fange
god
Listening to long jazz tracks
Posts: 4,559
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Post by fange on Jan 11, 2024 2:01:06 GMT
- "I Can See For Miles" was the best thing I had ever heard coming out of my radio at
that ANY point.
Amen.
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fange
god
Listening to long jazz tracks
Posts: 4,559
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Post by fange on Jan 11, 2024 2:01:53 GMT
The Who? You'd see more women at a dice game in an alley behind a bar.
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Sneelock
god
Better than Washington...
Posts: 8,564
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Post by Sneelock on Jan 11, 2024 4:00:21 GMT
if I ever hear "Live at Leeds" without wanting to bang trash can lids together you can throw the dirt on me because I'm dead.
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Post by davey on Jan 11, 2024 5:14:49 GMT
The Who are a weird blind spot for me. I mean…not totally blind. I’ve seen them live (no Moonie). I’ve seen my thousand hours of film and heard everything at least a few times. But in a lot of cases, I haven’t heard them a bunch.
I probably haven’t heard Live at Leeds since I was 15. Quadrophenia, not much more recently. I’ve probably only listened to Tommy about 7 or 8 times ever as an album (though I’ve seen the movie about as many times).
For whatever reason, they’ve never really been MY band.
Some of it is where they were when I found them. By the time I was old enough to identify with a rock band, they were a big 70s behemoth. I kinda hated Baba O’Riley, Won’t Get Fooled Again and all of those FM radio hits. I hated Roger swinging the mic and Townsend doing the windmills. So I just moved along to other bands.
Eventually of course, I got a whiff of the 60s version. At some point it clicked for me that that version of the band wasn’t just great…but perhaps THE GREATEST. I mean, they didn’t have the songs the way The Beatles and Stones did. But neither of those amazing bands were quite as exciting as The Who circa 65/66. Nobody was.
And yeah - I Can See For Miles is as great as anything ever.
But even as I eventually came around, I’d still hear those terrible 70s records more often than I wanted, and whenever I read an interview with Townshend…he came off as a pretentious blowhard. It was all just distancing enough to keep me from ever really digging in.
So I’ve kinda gone by the plankton principle with The Who. Essentially, I’ve held to the belief that you get the right amount of them if you don’t seek them out.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Jan 11, 2024 12:18:36 GMT
Sell Out is their only good album Tommy is cack and was the beginning of the end for the greatest British singles band. When Moon died, so did the group, for me. I've never listened to anything recorded since Live at Leeds is not a good album. The Eddie Cochran cover is an embarrassment They payed live in the gym at my college in 1969, but I didn't go see them because I was revising for my final exams. Huge error. Pretty much agree with all of this.
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Post by tory on Jan 11, 2024 16:16:00 GMT
A "best of" is all you need bar a couple of songs here and there.
"Won't Get Fooled Again" sounds incredible every time I hear it.
Keith Moon was clearly the heart and soul of the band.
The 1975 Houston gig is their best live recording despite their output clearly being in terminal decline.
There's an intensity to their best material that cannot be matched by any other band at any other time.
Their music is curiously sexless.
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Sneelock
god
Better than Washington...
Posts: 8,564
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Post by Sneelock on Jan 11, 2024 16:19:43 GMT
fearlessfreap on the merits of "smash your head against the wall" in relation to "empty glass" It's better - My Size is as good as the James Gang. I could do without "cinnamon girl" but I probably still agree. I always found "empty glass" a bit over valued.In my private Who Solo Album Derby "smash" might lose against "who came first" though. this is the first version of "pure & easy" I heard and still my favorite.
"who came first" strikes me now as the first "scoop" in a lot of ways.
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fange
god
Listening to long jazz tracks
Posts: 4,559
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Post by fange on Jan 11, 2024 16:31:47 GMT
Their music is curiously sexless. I put it down to Moon's drumming.
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Sneelock
god
Better than Washington...
