The WHo Sell Out poll "go to the church of your choice"

it’s a bit of a mouthful, is my issue with “the skin graft man won’t get you”, too many consonants in a row

The Who, like all them Brit Invasion bands, wanted to be amusing as they were a silly pop band. And they were all very good at it until about 1970, when rock became serious art. The lack of concern for posterity is what separates 60s rock from 70s. Sun's not yellow, it's chicken, etc.

I used to think of "I Can See For Miles" as a pretty good song that I wasn't particularly into, but for some reason one day when there was an early, heavy snowfall and I had to drive all the way across town on summer tires to pick up my winter ones and it was an absolutely terrifying slow crawl through one icy intersection after another, I found myself singing "I Can See For Miles" over and over again as I drove, as a meaningless but reassuring mantra. No idea why that song of all songs popped into my head, but now I feel more affection for it.

The Who, like all them Brit Invasion bands, wanted to be amusing as they were a silly pop band. And they were all very good at it until about 1970, when rock became serious art. The lack of concern for posterity is what separates 60s rock from 70s. Sun's not yellow, it's chicken, etc.

Sheep from Animals and The Crunge from Houses of the Holy are just two of several funny 70s songs by Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3hv0cXJBTg

Tracklist here https://shop.thewho.com/products/the-who-sell-out-super-deluxe-box-set

Out of the 112 tracks, the only ones I've never heard in any form/didn't know existed are the Sunn Amps spot, "Facts of Life" (an Entwistle tune), and "Inside Outside USA."

Disc 4 is a convenient clearinghouse for their '68 studio recordings, but disc 3 -- studio sessions with chatter and such -- is what I'm really looking forward to.

New documentary on Sell Out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvXU3y-7gF0

"I'm an Ear Sitting in the Sky" <= is that for real?

Sorry, Pete, I'm not buying that one. I didn't think this was very good.

Awesome little documentary !

The footage of Townshend and the band explaining the concept of the album to John Peel and then playing him an acetate (I assume) of "Odorono" wsa definitely something I'd never seen before!

"I'm an Ear Sitting in the Sky" <= is that for real?

― Josefa, Friday, April 23, 2021 8:48 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Yep. Pete first mentioned in a 1979 interview that Speedy Keen called him right after Sell Out's release to say, "No, no, it's 'I'm An Ear'!" But in the new documentary, Pete says Keen called Pete "years later."

The odd thing about the documentary is that they spend more time on songs that weren't on the record -- "Jaguar," the Coke ads -- than on songs that were, like "I Can't Reach You," which itself goes unmentioned.

Maybe serious Who fans knew this already but it was news to me that Speedy Kean is singing co-lead on "Armenia" - for ages I wondered why that particular vocal sounded so weird.

I'm mildly tempted to poll 'I Can See for Miles' vs 'Helter Skelter' aka the heaviest songs evah.

Keen isn't singing co-lead; that other vocal track is Daltrey sped up. The engineer in the documentary was wrong.

xp

Really, wow. Wikipedia is wrong on that too.

"Anyone Who's Anyone" by Sloan is an interesting pastiche of this song, similarly sung at the top of the singer's range.

Wikipedia's also wrong about "Jaguar" -- that's Keith singing lead (with Pete taking lead on "the radio's blasting..." etc.).

I note that this is the third Classic Albums episode about The Who.

And there's also the 2012 Quadrophenia documentary, by far the best of all the Who album documentaries (sadly, no longer on YouTube, and never issued in a physical format).

Bradley’s Barn?!

Yep. “Our Love Was,” “Relax,” “Someone’s Coming,” and “Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand” were all completed at Bradley’s Barn on August 17, 1967, during a day off from their tour with Herman’s Hermits. These had all been started in London about a month earlier. While on tour in the US, Kit Lambert would book them into studios on days off to try to get the record finished. They also recorded in NYC, where Al Kooper played organ on “Relax” and “Rael”; and at Gold Star in LA where they took advantage of that studio’s echo chamber for the harmony vocals on “I Can See For Miles.”

Damn--went to watch that tonight and it was gone.

If you can't find it drop me a pm ;)

Thanks to CJV for getting this to me, enjoyed it. Only quibble is that my favourite song, "I Can't Reach You," doesn't get mentioned (unless I missed it).

I liked Daltrey at the mixing board listening to demos and fragments. His expression is somewhere between bemusement and intrigue. Reminded me of Dylan in the Scorsese documentary, when he says something about not knowing where those '65/66 songs came from: "I can do other things now, but I can't do that."

"I Can't Reach You," doesn't get mentioned (unless I missed it).

Nope, no mention of it...but lots of talk about songs that didn't get released until 20+ years later.

My favorite moment in the documentary -- and one of my favorite moments in all Who films, documentaries, etc. -- is Daltrey singing along with "Tattoo."

Yes, my fave moment as well. And he sounds excellent!

His voice has held up extraordinarily well. He went through some problems with a pre-cancerous growth on his vocal cords around '06-'09 (his performances from those years are decidedly hit-or-miss), but after surgery he sounded great. I'd argue that he sounds stronger on 2019's WHO than on any record (live or studio) since Who Are You.

A recent reissue of WHO includes a bonus disc of a 2020 acoustic show, and the version of "Tattoo" on it is stunning.

Best thing on the CD release is Melancholia,

Take 1? Demo?

dunno, I think the demo is on Scoop

In addition to the master take, there’s an early run-through of “Melancholia” on the box, with Pete doing a guide vocal. And yep, Pete’s solo demo is on Scoop; in that album’s liner notes, he says he doubts the Who ever heard the song, forgetting that they’d recorded it.

did someone ever re-upload that documentary to youtube or anywhere else?

Capitaine Jay Vee was nice enough to Dropbox it to me. It was good--I don't think I saved the file, but maybe you can contact him?

Christ there’s a right old satisfying *thump* to the mono version of I Can’t Reach You. Hard to hear if it’s actually the bass or the drum or both.