....isn't quite so bad, i suppose, when it's a Ferrari doing it to you. i mean, why else would you buy one?
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, January 20, 2012
getting cut off in traffic.....
....isn't quite so bad, i suppose, when it's a Ferrari doing it to you. i mean, why else would you buy one?
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Listening To Who - Episode 6 : A Quick One
hello there
well, welcome to the latest edition of listening to The Who at random. this shall be, alas or happily for you, the last one for a bit. will go into that a bit later, but for now let's worry about what this one is.
and those of you who are astute enough to have read the title will know that what i have been listening to of late is their second album, A Quick One.
A Quick One, or Happy Jack as it was renamed in the States so as to avoid causing offence by innuendo, was the second album from the band. The debut album, My Generation, sold well enough to get Gold status and the non-album singles released in between, in particular Substitute and I’m A Boy, sold well enough to make it into the Top 10. It’s fair to say, then, that there was a degree of expectation for sales to be even bigger for this record.
The album, oddly despite getting a higher chart position, did not do this, selling less than the debut. This is a bit of a pity as, in my opinion and that the accepted risk of offending or outraging fans of the debut, this one is a much better album. The sales were perhaps hampered by someone (perhaps the label, maybe producer Kit Lambert) insisting on stating on the front of the record that one should use specific equipment and settings to hear the record “properly”; something that could well be off-putting to someone who has no idea what they are talking about.
With only one cover version on the record (Heat Wave), the album boasts compositions from all members of the band, and all songs being of a fairly high quality. Sure, the bulk is still Pete Townshend, but if I tell you that this is the album which features John Entwistle’s Boris The Spider and Cobwebs And Strange, the music hall via the psychedelic Sixties contribution from Keith Moon that served as the soundtrack to his segment on the The Kids Are Alright film, you presumably get the idea of what I am speaking about. It’s not like Roger’s contribution, See My Way, is bad either.
In general, the sound seems to move away from the traditional (i.e. not modern rubbish that has ruthlessly stolen the name) R & B and pop sound towards a skiffle via swing style with a good lashing of the psychedelic sound so strongly linked to the time, in particular with Roger’s vocals. There is also, thanks to Keith Moon’s obsession with the sound, a distinct West Coast (USA) Beach vibe going on. This certainly makes for a great record, and applies to all tracks on the album bar one – the opus which gives the album its name, A Quick One, While He’s Away.
The common consensus is that the track A Quick One, While He’s Away is Pete Townshend’s first go at a Rock or Pop Opera. This isn’t strictly speaking true – I’m A Boy, released before this, was intended to form part of a bigger concept, or if you will “concept album”. I’m not going to get into the whole debate of what constitutes a concept album nor the argument about which was the first one ever to surface. The main thing is, I suppose, that a track of this nature had seldom, if ever, been tried by a “pop” group before, although of course it would be something that would come to characterize The Who in the future.
As for the song itself, well, “fun” is the first word that springs to mind. It’s a saucy, cheeky tale of infidelity and forgiveness, taking in a whole range of musical styles to tell different parts of the story. One of the most famous musical styles The Who ever used features here, of course. As the song moves towards its end, or if you will climax, one gets to hear the band chanting “Cello” over and over again? Why? Well, the band wanted an actual cello quartet on the record, but were told that there was not enough money for it. As a consequence, either as a cynical dig or just an innocent idea, they simply took to just chanting the name of the instrument over the parts where they wanted it to be.
Whereas this song came to be great, it has to be said that the initial version of it here is in many ways the least satisfactory version of it. The best, without doubt, is the composite version made from studio and live recordings that featured on the 30 Years Of Maximum R & B album. Other than that one, any live version tends to work better – the one on Live At Leeds in particular, but the band doing it on the infamous Rolling Stones Rock N Roll Circus is a must have. Legend has it that it’s The Who’s performance of it on the show which left the Stones feeling they had been overshadowed and outperformed, hence them never officially releasing the film for many years.
Whereas the album itself is pretty good, it’s the rich amount of extras that come with the CD that make this an essential purchase. Topping that list would be 80% of the tracks which made up the legendary Ready Steady Who EP.
Disappointingly, the 20% missing is Circles, aka Instant Party. This track sits up there with Success Story off The Who By Numbers as a great tune that the band seem not to exploit the greatness of as much as they could. No matter, one can find this great song on the My Generation album, or if you can find it the Singles Box. To hear an exceptional cover version of it, though, you should consider finding a copy of Substitute : The Songs Of The Who to hear Paul Weller’s great take on it.
Leaving aside what’s not there, the other four tracks are seldom released and thus well worth having. Of particular high quality is the bands’ take on the 60s Batman theme. How good is it? Michele and I have had to play it about 100 times in the last week for the boys, with James coming to the conclusion that The Who must be the best band in the world on the basis of their version. That good. Also included is their cover of Barbra Ann, which was done at more or less the same time as the more famous cover by The Beach Boys, something which suggests a Mr Keith Moon was behind the band doing it.
Since we have brought Mr Moon up, a track he wrote on the “album proper”, I Need You, is widely perceived as an attack on The Beatles. For some reason Keith got it into his head that they were “talking about him” behind is back and thus, the story goes, simply did not like them. Odd when you consider what good friends he and Ringo were, but anyway. A song which is unmistakably a go at The Beatles is a b-side included here, Doctor, Doctor. It’s credited to John Entwistle, but have a listen – the song is basically The Beatles’ Help!, presented with different, possibly interpreted as “having a pop” lyrics.
There are even more extras, but to dwell on two more of them for your money you get a previously unreleased “acoustic” version of Happy Jack that sounds rather more like a calypso version of it (it’s excellent either way) and a quite frankly incendiary, ingenious take of My Generation that phases in to Land Of Hope And Glory. Moon’s drumming on this take of My Generation ranks as some of the best the lad ever did, which is saying something.
It would appear that A Quick One was not all that popular when initially released. This should not discourage anyone from seeking it out, as there’s really rarely a bad moment on the album. True, there are not all that many moments of astonishing greatness, but what it is certainly stands as above average.
currently both amazon and HMV have this album going for £3.97 at the moment, so take your pick in regards of where you'd rather buy it from. it is certainly worth getting!
and with that, i think i have done my bit for labour of love, unpaid celebration of Who albums for a little while. the only other two i wish to write about are those two rather large, monolithic in size and scale rock operas that i hardly need name here. in order to do them the justice they deserve i think it best to take a break from the sound of the band for a while, but i assure you i will write of them later on this year.
in the mean time, thank you very much indeed for reading!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, welcome to the latest edition of listening to The Who at random. this shall be, alas or happily for you, the last one for a bit. will go into that a bit later, but for now let's worry about what this one is.
and those of you who are astute enough to have read the title will know that what i have been listening to of late is their second album, A Quick One.
