Frankly, we've all heard these plenty of times. We've certainly heard "Boris The Spider" more than enough times, that's for sure. But what we haven't heard are these dense renditions. To hold in your hand a CD of The Who's best three-minute punches as they were heard over the BBC airwaves in the late '60s, for a Who fan at least, is comparable to holding gold.
Do yourself a favor and throw your copy of Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy out the window - this should take its place nicely. BBC Sessions is a time capsule of what made The Who The Who and everything they represented - musically, socially and artistically. Listening to this makes me feel like Phil Daniels' "Jimmy," the quintessential mod malcontent in "Quadrophenia." It takes me back to a life I never lived, but always wished I had. I can imagine turning on the radio some Saturday morning hearing "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere," or the underheard "La La La Lies" in my parent's house in Acton. I'm in the kitchen miming the guitars and drums in my wet blue jeans ("...ta make 'em fit propah"). I'm at a leaper-fuelled party in a London suburb watching the band jerk away stylishly to "The Good's Gone" and "Pictures Of Lily," and I'm singing "Substitute" to myself as I ride home with drunken assurance. I wake in the morning to the sounds of "I'm A Boy" and my mother banging repeatedly on my locked bedroom door. I'm bored to tears with everything, yet excited to be alive.
There's always been a dearth of what I knew would be prime Who material from the band's most exciting and palpable period - and this release fills the chasm laudably. Forget the boiler-suited windmiller and the fringed microphone twirler. This is the arrogant, gawky Who, playing with youthful self-consciousness and focused angst. This is the look, the sound, the ineffable essence of "mod" and the encapsulation of a momentous time in rock 'n' roll.
If you like The Who, check out:
The Who Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy
The Who Who's Next
The Who The Who Sell Out
The Who Live At Leeds
Supergrass I Should Coco
The Jam This Is The Modern World
Elvis Costello My Aim Is True
Guided By Voices Alien Lanes
-- p
