play this song on the 1970 tour? I'll look it up but if any of you have recommendation of boots where they pull it off I'm all ears.

So Sad About Us is my favorite Who song. So epic, so orchestral, so wonderful!!

It's my favourite Middle 8, ever. The final 8 bars, with the harmonies, are also astounding

"this is awesome! live at tanglewood 1970. whooooooooooooweeeeee. guitar heaven, man. for realz."

Video exists of the Tanglewood show, parts of which Ive seen. And yes, its incredible.

"Go To The Mirror Boy": this redeems ten minutes of "Underture" and then some: the "ooh, I wish I knew" singing in particular is stunning.

this is awesome! live at tanglewood 1970. whooooooooooooweeeeee. guitar heaven, man. for realz.

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/the-who/concerts/tanglewood-july-07-1970.html

stormy and gorg need to listen to this show. "water" will slay you.

Listen? Fuck man, I want to SEE it - check this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbk5xXHqShI

A very young Who turn up in this 1965 French documentary about the Mod scene in the UK. http://www.ina.fr/video/CPF86651489/les-mods.fr.html

If anything, you owe it to yourself to fast forward to the 18 minute point.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/pete-townshend-issues-statement-on-one-direction-twitter-storm-news

"No! I like the single. I like One Direction. The chords I used and the chords they used are the same three chords we've all been using in basic pop music since Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry made it clear that fancy chords don't mean great music – not always. I'm still writing songs that sound like Baba O'Riley – or I'm trying to!. It's a part of my life and a part of pop's lineage. One Direction are in my business, with a million fans, and I'm happy to think they may have been influenced a little bit by The Who. I'm just relieved they're all not wearing boiler suits and Doc Martens, or Union Jack jackets. The funniest thing is that in Canada this year I met with Randy Bachman once the leader of GUESS WHO who told me that he not only copied Baba O Riley for their hit You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, but he even called his band after us. Why would I not be happy about this kind of tribute?"
Read more at http://www.uncut.co.uk/pete-townshend-issues-statement-on-one-direction-twitter-storm-news#YZFzc4jqGk7Qbg8w.99

Fine by me. Whatever. But who is he talking about re "boiler suits and Doc Martens, or Union Jack jackets"?

http://www.citizenthought.net/images/SGandPete.jpg
http://lynnrockets.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/who_union_jack.jpg

Oh, ok. So he was talking about himself. I thought he was talking about like, I dunno, Devo and maybe Oasis or someone ultra-British like that.

I think he's being general. Like, "it's fine if One Direction's song sounds a bit like my song, at least they're not also dressing like us, too."

It kinda sounds like he's making fun of his own younger self's sense of fashion too.

I'm happy to think they may have been influenced a little bit by The Who. I'm just relieved they're all not wearing Nazi uniforms and dying in Vegas hotel rooms after cocain binges.

I'm sure One Direction's manager is relieved as well.

was that pic above taken with some kind of special nose-elongating lens?

"Jimmy the dip and Johnny the squirrel came backstage at the Capri Club in Stepney one night and they brought Electric George with him who had a big stick on the end of a chain, he was mouthing off about some mandrax that Moony stole from him last week in Ladbroke Grove, but that was still well out of order and I told him so, but Pete was all 'Don't hit him'."

^^Best "Wang Dang Doodle" verse.

To celebrate his 60th anniversary at Abbey Road, the studio interviewed Ken Scott, at one point asking him what was the most outrageous session he worked on:

“…there was the time Keith Moon guested on a track on the Truth album and upon leaving the car park at around 11:00pm almost ran over a little old lady walking her dog. Most people would have wound down their window and apologised, not he. He swiftly turned on the PA system built into his Rolls Royce and proceeded to curse her out with the most foul language at a VERY loud volume. EMI received more than a few complaints about that the next day.”

He was more successful at running over chauffeurs.

.

holy cow the "my wife" on here. pete is nuts. 2nd song. about 3:10 in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G1FqWPcO-k

nice and crunchy in 1975. they were trying to save us from punk rock.

for some reason youtube started recommending me clips of the who live where all you hear is entwhistle's bass

it is florid! i don't really like the who after "sell out" (blame the singer) but you have to admit JE had super-nimble fingers

he really did. he was one of a kind. i think. maybe there were others. he played that thing like a flamenco guitar sometimes.

In the last month, I’ve bought both a Hiwatt amp and a 20” cymbal.

The Houston show from that tour was officially released on DVD as Live in Texas 75 and it's pretty great. Cheap too - you can buy a new copy for $10 from Amazon. I feel like it's the kind of thing that would've been a bigger deal 30 or 40 years ago but it kind of got lost in the shuffle when you had a million concert DVD's flooding the market in the '00s. (I didn't even know about it until several years ago.)

^^Terrific DVD, taken from the camera feed for the jumbotrons at the first concert held at the Summit (now Lakewood Church).

Moonie had some fun afterwards:
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/keith-moon-houston-party/

The article is pretty thin about what actually happened, but I remember back when Entwistle died, our local Classic Rock station took listener calls all night, and a woman who was there called in with a version of events. She said the label had a big afterparty and -- in honor of "Squeeze Box" -- they hired several strippers as entertainment, dressing them in accordions (and nothing else!) and staging them on a dais in the middle of a hotel ballroom. The group & their entourage show up, Keith is like, "Right on!" and hops up on the dais with the girls and begins stripping himself.

Meanwhile, the county sheriff's department is also on the hotel grounds, hoping for an easy drug raid and headlines aplenty. They bust in moments after Moon joined the girls on the dais, and...they just stopped, freezing at the sight they never in a million years could have predicted that is now in front of them.

Supposedly there was some palm greasing once everyone came to their senses, and no arrests made or charges brought up.