A Quick One, or Happy Jack as it was renamed in the States so as to avoid causing offence by innuendo, was the second album from the band. The debut album, My Generation, sold well enough to get Gold status and the non-album singles released in between, in particular Substitute and I’m A Boy, sold well enough to make it into the Top 10. It’s fair to say, then, that there was a degree of expectation for sales to be even bigger for this record.
The album, oddly despite getting a higher chart position, did not do this, selling less than the debut. This is a bit of a pity as, in my opinion and that the accepted risk of offending or outraging fans of the debut, this one is a much better album. The sales were perhaps hampered by someone (perhaps the label, maybe producer Kit Lambert) insisting on stating on the front of the record that one should use specific equipment and settings to hear the record “properly”; something that could well be off-putting to someone who has no idea what they are talking about.
With only one cover version on the record (Heat Wave), the album boasts compositions from all members of the band, and all songs being of a fairly high quality. Sure, the bulk is still Pete Townshend, but if I tell you that this is the album which features John Entwistle’s Boris The Spider and Cobwebs And Strange, the music hall via the psychedelic Sixties contribution from Keith Moon that served as the soundtrack to his segment on the The Kids Are Alright film, you presumably get the idea of what I am speaking about. It’s not like Roger’s contribution, See My Way, is bad either.
In general, the sound seems to move away from the traditional (i.e. not modern rubbish that has ruthlessly stolen the name) R & B and pop sound towards a skiffle via swing style with a good lashing of the psychedelic sound so strongly linked to the time, in particular with Roger’s vocals. There is also, thanks to Keith Moon’s obsession with the sound, a distinct West Coast (USA) Beach vibe going on. This certainly makes for a great record, and applies to all tracks on the album bar one – the opus which gives the album its name, A Quick One, While He’s Away.
The common consensus is that the track A Quick One, While He’s Away is Pete Townshend’s first go at a Rock or Pop Opera. This isn’t strictly speaking true – I’m A Boy, released before this, was intended to form part of a bigger concept, or if you will “concept album”. I’m not going to get into the whole debate of what constitutes a concept album nor the argument about which was the first one ever to surface. The main thing is, I suppose, that a track of this nature had seldom, if ever, been tried by a “pop” group before, although of course it would be something that would come to characterize The Who in the future.
As for the song itself, well, “fun” is the first word that springs to mind. It’s a saucy, cheeky tale of infidelity and forgiveness, taking in a whole range of musical styles to tell different parts of the story. One of the most famous musical styles The Who ever used features here, of course. As the song moves towards its end, or if you will climax, one gets to hear the band chanting “Cello” over and over again? Why? Well, the band wanted an actual cello quartet on the record, but were told that there was not enough money for it. As a consequence, either as a cynical dig or just an innocent idea, they simply took to just chanting the name of the instrument over the parts where they wanted it to be.
Whereas this song came to be great, it has to be said that the initial version of it here is in many ways the least satisfactory version of it. The best, without doubt, is the composite version made from studio and live recordings that featured on the 30 Years Of Maximum R & B album. Other than that one, any live version tends to work better – the one on Live At Leeds in particular, but the band doing it on the infamous Rolling Stones Rock N Roll Circus is a must have. Legend has it that it’s The Who’s performance of it on the show which left the Stones feeling they had been overshadowed and outperformed, hence them never officially releasing the film for many years.
Whereas the album itself is pretty good, it’s the rich amount of extras that come with the CD that make this an essential purchase. Topping that list would be 80% of the tracks which made up the legendary Ready Steady Who EP.
Disappointingly, the 20% missing is Circles, aka Instant Party. This track sits up there with Success Story off The Who By Numbers as a great tune that the band seem not to exploit the greatness of as much as they could. No matter, one can find this great song on the My Generation album, or if you can find it the Singles Box. To hear an exceptional cover version of it, though, you should consider finding a copy of Substitute : The Songs Of The Who to hear Paul Weller’s great take on it.
Leaving aside what’s not there, the other four tracks are seldom released and thus well worth having. Of particular high quality is the bands’ take on the 60s Batman theme. How good is it? Michele and I have had to play it about 100 times in the last week for the boys, with James coming to the conclusion that The Who must be the best band in the world on the basis of their version. That good. Also included is their cover of Barbra Ann, which was done at more or less the same time as the more famous cover by The Beach Boys, something which suggests a Mr Keith Moon was behind the band doing it.
Since we have brought Mr Moon up, a track he wrote on the “album proper”, I Need You, is widely perceived as an attack on The Beatles. For some reason Keith got it into his head that they were “talking about him” behind is back and thus, the story goes, simply did not like them. Odd when you consider what good friends he and Ringo were, but anyway. A song which is unmistakably a go at The Beatles is a b-side included here, Doctor, Doctor. It’s credited to John Entwistle, but have a listen – the song is basically The Beatles’ Help!, presented with different, possibly interpreted as “having a pop” lyrics.
There are even more extras, but to dwell on two more of them for your money you get a previously unreleased “acoustic” version of Happy Jack that sounds rather more like a calypso version of it (it’s excellent either way) and a quite frankly incendiary, ingenious take of My Generation that phases in to Land Of Hope And Glory. Moon’s drumming on this take of My Generation ranks as some of the best the lad ever did, which is saying something.
It would appear that A Quick One was not all that popular when initially released. This should not discourage anyone from seeking it out, as there’s really rarely a bad moment on the album. True, there are not all that many moments of astonishing greatness, but what it is certainly stands as above average.
currently both amazon and HMV have this album going for £3.97 at the moment, so take your pick in regards of where you'd rather buy it from. it is certainly worth getting!
and with that, i think i have done my bit for labour of love, unpaid celebration of Who albums for a little while. the only other two i wish to write about are those two rather large, monolithic in size and scale rock operas that i hardly need name here. in order to do them the justice they deserve i think it best to take a break from the sound of the band for a while, but i assure you i will write of them later on this year.
in the mean time, thank you very much indeed for reading!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Haircut 100 (give or take 98)
hi there
well, the blazing hot sun here was making some of us in the house aware of just how long our hair was getting. my beard in particular has started to feel a bit like straw, and my hair was starting to be so shabby that i could well have been mistaken for being in the band. name that reference.
moving on, then, whilst you ponder the above, the weekend was as good a time as any to get the clippers on the go. whereas you are probably better off without more pictures of me, James is reluctant to have a hair cut at the best of times so sadly no direct images of him. William, however, has no such concern.
yes, that is indeed James dressed as Batman for the event.
if my memory serves correctly, this would be young William's second haircut, and it he manages to behave surprisingly well for them, only getting a little bit impatient when the hair artist, his beloved Mummy, gets towards the end of unleashing her vision. well, i get a little impatient with her too, really.