Posts: 8,564
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Post by Sneelock on Jan 11, 2024 16:32:03 GMT
Their music is curiously sexless. wow. isn't that interesting? I'm going to need to put on my thinking cap for this one. I think maybe you've got something there.
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loveless
god
Bringing ballet to the masses. Sticking to the funk.
Posts: 2,810
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Post by loveless on Jan 11, 2024 16:55:48 GMT
*I think the first two albums are WOEFULLY uneven - despite containing and/or complimenting a ridiculously stunning run of singles ("I Can't Explain", "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", "My Generation", "The Kids Are Alright", "Substitute", "Happy Jack", "Pictures of Lily"). I don't know that this matters HORRIBLY - they were part of "the singles era", and between the abundant James Brown covers of the first and the "we all need a publishing advance" premise of the second LP...seriously, those 7 singles I mentioned are absolutely touched by the hand of God. In the presence of such riches, I can ignore the albums handily. To ask for more would be CHURLISH!
*Tommy was my introduction. The film (yep, I was one of those five year old kids who was given nightmares by Tina Turner and her syringe sarcophagus, and Ann Margret's baked bean fantasia), seeing Elton perform "Pinball Wizard" at Chicago Stadium when I was 6, but far more crucially getting the album when I was 9. I think it's a magical album. The performances, the themes, the focus, the sounds...that "Listening to You" theme is as huge for me as anything (ESPECIALLY as it comes in initially with the Hammond Organ in "Overture" - a hell of a moment), ditto "Amazing Journey". By the time they are playing "Sparks" at Woodstock a few months later, they are absolutely running with the fucking Gods.
*Which brings us to Leeds. While, yes, I do have the original LP with (miraculously) "all the ephemera", I didn't really fall for it until 1994/5 when they expanded the collection to include the likes of "Heaven and Hell", "Tattoo", "I'm a Boy", "Fortune Teller", "I Can't Explain". Hearing all of this together (and, yes, of course...fucking YOUNG MAN BLUES!!!), when I already had an electric guitar in my hand and an amazing drummer just behind me onstage...I cannot tell you how inspiring this was/is.
*Which brings us to 'A Quick One (While He's Away)' as performed by the Who at Rock and Roll Circus in December 1968. ACCEPT NO FUCKING SUBSTITUTE! This is the business. The combination of ambitious yet playful writing/structure, and...yes, sheer balls out power and chemistry. Again, we've all got our motivations for doing whatever we do in music, but this is like actual footage of the very best thing happening, and...if I had to show someone what I was going for onstage as an ensemble player...there it is. Professional and personal bonds have been made by this clip, and...similarly...tour bus or residential recording studio lounges have witnessed some real lasting divisions based on/inflamed by the enormous gulf between "enraptured/awed" and "indifferent" reactions.
*Everyone's got their own strengths that they are playing to in the arena of live (and to a lesser extent, recorded) music. I was lucky - I had a trio with (at our best) a crunchy, explosive and melodic sound. The Who very quickly became something of a North Star (less so 71 and onwards, but definitely 67-70) for us - those sweet three part harmonies (with Entwistle up in the stratosphere on his pre-coke falsetto), and the sort of unity of purpose, with independent flailing limbs nature of the band. Our body of work is what it is, but having all of those staples in our act over the years ("Overture", "Sparks", "I Can't Explain", "Odorono", "Tattoo", "Young Man Blues", "Armenia...", "The Seeker", and - yes - "A Quick One (1968)") kept us honest. You need the songs (which the Who sure as fuck had), but...you've really got to play with purpose, and...achieve liftoff when you can. The Beatles are my favorite group, but...THIS is what we're onstage for. It felt infinitely more attainable (as a model) in our hands.
*"I Can See For Miles" may very well be the English "Good Vibrations". It might even be the pinnacle of the artform (rock song/7" single). US Mono 45 recommended.
