The Who
My Generation
MCA Records
088 112 926-2
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DISC ONE
THE ORIGINAL ALBUM
1. OUT IN THE STREET (Pete Townshend)
Recorded April 12-14, 1965
Originally Decca (U.S.) single 31877 (B-side), November 20, 1965
2. I DON'T MIND (James Brown)
Recorded April 12, 1965
3. THE GOOD'S GONE (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 12-13, 1965
Also Brunswick (U.K.) single 05968 (B), November 11, 1966
4. LA-LA-LA LIES (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 12-13, 1965
Also Brunswick (U.K.) single 05968 (A), November 11, 1966
5. MUCH TOO MUCH (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 12-13, 1965
6. MY GENERATION (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 13, 1965
Originally Brunswick (UK) single 05944 (A), October 29, 1965/
Also Decca (U.S.) single 31877 (A), November 20, 1965
7. THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 13, 1965
Also Brunswick (U.K.) single 05965 (A), August 12, 1966
Edited version Decca (U.S.) single 31988, July 1966
8. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (James Brown-John Terry)
Recorded April 12, 1965
9. IT'S NOT TRUE (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 12-13, 1965
10. I'M A MAN (Ellas McDaniel)
Recorded April 12, 1965
11. A LEGAL MATTER (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 12-13, 1965
Also Brunswick (UK) single 05956 (A), March 7, 1966
12. THE OX (Pete Townshend-Keith Moon-John Entwistle-Nicky Hopkins)
Recorded October 12-13, 1965
13. CIRCLES (Pete Townshend)
Recorded January 12-13, 1966
Originally released as Instant Party" on Brunswick (UK) single 05956 (B), March 7, 1966
Also on US The Who Sings My Generation album, April 25, 1966
BONUS TRACKS
14. I CAN'T EXPLAIN (Pete Townshend)
Recorded November, 1964
Originally Brunswick (U.K.) single 05926 (A), January 15, 1965/
Also Decca (U.S.) single 31725 (A), February 13, 1965
15. BALD HEADED WOMAN (Shel Talmy)
Recorded November, 1964
Originally Brunswick (U.K.) single 05926 (B), January 15, 1965/
Also Decca (U.S.) single 31725 (B), February 13, 1965
16. DADDY ROLLING STONE (Otis Blackwell)
Recorded April 12, 1965
Originally Brunswick (U.K.) single 05935 (B), May 21, 1965
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DISC TWO
1. LEAVING HERE (ALTERNATE)* (Brian Holland-Lamont Dozier-Edward Holland Jr.)
Recorded April 13-14, 1965
2. LUBIE (COME BACK HOME) (Paul Revere-Mark Lindsay)
Recorded April 13-14, 1965
3. SHOUT AND SHIMMY (James Brown)
Recorded April 12, 1965
Originally Brunswick (U.K.) single 05944 (B), October 29, 1965
4. (LOVE IS LIKE A) HEAT WAVE (Brian Holland-Lamont Dozier-Edward Holland Jr.)
Recorded April 12, 1965
5. MOTORING (Ivy Hunter-Phil Jones-William "Mickey" Stevenson)
Recorded April 14, 1965
6. ANYTIME YOU WANT ME (Meade a/k/a Jerry Ragavoy-Garnett Mimms)
Recorded April 13-14, 1965
Originally Decca (U.S.) single 31801 (B), June 5, 1965
7. ANYHOW ANYWHERE ANYWAY (ALTERNATE)** (Pete Townshend-Roger Daltrey)
Recorded April 13-14, 1965
8. INSTANT PARTY MIXTURE* (Pete Townshend)
Recorded January 12-13, 1966
9. I DON'T MIND (FULL LENGTH VERSION)* (James Brown)
Recorded April 12, 1965
10. THE GOOD'S GONE (FULL LENGTH VERSION)* (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 12-13, 1965
11. MY GENERATION (INSTRUMENTAL VERSION)* (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 13, 1965
12. ANYTIME YOU WANT ME (A CAPPELLA VERSION)*
(Meade a/k/a Jerry Ragavoy-Garnet Mimms)
Recorded April 13-14, 1965
MONAURAL VERSIONS WITH GUITAR OVERDUBS
13. A LEGAL MATTER (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 12-13, 1965
Originally Brunswick (U.K.) single 05956 (A), March 7, 1966
14. MY GENERATION (Pete Townshend)
Recorded October 13, 1965
Originally Brunswick (U.K.) single 05944 (A), October 29, 1965
Also Decca (U.S.) single 31877 (A), November 20, 1965
* Previously Unreleased
** Previously Released Only On French E.P
_____________________________________________________________________
All Tracks Produced by Shel Talmy
All
tracks recorded at IBC Studios, London, England except "I Can't
Explain" and "Bald Headed Woman," recorded at Pye Studios, London.
