Halifax Daily News review of My Generation

[Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

On line at:
http://www.canada.com/halifax/aroundtown/story.asp?id={BB46CECF-92CA-4174-99C7-61A870903F9B}

Who's tough as nails?
This deluxe set is a must-have for fans of a legendary
rock band
  
By Ron Foley Macdonald  
The Daily News 

My Generation: Deluxe Edition (MCA/Universal)  The
Who

Pity the new recording artists who are trying to inch
their way into a spectacularly crowded music market.
Not only are they competing with a zillion other
artists, they fight a rearguard action against box
sets, re-issues and deluxe editions of essential
albums.

One such must-have album is MCA/Universals two-CD
reissue of The Whos mid-1960s debut, My Generation.
Previously available as a flat-sounding budget CD that
barely did justice to the extraordinary music held
captive within its laser grooves, this new twin set
finally completes the unfinished picture that was 
and is  the phenomenon known as The Who.

With the passing this summer of bassist John
Entwistle, the band has decided to soldier on towards
its fourth decade with a new sense of purpose and,
rumour would have it, a new album in the works. Until
then, the re-issue of My Generation will provide
fanatics with more than enough terrific music to keep
the flames of fandom burning.

While The Who started out as a crass copy of The
Kinks, The Who soon developed a radical sound of their
own. Taking the limited four-piece-rock-band dynamic
well beyond established limits, the London quartet
soon made such an impact on the British music scene
that a whole social movement  The Mods  revolved
around them.

The Whos mod anthems  My Generation, Anyhow,
Anytime, Anywhere, I Cant Explain and The Kids Are
Alright  became rallying points for the sharp-dressed
teens of Swinging London. What you get to hear on the
new twin-CD version besides those classics is the
hard-edged soul music that made up the bulk of the
bands blistering live sets in their early days,
including such ripping Motown tunes as Heatwave and
Leaving Here; stomping Bo Diddly workouts such as Im
A Man; and the Isley-Brothers-style call-and-response
party item Shout And Shimmy. All of these hip-shaking
standards, delivered with feverish intensity over
endless live sets in steamy clubs like the legendary
Marquee in London, help make the reissued My
Generation the definitive mod album.

The sound is spiffed up, the packaging is immaculate
and the copious notes (by the bands first production
manager Mike Shaw and Who biographer Andy Neill) help
recreate the period without weighing the project down
with unnecessary detail.

And of course, you get the music of Pete Townshend as
interpreted by Keith Moon, Roger Daltrey, John
Entwistle and Townshend himself (with keyboard
assistance from Kinks/Stones piano man Nicky Hopkins).
Tough as nails and tight as a fist, The Who rank with
the greatest rock groups of all time. The music on the
deluxe edition of My Generation will show you just
exactly why. 



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