Posts tagged John Entwistle

(Review from wikipedia)

“Join Together” is a set of live material released from The Who’s 1989 25th Anniversary Reunion Tour. Several of the tracks were recorded at Radio City Music Hall, New York, and at Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles, with the rest from various other concerts during the tour.

These live performances may be billed to the Who, but it feels like a Who revue. All the elements are in place: There’s Pete Townshend’s trademark flamenco strums, John Entwistle’s galloping bass, Roger Daltrey’s strangled yelp, even a complete performance of Tommy but it doesn’t feel like the Who, it feels like another band. The music is bloated with horns, backing vocals, keyboards, and extra guitarists.

Different does not mean bad nor ugly, just different.

Line-up:
- Roger Daltrey / vocals
- John Entwistle / bass, vocals
- Pete Townshend / acoustic and electric guitar, vocals
with
- Steve ‘Boltz’ Bolton / electric guitar
- John Bundrick / piano, keyboards
- Chyna / backing vocal
- Simon Clarke / brass
- Simon Gardner / brass
- Jody Linscott / percussion
- Roddy Lorimer / brass
- Billy Nicholls / back vocal
- Simon Phillips / drums
- Tim Saunders / brass
- Neil Sidwell / brass
- Cleveland Watkiss / back vocal

Track List:
CD1
01. Overture – 5:26
02. 1921 – 2:52
03. Amazing Journey – 3:07
04. Sparks – 4:35
05. The Hawker (Eyesight To The Blind) – 2:17
06. Christmas – 4:26
07. Cousin Kevin – 3:56
08. The Acid Queen – 3:44
09. Pinball Wizard – 4:20
10. Do You Think It’s Alright? – 23
11. Fiddle About – 1:38
12. There’s A Doctor – 0:21
13. Go To The Mirror! – 3:21
14. Smash The Mirror – 1:14
15. Tommy Can You Hear Me – 0:57
16. I’m Free – 2:09
17. Miracle Cure – 0:24
18. Sally Simpson – 4:18
19. Sensation – 2:21
20. Tommy’s Holiday Camp – 0:56
21. We’re Not Gonna Take It! – 8:44
CD2
01. Eminence Front – 5:42
02. Face The Face – 6:12
03. Dig – 3:58
04. I Can See For Miles – 3:42
05. A Little Is Enough – 5:12
06. 5.15 – 5:47
07. Love, Reign O’er Me – 6:27
08. Trick Of The Light – 5:11
09. Rough Boys – 4:36
10. Join Together – 5:14
11. You Better, You Bet – 5:39
12. Behind Blue Eyes – 3:38
13. Won’t Get Fooled Again – 9:29

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(Review from allmusic)

Like “Who’s Missing”, this is an assortment of B-sides, UK-only tracks, outtakes, and live cuts from the 1960s and early 1970s. Again, there’s some notable, even terrific, material here: the fiery 1967 covers of the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time” and “Under My Thumb,” the strange 1968 UK single “Dogs”, the heavy R&B of the 1965 British B-side “Daddy Rolling Stone”.

Yet much of the rest of the album is extraneous to all but diehards, like a sluggish 1965 cover of Martha & the Vandellas’ “Motoring”, Keith Moon’s novelty B-side “Wasp Man”, or the 1969 instrumental “Dogs, Part 2″ (which does have some slick guitar runs and manic drumming). The record’s haphazardly sequenced as well.

