Showing posts with label The Who. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Who. Show all posts

The Who are posting video updates as they record new album

The Who, or what's left of them, are set to issue a new LP and do an American tour later this year. Pete Townshend is posting video updates from the new album's recording sessions daily on YouTube.

Here's the first:

Roger Daltrey memoir on the way


The Who's singer will publish his autobiography, the curiously titled "Thanks a Lot Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story" on Oct. 23. You can pre-order it now from Amazon.

Here's a description:

“It’s taken me three years to unpack the events of my life, to remember who did what when and why, to separate the myths from the reality, to unravel what really happened at the Holiday Inn on Keith Moon’s 21st birthday,” says Roger Daltrey, the powerhouse vocalist of The Who. The result of this introspection is a remarkable memoir, instantly captivating, funny and frank, chock-full of well-earned wisdom and one-of-kind anecdotes from a raucous life that spans a tumultuous time of change in Britain and America. 

Born during the air bombing of London in 1944, Daltrey fought his way (literally) through school and poverty and began to assemble the band that would become The Who while working at a sheet metal factory in 1961. In Daltrey’s voice, the familiar stories―how they got into smashing up their kit, the infighting, Keith Moon’s antics―take on a new, intimate life. Also here is the creative journey through the unforgettable hits including My Generation, Substitute, Pinball Wizard, and the great albums, Who’s Next, Tommy, and Quadrophenia. Amidst all the music and mayhem, the drugs, the premature deaths, the ruined hotel rooms, Roger is our perfect narrator, remaining sober (relatively) and observant and determined to make The Who bigger and bigger. Not only his personal story, this is the definitive biography of The Who.



Review: The Who Live at the Fillmore East, 1968


Tommy and Quadrophenia are great, but I prefer The Who as a scrappy young singles band.

Before his concepts expanded to double-album length, Pete Townshend's best work appeared at 45 r.p.m. in two- or three-minute bursts of tuneful power pop. And it's this Who that's on display in this new collection, bits of which have only previously been available on bootleg.

The collection's track listing shares a number of tunes with The Who's first-released live album, the incredible Live at Leeds, recorded in 1970. But this one captures the band a couple of years earlier, pre-Tommy, and includes several tunes that would be lost from their setlist once that deaf, dumb and blind kid re-defined the group's image and mission.

So, here we get the band blasting through versions of "I Can't Explain" and "Boris the Spider," along with "Relax," from the then-recent The Who Sell Out LP.

Townshend still gets a chance to get conceptual, with oddball tunes such as "Tattoo" (about getting one and suffering your parents' wrath as a result), "I'm a Boy (about a kid forced to dress as a girl, which is a really peculiar listen from today's vantage point) and maybe oddest, and rarest, of all, a live performance of "Little Billy," the band's anti-smoking tune, recorded as a public service announcement for the American Cancer Society.

The band's "mini-opera," "A Quick One" is also performed, and executed as flawlessly and with as much flair as it was in the band's appearance on The Rolling Stones' "Rock and Roll Circus" TV special. Reportedly, the Stones felt they'd been so overshadowed by The Who that they shelved the show for decades.

These originals are surrounded by a healthy dollop of The Who's "maximum r&b," with the band performing live standards such as "Summertime Blues" and "Shakin' All Over" along with Eddie Cochran's "My Way" and "C'Mon Everybody."which Pete introduces as "hard rock." And it is.

Throughout this set's first disk, the group stampedes through the tunes, playing aggressively, but concisely - never forgetting the hooks or melodies. Keith Moon's drumming sounds at times like a kit falling down a flight of stairs and Townshend's slashing guitar chords and soloing threaten to spiral off into the ether, but bassist John Entwistle keeps it all anchored down. Roger Daltrey's lead vocals are strong throughout and, while Townshend and Entwistle's background harmonies falter on occasion, this is a virtuoso performance. The Who, live, was the best you could get.

