Odds & Sods The Who

• 1I'm The Face02:34
• 2Summertime Blues03:15
• 3Under My Thumb02:39
• 4Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand02:09
• 5My Way02:26
• 6Faith In Something Bigger03:07
• 7Glow Girl02:22
• 8Little Billy02:14
• 9Young Man Blues02:51
• 10Cousin Kevin Model Child01:28
• 11Love Ain't For Keeping04:07
• 12Time Is Passing03:33
• 13Pure And Easy05:25
• 14Too Much Of Anything04:23
• 15Long Live Rock04:00
• 16Put The Money Down04:02
• 17We Close Tonight03:03
• 18Postcard03:33
• 19Now I'm A Farmer04:10
• 20Water04:41
• 21Naked Eye05:16
• Total Runtime01:11:18

Info for Odds & Sods

Odds & Sods is a carefully and consciously-contrived collation, assembled, remixed, and rescued from oblivion by John Entwistle with revelatory liner notes by Pete Townshend. For Who fanatics and rock lovers in general (not that there should, by rights, be any distinction between the two), no matter what qualms may arise about what's here and what isn't (and there's plenty left unissued...), Odds & Sods is nothing short of a dream come true.

The Who's Next-era (and beyond) tracks are very strong, qualitatively equal to that fine album itself. 'Put the Money Down' has echoes of 'Bargain' and 'Sweet Little Sixteen,' a raucous rocker. 'Too Much of Anything' is extremely pretty, and 'Long Live Rock' is one of the very best 'self-conscious hymns to the last fifteen years' (as Townshend puts it), especially now when half the songs with rock & roll in their titles bear no resemblance whatsoever. It's a colorful raver with strong 50's over/undertones and a real heart-tugger of a bridge. 'Pure and Easy' was the standout track on Townshend's solo album, and it's nice to have a Who version, though the differences are not dramatic.

The 1969 maxi-single that never quite made it to the shops is finally represented by three tracks here. 'Postcard' is a fairly trivial Entwistle song, on the level of 'I've Been Away' ('Happy Jack''s British B-side), but possessed of very clever, funny lyrics. 'Now I'm a Farmer' is also lyrically amusing, a pretty fair rocker with a ricky-tick slowdown interlude later adapted to fit 'I Don't Even Know Myself.' 'Naked Eye' is the best of the three, a complex song with a powerhouse chorus, surprisingly revived in the group's 1973 live performances.

The remaining four tracks, dating from 1968 or earlier, are my favorites, though. 'I'm the Face,' the legendary, fabulously rare High Numbers single, turns out to be a variation on the old Slim Harpo/Warren Smith number. 'Got Love if You Want it,' with great Mod lyrics and a solid '64-style performance. 'Faith in Something Bigger,' religious lyrics aside, is a lovely tune, as close as the Who have ever come to a Spector-style ballad.

'Little Billy,' a rejected lung cancer commercial long cherished in memory from the 1968 stage act, sounds like 'Odorono' but is far superior, epitomizing that marvelous combination of feathery vocal/melody line and frenetic guitar/bass/drums undercarriage which the Who employed so well in the two years between 'I'm a Boy' and 'Dogs.' 'Glow Girl,' once scheduled to follow up 'I Can See for Miles' as a single, captures that '66-'68 Who essence even better. Only the Stones ever rivaled the Who in the capability for creating the hardest rock and the most delicate melodies, and only the Who successfully combined the two. 'Glow Girl,' a typically outre tale of air disaster and reincarnation, is a pure delight, with a plane-crash break that challenges 'Anyway Anyhow Anywhere' in feedback ferocity.

I should try to refrain from frothing over here, but Odds & Sods seems almost miraculous. An assemblage of rejects, it cuts almost anything in release today. And believe it or not, there's a significant amount of similarly superb material still languishing in the vaults, or on the backs of English singles. In fact, a whole album could be compiled from American B-sides alone (from 'Bald Headed Woman' to 'Water'), and it would stack up pretty well, too. Then there's the half-dozen studio tracks that didn't make it onto Sell Out, the legendary 'Join My Gang' (and maybe even a 'Lazy Fat People' demo), and more well-known material like 'Dogs,' 'Let's See Action,' and (leave us not forget) 'I'm the Face''s bizarre flip, 'Zoot Suit.'

Perhaps the Who should consider releasing an Odds & Sods-type album as an annual event -- it would make the wait between new albums a lot easier to take and would free some of the most fascinating vault material in existence. The Who have become much more conscientious about their loose ends recently, so, why not get our hopes up? (Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record)

Roger Daltrey, vocals, harmonica
John Entwistle, bass, brass, vocals
Keith Moon, drums, vocals
Pete Townshend, guitar, piano, bass guitar, synthesizer, vocals
Guest:
Leslie West, lead guitar (on 'Love Ain't For Keeping“)

Recorded from 1964–1973
Produced by Glyn Johns, Kit Lambert, Peter Meaden, Chris Parmeinter, Shel Talmy, The Who

Digitally remastered

THE WHO
There are four names always on or near the top of the list of all time great Rock ‘n’ Roll bands: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Who.

The Who was formed by sheet-metal worker Roger Daltrey in 1963. The the line up, after a couple of adjustments, established itself with Daltrey on lead vocals, Keith Moon on drums, John Entwistle on bass and Pete Townshend on lead guitar. Townshend, honouring his art student credentials, wrote (and still writes) music famous for having an ‘edge’, complemented by the wildly creative performance techniques of each member of the band.

It is generally acknowledged among rock aficionados that The Who in their heyday were the most exciting live band on the planet, with their Live at Leeds album (1970) hailed as the greatest live album of all time. The compositional skills of Townshend have always been way beyond the conventional, as is proven not only in classic songs like ‘My Generation’ and ‘Baba O’Riley’ but also in his two great rock operas (a form he more or less invented single-handed) Tommy and Quadrophenia.

Today, despite the deaths of Keith Moon and John Entwistle, The Who remain a potent force on the rock music scene. Their Concert for New York City appearance after the tragedy of 9/11 was a classic, as have been their annual performances at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. In 2006, Pete Townshend wrote The Who’s first studio album for the new millennium, Endless Wire and the band toured Europe and the U.S. during 2006 and 2007.

The Who are still highly active, with Townshend continuing to write and seek new musical challenges and Daltrey still the charismatic frontman he’s always been. The Who have recently launched their very first official website, www.thewho.com.

This album contains no booklet.