*The Who Sell Out...Jesus, people, this is the shit. And, boy did this fly beneath the radar forever. I bought it at 19 (1989) for $2 just cause...it looked cool and was cheap. And then I went home and heard all of those incredible songs and recordings for the first time ("Sunrise", "Mary-Anne...", all the songs I've mentioned upthread, "Silas Stingy", "Heinz Baked Beans", ALL of the commercials!). And then...five years later, as with Leeds, there was even more ("Coke After Coke", "Jaguar", "Melancholia", etc.). How did I ever live without it?
*So many riches. Though they never really satisfactorily assembled or compiled them (and you can make your own versions now)...fucking "Dogs"!!!!!! "Pure and Easy"!!!! And so many more (how many odds, sods, boxed sets, and deluxe editions does it take to get to the bottom of this? I dunno, but...I'll have 'em all).
*Again. "Dogs".
*I can't tell you how to feel about 'Pinball Wizard", but I'm pretty into it.
*I understand the failings, such as they are, of Who's Next and Quadrophenia. To my mind, they are infinitely outweighed by the abundant strengths ("plumbing the emotional depths of despair" is the big one I get from Quadrophenia, and...it's singularly impressive in that regard). I LOVE "Long Live Rock" - Townshend has a handful of these numbers where he's able to wring something incredibly special out of this seemingly trad. arr. format. I love "My Wife", "Bargain", "The Song is Over", and the three big singles from WN.
*You're on your own after that. I can live quite happily without By Numbers and all the rest.
*Pete talks a lot of shit, doesn't he?
*He and Roger probably deserve each other. Like Artie and Paul. Maybe they all did.
*I never saw them with Moon. Nor with Jones. I saw the Quadrophenia thing in 1997 (with PJ Proby). It didn't change my life. I saw them again in early 2007 (I took my now-wife for her birthday), and it was fucking tremendous. No Entwistle OR Moon, but...barring one or two songs, it was more or less the setlist of my dreams, and...to that end...in repertoire AND approach, they seemed to have finally made their peace with what people like about them (lean, mean, Leeds-based arrangements of their very best songs). I saw them again 12 years later (there was an orchestra onstage). It was fine - again, Pete knows that there is about a 6-8 year chunk of his life's work that actually matters to people.
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Post by riggers on Jan 11, 2024 17:08:39 GMT
I grew up with 'Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy' on heavy rotation, along with my Mum's other best ofs, of The Kinks, Hollies, Troggs etc.
I've got it on now on Spotify, but I've ordered it chronologically (which the original album isn't and I love that, but...)
It's a fantastic run of singles, truly exhilarating to blast out, almost 60 years after the journey started. By their second single, they had more balls, more muscle, than any other band in the world (with the possible exception of the Sonics, but that's another story...) Yeah, Dave Davies 'invented heavy metal', by slicing his speaker cone and getting THAT sound (although by comparison, the Kinks stuff is kinda pedestrian), but when I first found out that 'My Generation' was from '65 I couldn't get my head round it...that's some proto punk shit right there..
In fact, it's on now and that kind of feedback, morse code bleeping, coupled with the heavily reverbed flamenco style flourishes were completely new territory. The Yardbirds and their rave ups were cool, but....it wasn't as heavy as this.
This is a favourite performance.
Imagine how it must have felt, having this erupt out of the TV set on 'Shindig! in 1965. It's quite extraordinary. Not only are the noises proto Velvets, but the rhythm section are just flying. Moon looks like McCartney's feral baby brother, let off the leash, exploding spasmodically, while simultaneously chasing the beat (which Townshend had to hold down).. Moon and Entwistle knit together somehow. Daltrey is spot on. Mod cool, assured delivery and presence.
Townshend is doing his 'bird man' that the punters down the Goldhawk Rd. would have seen germinating. He's riding a wave of feedback here. No one had ever utilised that previously troublesome by-product of amplified music in this adversarial, primal way before.