_____________________________________________________________________
THE WHO:
Roger Daltrey - lead vocals
John Entwistle - bass, vocals
Pete Townshend - guitar, vocals
Keith Moon - drums, percussion
ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL:
Nicky Hopkins - piano (except on "I Can't Explain")
The Ivy League - background vocals ("I Can't Explain" and "Bald Headed Woman" only)
Perry Ford - piano ("I Can't Explain" only)
Jimmy Page - guitar ("Bald Headed Woman" only)
_____________________________________________________________________
The original British release of "My Generation" LP comprised of
tracks 1 to 12 on CD One and was Brunswick Records LAT 8616, December
3, 1965.
The American release was entitled "The Who Sings My
Generation" and was comprised of tracks 1 to 9, 11 to 13, CD One. It
was issued as Decca DL 4664 (mono) and DL7-4664 (stereo), April 25,
1966.
"Deluxe Edition" Produced by Shel Talmy & Andy McKaie
Stereo Remixes Produced by Shel Talmy
Executive Producers: Bill Curbishley & Robert Rosenberg
The Who Management: Bill Curbishley, Trinifold Management, London, England
Remixed at Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, CA
Remix Engineer: Steve Katz
Digitally remastered by Erick Labson, Universal Mastering - West, No. Hollywood, CA
Art Direction: Vartan
Design: Meire Murakami
CD Label Design: Mike Diehl
Photo Credits: ©David Wedgbury: outer package: cover and all group
photos/booklet: cover, back cover, pgs. 2, 4, 7, and 9; ©Colin
Jones/idols: pgs. 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, and 22; Jean Louis
Rancurel: pg. 8 Courtesy of Barry Hansen: 45 single sleeves pg. 24;
Courtesy of Matt Kent: release sheets pgs. 25, and 26
Original LP covers: Courtesy of Barry Hansen and Dana Smart
Outer package:
All group photos are from the original LP photo session
Original liner notes from the U.S. LP release complete with misspellings of artists' names
Original master tape boxes from the Universal Music Vaults
Production Coordination: Margaret Goldfarb
Legal Clearances: Kelly Martinez
Great input: Matt Kent, Andy Neill
Thanks to Ed Abbott, Chris Charlesworth, Bill Levenson, Mike Ragogna, Bill Waddell, and Richard Weiner.
© 2002 MCA Records 088 112 926-2
_____________________________________________________________________
HOW MY GENERATION CAME ABOUT
BY MIKE SHAW
THE WHO'S FIRST PRODUCTION MANAGER
This is my story, as I remember it.
It was 1964 and I had been working in the theatre for a couple of years.
I was a lighting technician at the Hippodrome in Bristol when I
got a phone call from my old friend Chris Stamp. He told me that he and
a friend called Kit Lambert were thinking of making a film about rock
'n' roll, and they wanted to find a group to feature in the film. Would
I like to help them? It seemed a good idea at the time, so I came back
to London and took a job at the Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue.
A few weeks later Chris introduced me to Kit Lambert. Socially
they were worlds apart. Chris, the son of a Thames tug-boatman, was a
streetwise East-ender while Kit, the son of a classical composer, was
Public School and an ex-Army officer. They were both Assistant Film
Directors, and they had met on several locations. Besides the cinema,
they shared an interest in music, but the bond between them was really
their creative vision and energy which led to their desire to make an
authentic film on rock 'n' roll. So the quest began.