for the most part, though, he really seems to like it!
i am not at all sure how to end this post off, really. best i can do for you is, i suppose, that if you also had a haircut this weekend then i can only trust and hope that it was a most excellent one!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, the blazing hot sun here was making some of us in the house aware of just how long our hair was getting. my beard in particular has started to feel a bit like straw, and my hair was starting to be so shabby that i could well have been mistaken for being in the band. name that reference.
moving on, then, whilst you ponder the above, the weekend was as good a time as any to get the clippers on the go. whereas you are probably better off without more pictures of me, James is reluctant to have a hair cut at the best of times so sadly no direct images of him. William, however, has no such concern.
yes, that is indeed James dressed as Batman for the event.
if my memory serves correctly, this would be young William's second haircut, and it he manages to behave surprisingly well for them, only getting a little bit impatient when the hair artist, his beloved Mummy, gets towards the end of unleashing her vision. well, i get a little impatient with her too, really.
for the most part, though, he really seems to like it!
i am not at all sure how to end this post off, really. best i can do for you is, i suppose, that if you also had a haircut this weekend then i can only trust and hope that it was a most excellent one!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
support for Frankie Goes To Hollywood from, erm, Frankie Goes To Hollywood
hey everyone
well, first and foremost, and very big thanks and all the credit i can give to the legendary Gerrit F for sharing these pictures. nice one mate, i really appreciated seeing them and i can only hope anyone who stumbles upon this article does the same!
you may recall that, as usual, in a post on January 10th i reminisced about my one and only Frankie gig. this year it was a bit special, of course, as it marks 25 years since i saw the band that remains for me as being the greatest ever.
talking about this gig and that sadly final 1987 tour with like-minded Frankie fans has seen Gerrit F, to use the American expression, step up to the plate and share some pictures with us. not pictures of Frankie as such (well, not yet), but of their support act, the magnificent Berlin.
the following pictures are from the gig at the Ahoy in Rotterdam on 4th February 1987. it certainly looks like it was a rather lively gig! in what way was it lively? well, look at how Berlin singer Terri Nunn remains the consumate professional despite a most unusual stage invader.
Terri Nunn famously tried out for the part of Princess Leia in the Star Wars films. going on what she had to endure, or possibly enjoy, on this night of the tour i dare say that she would have been up to the demands of the role. then again, if she had got that part, the world might not have heard songs like Take My Breath Away , and she may well not have got to play with such an interesting backdrop!
for those of you not sure what you are looking out for in the above, well, here's another picture which gives you a little bit more than a clue.
who exactly is displaying their support in either picture is not something i am at liberty to say, really. i am, however, quite prepared to tell you that later on this year (or possibly early 2013, depending on that Mayan thing) we shall see Brian "Nasher" Nash's autobiography being published. i dare to speculate that stories will be abound in it, perhaps related to the above, possibly others even more interesting.
as for the 1987 tour itself, a certain amount of professionally recorded and filmed sound and vision recordings do exist. however, something of a contractual impasse exists in the world of Frankie; one that means it is unlikely that any live material will ever officially be released. this is a shame, but nil desperandum kids - one can search that you tube thing and find some fan shot footage if they are of a mind to do so. one can of course also search the internet for such things.
many, many thanks indeed again to Gerrit F for these quality pics!!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, first and foremost, and very big thanks and all the credit i can give to the legendary Gerrit F for sharing these pictures. nice one mate, i really appreciated seeing them and i can only hope anyone who stumbles upon this article does the same!
you may recall that, as usual, in a post on January 10th i reminisced about my one and only Frankie gig. this year it was a bit special, of course, as it marks 25 years since i saw the band that remains for me as being the greatest ever.
talking about this gig and that sadly final 1987 tour with like-minded Frankie fans has seen Gerrit F, to use the American expression, step up to the plate and share some pictures with us. not pictures of Frankie as such (well, not yet), but of their support act, the magnificent Berlin.
the following pictures are from the gig at the Ahoy in Rotterdam on 4th February 1987. it certainly looks like it was a rather lively gig! in what way was it lively? well, look at how Berlin singer Terri Nunn remains the consumate professional despite a most unusual stage invader.
Terri Nunn famously tried out for the part of Princess Leia in the Star Wars films. going on what she had to endure, or possibly enjoy, on this night of the tour i dare say that she would have been up to the demands of the role. then again, if she had got that part, the world might not have heard songs like Take My Breath Away , and she may well not have got to play with such an interesting backdrop!
for those of you not sure what you are looking out for in the above, well, here's another picture which gives you a little bit more than a clue.
who exactly is displaying their support in either picture is not something i am at liberty to say, really. i am, however, quite prepared to tell you that later on this year (or possibly early 2013, depending on that Mayan thing) we shall see Brian "Nasher" Nash's autobiography being published. i dare to speculate that stories will be abound in it, perhaps related to the above, possibly others even more interesting.
as for the 1987 tour itself, a certain amount of professionally recorded and filmed sound and vision recordings do exist. however, something of a contractual impasse exists in the world of Frankie; one that means it is unlikely that any live material will ever officially be released. this is a shame, but nil desperandum kids - one can search that you tube thing and find some fan shot footage if they are of a mind to do so. one can of course also search the internet for such things.
many, many thanks indeed again to Gerrit F for these quality pics!!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
ice cream at South Fork
hey everyone
well, what better possible way of celebrating the first week at 'big school' than taking a trip to South Fork? that would be taking a trip to South Fork when Richard and Erika are there! well, them with Lyla and Ruby-Lee of course, but what was even better was that they had a whole load of ice cream!
and not just any old ice cream, no doubt Richard would like you to be aware of no doubt. it was that fancy stuff with the German (or similar) name, Hagen Das or something like that?
James quite fancied the idea of eating a whole tub of it, whatever its name happens to be!
and of course if James was going to do that, so was Lyla!
neither of them quite managed to finish the pot, and i am not surprised really. Richard and i split a nifty caramel one between us, and that was hard work in itself. oh well, it just leaves a good deal more of the stuff for next weekend and perhaps beyond!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, what better possible way of celebrating the first week at 'big school' than taking a trip to South Fork? that would be taking a trip to South Fork when Richard and Erika are there! well, them with Lyla and Ruby-Lee of course, but what was even better was that they had a whole load of ice cream!
and not just any old ice cream, no doubt Richard would like you to be aware of no doubt. it was that fancy stuff with the German (or similar) name, Hagen Das or something like that?
