CD Odyssey Disc 902: The Who

I’ve had an exhausting five days full of a combination of work and life commitments, and frankly I’m knackered. However, with the worst of it behind me, I'm glad to finally be able to spare an hour to review another record.

Disc 902 is….Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy

Artist: The Who

Year of Release: 1971, but featuring music from 1965-1970

What’s up with the Cover? Four malcontented youths loaf about on a stoop, looking tired after a long day of puncturing tires and setting off car alarms. The actual band looks on from the safety of a window, no doubt fearful for their wallets.

How I Came To Know It: I believe Sheila had this album when I met her. If not, we got it very shortly thereafter (likely on her recommendation). Anyway, it is a good one.

How It Stacks Up:  This is a compilation album, so it doesn’t stack up. Them’s the rules.

Ratings: No rating for compilation albums!

I’m not a big fan of compilation albums generally but with a band like The Who, where half the songs they released early in their career were just 45s, if you don’t get a compilation you don’t get a lot of their best music. “Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy” is definitely a collection of The Who’s best, at least from the early part of their career.

The Who are giants in the early history of rock and roll, and have earned the right to be mentioned alongside other great sixties British bands including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and an edge that reminded me particularly of the Kinks. It is a new approach to rock and roll that was somehow divorced from the American blues that inspired so much sixties music. The songs have an anthemic quality, no doubt inspired by the grandiose singing style of Roger Daltrey, who never met a camera he didn’t want to make love to.

The real inspiration of the band, however, is guitarist and principle songwriter Pete Townshend. Townshend is a troubled genius, who channels a nerdy restlessness into powerful guitar riffs that are married to innovative song structures that still sound fresh decades later.

The album covers the very early part of the band’s career from 1964 to 1970 (covering four albums and a half dozen or so single releases. Early on Townsend is clearly interested in themes of youth, including rebellion, confusion and early sexual experience (sometimes expressed through humorous anecdote).

Songs like “The Kids are Alright” and “My Generation” cover off the rebellion. Sexual discovery is featured in two lighthearted tracks, the masturbatory “Pictures of Lily” (seriously, it is about masturbation) and the involuntary gender-bending “I’m a Boy.”

My favourite song on the album has always been “The Seeker” which captures youthful confusion with a sense of purpose, as though if just seeking the truth is enough, even if you never find it. It is a great, and maybe only equaled in delivery by Alice Cooper’s classic “I’m Eighteen.” Hearing Roger Daltry’s voice climb into falsetto as he sings “I’ve been searching low and high-eee!” is one of rock’s great vocal moments. The guitar riffs from Townsend are also inspiring.

There are a few tracks that fail to impress, most notably “Boris the Spider” which is written and sung by bassist John Entwistle. Entwistle is the third best vocalist in the band (behind Daltry and Townsend) and it shows. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if drummer Keith Moon would have done it better. “Happy Jack” is also a song that descends into pointless kitsch, and not even Daltry’s vocals can save it.

The album also suffers from a bad transfer to CD, which was pretty common around this time (my copy was released in 1990). CD technology was still pretty new then and record labels were still struggling with making the sound as thick and rich as vinyl. Or maybe they just didn’t care, and the Soulless Record Execs were just in a hurry to cash in on the new format. Probably it was a bit of both.

Despite the production, “Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy” is a solid record of 14 tracks that never seems to drag. It is such a fine compilation it almost feels like a studio record unto itself. It also has, hands down, the best title for a ‘best of’ record in the history of music. I declare every adjective in the title as advertised, and heartily recommend this album as a worthy introduction to The Who’s music.

Best tracks:  I Can’t Explain, I Can See For Miles, Pictures of Lily, The Seeker, Pinball Wizard, I’m a Boy

CD Odyssey Disc 785: The Who

When I was five my mom sat me down and told me that life was unfair, and the sooner I understood that the better. A harsh lesson for a five year old for sure, but it has served me well over the years.

This week I encountered an unfairness so profound that all my mother’s wisdom felt suddenly small and useless. I’m not going to talk about it beyond that, because you’ve come here to read a music review not a rant. So here you go.