But on stage, everything changed. Keith would beat his drums
into submission, John's bass was so loud it loosened your fillings, and
Peter's screaming feedback could restart batteries. Meanwhile, Roger
put all of this raw aggression into words. They were so exciting that
Kit and Chris decided to put the film on hold and manage them instead.
After cutting their hair and smartening them up a bit we found
that with good stage lighting they didn't look too bad, so we bought a
furniture van, piled them and my lighting rig in the back, renamed them
back to The Who and set off down the road.
It was now 1965, and England was the centre of the universe as
far as fashion, art, film and pop music - the soundtrack of our
memories - was concerned. Names like Mary Quant, Vidal Sassoon, David
Bailey, Biba, Jean Shrimpton, Terence Stamp (Chris's brother) and Julie
Christie were synonymous with cool, the In Crowd. Tourists came to gape
and shop in King's Road and Carnaby Street. London was the place to be.
There were nightclubs opening up, The Ad-Lib, The Cromwellian and The
Scotch of St. James, where all the celebrities went for late night
entertainment and to be seen.
In the music world, The Beatles were Number One. They were
still top of the charts, about to make their second film Help!, and be
awarded M.B.E's by Harold Wilson. But the Merseybeat boom was fading,
the Northern sound was still there with bands like The Hollies, The
Searchers and The Animals, but London was hitting back, first with The
Rolling Stones and The Dave Clark Five and now with The Kinks, The
Yardbirds, and, fortunately for us, The Who. A newcomer to the charts
in '65 was Bob Dylan with "The Times They Are A Changin'." For The Who
they certainly were.
The year had started with Chris going to Norway to work on
another film, The Heroes Of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas. He did
this to earn some money so that we could pay the group their guaranteed
£25.00 a week and to cover our running costs which were pretty high, as
the climax of most performances saw Peter smashing his guitar into his
speakers and Keith wrecking his drums. Kit would also make what he
could at London's casinos. His winnings, plus what the band were
earning, just about kept us going.
Before Chris had left for the fjords, he and Kit had arranged
for The Who to do a residency at the Marquee Club in Wardour Street
every Tuesday, so each night, Chris, Anya Butler, our secretary and
confidante, and I would tour the streets of London, fly-posting the
event and handing out complimentary tickets. Within weeks, The Who had
broken the box-office record set by Manfred Mann and the music press
started to take notice. In an effort to build up a bigger following for
the band, we started doing our own promotions, featuring them and a
support group at the Florida Rooms in Brighton. To try and encourage
East London support, we put them on at the Red Lion in Walthamstow, but
this proved too time consuming so we shelved it.
At around the same time Anya had introduced Chris and Kit to
Shel Talmy, an American record producer who was having great success
with The Kinks. Chris and Kit played him a song that Peter had written
called "I Can't Explain." They knew that if they could get The Who a
record deal, everything would escalate. A deal was made with Shel who
took their tapes to American Decca. In the U.K. The Who's records would
be released on the Brunswick label.
Things were starting to happen. We started promoting the single
with posters and freebies in areas where the group were popular. It was
played on Radio Caroline, the pirate station, and Chris and Kit invited
Vicki Wickham and Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the producers of the hip TV
show Ready, Steady, Go!, down to the Marquee. As soon as the single
made the charts The Who were on television.
With the success of the single, the gigs started to improve. We
moved our office from the block where we had shared the lift with
Andrew 'Loog' Oldham and The Rolling Stones to an apartment in Eaton
Place in Belgravia. Peter moved into a flat just up the road in Chesham
Place. After Chris and Kit gave him two Vortexion tape recorders so
that he could use double-tracking, he started writing more songs. Once
the second single, "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere," was released there was no
problem in getting on television as they were such a visually exciting
group. They were on Thank Your Lucky Stars, Ready, Steady, Go! and,
once it had made the charts, Top Of The Pops.
We were also working six nights a week, and as I was handling
the bookings, I made sure that we rested on the seventh day whenever
possible, to get our washing done. With the success of the records, the
venues had stepped up a notch. We were now out of the pub circuit and
into colleges and up-market gigs, like the Bath Pavilion, the
California Ballroom in Dunstable, the Ricky-Tick in Windsor and the Red
Shoes Ballroom in Elgin.