James quite fancied the idea of eating a whole tub of it, whatever its name happens to be!
and of course if James was going to do that, so was Lyla!
neither of them quite managed to finish the pot, and i am not surprised really. Richard and i split a nifty caramel one between us, and that was hard work in itself. oh well, it just leaves a good deal more of the stuff for next weekend and perhaps beyond!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, January 13, 2012
sssssssssssssssssssss
hey everyone
well, if i tell you that William has taken a shine to walking around and pretending to hold something whilst making a "sssssss" noise, some of you may well know exactly which film has taken the number one spot in his life. for those of you who have no idea, well, here you go with the poster for this masterpiece of the moving image.
if this particular piece of information makes you none the wiser as to why William would play around the way he is, let me try and explain the scene. before i start, though, i would suggest that you rather obtain the movie on DVD and watch for yourself - sometimes words cannot quite capture the experience.
the film starts with some sort of ship, or perhaps ocean liner, in distress. why exactly the Police Commissioner of Gotham rather than, say, the Port authorities would be alerted to this is beyond me, but there you go. Commissioner Gordon has but one solution to each and every problem that lands on his desk - call Batman.
you would imagine that the Lifeguards, or perhaps even the Navy, would be a better idea to call to deal with a nautical problem, but those are not the cards dealt. Batman and Robin rush off as soon as the call comes in, taking the Batmobile (land based) off to the airport to get the Batcopter (air based) going to see what they can do with the sea based problem.
ahem - holy illusion! it turns out that the radars and all that were fooled by a projected image of a ship instead of a real one. oh well, since the dynamic duo are in the area, Batman decides to go and have a look to see if he can't work out what all of this was.
this proves to be a rather unfortunate idea, as some sort of booby trapped shark is in the water just waiting for Batman.
holy fishfingers! whatever will Batman do to get away from the shark? it is after all a shark that seems to have as strong a grip as it does almost rubber-like flexibility.
it is rather fortunate that Batman thinks ahead, far and wide, really. the Batcopter has apparently been equipped for any possible scenario, in particular if it is one that requires repelling marine based life via means of an aerosol spray.
now then, i must confess some serious lack of scientific knowledge here. i would, however, have a guess that it's unlikely that an aerosol can would work under the kind of aquatic circumstances one would find most of those inhabitants of the sea in. i mean honestly, exactly when would one be that close to a whale and need to get away that an aerosol can would be of use? just aswell, then, that this shark chose to jump some considerable distance to bite Batman rather than simply wait for the caped crusader to enter the water.
but, i hear you ask, if the Bat Shark Repellant is in the helicopter, how on earth will Batman be able to use it in his moment of greatest need for it? quite simple, really - just get Robin to bring it down for him.
no satisfactory explanation is ever presented as to how the Batcopter is all of a sudden able to fly itself whilst Robin messes about on the ladder, if you are wondering. no matter, as the important thing to the plot of the film is that Robin hands over the repellant to Batman....
....who then promptly sprays about a good armful of the stuff on to the shark....
...and then watches as the shark hits the water and explodes for no apparent reason, bar the assumption that someone - get this - has taken the time and trouble to "booby trap" the shark. Batman at least shows some remorse for this, and laments the fact that the shark had to die.
and this is all within the first 5 or 6 minutes of the film! for many this is the highlight of the whole thing, but for me it gets even better to be honest. i say that thinking in particular of the bit where Batman is running around with a bomb and is terribly concerned about blowing up some ducks with it.
The Dark Knight it most certainly is not, but then again we cannot show that one to James and William. this version of Batman remains exceptionally ace and fun viewing no matter how many times i get to watch it. for a start, it is the only Batman film to successfully include 4 (four!) 'super villains' and not be a load of rubbish!
should you have never seen nor heard of this version, well, off you go to order a copy and have some happy viewing!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, if i tell you that William has taken a shine to walking around and pretending to hold something whilst making a "sssssss" noise, some of you may well know exactly which film has taken the number one spot in his life. for those of you who have no idea, well, here you go with the poster for this masterpiece of the moving image.
if this particular piece of information makes you none the wiser as to why William would play around the way he is, let me try and explain the scene. before i start, though, i would suggest that you rather obtain the movie on DVD and watch for yourself - sometimes words cannot quite capture the experience.
the film starts with some sort of ship, or perhaps ocean liner, in distress. why exactly the Police Commissioner of Gotham rather than, say, the Port authorities would be alerted to this is beyond me, but there you go. Commissioner Gordon has but one solution to each and every problem that lands on his desk - call Batman.
you would imagine that the Lifeguards, or perhaps even the Navy, would be a better idea to call to deal with a nautical problem, but those are not the cards dealt. Batman and Robin rush off as soon as the call comes in, taking the Batmobile (land based) off to the airport to get the Batcopter (air based) going to see what they can do with the sea based problem.
ahem - holy illusion! it turns out that the radars and all that were fooled by a projected image of a ship instead of a real one. oh well, since the dynamic duo are in the area, Batman decides to go and have a look to see if he can't work out what all of this was.
this proves to be a rather unfortunate idea, as some sort of booby trapped shark is in the water just waiting for Batman.
holy fishfingers! whatever will Batman do to get away from the shark? it is after all a shark that seems to have as strong a grip as it does almost rubber-like flexibility.
it is rather fortunate that Batman thinks ahead, far and wide, really. the Batcopter has apparently been equipped for any possible scenario, in particular if it is one that requires repelling marine based life via means of an aerosol spray.
now then, i must confess some serious lack of scientific knowledge here. i would, however, have a guess that it's unlikely that an aerosol can would work under the kind of aquatic circumstances one would find most of those inhabitants of the sea in. i mean honestly, exactly when would one be that close to a whale and need to get away that an aerosol can would be of use? just aswell, then, that this shark chose to jump some considerable distance to bite Batman rather than simply wait for the caped crusader to enter the water.
but, i hear you ask, if the Bat Shark Repellant is in the helicopter, how on earth will Batman be able to use it in his moment of greatest need for it? quite simple, really - just get Robin to bring it down for him.
no satisfactory explanation is ever presented as to how the Batcopter is all of a sudden able to fly itself whilst Robin messes about on the ladder, if you are wondering. no matter, as the important thing to the plot of the film is that Robin hands over the repellant to Batman....
....who then promptly sprays about a good armful of the stuff on to the shark....
...and then watches as the shark hits the water and explodes for no apparent reason, bar the assumption that someone - get this - has taken the time and trouble to "booby trap" the shark. Batman at least shows some remorse for this, and laments the fact that the shark had to die.
and this is all within the first 5 or 6 minutes of the film! for many this is the highlight of the whole thing, but for me it gets even better to be honest. i say that thinking in particular of the bit where Batman is running around with a bomb and is terribly concerned about blowing up some ducks with it.
