Whos Next bonus/Phish Live - verbose rambling

[teej]

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

[3-LockBox]

“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.

[Mr MidFi]

"Pure & Easy" is an awesome song, and it should have made it onto the original release. I've heard Pete say that the entire album was written around that song; it served as a fulcrum to balance the rest of the songs upon. And then, at the last minute, they took it away.

I think I posted a topic a few years ago...If you were to resequence Who's Next today, where would you place P&E and Naked Eye? They definitely don't belong at the end, where they sit now as bonus trax.

As for the Marvin Gaye cover, it's an interesting artifact and a damn good jam...but it's definitely a bonus track. It doesn't belong as part of an album, IMO.

[MasterCylinder]

"Pure & Easy" is an awesome song, and it should have made it onto the original release. I've heard Pete say that the entire album was written around that song; it served as a fulcrum to balance the rest of the songs upon. And then, at the last minute, they took it away.

Remember the Townsend SOLO album titled WHO CAME FIRST ?

It featured an excellent verion of Pure & Easy.

[teej]

Remember the Townsend SOLO album titled WHO CAME FIRST ?

It featured an excellent verion of Pure & Easy.

I'm in total agreement of "Pure and Easy," it is an emotional statement of the power of music. I can recall being thrilled to hear it as a complete song on Who Came First....since I had only ever heard the snippet at the end of "Song is Over" (Sort of like hearing all of "Kids are Allright" after only hearing the teaser on Quadrophenia first).

I also clearly remember buying my copy of WHO CAME FIRST....it was in a dark and dusty used record store and they had a non-gatefold copy for $2.99. At the time all other copies I had seen were at least $10-$20 (bear in mind this was the early 80s, this lp was long out of print and new records were selling for about $8). The vinyl was mint, and I wished it had a gatefold but I was a starving college kid and needed the music more than the gatefold. Of course, I can't remember the first time I bought my future wife flowers or other insignificant events, but buying an album? Now that's important!

[MasterCylinder]

The vinyl was mint, and I wished it had a gatefold but I was a starving college kid and needed the music more than the gatefold. Of course, I can't remember the first time I bought my future wife flowers or other insignificant events, but buying an album? Now that's important!

lol............especially a good album..............I can remember the first night I brought home a new Gerrard turntable and a new copy of CLOSE TO THE EDGE on the same night............Holy sonic orgasm ! What was that...........1973 ?

My copy of WHO CAME FIRST was not a gatefold either.

[Mr MidFi]

My copy of WHO CAME FIRST was not a gatefold either.

No, but Close to the Edge sure did. With that uber-cool Roger Dean artwork inside, too. Best de-seeding surface ever.