Although things were starting to look good, there was friction
within the group. As the audiences got bigger, Peter, John and Keith
got louder, much to the detriment of Roger's voice which would often
need reviving with a swig of Southern Comfort. It seemed that either
they were under the influence of the pills that they were dropping or
they were deliberately trying to annoy Roger, but either way it caused
many an argument. With "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere" having been a hit, we
went abroad to do some shows and TV appearances in Holland, Sweden and
Denmark. After a gig at The Moo-Cow bar in Hamlet's home town of
Helsingor on September 25, 1965, Keith and Roger came to blows. When we
came back, Chris and Kit had a group meeting to discuss the various
problems, and Roger decided that for the sake of the group's future, he
would be Peaceful Perce. For a drop in volume where possible, life
would go on.
All the while Peter had been writing, and with my help he was
composing some very good songs, so there were plans to make an album.
Chris knew that with the group's success throughout the year there were
doors to be opened in America, and this album could be the key. With
one song in particular, Chris and Kit knew that Peter was making a real
statement about himself, the group and the youth of the day, and this
feeling had to come out of the record. This song was "My Generation,"
soon to become an anthem for young people everywhere, talking 'bout
their generation.
Shel Talmy was a good producer but Kit and Chris wanted The
Who's records to have the same feeling that was generated when the band
were on stage. So, once Shel had booked recording time for the album,
they booked alternative time at the City of London and Lansdowne
Studios and rehearsed the new numbers, especially "My Generation," so
that The Who knew exactly how they would sound when they went in with
Shel.
The result was this first album from a group that was on the
road to becoming one of the greatest rock bands in the world, and it
all happened because Chris Stamp & Kit Lambert, a pair of
visionaries in the truest sense of the word, wanted to make a rock 'n'
roll film.
_____________________________________________________________________
PRODUCER SHEL TALMY
ON THE "MY GENERATION" SESSIONS AND ALBUM
"Initially, a young lady named Anya Butler, who was working part-time
for me, knew Kit Lambert, and he was interested in meeting me because
I'd produced The Kinks who were having chart hits. Anya set up a
meeting, and I went to see the band rehearse in a church hall in, I
believe, Shepherd's Bush. Right away, I knew I was hearing the hardest,
most authentic rock band I'd yet heard in all of England and that I
wanted to work with them, so I signed them to my production company.
"We reviewed a lot of songs before we chose the one we wanted
to record for the first session. The one I really liked was 'I Can't
Explain,' but the demo was only a minute and a half long, so when we
rehearsed it, I had them add another chorus and guitar break. At the
time, the band weren't handling the backing vocals very well, so I
brought in the Ivy League, a 3 piece harmony group who had a record in
the charts.
"The band was great in the studio. We recorded live of course
and got the tracks down in very few takes, as they were that good. I
still think that Keith Moon was the greatest rock drummer of all time
and combined with John Entwistle's great bass work, Pete's signature
guitar licks and unique sound and Roger Daltrey's outstanding vocals,
it was obvious they were going to be a superstar band.
"I first took the single to British Decca, but just like they
did when I'd previously brought in Manfred Mann and Georgie Fame, they
passed!
"Then I got a contact to U.S. Decca, which was a
completely different company to the British label, and played it for
them and they 'liked' it.
"I have to interject here that U.S. Decca was run by all these
older gentlemen, in their '60s and 70s, who were extremely nice and
desperately trying to 'get with' what was happening in rock at the
time. I doubted they knew what they were buying and had little or no
understanding of the music, but they were so eager for it to succeed, I
agreed to the deal.
"Ironically, in the U.K., they were distributed by British
Decca via the Brunswick label, so you can imagine the chagrin at
British Decca when The Who were a hit band and the label was left with
egg on its face once again.
"We next delivered the 'Anyway Anyhow Anywhere' single, and they then wanted an album.
"In those days, the labels required that the group record familiar,
well-known songs (like 'Heat Wave,' 'Please Please Please,' etc.), to
be included on the LR I went along with it, but I was particularly
enamored with Pete's songs, and I would have been happy to do the
entire LP with just them. I always said that, along with Lennon and
McCartney, I was lucky enough to have the two best songwriters of the
time - Pete and Ray Davies (of The Kinks)."
