Substitute; Flipping lousy; `Bout time

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

>Yesterday I bought the Sex Pistols 'Raw' purely because it had a cover =
>of Substitute on it. It is awful. Indeed the whole recording is awful, =
>but it highlights the Who as such a great band, particularly (from what =
>I understand- I wasn't even born!) since seeing the Pistols live was =
>meant to be such a great experience.

Tom:

Get THE GREAT RnR SWINDLE by The Pistols, which has a studio version of
Substitute. It sounds great (which is to say, it sounds like The Pistols
which may not be note-perfect but is pretty damned great IMHO).
And if you haven't heard it, The Ramones do a pretty decent version on their
ACID EATERS album (as well as some other cool covers).

>I don't think you or Pete are correct here. The Beatles were master
>song writers, and their playing supported their songs perfectly.

Kevin:

Granted songwriting was their strongest suit.

>Paul McCartney never played 4,000 notes in one second, but other
>than as a stunt why would anyone want to? His bass lines are greatly
>under-rated, but not one bass-player in a thousand could play as
>well or as tastefully.

Each musician has his/her/it's unique style, and lots of performers are not
necessarily skilled but have great feel...this would be my argument about
Pete's lead, BTW...but considering Pete's entire statement (about the stereo
mix, with the vocals on one side and the music on the other which is sort of
a lousy mix too...regardless of Martin's other successes), I do think he was
talking ONLY about skill. And in that respect, I have to say John & Keith
(at least) could play rings around Paul & Ringo (and everyone else, too).
Also, I don't think there's any doubt The Who were the better live band even
in 1964 (and I have tapes to support that). The Beatles were never
considered a great live act, at least after they were signed. Hell, they
didn't even use monitors!
But hey, that's just MHO.

>Once again, the Who show up in an unlikely place.  "The Seeker" is part
>of the soundtrack to "American Beauty".

Kyle:

All I can say is it took the rest of the world 30 years to catch up with the
rest of us.