Track List:
01. Bald Headed Woman – 2:09
02. Under My Thumb – 2:36
03. My Wife (Live SF ’71) – 6:38
04. I’m A Man – 3:13
05. Dogs – 3:05
06. Dogs Pt. 2 – 2:28
07. Circles (2nd Version) – 2:30
08. The Last Time – 2:50
09. Water – 4:33
10. Daddy Rolling Stone – 2:49
11. Heat Wave (Talmy Version) – 2:40
12. Goin’ Down (Live SF ’71) – 3:42
13. Motoring – 2:50
14. Wasp Man – 3:00

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(Review from progarchives.com, allmusic)

As its title indicates, this is a bit of bottom-of-drawers release, one that was thrown together when Daltrey was busy playing in Tommy (the movie), when Townsend and Entwistle toyed around the studios for the group or their solo career, but unfortunately where Moon was left on its own and went on lengthy binges that would eventually destroy him four years later. Presented with an ugly shot of the group sporting American Football helmets, this collection was assembled from tracks that were leftover from 68 & 69 and others remaining from their monstrous project: Lifehouse and Quadrophenia or unrelated but still written in those years.

The brass-laden “Postcard”, while “Now I’m A Farmer” is an outstanding track with amazing Moon drumming, both from the 60s, Odds & Sods is an entertaining album that proposes over half of its tracks from that decade. Indeed “Little Billy” seems like it could’ve been another hit and “Glow Girl” (a cousin to Glittering Girl) then “Faith In Something Bigger” are intermediate track from the two years of silence between “Sell Out” and “Tommy”. A real surprise is the 1964 cover of “I’m The Face”, which could be a Rolling Stones track of the times: while it sticks out a bit, it’s lovely to hear it once in a while.

The 70s tracks include the interesting “Put The Money Down” (Daltrey lays some classic yells), while Pete yells out to Moonie that “Too Much Of Anything”, like “Pure And Easy” (probably the most Lynyrd-ish Who track in its middle section) , both originally for the “Lifehouse” and left away from “Who’s Next” make a big positive argument for the album. Also from the 60s, but really sounding like Tommy (1969, thus sounding much more 70s) is the excellent “Naked Eye”, probably the highlight of this compilation. The closing “Long Live Rock” is linked to Quadrophenia, which in itself is a compliment.

This 1998 edition of the compilation is a must-have even if you’ve got the original LP, as it doubles the album size with a dozen bonus tracks, most previously unreleased. These include some really interesting items: the Motown covers “Leaving Here” and “Baby Don’t You Do It” are taken from demos circa late 1964, the latter track featuring some early guitar distortion freak-out in the solo; “Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand” is the rare U.S. B-side version; there are late-’60s studio versions of “Live at Leeds” faves “Summertime Blues” and “Young Man Blues”; the Rolling Stones’ cover “Under My Thumb” and “Water” are B-sides that weren’t on an album for a long time; and there are less exciting alternates and outtakes from “Tommy”, “Who’s Next” and “Quadrophenia”.

Line-up:
- Roger Daltrey / vocals, harmonica
- John Entwistle / bass guitar, brass, vocals
- Keith Moon / drums, vocals
- Pete Townshend / guitar, piano, bass guitar, synthesizer, vocals

Track List:
01. I’m The Face – 2:29
02. Leaving Here – 2:13
03. Baby Don’t You Do It – 2:28
04. Summertime Blues – 3:13
05. Under My Thumb – 2:45
06. Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand – 3:23
07. My Way – 2:28
08. Faith In Something Bigger – 3:01
09. Glow Girl – 2:26
10. Little Billy – 2:17
11. Young Man Blues (Studio Version) – 2:44
12. Cousin Kevin Model Child – 1:26
13. Love Ain’t For Keeping – 4:04
14. Time Is Passing – 3:31
15. Pure And Easy – 5:24
16. Too Much Of Anything – 4:23
17. Long Live Rock – 3:58
18. Put The Money Down – 4:31
19. We Close Tonight – 2:58
20. Postcard – 3:32
21. Now I’m A Farmer – 4:09
22. Water – 4:40
23. Naked Eye – 5:27

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(Review from allmusic)

Unlike its title mistakenly suggests, this is not a live album but a mishmash of singles, B-sides and stray tracks.