The Dark Knight it most certainly is not, but then again we cannot show that one to James and William. this version of Batman remains exceptionally ace and fun viewing no matter how many times i get to watch it. for a start, it is the only Batman film to successfully include 4 (four!) 'super villains' and not be a load of rubbish!
should you have never seen nor heard of this version, well, off you go to order a copy and have some happy viewing!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a few 13 things for you
hey there
well, what were the odds? my 13th post of the year happens on the first Friday 13th of the year. spooky, strange, etc.....
i was going to write a few things about Friday 13th today to mark or celebrate the date since there are so many tales, myths and things like that. one of the best of course is the tale of the HMS Friday, an amusing tale from a hundred or so years ago and made popular by the comedian Dave Allen. the of course there's the increasingly popular school of history according to Dan Brown, in which conspiracy theorists claim as "absolute fact" that it was a Friday 13th that the Knights Templar were slaughtered. well, all of those except the ones who it was for convenient to the plot of a Dan Brown book to survive.
i was also going to write about my first memory of a Friday 13th, which took place in Sydney, Australia. i seem to recall some story of a truck or similar breaking down or crashing on the celebrated Sydney Harbour Bridge on this date in history, and the newspaper headlines proclaiming it "Black Friday". i distinctly recall asking my Mum why, and her promptly telling me of the myth of Friday 13th.
in the end, though, i decided that i simply could not be bothered. google is there, go use it to search for more of the above and beyond. instead, let me present you with my memories of two class Friday 13th films.
let's start with Friday 13th Part 3, which was presented in 3D at cinemas, no less!
i think this was the second in the series i saw, possibly seeing Part 2 first. or i might have seen this one to start, i really don't remember.
what i do remember is that the home video version, alas, did not have the skills or power to present in 3D, so you got to see all the efforts at 3D effects in standard, perhaps better 2D. the results were, frankly hilarious. in particular this scene.
it does not show off too well here, but on the VHS version you could, as clear as day, see the wire that the eye was connected to in order to create the "pop out" effect. no doubt they have fixed and cleaned up all the glaring errors for the DVD and blu-ray releases, but if you want to see how little effort they put in to disguising the effects in this one you could pick up the VHS of it off amazon.
now that i think of it, this was the second one i saw. how do i know? because i watched Part 2 and remember being very, very annoyed that Jason did not have his iconic mask on in it. you know, the ice hockey mask that class magazines like Fangoria seemed to suggest / promise that he wore at all times. nope, he only got it in this 3rd film.
the only other memorable film from the series which presently comes to mind is Friday 13th Part IV, laughably called 'The Final Chapter'. as it turns out, it was only the halfway point of the "original classic" series of films.
i think this one was the most memorable because, to be honest (and one likes to think that we are in the business of honesty here), it has the highest level of pointless, graphic nudity of any of the films.
in fairness, it also has the highest level of pointless, graphic appearances by Corey Feldman in any of the films too.
such things balance themselves out, i guess!
well, i hope that was of interest to 1, 2 or a dozen or so of you! whatever you do on Friday 13th, even if it's the same stuff you do every other day, i trust that it all goes rather splendid!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh, go on then - ch-ch-ch-cha ah-ah-ah-ah
well, what were the odds? my 13th post of the year happens on the first Friday 13th of the year. spooky, strange, etc.....
i was going to write a few things about Friday 13th today to mark or celebrate the date since there are so many tales, myths and things like that. one of the best of course is the tale of the HMS Friday, an amusing tale from a hundred or so years ago and made popular by the comedian Dave Allen. the of course there's the increasingly popular school of history according to Dan Brown, in which conspiracy theorists claim as "absolute fact" that it was a Friday 13th that the Knights Templar were slaughtered. well, all of those except the ones who it was for convenient to the plot of a Dan Brown book to survive.
i was also going to write about my first memory of a Friday 13th, which took place in Sydney, Australia. i seem to recall some story of a truck or similar breaking down or crashing on the celebrated Sydney Harbour Bridge on this date in history, and the newspaper headlines proclaiming it "Black Friday". i distinctly recall asking my Mum why, and her promptly telling me of the myth of Friday 13th.
in the end, though, i decided that i simply could not be bothered. google is there, go use it to search for more of the above and beyond. instead, let me present you with my memories of two class Friday 13th films.
let's start with Friday 13th Part 3, which was presented in 3D at cinemas, no less!
i think this was the second in the series i saw, possibly seeing Part 2 first. or i might have seen this one to start, i really don't remember.
what i do remember is that the home video version, alas, did not have the skills or power to present in 3D, so you got to see all the efforts at 3D effects in standard, perhaps better 2D. the results were, frankly hilarious. in particular this scene.
it does not show off too well here, but on the VHS version you could, as clear as day, see the wire that the eye was connected to in order to create the "pop out" effect. no doubt they have fixed and cleaned up all the glaring errors for the DVD and blu-ray releases, but if you want to see how little effort they put in to disguising the effects in this one you could pick up the VHS of it off amazon.
now that i think of it, this was the second one i saw. how do i know? because i watched Part 2 and remember being very, very annoyed that Jason did not have his iconic mask on in it. you know, the ice hockey mask that class magazines like Fangoria seemed to suggest / promise that he wore at all times. nope, he only got it in this 3rd film.
the only other memorable film from the series which presently comes to mind is Friday 13th Part IV, laughably called 'The Final Chapter'. as it turns out, it was only the halfway point of the "original classic" series of films.
i think this one was the most memorable because, to be honest (and one likes to think that we are in the business of honesty here), it has the highest level of pointless, graphic nudity of any of the films.
in fairness, it also has the highest level of pointless, graphic appearances by Corey Feldman in any of the films too.
such things balance themselves out, i guess!
well, i hope that was of interest to 1, 2 or a dozen or so of you! whatever you do on Friday 13th, even if it's the same stuff you do every other day, i trust that it all goes rather splendid!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh, go on then - ch-ch-ch-cha ah-ah-ah-ah
Thursday, January 12, 2012
a big day for a big step
hi there
well, for many years now we've heard tales of that big day on the horizon for, you would hope, any and all parents. that would be "first day at 'big' school" day. whereas we were as well planned as possible for it, the day arrived and caught us somewhat by surprise. that's probably just a quirk of the whole time and space being relative thing.
moving away from Einstein as quickly as we got to him, we have always heard tales of tears and tantrums when the time for big school dawns. as James has been rather eager to get to the world of bigger school for quite some time now (18 months ago was when he first asked if he could rather go now, i believe) we were quietly confident the day would go fine. however, there's always the chance that when the moment arrives that he gets what he wants that he no longer wants it. this happens every now and then, in particular it has to be said with trips to the cinema.
anyway, the day dawned, and as you can see he was still loaded with enthusiasm about getting going!
but what happened when we actually got there? other than being delighted with the fact that Mummy was driving and thus we got there (Daddy is not particularly good with directions), he was even more thrilled about it all and was over the moon to find his classroom and desk!