It's disk two where all hell breaks loose, and the band signals the longer-form, jamming live performances they'd gravitate toward on Live at Leeds. Here we get a full 30-minutes plus of "My Generation." The performance reminds us that Townshend was one of the great 1960s guitarists - often overlooked in comparison to Hendrix or Clapton. But he was an innovator, too, playing in very much his own style - making creative use of feedback and avoiding blues-jamming cliches in favor of more abstract riffing and soloing.

For Who fans, this one's a must. It captures the band at a pivotal time - bridging their pop and rock years. It's amazing how much noise three guys and a singer could make.

Coming Up: Pete Townshend - Who Came First (45th Anniversary Expanded Edition)


Out April 20. Pre-order now from Amazon.

Details:

Who Came First is the debut solo record by Pete Townshend, first released in 1972. The album collected together tracks from Pete’s private pressings of his tributes to Meher Baba ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘I Am’ as well as demos from the unrealised concept album Lifehouse, part of which became The Who’s classic Who's Next album.

This 2CD-expanded version of the album featuring eight previously unreleased tracks, new edits, alternative versions and live performances. Also included in the eight panel digipak are new sleeve notes provided by Pete himself, the original poster from the 1972 release and a 24 page booklet which contains rare images of Meher Baba and Pete in his recording studio.


Track listing:

Disc: 1

  1. Pure and Easy
  2. Evolution
  3. Forever's No Time At All
  4. Let's See Action
  5. Time Is Passing
  6. There's a Heartache Following Me
  7. Sheraton Gibson
  8. Content
  9. Parvardigar

Disc: 2

  1. His Hands
  2. The Seeker (2017 edit)
  3. Day Of Silence
  4. Sleeping Dog
  5. Mary Jane (Stage A Version)
  6. I Always Say (2017 Edit)
  7. Begin The Beguine (2017 edit)
  8. Baba O'Reilly (Instrumental)
  9. The Love Man (Stage C)
  10. Content (Stage A)
  11. Day Of Silence (Alternate Version)
  12. Parvardigar (Alternate take)
  13. Nothing Is Everything
  14. There's A Fortune In Those Hills
  15. Meher Baba In Italy
  16. Drowned (live in India)
  17. Evolution (live at Ronnie Lane Memorial)


Coming Up: The Who Live at The Fillmore East: Saturday April 6, 1968


Out April 20. This is listed on Amazon UK right now, but not yet in the U.S. It'll be nice to have a pre-Tommy Who show from the 60s out on an official release. Available on CD and vinyl.

Details:

The 50th anniversary of these legendary unreleased recordings from the Fillmore East, New York City, Friday April 5 & Saturday April 6, 1968. 

Both nights were recorded by Who manager Kit Lambert with the intention of releasing as the Who’s fourth album after Sell Out and before Tommy.

Songs from the second night have been restored and mixed by Who sound engineer Bob Pridden (who was there in 1968). Remastered for optimum sound quality, this will enhance The Who’s reputation as the best live act of the time, regarded by fans as something of a ‘holy grail’ in live shows.

Features stunning extended versions of My Generation, A Quick One…, Shakin’ All Over and many other Who classics. Features two ripping versions of Eddie Cochran numbers – Summertime Blues and C’mon Everybody (the latter unavailable elsewhere), Fortune Teller played at these shows for the first time and unique live versions of Tattoo and Relax from ‘Who Sell Out’."

Disc: 1

  1. Summertime Blues
  2. Fortune Teller
  3. Tattoo
  4. Little Billy
  5. I Can't Explain
  6. Happy Jack
  7. Relax
  8. I'm A Boy
  9. A Quick One
  10. My Way
  11. C'mon Everybody
  12. Shakin' All Over
  13. Boris The Spider

Disc: 2

  1. My Generation

So long, Thunderclap Newman

Andy "Thunderclap" Newman passed away today at age 73. He's the chap playing piano in the video below.


Thunderclap Newman, which took its name from the pianist, was assembled and produced by the Who's Pete Townshend and charted a hit in 1969 with the tune "Something in the Air." The rest of the group included John "Speedy" King on vocals, drums and guitar and future Wings member Jimmy McCulloch on guitar.