The singles “Call Me Lightning” and the Bo Diddley-influenced “Magic Bus” have fine moments which became one of their most popular concert numbers. Other highlights are the fine 1966 pop-art tune “Disguises” and John Entwistle’s hysterical “Doctor, Doctor”. Not to forget “Pictures of Lily”…

Line-up:
- Roger Daltrey / vocals
- Pete Townshend / guitars
- John Entwistle / bass
- Keith Moon / drums

Track List:
01. Disguises (from UK EP Ready, Steady, Who) – 3:14
02. Run Run Run (from Happy Jack) – 2:44
03. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Single B-Side) – 2:27
04. I Can’t Reach You (Sell Out Album) – 3:05
05. Our Love Was, Is (Sell Out Album) – 3:09
06. Call Me Lightning (Single A-Side) – 2:25
07. Magic Bus (Single A-Side) – 3:21
08. Someone’s Coming (Single B-Side) – 2:33
09. Doctor, Doctor (Single B-Side) – 3:02
10. Bucket T (from UK EP Ready, Steady, Who) – 2:11
11. Pictures of Lily (Single A-Side) – 2:43

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(Info from wikipedia, amazon)

There was a three-year hiatus between “Who Are You” and The Who’s previous album, “By Numbers”. The band was drifting apart during this period, due to the band members working on various solo projects, Moon sinking deeper into alcohol and drug abuse, and general exhaustion from the gruelling tour schedule the band had kept over the decade.

By the end of the ’70s, the classic line-up of the Who was reaching the end of its tether. “Who Are You” can be seen as something of a swan song for the spirit that ignited the rock & roll juggernaut that was the Who in its prime. It was put out at a time when the two major camps of rock — progressive rock and punk rock, were conflicting due to their antipodal styles. Pete Townshend’s compositions were written as an attempt to bring the two styles together. The album showcases complicated song structures, with multiple layers of synthesizer and strings.

Keith Moon died just a couple of weeks after the release of the album, at the age of 32, having overdosed on Clomethiazole, a medication taken as part of a programme to wean him off alcohol. All four band members are shown on the album cover, with Moon seated on a chair back-to-front in order to hide all the weight he had gained in the previous three years. Ironically, the chair was labeled “Not to be taken away”.

Line-up:
- Roger Daltrey – vocals
- Pete Townshend – guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals
- John Entwistle – bass guitar, synthesizer, vocals, horns
- Keith Moon – drums, percussion

Track List:
01. New Song – 4:13
02. Had Enough – 4:27
03. 905 – 4:02
04. Sister Disco – 4:22
05. Music Must Change – 4:38
06. Trick Of The Light – 4:45
07. Guitar And Pen – 5:56
08. Love Is Coming Down – 4:04
09. Who Are You – 6:16
10. No Road Romance (Bonus) – 5:10
11. Empty Glass (Bonus Demo version) – 6:23
12. Guitar And Pen (Bonus Olympic ’78 Remix) – 5:58
13. Love Is Coming Down (Bonus Work In Progress mix) – 4:06
14. Who Are You (Bonus Lost verse) – 6:18

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(Review wikipedia, rollingstone.com, amazon)

Quadrophenia is the Who at their most symmetrical, their most cinematic, ultimately their most maddening. They have put together a beautifully performed and magnificently recorded essay of a British youth mentality in which they played no little part, lushly endowed with black and white visuals and a heavy sensibility of the wet-suffused air of 1965.

The name is a variation on the incorrect popular usage of the medical diagnostic term schizophrenia as multiple personality disorder to reflect the four distinct personalities of Jimmy, the opera’s protagonist. It was also tied in to the Quadraphonic sound schemes then being introduced. It may be understood more literally as a Latin-Greek blend, of quadro- (Lt. ‘four, four-fold’) and -phenia (Gk. ‘shine; voice’), the “four voices” or “four faces” being the four members of the band (cp. epiphany).