Disc 785 is….Tommy

Artist: The Who

Year of Release: 1969

What’s up with the Cover? Look deep into my seagulls…Deeper…You are feeling very three dimensional. I always liked this cover, but I’ve never figured out what, if any, significance it has. It just looks kind of cool.

How I Came To Know It: My brother owned this on vinyl but rarely played it. One year for Christmas I wrapped up a satin flag of one of his favourite bands (Venom) inside the album so he thought he was getting “Tommy” again. He looked so sad, but after the joke was realized was happy with the Venom flag. The next year he took vengeance on me by wrapping my present so tightly it took me fifteen minutes to get into it.

As for the Tommy album, I got that on vinyl as a hand-me-down and years later I ended up buying it on CD…and here we are.

How It Stacks Up: I have three of The Who’s studio albums. In any normal trio of albums “Tommy” would easily be first, but not when you’ve got a classic like “Who’s Next” dominating top spot. As a result “Tommy can only manage second place. And since I’ve reviewed all three of them, here’s a recap:

1. Who’s Next: 5 stars (reviewed back at Disc 204)
2. Tommy: 5 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Odds & Sods: 3 stars (reviewed back at Disc 170)

Ratings: 5 stars

Pete Townshend is a musical genius, and “Tommy” is an album that shows what a musical genius is capable of when his band is wise enough to let him do his thing.

Sure, The Who is not The Who without Roger Daltry’s vocals, the drumming of Keith Moon and John Entwistle on bass (one of the reasons I have no interest in seeing them in concert since Moon and Entwistle are both now dead).

But it is Pete Townshend that drives the creative engine of “Tommy.” “Tommy” is a concept album about a deaf, dumb and blind kid who is abused by trusted family members, grows up to find fame for being an amazing pinball player, eventually gets his sight back and becomes some kind of modern messiah. Townshend delivers the whole story as a ‘rock opera.’ Outside of Alexander Pope creating the mock epic with “Rape of the Lock” you would have a hard time finding a more brilliant reimagining of a traditional art form.

Musically, the record is nuanced but powerful. Townsend’s chord choices are clever and perfectly suited to each section of the story, often making subtle changes to the voicing of his guitar for maximum emotional impact.

Just listening to the overture is enough to know how great the music is. Overtures introduce all of a musical’s themes and in just over five minutes the overture of “Tommy” switches gears about 15 times. Every shift sounds amazing.

Although “Tommy” is best heard all at once, there are still many standout songs that are great even on their own. “1921” has a light and optimistic feel, fueled by Daltry’s standout vocals, with an undercurrent of menace of the dark days to come for the main character. “The Acid Queen” and “Pinball Wizard” are both hard rock classics, and the album’s final song “We’re Not Gonna Take It” has a bit of everything and despite being seven minutes long, leaves you wanting more, not less.

Thematically, “Tommy” is a cycle of abuse that “A Clockwork Orange” would be proud of. Tommy is beaten, drugged and abused by a litany of family members, shysters and quacks but once his pinball skills make him a celebrity, his “holiday camp” feels like a giant cult where starry-eyed fans are taken advantage of in turn.

Pete Townshend’s music is always best when he is exorcising some of his many demons (think “Behind Blue Eyes” from “Who’s Next”) and his tortured artistry forges “Tommy” into a modern day masterpiece.

The only time “Tommy” last my interest was during the meandering 10 minute underture in the middle of the album, but even that meandering had purpose and provided a reflection of the album’s musical themes – kind of like the reflection Tommy himself is obsessed with staring at with his blind eyes.

“Tommy” isn’t the kind of album you put on every day. Like “The Wall” it takes a dedicated listen from start to finish to appreciate it. But just because I don’t play it every day doesn’t mean it isn’t one of rock and roll’s great accomplishments. Five stars.

Best tracks:   1921, Christmas, The Acid Queen, Pinball Wizard, Sally Simpson, We’re Not Gonna Take It

CD Odyssey Disc 204: The Who

The next disc is one of the greatest albums ever made. Period. If you don't agree with me then clearly you are an idiot. If you don't like being called an idiot, then you should reconsider your opinion about this album.