You can probably tell that this phase of the Who are special to me. Those Rn'B covers are still tremendous to these knackered old ears...It's fascinating to think what their debut album would have been like had they utilised their Rn' B repertoire. But then you wouldn't have had stuff like 'A Legal Matter' or 'The Kids Are Alright' on the debut, which are significant touchstones.
My Mum, sister and I all loved this band equally when I was growing up and when for instance, the video of 'The Kids Are Alright' became available, we all watched it, enthralled, loving Moonie's antics as much as the music (although knowledge and hindsight paints another, simultaneous picture, of addiction, tragedy, etc..)
'Sell Out' is a remarkable thing, which I don't have time to expand on here, but it's a distinct, almost separate thing, which like the Stones 'baroque' period of 66'67, is another wonderful little rabbit hole...
For me, the '69'/70 era Who are massive. The SG/boiler suit./Rog's fringes and mic spinning, the live, ragged 'Tommy' ( A flawed album, with some fantastic moments) the overdriven Hiwatt amps, and the long, exploratory sets are the holy grail for me. In the last years of my band, when we were lurching towards our inevitable end, along with the MC5, the '69 era Who were a blueprint for how we wanted to come across live. That sense of 'riding the wave', which as a three piece' my band took a lot from. There's a moment sometimes during a gig where another presence, separate from any individual member makes itself felt and it's about tuning in to that. That's where the magic is.
Like here. Fucking hell....
I see that a few comments have disparaged their take on 'Summertime Blues'. The Live At Leeds Version is ok, but the Woodstock performance is something else entirely. Wild, ragged and unmoored..There's a swing to it, that the clipped 'Live at Leeds' version doesn't come close to. I love Townshend's brutal lead guitar tone on the solo, and the fact that Entwistle changes up from A to B too early, you see Pete shaking his head at John...
It's well documented that they were unwittingly dosed with acid and that Pete was fuming, kicking Abbie Hoffman offstage etc. and that quality is captured on the recording. The performance captures that frustration and aggression perfectly. To me it's one of their greatest moments. My band used to do that arrangement of 'Summertime Blues', (in a medley that also included 'Slippin' and Slidin', Da Doo Ron Ron, Bye Bye Johnny, etc..) even going so far as to play on acid to see if we could capture some of that feeling. (We did).
I'm now at the stage where I can enjoy 70s Who happily enough, but I feel that ''Who's Next' is overplayed and overrated, however I still enjoy bits ('Bargain' and 'Going Mobile' are my highlights..).
Quadrophenia could be an EP. 'By Numbers' should have been a Pete solo LP. Never heard 'Who Are You all the way through, but got a soft spot for 'Sister Disco'
Townshend as a young man was one of the most articulate and switched on of commentators, both on the cultural zeitgeist or whatever and also his own inner workings. He was miles ahead of Lennon or Jagger in this respect at the time.
In later years, this has manifested itself in some slightly embarrassing ways. Way too ponderous and self regarding by far, but I guess that's to be expected, he's lived in that vaccuum from being not much more than a kid.
I regret that I've never seen them play and I think it's too late now. When my sister turned 30 in 2001, my Dad got tickets for her and one of my cousins to see them at the Manchester Arena (whatever it was called at the time) and asked me if he wanted to get a ticket for me too. My abiding memory of the Who as a live act at that time was the 1989 version with Townshend in a perspex box playing acoustic and numerous additional musicians. 'No thanks Dad', I said confidently.
Next thing, my sister and cousin come back raving about the show and not long after, I see The Who on that 9/11 concert fucking KILLING IT! Fuck. And Joe Strummer supported. Double fuck. And they still had Entwistle, who would soon depart this realm. Fuck again.
Just before Covid/Lockdown, my mate got a couple of freebies to see Pete and Rog doing their stuff and I was happy that I would finally get to see some of their catalogue live. Then it was postponed twice and finally cancelled. Bugger.
This is something I put on every so often when I'm feeling a little low and it never fails to get the blood pumping...
A great British institution. God bless 'em.