what made it even better for him was some crayons that were the best ones he had ever seen in his life, or so we were made to feel ("look Mummy, there is even a light blue one" he said) and a class picture to colour in.
the only problem James had with his first day, it seems, was that Mummy & Daddy were lingering about and just would not leave to let him get on with it!
we did of course head off, and i had the pleasure of doing a stack of housework whilst Mummy worked from home. with some enthusiasm, it must be said. when we went to collect him he was still just has happy and had several wonderful stories to tell us. most of them, it has to be said, pertained to the tuck shop they had and a rough indication of prices of things that he would like, if we could see our way to giving him some money every day! well, of course we shall one day!
the day really could not have gone better, and thus far he has retained his level of enthusiasm for going back again and again! nice one!
as for William, he has not quite yet mastered the linguistical skills to the extent of saying "i will have some of that, thanks", but going on the enthusiasm he has shown for James' new bag, i would imagine he will be keen for 'big school' one day too!
needless to say we are all delighted that it has been so far so good with this latest, rather long journey that James is on!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, for many years now we've heard tales of that big day on the horizon for, you would hope, any and all parents. that would be "first day at 'big' school" day. whereas we were as well planned as possible for it, the day arrived and caught us somewhat by surprise. that's probably just a quirk of the whole time and space being relative thing.
moving away from Einstein as quickly as we got to him, we have always heard tales of tears and tantrums when the time for big school dawns. as James has been rather eager to get to the world of bigger school for quite some time now (18 months ago was when he first asked if he could rather go now, i believe) we were quietly confident the day would go fine. however, there's always the chance that when the moment arrives that he gets what he wants that he no longer wants it. this happens every now and then, in particular it has to be said with trips to the cinema.
anyway, the day dawned, and as you can see he was still loaded with enthusiasm about getting going!
but what happened when we actually got there? other than being delighted with the fact that Mummy was driving and thus we got there (Daddy is not particularly good with directions), he was even more thrilled about it all and was over the moon to find his classroom and desk!
what made it even better for him was some crayons that were the best ones he had ever seen in his life, or so we were made to feel ("look Mummy, there is even a light blue one" he said) and a class picture to colour in.
the only problem James had with his first day, it seems, was that Mummy & Daddy were lingering about and just would not leave to let him get on with it!
we did of course head off, and i had the pleasure of doing a stack of housework whilst Mummy worked from home. with some enthusiasm, it must be said. when we went to collect him he was still just has happy and had several wonderful stories to tell us. most of them, it has to be said, pertained to the tuck shop they had and a rough indication of prices of things that he would like, if we could see our way to giving him some money every day! well, of course we shall one day!
the day really could not have gone better, and thus far he has retained his level of enthusiasm for going back again and again! nice one!
as for William, he has not quite yet mastered the linguistical skills to the extent of saying "i will have some of that, thanks", but going on the enthusiasm he has shown for James' new bag, i would imagine he will be keen for 'big school' one day too!
needless to say we are all delighted that it has been so far so good with this latest, rather long journey that James is on!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Rolling Stone SA - it's not getting any better....
in fact, i do believe that it has got even worse. the first edition of Rolling Stone to be published down here was a massive disappointment, to say the least. comments on that one can be found by clicking these words right here if you are of a mind to do so.
i did say that i'd no doubt end up with the second edition and that has proven to be the case, at least after i found it again. the producers of this magazine seem really confident in people seeking it out - no instore promotions or anything, and the magazine always seem to be stuck in the lowest, most awkwards corners of stores. add to that the fact that a significant number of major chain stores are not stocking it gives one the sense that it is not going to last for much longer.
the apalling, professionally unacceptable disregard for basic editing is also working against it. what do i mean? here's the cover
did you spot it? look at the list of names at the bottom with a touch of care. actually, if you use the most casual of glance you will see a mistake that no one at Rolling Stone magazine did.
yep, that's right. Lou Reed gets listed twice. i can tell you what happened there - in order to accomodate some artists down here in the actual feature the list pertains to, some sub-editor just copied & pasted the names from an international edition in order to fit. they apparently did not bother checking the content, and nor did their editor.
most magazines would do all they could to avoid the humiliation of an editorial error like that on the front cover. Rolling Stone, at least the version here, seem to celebrate such things really. that would explain why such sloppy work extends to the content too.
here - a mere 3 months after it was released - is their review of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds album. see if you can spot the mistake - and no, it is not the amount of stars it got!
did you spot it? quite tricky to, really, but here's a close up of the bottom of the review.
key tracks off the album are "Girl", "Power" and "Michael Jackson" are they? i have the album here and.......nope, nothing like that appears on the album, not even as elaborate hidden tracks. my knowledge of the press, however, extends to knowing that certain newspapers and publications use those words (amongst others) as "tags" in articles so that search engines like google draw attention to them.
that's just lazy editing, it really is. if Rolling Stone expects to be taken seriously, then best they hire some subs and an editor that actually read the copy before it goes to print.
as for the articles inside, astonishingly bland - youth have it tough, George Clooney is a lovely bloke, some singer wants everyone to buy her records. the only article of any consequence is a reprint of a 1994 interview with Kurt Cobain.
it's not like they have their finger on the pulse, anyway. here's a paragraph tucked away at the bottom of page 14.
wow. news of The Stone Roses reforming was front page news in the press when it happened. in October last year. Rolling Stone get around to mentioning it 3 months later in a way that suggests they might well not have bothered.
the publishers of Rolling Stone here seem to have it in their heads that the magazine will sell no matter how poor and shoddy a product they put out, and no matter how tricky it is to actually find a copy to buy. i am not at all sure how interested i am going to be in finding the 3rd edition, where no doubt there will be more editorial folly for me to find and reviews of albums i got in November. it is a great, great shame that a magazine with such a celebrated history and status amongst generations of music lovers is being allowed to have its name trashed by people who just do not seem to care.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i did say that i'd no doubt end up with the second edition and that has proven to be the case, at least after i found it again. the producers of this magazine seem really confident in people seeking it out - no instore promotions or anything, and the magazine always seem to be stuck in the lowest, most awkwards corners of stores. add to that the fact that a significant number of major chain stores are not stocking it gives one the sense that it is not going to last for much longer.
the apalling, professionally unacceptable disregard for basic editing is also working against it. what do i mean? here's the cover
did you spot it? look at the list of names at the bottom with a touch of care. actually, if you use the most casual of glance you will see a mistake that no one at Rolling Stone magazine did.
yep, that's right. Lou Reed gets listed twice. i can tell you what happened there - in order to accomodate some artists down here in the actual feature the list pertains to, some sub-editor just copied & pasted the names from an international edition in order to fit. they apparently did not bother checking the content, and nor did their editor.