Disc 204 is...Who's Next

Artist: The Who

Year of Release: 1971

What’s Up With The Cover?: For years I've thought very little of this cover. I mean, it is the four band members standing near a concrete block. Then a couple of years ago I had an epiphany about what was happening. The band members are in various stages of doing up their pants, and if you'll look at the concrete block you'll see telltale...moisture trails. That's right - this is a picture of the Who immediately after they have all stood together and peed on a concrete block. This is now one of my favourite album covers of all time.

How I Came To Know It: I have known these songs most of my life, but I bought this on CD sometime back in the mid-nineties, I think. I don't recall the catalyst for me doing so - probably just looking for a good Who studio album, since all we had at the time was the "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy" compilation.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Who studio albums, plus the aforementioned compilation. "Who's Next" is the best of all of them - including the best of.

Rating: 5 stars, because my rating system only goes to 5.

One of my sidebar columns on "A Creative Maelstrom" is "Best...albums...so far." When I'm finished this review, I'll be adding "Who's Next" to that column and I feel very confident when the Odyssey is over, it will still be there.

Musically, lyrically, and in terms of overall production, I can't find anything wrong with "Who's Next?" I've owned it for a long time, and I still put it on all the time. It features at least three of the greatest songs ever written, "Baba O'Riley", "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Won't Get Fooled Again".

The synthesizer sequences in "Baba O'Riley" are so groundbreaking for 1971, it is ridiculous. If you ever get a chance to watch Pete Townsend show how he put these sequences together by basically connecting a simple computer to a series of plug-ins do so. It was so complex, that in concert they had to resort to just playing a tape of that part, and coming in live on queue as best they could (hint: they usually did just fine).

"Behind Blue Eyes" is a song that gets you inside the head of the bad man, and feel sympathy for him. It adds personal angst knowing that this song is a deeply personal expression of Pete Townsend's own tortured soul. The fact that Roger Daltry then takes that song and makes it all about him is exactly why he is one of the greatest front men in rock and roll.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" finds that perfect balance between a call to revolution, and a cynical expression that nothing will change anyway. The only conclusion it eventually comes to is:

"I pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again."

The song also showcases each bandmembers formidable music talent for over eight and half glorious minutes. My only regret - the song isn't longer.

The original record has only nine tracks, ending with "Won't Get Fooled Again" but my version is the remastered/extra tracks version. There are seven extra tracks, which ordinarily would have me complaining of excess, but not here.

First, these songs are from the same period, not simple add-ons. Most are recorded in 1971 as well, and I suspect hit the floor of the cutting room only because of the limitations of vinyl.

Secondly, they fit musically and thematically with the rest of the record, so the transition into them is relatively seemless. They sound like they belong, and they are good enough to hold their own against what has come before.

Third, these songs are better than what most bands can do for their main effort. I particularly like "Naked Eye" and "Too Much of Anything" but they all have their charm. I might've left off the 'original version' of "Behind Blue Eyes", since I prefer the one that made the record, but having to listen to another version of is hardly torture.

"Who's Next" was originally going to be a concept album from Pete Townsend called "The Lifehouse Project". In Townsend's words, the Lifehouse Project was to be "a portentous science-fiction film with Utopian spiritual messages into which were to be grafted uplifting scenes from a real Who concert."

That actually sounds pretty good to me, but you can see why the producer (and I suspect the other band members) preferred to have an album with some regular rock songs, rather than a dense and hard-to-understand rock opera. Besides, they had just done "Tommy" two years earlier.

The result is that "Who's Next" has a tension between Lifehouse tracks, and more straightforward rock songs, and this tension makes a great album even greater.

This reminds me of one of my favourite Blue Oyster Cult albums, 1974s "Secret Treaties", which keyboardist/rhythym guitarist Allen Lanier wanted to make into a bizarre Lovecraftian concept album. Other band members wanted a more straightforward rock album and the result was a compromise between the two that was better than the sum of its parts - just like "Who's Next"

I've heard a lot of music in my life - I'd say more than most. I've rarely heard a record as good as "Who's Next" and I don't think I've heard any clearly better. This is must-have music - idiots excepted, of course.

