Portrait & MG

["Mark R. Leaman" <mleaman@sccoast.net>]

>  Mark and others, I had always assumed that "direct Hits" in Britain
> anyway was generally available in other countries.eg. The US. I have the
> same album from Europe but it's called "Portrait of The Who"

Derick:

I have that one...I ordered it years ago, to get three songs not (at the
time) released in the US: Dogs, that particular version of I'm A Boy,
and another I can't recall at the moment. But it WAS an import, and the
only way we could get it at that time.
And most of us probably didn't know of the existance of DIRECT HITS. I
know I didn't.

> Import? Although Direct Hits lacks the early major singles of The Who's
> career, I can't Explain,My Generation,AAA,The Kids are Alright, it did
> contain,Substitute,Pictures of Lily,Happy Jack, I'm A Boy, and I can See
> for Miles. Tis was released in November 1968.

The reason for this was it was the first singles and MG were on a
different label and Polydor didn't get the rights until 1970. If you
have the CD SINGLES, you'll notice that My Generation is dated 1970 and
the only one out of order.

> I see you were not too happy with Pete's use of the drum machine.

No, I was not. How many thousands of good drummers are there who would
have played with him for FREE just to be on stage with him? No excuse
for it, IMHO.

> What about
> the fact that they have been using Teleprompters for some time now! Sorry
> but i almost laughed the first time I saw Roger singing off the monitor!

I don't know why, but it doesn't bother me nearly as much. Probably
because at least they're still performing. Now if it was a taped
vocal...

> My fake stereo is:                  true mono is:
> MCAD-31330-1T small stamped 23      MCAD31330 A60603Bb  MFG BY UNT (opposite on same side)

Bruce:

I don't know what to make of this. My numbers are the same on both,
except for the stamped number (24 on the simulated stereo). Oh well. 

> The CD is louder with more bass.  The Virgin LP was made with inferior
> vinyl that goes bad after several plays says Ed hanel in his discography.
> Mine hasn't but I don't play it much since I have the original Brunswick
> and Decca (mono) albums.

I also have not played mine much, since by the time I got it I wasn't
playing MG a lot. I didn't know at the time it was the best sounding
version; I bought it merely to get I'm A Man and the long version of
TKAA, neither of which had been released here at the time.
I have recorded the album to my hard drive now, but have yet to take out
the small amount of surface noise. And then I need to assemble the
"bonus" tracks. I'll just go ahead and make it anyway; blanks are only
$2. What the Hell.
Thanks for the info!

> the original LP made Rolling Stone's
> all-time top 200) of one-hit and no-hit wonders.

Yes, I have the original (double) album. For those of you who do as
well, the first CD contains ALL of its tracks.

> Good or bad?  Which issue sounds better?  I thought my copy sounded
> at least as good as my vinyl copy of MY GENERATION.  I imagine the
> fake stereo version sucks.

Carolyn:

Not really. It sounds OK, and I may be alone in this but I LIKE it
raw-sounding. The BBC version of MG is too clean and sweet-sounding for
me. It doesn't have the power the single version had, crappy-sounding as
THAT was.
But the true mono CD (while it still has some static and hiss) sounds
just a bit better and the while I haven't done a one-to-one from the LP
(but will after I burn it if you want me to), it also sounds pretty
damned good...considering. This material and Substitute needed the remix
more than any other of The Who's songs. Second in line would be the AQO
album, which we also got short-changed on. Figures.

-- 

    "He's more like Burger King than Martin Luther King."
                            Colt Fortifeinburg on Al Sharpton

                      Cheers                ML