THE WHO IN MAY

[briancady@juno.com (Brian S Cady)]

MAY DAY! MAY DAY! THE WHO ARE ON TOUR!
And here is what they were doing on past May days:

5 Years Ago This Month

"Who Are You" is released on a Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs gold CD with
liner notes by Pete and an alternate take of "Guitar And Pen"

15 Years Ago This Month

On the 21st, Pete releases the single "Face Dances (pt. 2)" backed with
"Man Watching"

20 Years Ago This Month

On the 13th, Roger's "One Of The Boys" LP is released in Britain.  It
reaches #45 on the NME charts.
On the 14th, Roger's non-album single "Written on The Wind" backed with
"Dear John" hits the NME charts in Britain and peaks at #46.

Part 15 of Tony Palmer's history of popular music "All You Need Is Love" airs in Britain containing  several Who clips, an interview with Keith
Moon, and scenes of Moon recording his to-date unreleased "Two Sides Of
The Moon" follow-up LP.

25 Years Ago This Month

On the 2nd, Pete records his demo of "Long Live Rock" at his home in
Twickenham.

On the 13th, "Tommy (Part 1)," which is just sides 1 &2 of the "Tommy" LP
is released in Britain by Track records as a low-cost alternative.  It
features an alternate vocal for "Eyesight To The Blind."

Keith Moon finally gets his wish to play for The Beach Boys, jamming onstage with them during their concert at the Crystal Palace in London.

On the 22nd, The Who  record "Join Together" at Olympic Studios, London. 
"Relay" is recorded on the 26th.  Work begins with producer Glyn Johns on
an album that will contain the rest of the "Lifehouse" tracks.

30 Years Ago This Month

The Who arrive in Helsinki on the 1st for the beginning of a 7-day
Scandinavian tour.  Their airport arrival, a news conference and a short
bit of them singing "Substitute" onstage appears later on the "30 Years
Of Maximum R&B" video.  The other dates are the Lorensbergsparken Cirkus
in Gothenburg, Sweden (3rd), The Masshallen in Norrkoping and the
Rigoletto in Jonkoping, Sweden (4th), the Sporthallen in Eskilstuna
(5th), the Kungliga Tennishallen in Stockholm (6th) and the Sommarlust
in Kristianstad and the MFF-Stadion in Malmo (7th)

On the 10th, The Who appear on the "Top Gear" show on BBC radio

On the 13th, The Who perform at the Bognor Shoreline Hotel

The "Happy Jack" LP is released in the U.S. and reaches #51 in the
Billboard charts.  The track "Heatwave" from the European "A Quick One"
is replaced with the song "Happy Jack."

The Who were scheduled to do more recording for their new album, but it
is postponed because John breaks his finger punching a dressing room
wall after a concert in Stevenage.

On the 18th, The Who fly to Brussels for another European tour.

On the 27th, The Who perform at Oxford Pembroke College.  Keith is said
to have hurled his drum kit at the audience and, in the process, torn
his stomach muscles.  Either after this concert or on the 29th at a
recording session (there is some disagreement there), Moon collapses and
is rushed to St. George’s Hospital.

52 Years Ago This Month

On the 19th, Pete Townshend is born in Chiswick, London.

			-Brian in Atlanta