The album open ups with the sound of the sea washing up on the beaches and snatches of refrains from the main themes of what is to come. The band comes crashing in with the rocker ‘The Real me’ and from then on you are taken on the roller coaster ride of a young impressionable wannabe Mod with plenty of highs as well as deeply disturbing lows. One of the highs is of Jimmy actually going to see his favorite band ‘The Who’ in concert. As Jimmy tries to emulate his heroes, his life spirals more and more out of control. With this the band’s playing becomes more and more frenzied, climaxing in the nine minutes of ‘Doctor Jimmy’, where, if you listen carefully, you can hear Roger Daltrey’s microphone being spun round the heads of all in the studio on its lead wire, and Townshend windmills his arm around his axe, building to the next frantic chorus. You can imagine the whole studio being destroyed at the song’s climax.

This album never really got the recognition it deserved. That’s not surprising considering the troubles that dogged it right from the beginning. After the Lifehouse episode the group wasn’t ready to swallow another magnum opus from Townshend all too easily. Inactivity had shaken Moon’s confidence. The group had trouble enough finding him to bring him into the studio to play and even more trouble getting him to play once he was there. The record was released after the tour began because of an unexpected shortage of vinyl. None of the members was ever satisfied with the way it was mixed initially. Once it was released It didn’t get much media exposure either, probably because there wasn’t much on it that would have been suitable for radio. On stage it was too complex for the band to play without a set of backing tapes. The tapes malfunctioned on a regular basis. When they did work they locked the band into a set rendition of the pieces. Moon made things worse one night by getting into monkey tranquillizers and collapsing on-stage. He recovered but wasn’t himself for the rest of the tour (he dried out in a nursing home after it ended). That couldn’t have helped the shows. The group never really shook off those problems and, after a short tour the following year (for the most), left it behind them.

Line-up:
* John Entwistle – bass guitar, horns, vocals
* Roger Daltrey – lead vocals
* Keith Moon – drums, percussion, vocals on “Bell Boy”
* Pete Townshend – guitars, synthesizers, piano, banjo, sound effects, vocals

Track List:
CD1 :
01. I Am the Sea – 2:08
02. The Real Me – 3:20
03. Quadrophenia – 6:15
04. Cut My Hair – 3:46
05. The Punk and the Godfather[2] – 5:10
06. I’m One – 2:39
07. The Dirty Jobs – 4:30
08. Helpless Dancer – 2:32
09. Is It in My Head – 3:46
10. I’ve Had Enough – 6:14
CD2 :
01. 5:15 – 5:00
02. Sea and Sand – 5:01
03. Drowned – 5:28
04. Bell Boy – 4:56
05. Doctor Jimmy – 8:42
06. The Rock – 6:37
07. Love, Reign O’er Me – 5:48

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(Review from wikipedia, amazon)

The Who Sell Out is The Who’s third album, released in 1967. It is a concept album, formatted as a collection of unrelated songs interspersed with faux commercials and public service announcements. The album purports to be a broadcast by pirate radio station Radio London. This is probably one of the most creative ideas in rock and roll history. Part of the intended irony of the title was that The Who were actually making commercials during that period of their career, some of which are included as bonus tracks.

There are masterpieces aplenty on this album, ranging from the big hit I Can See For Miles right down to underrated masterpieces like Armenia City In The Sky and Rael. And, like with any real radio broadcast, the band even did some mock commercials!

What is also remarkable is the playing and the singing. The vocal harmonies on Tatoo are just gorgeous, and when Townsend moved from Rickenbacker to Strat on “Miles” and pulled off those crunching chords and evil single note solo, there is so much of “less is more” about all this. Daltrey sings like an angel, as does Pete, and Mad Man Moon repeatedly kills the kit. Entwistle was always a stunning bass player, and it is no accident that the solo on My Generation was a bass solo, another first, played on a Danelectro bass.

This is a groundbreaking, magical, funny, moving and beautifully played total masterpiece. And don’t we all wish that just for once, we could have a bath in baked beans?!