_____________________________________________________________________
ABOUT MY GENERATION
BY ANDY NEILL
My Generation
surely ranks as the most explosive rock 'n' roll debut album ever
committed to plastic. Recorded hit and run style on two separate
occasions in 1965, its 12 tracks ooze the kind of unique Who sturm und
drang which had been consolidated over a 16-week Tuesday night stretch
at London's Marquee Club.
Like most mid-'60s debut albums, its conception was familiar
enough. After the requisite hit single, group enters studio shattered
from road fatigue, hammers out stage repertoire with maximum gusto (to
minimum expense) for mercenary record company to have said product on
the shelves before the brats find something else to spend their bread
on. My Generation was no exception, but The Who were fortunate to have
a maverick producer like Shel Talmy at the controls.
An American ex-pat Talmy first saw The Who going through their
paces at a Shepherd's Bush hall towards the end of 1964. "You just
listened to them for five minutes, and you knew these guys had
something," he told Bob Edmands. "Their energy, their attack - which
groups (in Britain) did not have then." Originally from Chicago, Talmy
started his recording career at Conway Studios in Los Angeles, working
as an engineer on records by The Checkmates, The Marketts, Little
Richard and Billy Eckstine, among others. Arriving in England in 1962,
he talked his way into a job with Decca and his first production for
the company - "Lollipops And Roses" by Doug Sheldon - was followed by
The Bachelors hit, "Charmaine." On the lookout for the right act he had
unsuccessfully offered Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames and Manfred
Mann to Decca before being successfully vindicated with The Kinks,
recording them as an independent for Pye Records.
It was Talmy's work with that North London four-piece that
initially aroused the interest of The Who's management team, Kit
Lambert and Chris Stamp. A friend of Anya Butler (Lambert's personal
assistant) worked part-time for Talmy, therefore paving the way for
their divergent paths to cross.
"When we recorded, I just tried to get down to translating their
live sound to record..." Talmy remembers. "I heard 'I Can't Explain' as
a one minute 30 second demo (cut at the Marquee studios and played down
the phone to him by Who associate Mike Shaw)."
Pete Townshend later admitted he structured The Who's first single
as a Kinks derivative to attract Talmy's interest. "He (Talmy) came
down, heard 'I Can't Explain' and said that's the one. We did other
numbers, but that was the only real original we had and he wanted
something original." Upon entering Pye Studios in November 1964, the
group found hired session musicians on hand, including Birmingham vocal
trio The Ivy League who contributed the high back-up harmonies. "Jimmy
Page was there to play lead. He nearly played the solo on the A-side
but it was so simple, even I could play it," Townshend asserts. (Talmy
says that Page was never there to play lead, only additional rhythm.)
According to John Entwistle, Pete played his Rickenbacker 12-string on
"I Can't Explain" while the single's B-side, "Bald Headed Woman,"
features Page's fretwork due to his refusal to lend Townshend his
fuzzbox. (The aural evidence from this new remix confirms this version
of events with Page's licks particularly audible on the extended fade.
Ivy League member Perry Ford's piano part on "I Can't Explain" can now
be heard more clearly also.)
Talmy signed a one-off deal to record The Who for American Decca,
with Brunswick as their British outlet. With the eventual Top 10
success in Britain of "I Can't Explain" (#8 in April '65), the producer
put The Who through their paces over successive afternoons in
preparation for an album's worth of material. "I would go to the
rehearsal and work out the arrangements there and then," Talmy
confirms, "because time was money, and I was paying for everything."
For his engineer, Talmy had the right man in Glyn Johns, a singer
with the London group The Presidents and a soloist for Decca, who
produced the Rolling Stones' first demo tape at IBC Studios, on
Portland Place, where Talmy did most of his work. Augmenting the group
was 20-year old pianist Nicky Hopkins who had played stints with
Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages and the Cyril Davies R&B
All-Stars (alongside Jimmy Page) until (like Page) frail health moved
him into the busy session world.
