siLLy puPPy The premise of the THE WHO’s third album THE WHO SELL OUT was to create an entire concept based around the idea of mocking pirate radio stations by crafting songs completely about commercial products along with jingles however the reality of the situation became more of a continuation of the psychedelic mod rock leanings that had launched THE WHO into the top ranks of the British Invasion. Intended to produce a touch of irony given that THE WHO really was making real commercials at the time, the album showcased an early concept album that along with The Beatles’ “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” amongst other releases of the era would propel the rock music paradigm into the ever greater sophistication culminating in the progressive rock era of the early 1970s.

As a concept album, THE WHO SELL OUT features faux commercials and jingles which found THE WHO pummeled with lawsuits for using snippets of Radio London jingles without permission as well as using trademarked branding such as Odorono without the company’s expressed legal consent. Legal matters aside THE WHO SELL OUT continued the band’s smashing success that it had been building since it’s mod rock debut only steering its style into the more contemporary sounds of psychedelia. The result was the acid trip opener “Armenia City In The Sky” and the top 10 hit (both US and UK) “I Can See For Miles” which would become the band’s highest chart hit in the USA. Musically speaking THE WHO SELL OUT is a 60s psychedelic pop rock album through and through with catchy hooks and jangly guitar riffs laced with psychedelic icing on the cake.

Primarily an album written by Pete Townshend who was becoming bolder and more experimental in his songwriting approach, THE WHO SELL OUT served as that transition album between the band’s early mod rock years and the more sophisticated art rock that would soon follow with the rock opera “Tommy.” While the album retains the immediacy of its predecessors with short snappy songs, the lyrics presented a humorous side to the band as heard on the tracks “Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand” which infers to the double entendre of female masturbation to the more overt tribute to skin art as Daltrey tenderly sings to his “Tattoo.” The tracks end in radio jingles with the track “Heinz Baked Beans” entirely dedicated to the album’s theme. “Odorono” poses are a real psychedelic rock track but reveals itself to be a hidden parody of the deodorant which was apparently popular during the day.

The album’s diversity is its strength with “Armenia City In The Sky” opening and serving as the only track not written by the band but by Speedy Keen who also guests as the second vocalist. Likewise Townshend, Entwhistle and Moon all find moments of lead singer glory as Daltrey takes a backseat presumably adding some of the extra percussion he is credited for. The album flows together remarkably well although some tracks like “Silas Stingy” seem a little too silly for their own good, a trait that Entwhistle delivered to the band’s persona and while some tracks like “Boris The Spider” were welcome comedic relief, “Stingy” seems more like an unnecessary kids’ song added for prosperity. The album closes with the nice double tracked “Rael” which features the most arty rock mix of the album and paves the way for what the band would dish out in the future. The overall effect is an interesting glimpse into the commercial world of 1960s Britain and a taste of what the public was exposed to in the mass media on a daily basis which is something most band’s tried to escape.

Overall this album was a grower for me. While a few songs stuck out initially it took me a while to “tune in” to the time and place to get the proper context of the music at hand. After letting it all soak in and not unfairly comparing it to modern bands and recording techniques, the album is surprisingly endearing and ranks as one of THE WHO’s earliest success stories as well as the first album to feature some sort of consistency from beginning to end. Even the lesser tracks hold up fairly well despite the silly lyrics. The album achieved a stream of consciousness approach that was developing in 1967 and would become the standard for many rock albums of the future. While not the peak of the band’s career, it’s certainly one of the more entertaining earlier editions, at least one that has grown on me substantially over the years.

siLLy puPPy After taking the world by storm as a part of the British Invasion of the USA and abroad, THE WHO didn’t lose any traction after a series of singles and its debut release “My Generation" which catapulted the band up to the top of the charts. The band didn’t waste any time with a proper followup which came in the form of A QUICK ONE which slipped in the calendar year 1966 in December exactly a year after the debut. The album finds THE WHO moving beyond its mod R&B style of the debut and unusual in that guitarist Pete Townsend who was the primary songwriter stepped down and let the other members contribute songs, presumably due to time constraints resulting from touring schedules.

There are actually two versions of this album. As was the case with all the big acts coming from the UK, this album features a US release that was retitled HAPPY JACK and the original UK release titled A QUICK ONE. The only difference is that the US version featured the top 40 song “Happy Jack” whereas the UK version lacks this song and instead has the unusual cover song “Heat Wave” which was a huge hit for Martha & The Vandellas. Other than that the album pretty much follows the same track order and same quirkiness which found the band stepping out of its streamlined 60s mod pop and started experimenting. While not a full blown art rock album that the band would become famous for, A QUICK ONE certainly is a quirky and unexpected sophomore release from one of the British Invasion’s most popular acts.

The album starts innocently enough with the catchy “Run, Run, Run” which implies a return to the same mod pop rock that was the staple of “My Generation” but the album throws a curve ball with the second track “Boris The Spider” which was written by bassist John Entwhistle when he was drunk and wrote a song about a scary spider in his room. The song was so off the wall that it became one of THE WHO’s concert staples. The other Entwhistle oddity is the instrumental track “Cobwebs and Strange” which not only reinforces his obsession with the world of arachnoids but also demonstrated how THE WHO could turn a traditional polka into a bonafide 60s psychedelic rock tune. The oom-paa-paa beat along with the trombone and tuba add another layer of absurdity to the album.

