The Who and the Pink Floyd

[Tsi-ku <tsi-ku@rocketmail.com>]

Hello,
  Apparently some of you on this list are also Floyd fans, and I thought
you might enjoy this.  For those who are not, please forgive me for
taking up the bandwidth.  I got permission for the author to post this. 
Enjoy. :-)

> Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 17:34:47 EDT
> From: Indicaa <Indicaa@aol.com>
> Subject: the who and the pink floyd: 'lost in the woods'
 
>   Another change in direction came in the form of hearing the Who. The
Who had
>  begun around the same time as the Floyd, with Townshend also enrolled
in art
>  school.  The influences were similar, mostly R&B, plus the Shadows and
Stax.
>  The Who's brilliant guitarist, Pete Townshend, handling lead and
rhythm roles
>  simultaneously, as Barrett would, had an eclectic ear, listening to
Beach Boys
>  records, Motown and contemporaries such as the Yardbirds or the Animals.
>  Fueled by the purple heart amphetamine tablets prevalent in the Mod
subculture
>  they came out of, the Who began to pound their own compositions with
great
>  volume and force.  A comparison of their 1964 'I'm the Face' (recorded
as the
>  High Numbers) and their February 1965 'I Can't Explain' shows a marked
>  progression in clean, aggressive guitar lines, what artist Pearce
Marchbank
>  summed up as the very epitome of Pop Art injected into music. 
Townshend was
>  literally trying to make pop singles into art, not in a pretentious
way, but
>  mirroring the audacious colours and size of a Rauschenberg painting. 
>  
>   The formidable rhythm section of bassist John Entswhile and brilliant
drummer
>  Keith Moon provided Townshend with a firm base on which to take
excursions on
>  guitar.  Their live set at clubs like the Marquee became legendary for
their
>  full bore 15 minute covers of Motown songs.  On-stage at the Marquee,
the Who
>  would use a heavy guitar attack, differing from the singles they had
issued,
>  and giving them a chance to work out ideas at length and high volume. 
Barrett
>  was listening, and Townshend's long drawn out distorted solos made a
strong
>  impression on him.  Roger Waters affirmed that, 'I'm sure it was the
noises
>  that Pete Townshend was making then, squeaks and feedback, that
influenced
>  Syd, so we started making strange noises instead of doing the blues.'
>  
>    The watershed was the Who's single 'Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere',
released on
>  May 21st.  In his biography of the Who, Before I Get Old, Dave Marsh
relates
>  how Townshend, the band's guitarist, had been lying around at home,
stoned,
>  listening to Charlie Parker. The sheer freedom in Parker's solos
stirred him
>  to scribble the phrase 'anyway, anyhow, anywhere' on a piece of paper.
 In the
>  morning, realising it was an apt summation of the freewheeling spirit of
>  London in 1965, Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey penned lyrics that
>  celebrated the new youth's defiantly energetic attitude.  Within
months it was
>  the theme song for television's pop show Ready, Steady, Go!, heralding
the
>  arrival of the weekend.  The single was a mjaor influence for Syd
Barrett not
>  because of its lyrics but because of its astonishing barrage of guitar
>  pyrotechnics.  It is perhaps the single greatest forerunner of Barrett's
>  emergent style.  Townshend unleashes epic squalls of then-shocking
feedback,
>  doing distortion laden glissandos and manic Morse codes blips to the
>  accompaniment of drummer Keith Moon matching every note with crazed drum
>  rolls.  Barrett's ears instantly perked up.  'Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere'
>  provided the outline for Barrett's course over the next year, as he
began to
>  experiment, raise the volume, and not worry so much about playing tidy
solos,
>  listening instead to the sound of his own 'intuitive groove'.  
>  
>  
>  (from 'Lost in the Woods', the new Syd Barrett biography, due on 5
June from
>  Boxtree/Macmillan U.K.)
>  
>  'Lost in the Woods' web site (with ordering info):
>  http://www.geocities.com/vienna/strasse/2724

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