Recording for the proposed Who album started at IBC on Friday 19
March, continuing again between 12-14 April. The programme featured
material from the cream of US soul and R&B: Bo Diddley's "I'm A
Man," radically revamped and elongated from Bo's original arrangement
and a platform for experimental feedback techniques and autodestruction
when the group performed it live; "Shout And Shimmy," "Please, Please,
Please," and "I Don't Mind" (the full version of the latter is included
as a bonus track) by James Brown (a particular favourite of singer
Daltrey); "Daddy Rolling Stone," originally performed by its composer
Otis Blackwell but The Who's cover was based on Derek Martin's version;
and Garnet Mimm's "Anytime You Want Me," also included as a bonus a
cappella vocal track (a revelation in that Roger could handle such
expressive material with confidence, while giving the lie to his own
harsh assessment of his early vocal abilities). John and Pete's backing
vocals have also improved - no need to enlist The Ivy League on this
occasion! The Tamla-Motown so beloved of The Who and other London mod
groups was represented by Martha and the Vandellas' "Heat Wave" and
Eddie Holland's "Leaving Here" (included with an alternate vocal to the
version first released on the 1985 MCA compilation Who's Missing).
"Louie Go Home," an obscure Paul Revere and The Raiders song amended to
"Lubie (Come Back Home)," and a Townshend original, "You're Going To
Know Me" (retitled "Out In The Street"), completed the picture.
In the April 17th issue of Record Mirror, Kit Lambert announced
"the album will be released as soon as possible by Decca in the U.S.A.
and may be split into EPs by Polydor for release in France. The next
single has been cut and is due for issue in late May." That single -
another UK Top 10 hit - was "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere" - a highly
idiosyncratic record by the standards of 1965. (The version included as
a bonus track inadvertently slipped out on a French EP release, and
features markedly different lead and backing vocals.)
For the "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere" session Talmy recalls, "I used
three mikes to ensure that I could capture the natural room reverb and
signal delays; one right on the amp, one three to four feet away and
another angled way back into the room. Then I mixed the inputs to mono
and compressed it. When I sent the tape to Decca in America, they said
I delivered a faulty master because there were all these strange noises
on it. I had to assure them that this was the way it was meant to
sound!"
The intended July release of the album in America was subsequently
postponed after a disparaging review appeared in the monthly musician's
magazine Beat Instrumental. Columnist John Emery was played a
nine-track acetate, emanating from the March-April sessions. Emery's
adverse comments about the paucity of original material were taken to
heart. The tapes were placed on the back burner while The Who took
stock of the situation. In a burst of bravado, Lambert told Disc: "The
Who are having serious doubts about the state of R&B. Now the LP
material will consist of hard pop. They've finished with 'Smokestack
Lightning.'" Lambert encouraged Pete to come up with original material,
frequently checking into the guitarist's Belgravia flat to offer
opinions on the compositions Townshend was starting to prolifically pen.
It wasn't until October 12th that a two-day session at IBC was
booked to remake the album. With the same team of Talmy, Johns and
Hopkins, the group cut Townshend originals "La-La-La Lies" (tailored to
sound similar to the light, Latin-style hits written by Chris Andrews
for UK singer Sandie Shaw), "Much Too Much," "It's Not True," "A Legal
Matter" (sung by Pete, either because Daltrey found the vocal line
above his range or possibly due to the protagonist's predicament
closely mirrored his own real life marital discord too closely!), "The
Good's Gone" who's ringing chords were inspired by the droning sound of
The Kinks' "See My Friends" (the extended, hypnotic coda has been
restored as a previously unreleased bonus track), and "The Ox," a
pounding surf instrumental inspired by The Surfaris' "Waikiki Run,"
where the worlds of foam and feedback collide in one glorious din.