Many of the other tracks are more standard in that they could be released as pop tracks or hit singles. The track “Whiskey Man” was released as a single and hit the top 10 and the track “Happy Jack” on the US version also hit the top 40 but other than that A QUICK ONE really didn’t generate the hit singles action that would begin with the band’s next album “The Who Sell Out.” THE WHO also activate their proto-prog instincts on A QUICK ONE with the six movement closing title track which narrates the story of a girl who had gone missing for period of time. The track includes a harmonized a cappella segmented basically a bunch of different songs stitched together. The track exceeded 9 minutes long and was sort of a proto-rock opera that wouldn’t be fully realized until “Tommy.”

For my tastes this second release by THE WHO is a much more interesting one than the debut. I love the quirky, even silly tracks that just show up when you least expect it. They add a pizazz to the otherwise more standard mod freakbeat style THE WHO was going for at this stage. Really no bad tracks on here except i highly recommend the US version titled HAPPY JACK with its title track rather than the UK version with the ridiculous Martha & The Vandellas cover. That song sounds totally out of place and THE WHO were not even close to sounding like a Motown band from Detroit. Luckily the 60s would see the bigger bands writing all original material with THE WHO being no exception. Sure, this isn’t the best that THE WHO ever created but it’s an interesting second step in their canon before they hit the big time. Personally i like this one.

siLLy puPPy Following in the trendy 60s mod and art pop scenes as the Detours, the band that changed its name to THE WHO quickly wooed audiences with its slick crafty menagerie of garage rock mixed with rhythm & blues and found instant success with the single “I Can’t Explain” which was admittedly a derivative of The Kinks “You Really Got Me” which shot up the British charts and launched the band into the big leagues right out of the gate. The unexpected success of that single that hit #8 on the charts opened the doors and quickly followed by another top 10 in the form of “Daddy Rolling Stone.” Due to these two high charting singles THE WHO was rushed into the studio where they cranked out their debut album MY GENERATION which debuted in December of 1965 and while a bit fashionably late to the British rock invasion, once THE WHO had arrived they wouldn’t stop until they hit the big time which happened practically overnight.

Like many albums of the era, MY GENERATION found two slightly different releases for its British audiences and another for the US with two different album covers. While a rushed job for sure with a mixed bag of varied tracks, MY GENERATION is notable for being one of the first British rock albums to showcase a more energetic aggressive approach which by today’s standards sounds laughable but around 1965-66 was quite shocking and single-handedly signaled an arms race of heavier and faster guitar riffs that ultimately led to the unthinkable variety of extreme metal and punk that would come a few decades down the road. That means THE WHO are considered both a proto-metal as well as a proto-punk band and although the songs on MY GENERATION are fairly standard blues driven pop rock that was fairly common for the British scene of the mid-60s, the drumming prowess of Keith Moon in particular along with heavier jangle guitars upped the ante in harder rock.

While i wouldn’t call MY GENERATION the most essential release by THE WHO, the album is interesting in connecting the dots between classic 50s rock and roll with the hard rock and proto-punk bands that followed. The title track was the only single off of this one which was a huge hit peaking at #2 on the British charts but also one of the best songs THE WHO ever did in its early years. The other notable songs are the opening “Out In The Street” and the instrumental “The Ox” which prognosticated the heavier and more progressive route that the band would take. This feisty number features incessantly heavy drums, a hyperactive piano groove and a punkish guitar and bass attack unlike anything that had been released at the time although it still retained a melodic connection to the R&B driven rock and roll era that THE WHO emerged from.

The album is decent but many rushed albums in the 60s included fluff and this album is no exception. The album features not one but two covers from James Brown: “I Don’t Mind” and “Please, Please, Please” as well as “I’m A Man” from Bo Diddley. Decently done but nothing more than adequate covers that really don’t hold up well over time. While touted as a masterpiece of the ages, i really don’t find MY GENERATION to be that exciting of a listen other than tuning into the zeitgeist of the mod scene of the mid-60s. Other than the title track and “The Ox” there is really nothing memorable about this album however if you have the Deluxe remastered version (the one i have) then you will be treated by extras such as the excellent track “Circles” as well as the singles that were released before MY GENERATION. Overall, this is a decent slice of mid-60s British blues fueled pop rock but hardly the best the era had to offer and certainly not THE WHO’s magnum opus but a great place to explore the band’s music for sure.

Warthur Panned on release by those who believed that the Who without Keith Moon weren't the Who at all, Face Dances really isn't that much worse than Who Are You - an album on which Moon's participation was incidental at best. The problem is, Who Are You wasn't that great - I consider it to be highly overrated, possibly due to it being Moon's last album before his death. You Better You Bet is a catchy enough song in the vein of Who Are You from the previous album, but like the opening track from the previous album (with its allusions to constantly rewriting "the same old song") the lyrics reveal a bit more than necessary. When you have to namedrop one of your own best albums (Who's Next, in this case) in order to remind people that you're the same band that recorded it, that speaks to a severe lack of confidence in your own current material - and Face Dances isn't an album the Who should have been proud of. It doesn't stink, but it's just incredibly mediocre.

Warthur Supposedly, Who Are You was Pete Townshend's stab at fusing art rock and punk. It didn't really work; the opening track, New Song, is symptomatic of this, consisting of a proggy bit here, a punk-lite bit there, the two flavours never really merging to form a cohesive new sound. It might be a ballsy move to kick off an album with a song about rehashing "the same old song with two new lines", but it's also embarrassing if it turns out you're actually doing that - and not hitting the standards of the old song in question either.

The best track on the album is probably Who Are You, which is most famous these days for being the soundtrack for a cop show. It really does sound like cop show soundtrack material too. If you want hard-edged art rock with raw punkish energy lurking under the surface from The Who, you'll find it on Quadrophenia, not here.