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Post by fearlessfreap on Jan 11, 2024 17:29:07 GMT
I can't remember when I got this. Most likely in the late 80's. Certainly before all the reissues with the bonus tracks and it was the first time I heard a lot of the songs Glow Girl Fortune Teller Girls Eyes Dogs Call Me Lightning Melancholia Faith In Something Bigger Early Morning Cold Taxi Little Billy Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde Shakin All Over Magic Bus It seems much of it was released on Magic Bus or Odds and Sods - more than I remember and all those "oddities" collections would soon be easily available. It's long gone by now. Several moves, flood damage - I hardly have any vinyl at all anymore. Anyway, rumor had it that this was supposed to be a stopgap between Sell Out and Tommy. This and earlier is the Who I love. It's a shame they had to go "rawk" or that Townsend forgot or didn't want to put pop hooks in his songs anymore or that Daltrey insited on bellowing everything.
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Post by riggers on Jan 11, 2024 17:49:00 GMT
I can't remember when I got this. Most likely in the late 80's. Certainly before all the reissues with the bonus tracks and it was the first time I heard a lot of the songs Glow Girl Fortune Teller Girls Eyes Dogs Call Me Lightning Melancholia Faith In Something Bigger Early Morning Cold Taxi Little Billy Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde Shakin All Over Magic Bus It seems much of it was released on Magic Bus or Odds and Sods - more than I remember and all those "oddities" collections would soon be easily available. It's long gone by now. Several moves, flood damage - I hardly have any vinyl at all anymore. Anyway, rumor had it that this was supposed to be a stopgap between Sell Out and Tommy. This and earlier is the Who I love. It's a shame they had to go "rawk" or that Townsend forgot or didn't want to put pop hooks in his songs anymore or that Daltrey insited on bellowing everything. What a great collection. They were about so much more than power/angst/spectacle.
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Post by riggers on Jan 11, 2024 17:50:52 GMT
*Which brings us to 'A Quick One (While He's Away)' as performed by the Who at Rock and Roll Circus in December 1968. ACCEPT NO FUCKING SUBSTITUTE! This is the business. The combination of ambitious yet playful writing/structure, and...yes, sheer balls out power and chemistry. Again, we've all got our motivations for doing whatever we do in music, but this is like actual footage of the very best thing happening, and...if I had to show someone what I was going for onstage as an ensemble player...there it is. Professional and personal bonds have been made by this clip, and...similarly...tour bus or residential recording studio lounges have witnessed some real lasting divisions based on/inflamed by the enormous gulf between "enraptured/awed" and "indifferent" reactions.
This.
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loveless
god
Bringing ballet to the masses. Sticking to the funk.
Posts: 2,810
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Post by loveless on Jan 11, 2024 18:32:04 GMT
Townshend as a young man was one of the most articulate and switched on of commentators, both on the cultural zeitgeist or whatever and also his own inner workings. He was miles ahead of Lennon or Jagger in this respect at the time. In later years, this has manifested itself in some slightly embarrassing ways. Way too ponderous and self regarding by far, but I guess that's to be expected, he's lived in that vacuum from being not much more than a kid. Yes. Salient point. At an age where many of us truly believe ourselves to be the center of the universe, and "the person with the greatest ideas and pronouncements", he sort of actually became that person for a moment, and it was - for him - carbonized in Lucite forevermore. Taylor Swift (relevant here for a number of reasons) said something once about celebrity having the same retarding effect as drug addiction in that you tend to freeze at whatever age you were when it happened. Depending on one's temperament and constitution, a person can handle THAT any number of ways. Paul McCartney's ongoing efforts at taking public transportation and being sort of fumblingly normal and average don't make me cringe any less than Townshend's impressive intoxication with his own rarefied verbal fumes. Pete had fucking splendid ideas for a while there, and...when we talk about the "reach" of an artist or how they seek to engage the audience, I feel like he was uniquely acute in those abilities for a few years.
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