Remarkably, two of the strongest songs on the album (and indeed
within The Who's canon) - "My Generation" and "The Kids Are Alright" -
were recorded in an overnight session on October 13th. Stories are
legion surrounding the creation of "My Generation." Originally a Jimmy
Reed-influenced demo, the song was nearly passed over until Chris Stamp
spotted its potential. Over the course of several rehearsals and demos,
it altered into its recognizable form complete with stutter and upward
key changes. The final session was a costly one for John Entwistle. "I
bought this Danelectro bass and it had these tiny, thin wirewound
strings on. They were so thin, they sounded just like a piano, an
unbelievably clear sound. The only thing was that you couldn't buy
these strings. When we recorded 'My Generation,' I ended up with three
of these Danelectros just for the strings. The last one I had, the
string busted before we actually got into the studio to re-record it,
so I did it on a Fender Jazz in the end with tape-wound La Bella
strings."
As always, the band started by cutting the basic track, and this is
presented as a bonus in its raw form, proving that the Who's inimitable
ensemble precision was fully interlocking from that first take. While
Daltrey added his suitably snarly, stuttering vocal and John and Pete,
the backing refrain and handclaps, Pete set up his speaker stack and
added additional guitar overdubs. (Unfortunately many of his edit
pieces appear lost and therefore weren't available for this remix. To
remedy the situation, the original mono mixes of "My Generation" and "A
Legal Matter" have been added as 'compare and contrast' bonuses.)
On October 29th, "My Generation" was released, reaching #2 in the
British charts, being kept off the coveted pole position by The Seekers
lachrymose ballad "The Carnival Is Over." The My Generation album
belatedly reached record stores on Friday December 3rd, and eventually
reached #5 on the LP charts. As well as the fruits of the October
sessions, Talmy elected to include "Out In The Street," "I Don't Mind,"
"Please, Please, Please" and "I'm A Man" from the original scrapped
album. At the time, the group felt the album represented a past phase
in their development and were less than charitable in the music press
(although, with hindsight, this may have also had a lot to do with
their growing disenchantment with Talmy.) In Record Mirror Townshend
took the opportunity of a track-by-track breakdown to lambast it at
every turn, while in Disc, Moon stated "I particularly like 'Kids,'
'The Good's Gone,' 'It's Not True' and 'La-La-La Lies.' Some of the old
tracks are disgusting though." In 1971, Daltrey told Gary Herman, "That
(album) was after playing blues for two years... and it was very
scrappily done... It wasn't like we were on stage... That album was
recorded very quickly and very cheaply, and it wasn't really what we
we're all about."
In the New Year, The Who set about recording their proposed fourth
single, "Circles", with "Instant Party Mixture" - a Dion & The
Belmonts/Bobby Boris Pickett-style pastiche with in-joke references to
pot, pills and "sausage and mash" - London rhyming slang for a certain
substance - intended as it's throwaway B-side (released here for the
first time). Talmy was still on board, but thanks to a personality
clash with Kit Lambert and the group's displeasure with their royalty
situation, his days were increasingly numbered. On February 12th Melody
Maker reported that "Circles," intended for release the following day,
had been withdrawn and the following week, the paper reported that The
Who had jumped ship from Decca/Brunswick to Robert Stigwood's Reaction
label. Talmy immediately claimed breach of contract - one of his
arguments being that he'd produced only hits for the band.
On March 4th, "Circles" became the subject of a very real legal
matter when a re-recorded version crept out as the B-side to two
different releases of The Who's new single, "Substitute"; one of which
was confusingly credited as "Instant Party". Talmy claimed ownership of
the track in the High Court, and the record was injuncted temporarily.
The Talmy-produced version was released in England as the B-side to
Brunswick's loss-cutting single release of "A Legal Matter" - an ironic
choice - and in America, added to The Who Sings My Generation album (in
place of "I'm A Man," possibly due to the latter's line "when I get you
in bed darling" which was cut from certain overseas pressings).
The various legal disputes have been at the core of the absence of
My Generation from The Who's reissue programme for some time, but with
all parties on board, this Deluxe Edition is the first time that the
tracks have been remixed into stereo from the original three-track
master tapes. While the band themselves originally disowned it, My
Generation remains, for many, the ultimate Who album and the closest to
encapsulating that early rawness that was effortlessly unleashed on
stage night after night. Play It Loud!
ANDY NEILL
(co-author, with Matt Kent, of Anyway Anyhow
Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle Of The Who 1958 - 1978, published
2002 by Barnes & Noble).