Line-up:
* Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, backing vocals, percussion
* Pete Townshend – guitar, lead vocals, keyboards, pennywhistle, banjo, backing vocals
* John Entwistle – bass, lead vocals, horns, backing vocals
* Keith Moon – drums, lead vocals, backing vocals, percussion

Track List:
01. Armenia City in the Sky
02. Heinz Baked Beans
03. Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand
04. Odorono
05. Tattoo
06. Our Love Was
07. I Can See for Miles
08. I Can’t Reach You
09. Medac
10. Relax
11. Silas Stingy
12. Sunrise
13. Rael 1
14. Rael 2 (Bonus)
15. Glittering Girl (Bonus)
16. Melancholia (Bonus)
17. Someone’s Coming (Bonus)
18. Jaguar (Bonus)
19. Early Morning Cold Taxi (Bonus)
20. Hall of the Mountain King (Bonus)
21. Girl’s Eyes (Bonus)
22. Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand (Bonus Alternative Version)
23. Glow Girl (Bonus)

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(Review from wikipedia, amazon.com, booklet)

The band crystallised around Townshend as the primary songwriter and creative force (though Entwistle would also make notable songwriting contributions). Townshend was at the centre of the band’s tensions, as he strove to write challenging and thoughtful music, while Daltrey preferred energetic and macho material (Daltrey would occasionally refuse to sing a Townshend composition and Townshend would thus sing it himself). Moon, not really a songwriter (although he contributed a handful of songs in the 60s), was a fan of American surf music.

The Who’s first hit was the 1965 “I Can’t Explain”, influenced by the early Kinks hits (with whom they shared American producer Shel Talmy). This hit was followed by “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”, which was the only song credited as being composed in a joint effort by Townshend and Daltrey, though Townshend implied Daltrey assisted in songwriting without credit in the liner notes to Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy. Their debut album My Generation was released the same year.

The album that emerged in December 1965 was not the album the band set out to record. Early sessions for the album were held in March and April 1965, for release in July; however, when music columnist John Emery heard a tape of those sessions, he expressed disappointment that the band had relied on so many covers, and suggested they write more of their own stuff.

The advice was duly taken to heart and Pete Townsend started producing more originals. Four songs from the earlier sessions were retained and added to eight new tracks from new recording sessions in October to finally produce My Generation. The remaining tracks from the earlier sessions later saw release on 7″ singles and the rarities compilation Who’s Missing (the legal problems that followed the album’s release gave Decca the right to release and re-release a total of 24 songs, album tracks, single sides and others, from those sessions), and now form part of the bonus material on the second disc.

Their 1965 debut album immediately showed their promise and potential, filled with energetic, no holds barred, balls to the wall rock and roll. They combined the rawness of The Rolling Stones, the catchy pop hooks of the early Beatles singles, and the sardonic lyrical prowess of The Kinks’ Ray Davies.

Line-up:
* Roger Daltrey – lead vocals
* Pete Townshend – guitar, vocals
* John Entwistle – bass, vocals
* Keith Moon – drums, percussion

Track List:
CD1
01. Out in the Street
02. I Don’t Mind
03. The Good’s Gone
04. La-La-La Lies
05. Much Too Much
06. My Generation
07. The Kids Are Alright
08. Please, Please, Please
09. It’s Not True
10. I’m a Man
11. A Legal Matter
12. The Ox
13. Circles (Instant Party)
14. I Can’t Explain (Bonus Track)
15. Bald Headed Woman (Bonus Track)
16. Daddy Rolling Stone (Bonus Track)
CD2
01. Leaving Here (Bonus)
02. Lubie (Come Back Home) (Bonus)
03. Shout and Shimmy (Bonus)
04. Heat Wave, (Love Is Like A) (Bonus)
05. Motoring (Bonus)
06. Anytime You Want Me (Bonus)
07. Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (Bonus alternate take)
08. Instant Party Mixture (Bonus)
09. I Don’t Mind (Bonus full length version)
10. The Good’s Gone (Bonus full length version)
11. My Generation (Bonus instrumental version)
12. Anytime You Want Me (Bonus a cappella version)
13. A Legal Matter (Bonus monaural version with guitar overdub)
14. My Generation (Bonus monaural version with guitar overdub)

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