most magazines would do all they could to avoid the humiliation of an editorial error like that on the front cover. Rolling Stone, at least the version here, seem to celebrate such things really. that would explain why such sloppy work extends to the content too.
here - a mere 3 months after it was released - is their review of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds album. see if you can spot the mistake - and no, it is not the amount of stars it got!
did you spot it? quite tricky to, really, but here's a close up of the bottom of the review.
key tracks off the album are "Girl", "Power" and "Michael Jackson" are they? i have the album here and.......nope, nothing like that appears on the album, not even as elaborate hidden tracks. my knowledge of the press, however, extends to knowing that certain newspapers and publications use those words (amongst others) as "tags" in articles so that search engines like google draw attention to them.
that's just lazy editing, it really is. if Rolling Stone expects to be taken seriously, then best they hire some subs and an editor that actually read the copy before it goes to print.
as for the articles inside, astonishingly bland - youth have it tough, George Clooney is a lovely bloke, some singer wants everyone to buy her records. the only article of any consequence is a reprint of a 1994 interview with Kurt Cobain.
it's not like they have their finger on the pulse, anyway. here's a paragraph tucked away at the bottom of page 14.
wow. news of The Stone Roses reforming was front page news in the press when it happened. in October last year. Rolling Stone get around to mentioning it 3 months later in a way that suggests they might well not have bothered.
the publishers of Rolling Stone here seem to have it in their heads that the magazine will sell no matter how poor and shoddy a product they put out, and no matter how tricky it is to actually find a copy to buy. i am not at all sure how interested i am going to be in finding the 3rd edition, where no doubt there will be more editorial folly for me to find and reviews of albums i got in November. it is a great, great shame that a magazine with such a celebrated history and status amongst generations of music lovers is being allowed to have its name trashed by people who just do not seem to care.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
25 years ago today.....
......i was fortunate enough to see Frankie Goes To Hollywood live at the Manchester G-Mex.
regular readers shall be all too familiar in regards of this, since i think i have made a point of mentioning this on this date every year!
rather than the usual memories, here are two new-ish Frankie things for your consideration. first up, many thanks indeed to Lex for either making or just finding this one!
you may wish to consider clicking on the above pic to make it a little bit bigger. that's a map for the most excellent Frankie Goes To Hollywood game for the Commodore 64! i have had the game since it came out, and not once have i ever been able to complete it - perhaps armed with this i should give it another try!
beyond that, many thanks indeed to Stef for sharing this link - a new site (of sorts) called Into Frankie. click on the name there and be whisked away to a site of wonder!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
regular readers shall be all too familiar in regards of this, since i think i have made a point of mentioning this on this date every year!
rather than the usual memories, here are two new-ish Frankie things for your consideration. first up, many thanks indeed to Lex for either making or just finding this one!
you may wish to consider clicking on the above pic to make it a little bit bigger. that's a map for the most excellent Frankie Goes To Hollywood game for the Commodore 64! i have had the game since it came out, and not once have i ever been able to complete it - perhaps armed with this i should give it another try!
beyond that, many thanks indeed to Stef for sharing this link - a new site (of sorts) called Into Frankie. click on the name there and be whisked away to a site of wonder!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Listening To Who - Episode 5 : Odds & Sods
hello there
well, the new year has thus far not presented any significant reason for me to stop listening to albums by The Who at random, and nor is it likely to!
this week on the stereo in the car, for that is the only place where i can play The Who at the correct volume, it has been the turn of the compilation album Odds & Sods.
The significance of Odds & Sods as a release is arguably more at what it was an attempt at rather than anything particularly on the record itself. The popular music recording boom in the 60s and 70s led, perhaps inevitably, to the rise of the bootleg industry.
Bootlegging and the arts was nothing new as late as the 1960s, of course. For a fair few hundred years before then there had been a healthy market and thus production set up for bootleg books, and for even longer than that celebrated paintings had been copied since, well, since people started painting I suppose. Considering how the mantra “if it can be produced it can be copied” had existed in respect of the arts, it should be a surprise that the record industry, for the most part, didn’t anticipate or quite know how to deal with the rise of bootleggers. Should would be the key word there; if one looks at how the industry has dealt with any “crisis” one can understand that they have never been the most proactive.
Odds & Sods was one of, if not the, first attempt to try and fight the rising amount of bootlegs of The Who which were being sold, somewhat openly by all accounts, at each and every gig they played. Interestingly, the efforts to fight bootlegs seemed at this stage not to be particularly about the money involved – Townshend’s concern, going on interviews about it, was that fans were being sold poor quality acetate discs that tended to be unplayable after a mere 4 or 5 times on the turntable.
His wish was that if fans were so keen to hear unreleased and relatively rare things then they should be of a decent quality. This was a pretty commonplace approach taken by bands at the time – Led Zeppelin were famous for nipping down to London to buy bootlegs of their own gigs so they could review their performance, and artists like Bruce Springsteen (in those early career days of the 70s at least) were more than happy to have a “special recording section” at gigs for fans who wanted to tape the show. The Who had, of course, given a nod of the head towards such recordings with their distinctly bootleg-like packaging of Live At Leeds.
The difference with Odds & Sods was, as hinted at above, this was not a collection of fan made live recordings. The Who by 1975 had an impressive number of songs that were long forgotten b-sides no longer available or things that they simply did not release. These were the ones that the fans craved and subsequently were buying poor bootlegs of.
As for where the bootlegs originated in the first place, “lost of difference places” is the best answer. The released tracks were crudely copied from record players to reel to reel tape machines; unreleased takes had been retained by studio engineers and either sold or simply passed on to those who could press and release them.
The compilation was put together by John Entwistle in 1974. The rest of the band had somewhat substantial involvement in the imminent film version of Tommy, so he really had “nothing better to do” than work on it. In great fairness, he strove to make it a “proper” album, selecting tracks that the band had actively considered as being either singles or album tracks instead of simply just giving over polished versions of what were the most bootlegged songs. Indeed, he took to the task with such passion that two volumes were prepared for release, although only one ever surfaced. The majority of what would have been in the second volume features on the current CD version, indeed the one I picked up.
As for the actual tracks on the album, they are more curious than classic if we are honest. The two which strike one straight away are rather rare studio recordings of Summertime Blues and Young Man Blues. These two were regular songs covered live, to superb sound and effect of course on the Live At Leeds album. In comparison to the live versions, however, these studio takes seem and feel muted and lacking power. Whereas it’s certainly interesting to hear them doing it off-stage, one soon understands why the band have never been all that keen for the studio versions to be given any sort of prominent release.