Best tracks: All tracks, but standouts for me are: Baba O'Riley, Getting in Tune, Behind Blue Eyes, Won't Get Fooled Again, and from the bonus tracks: Naked Eye and Too Much of Anything

CD Odyssey Disc 170: The Who

It's been a long couple of days. Yesterday I drove three and half hours to attend my Grandmother's funeral (they call it a 'celebration of life' but I don't go for euphemisms) then three and a half hours back.

I' going to miss my Grandma, but at the same time she lived a long life (90 years) and was in ill health at the end. It is hard to say goodbye to someone, but it's also hard to watch them fade away.

Not surprisingly, I wasn't really in the mood to drive at all today, but I had this thing called 'work' which pays me, allowing me to spend leisure time with food and shelter and write this bumpf.

So, here we are...

Disc 170 is...Odds & Sods
Artist: The Who

Year of Release: 1974 (but reissued in 1998 in this form, with 'bonus' tracks)

What’s Up With The Cover?: The Who wearing 'American' football helmets. I wonder if this means they loved American football, or if as a British act they just thought it was kind of goofy. I, of course, love American football, but I only get excited about a white helmet with an aqua dolphin on it. Since these helmets don't have such a logo, I rate it a 'meh'.

How I Came To Know It: I got this album shortly after seriously falling for "Who's Next" when it was re-released in the mid-nineties. I was looking for another Who album, and trying to avoid a compilation record. Oops.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Who albums as well as the infamous greatest hits record "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy" Of the three albums I have, I'd say this one is third or to put it more bluntly - not as good as the other ones.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Odds & Sods" isn't a true album per se, it is a basement tapes type album - a compilation of tracks that for various reasons didn't make it on earlier records and went unreleased in the same manner as Pearl Jam's "Lost Dogs" which I reviewed back at Disc 109 in March of this year.

Originally released in 1974, "Odds & Sods" was re-released in 1998 with a bunch of extra tracks added on top of the original record. The original record was fourteen songs, and and additional nine on top of that comes to an unwieldy twenty three (the added space on CD collections is both a blessing and a curse).

I can't really complain about the tracks they added, as most of them are pretty good. That said, the whole practice of doing this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I think once a record is released it should be left alone, not monkeyed with. Not only were a ton of tracks added, they rearranged the order to make them appear chronologically from when they were recorded (from 1964 to 1974).

I actually liked the re-arrangement, as I prefer to hear songs by year of release (except, of course, where I've gone crazy and decided to spend a few years randomly selecting my music). Still, I'd rather they disappointed me, since again - this messes with the original presentation. It is the band's business to do what they want in this regard, but as a fan it is my business to say what I think about it.

I strongly suspect this sort of behaviour is at the behest of some soulless record executive that has some kind of market research showing it will increase sales among those who already own the record. When confronted with this accusation, I'm sure most soulless record execs would reply, "But you bought it, right?"

Anyway, the music is what I would expect from a twenty-three track album of extra songs. There are a few great ones, but also a fair bit of filler. Four of the best ones ("Love Ain't For Keeping", "Pure and Easy", "Naked Eye" and "Too Much of Anything" are also tracks on the "extra tracks" version of 1971's "Who's Next". I am not a sufficiently rabid Who fan to appreciate the different versions.

Spanning over ten years, this record does underscore how much more I prefer the Who in their early seventies incarnation. I don't mind the early stuff, but it is missing the driving guitar I like in later work.

Because the album has been re-organized chronologically, this meant that I enjoyed myself more and more as it went along and the last ten tracks are all excellent. However, they can't make up for the fair bit of filler that comes before them, so I'm going to stick to 3 stars for this album. It has some good Lost Dogs, but also a few that didn't need to be found, and the pick of the litter are available on "Who's Next" anyway.

Best tracks (that aren't already on "Who's Next): Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand, Time Is Passing, Long Live Rock, .