RE: BBC review of My Generation Deluxe

["Kees van Impelen" <impelen@xxxxxx>]

I regret I can't see any of the concert in the U.S tour. Today at 14.00 I
was a happy man. Just as the stores opened their doors I bought My
generation deluxe. It's really great to hear all the old songs in their new
coats. I played the disk for the rest of the day. Highlight for me are my
generation, the kids are alright, I'm a man, the ox and the a cappella
version of anytime you want me. Great to hear the much better sound. Play it
loud and if the record company brings out my generation as a single, it will
be it hit with a bullit. By the way, on the original liner notes from the
U.S. LP release is the "birdman" explained. PT must be the world's most
original guitarist and, not content with spreading both arms out and doing a
birdman with the guitar droning away .........

Together with the book :Anyway, anyhow, anywhere, the ultimate collection,
and Moon, I have a happy time summertime and enjoy all the reviews from the
other site of the ocean. Keep on writing.

I like every minute of the day. Keep on rockin' in the free world!

Crazy Keessie



-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: owner-thewho@igtc.com [mailto:owner-thewho@igtc.com]Namens Brian
Cady
Verzonden: maandag 26 augustus 2002 13:20
Aan: oddsandsods; thewho@igtc.com
Onderwerp: BBC review of My Generation Deluxe


On line at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2196313.stm

A generation revisited
By Mike Smartt
BBC News Online


The Who's first album has been re-released - again. Is
it worth buying?

Polydor, with its huge catalogue of classical music,
knows a thing or two about repackaging.
How, for instance, do you continue to make money from
a composer who lived several centuries ago and doesn't
produce anymore?

The answer is you get different orchestras and
conductors to reinterpret the masterpieces concerned -
though poor sales recently suggest there is a limit to
the different performances of a single work anyone
would want to own.

It's a bit different for pop.

Artists cover other artists' works and, occasionally,
some covers are better than the originals. In the case
of The Who though - with the notable exception of
Elton John's version of Pinball Wizard - there haven't
been many successful versions by other musicians.

The quartet's original line-up, which injected such
vitality and originality into the heady days of the
swinging sixties, will never again perform - and
haven't done since the early death of drummer Keith
Moon. Now his partner in the engine room, bassist John
Entwistle, is gone too.

High visibility

Clearly, the reissue of the group's first album - My
Generation - was planned before Entwistle's recent
demise in a Las Vegas hotel room, but the news of his
passing is bound to give this now double CD extra
visibility.

Most Who fans will already have owned the 12 tracks on
the original vinyl LP, which peaked at number five,
upgrading later to the digital version.

What Polydor has done to persuade them to buy for
third time is add all the other 18 tracks recorded
then, but which didn't make the record.

Daft

Pretty well everyone knows what My Generation sounds
like. Here you get a mono version, the stereo release
and a purely instrumental take too, which is plain
daft as more than half of the point of the song is the
lyrics.

There's only one cut of Can't Explain, which wasn't on
the original album, and maybe among the 20 best pop
singles of all time (discuss).

It was certainly a revelation on its release, the
Who's first big hit. Just two minutes and three
seconds long, precisely constructed and faultlessly
belted out.

There are other hits too, including Anyhow, Anyway,
Anywhere and The Kids are Alright - each unmistakable
Who.

Many of the tracks from the original LP, stuff like
La-La Lies and The Good's Gone, do sound more
polished, as more work from the producers was clearly
lavished upon them.

Unique

But many of the other 18 songs released only now are
just as interesting because they have a much more raw
feel, as if they were recorded in a garage or the back
room of a pub - just where they would have been
rehearsed and performed not long before the session.

Some of the slower, bluesy stuff is a bit reminiscent
of The Kinks and the poppy close-harmony answer-back
songs, like I Don't Mind (which was on the original),
are early Beatles-like.

This isn't surprising because at the time each of
these groups was including material either imported
from across the Atlantic or writing their own songs
that sounded as if they had been.

Like most groups with their first collection, The Who
were recording much of their then stage act and
beginning to include ideas they would later refine and
develop into something unique.

Thankfully much of the new, self-penned material made
it onto the first album but the songs that hit the
cutting room floor then, and are resurrected here -
including the great version of Martha and the
Vandellas' Heatwave - remind us just what a really
good rock 'n' roll band these boys were.

For those interested in the group's early days, this
is a good investment. For fans of the later Who, it's
probably not essential.


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
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