Whos Next bonus/Phish Live - verbose rambling
Had the pleasure to listen to Who's Next with the Lifehouse tracks that never made it to the lp. It was my first listen to this album in its entirety in about 10 years (a shame as I have a luscious Japanese pressing of the thing) but I was really interested in hearing the bonus stuff. I know this is old news, but I have never been current (what do you expect from a guy who listens to tubes?).
It was wonderful revisiting an album that saw near constant rotation in my life about 30 years ago. Hearing Roger sing “Pure and Easy” was a treat, and the version “Naked Eye” is as killer as the snippets we get to hear of it on Live at Leads. “Baby don’t you do it” felt more like something that would have been on one of their first lps, not from the Who’s Next era.
Overall, listening to this music made me smile, it’s an album that played a big role in the formative stages of defining this kid as a music lover. It has been neglected for years because there’s just too much new music learn about.
I then listened to (as much as I could handle) a live Phish release….vol 7 I think. I had heard this guys were meant to be heard live with improvisation like the Dead. I was looking forward to some good jams, and wasn’t disappointed in that regard. I love the lead guitar tone…some good crunch there. What terrified me was their choice of cover songs….and this may be where I just don’t get the band. Are the vocals supposed to be something to laugh at? They did Prince’s “Purple Rain” and I wondered why the sound guy didn’t mute the main vocal mic! But apparently not being able to sing a tune properly is what they have in mind because they had the audacity to tackle “Great Gig in the Sky.” Now who on earth is going to tackle Claire Torre’s pain unless you’ve a hulluva voice? The answer is: Phish. As I understand it, a vacuum cleaner figures prominently into the melody during these performances, so may be they are trying to make a statement that is going completely over my head.
Are there Phish fans here? Can you enlighten me? There’s potential in this music….I really dig some of it. But I’m not sure if I should laugh WITH these guys thinking, “this is great, they are sure are having a good time” or if I should laugh AT them thinking, “these poor dudes are oh so misguided, they should have stopped a half hour ago”
cheers,
tj
Baby don't do it, ever again...seriously
Quote:
Originally Posted by teej
“Baby don’t you do it” felt more like something that would have been on one of their first lps, not from the Who’s Next era.
I think I've heard versions of that song from Van Morrison, The Band, and I can't remember who else...I think Rod Stewart did it, as well as some female singer. I think the original performer was Marvin Gaye back in the '60s. I heard the Who's version on this bonus edition of Who's next.
What's so freakin special about this song? I don't think its all that great of a song. Yes, the writers of the song were very prolific (Holland, Dozier, Holland) but they had way better songs than this. The original was okay; most of the subsequent covers I've heard suck.