Speaking of prominent releases, one may well sigh at the sight of Water and Naked Eye being included yet again as “rare” on a Who release. We cannot be all that far off these two songs being released as frequently as Substitute or My Generation, really. At least here they are included in some sort of context along with a track called Postcard – these three, along with I Don’t Even Know Myself, were intended as an ep to be released in advance of the Lifehouse project. That fell through; so did the single, but at least Postcard got a release as the promotional single for Odds and Sods.
Well worth a listen is Cousin Kevin Model Child. Now then, Who enthusiasts who hear the name Cousin Kevin would think of one thing and one thing only, and you’d be right to do so. This is the first attempt at a song about such a child for the Tommy album, and dear me what a complete mess it is. If you’ve already got or heard the 2 CD deluxe set of Tommy and heard the first demo version of it you shall be all too aware of what a catastrophic mess the whole of Tommy could have been if released as intended in its first draft state. I would really caution against listening to the whole of Tommy as a demo, but the two or so minutes of this song gives you an ample clue as to how bad it was. As for the other great rock opera from the band, Quadrophenia gets a look in with a track called We Close Tonight. It’s a pretty good, lighthearted number, the latter point being perhaps why it did not make its way onto that rather dark concept album.
In recent times Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have become rightly celebrated for their regular concerts geared towards raising funds for Teenage Cancer Charities. What may surprise some is for just how long they have been involved with this cause. On this album you will find a song called Little Billy, written and recorded in the late 60s and presented free of charge to the American Cancer Society to use however they saw fit to raise awareness and, more importantly, funds. Alas, they chose not to, and the tape sat unused in their offices between the time of recording right up until when John Entwistle was assembling the tracks for Odds and Sods. They played it once or twice live in anticipation of it getting a release, but alas it only did here. A shame, really, as it’s a great song.
Beyond that, the set features a lot of songs that you will either already have or have variants of if you’ve picked up the 30 Years Of Maximum R & B box set or the expanded versions of the albums. The current low price of the set, however, still makes it very much a worthwhile set to pick up. The artwork on the CD, featuring a ridiculous cartoon image of the band as super heroes in action, is worth a quid or two of anyone’s money.
Whilst it is worth picking this up, it is a reminder of how the fun has been taken out of finding rare and obscure recordings. Of course it has gone forever now, with absolutely every recording ever made apparently available, usually free, on the internet. Hunting down rare, hard to find tracks that you were never intended to hear was immense fun. I remember the days when a dear friend sought out (and eventually found) a copy of the notorious The Black Album, withdrawn at the last minute by Prince, and indeed another friend who compiled a collection of tapes that must have covered everything The Smiths had ever done. Now that one does not have to earn the right or work to hear them, it makes the songs rather more disposable and insignificant than they perhaps should be. Oh well, such is the way of the world I suppose.
as stated earlier, this album was the first effort to not only strike back at the bootleg industry, but also to try and give what the fans wanted. quite a few artists have released b-side and unreleased material compilations over the years. notable examples are Marillion, Suede, Oasis and the Manic Street Preachers, but perhaps the winner is The Rolling Stones. their album Tattoo You was little more than rejected songs from the 6 or 7 years before it; the set went on to sell and be viewed as one of their greatest albums ever.
Odds & Sods does not feature any great lost classic as such, but the average sound of The Who is better than, well, no Who. the music on here, by a whisker perhaps, should appeal to more than just completists. well worth considering picking up if you're currently happy with a greatest hits set or two by the band, are thinking about getting some of the albums but are unsure what the sound of them would be like. again, in the interests of providing links that will ship worldwide, you can pick this up off amazon for £2.99 at the time of this being published, or if you like the idea of paying a bit more HMV will sell it to you for £3.99.
many thanks again for reading. i already have the next album in the stereo, so expect another episode of this in the not too distant future.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, the new year has thus far not presented any significant reason for me to stop listening to albums by The Who at random, and nor is it likely to!
this week on the stereo in the car, for that is the only place where i can play The Who at the correct volume, it has been the turn of the compilation album Odds & Sods.
The significance of Odds & Sods as a release is arguably more at what it was an attempt at rather than anything particularly on the record itself. The popular music recording boom in the 60s and 70s led, perhaps inevitably, to the rise of the bootleg industry.
Bootlegging and the arts was nothing new as late as the 1960s, of course. For a fair few hundred years before then there had been a healthy market and thus production set up for bootleg books, and for even longer than that celebrated paintings had been copied since, well, since people started painting I suppose. Considering how the mantra “if it can be produced it can be copied” had existed in respect of the arts, it should be a surprise that the record industry, for the most part, didn’t anticipate or quite know how to deal with the rise of bootleggers. Should would be the key word there; if one looks at how the industry has dealt with any “crisis” one can understand that they have never been the most proactive.
Odds & Sods was one of, if not the, first attempt to try and fight the rising amount of bootlegs of The Who which were being sold, somewhat openly by all accounts, at each and every gig they played. Interestingly, the efforts to fight bootlegs seemed at this stage not to be particularly about the money involved – Townshend’s concern, going on interviews about it, was that fans were being sold poor quality acetate discs that tended to be unplayable after a mere 4 or 5 times on the turntable.
His wish was that if fans were so keen to hear unreleased and relatively rare things then they should be of a decent quality. This was a pretty commonplace approach taken by bands at the time – Led Zeppelin were famous for nipping down to London to buy bootlegs of their own gigs so they could review their performance, and artists like Bruce Springsteen (in those early career days of the 70s at least) were more than happy to have a “special recording section” at gigs for fans who wanted to tape the show. The Who had, of course, given a nod of the head towards such recordings with their distinctly bootleg-like packaging of Live At Leeds.
The difference with Odds & Sods was, as hinted at above, this was not a collection of fan made live recordings. The Who by 1975 had an impressive number of songs that were long forgotten b-sides no longer available or things that they simply did not release. These were the ones that the fans craved and subsequently were buying poor bootlegs of.
As for where the bootlegs originated in the first place, “lost of difference places” is the best answer. The released tracks were crudely copied from record players to reel to reel tape machines; unreleased takes had been retained by studio engineers and either sold or simply passed on to those who could press and release them.
The compilation was put together by John Entwistle in 1974. The rest of the band had somewhat substantial involvement in the imminent film version of Tommy, so he really had “nothing better to do” than work on it. In great fairness, he strove to make it a “proper” album, selecting tracks that the band had actively considered as being either singles or album tracks instead of simply just giving over polished versions of what were the most bootlegged songs. Indeed, he took to the task with such passion that two volumes were prepared for release, although only one ever surfaced. The majority of what would have been in the second volume features on the current CD version, indeed the one I picked up.
As for the actual tracks on the album, they are more curious than classic if we are honest. The two which strike one straight away are rather rare studio recordings of Summertime Blues and Young Man Blues. These two were regular songs covered live, to superb sound and effect of course on the Live At Leeds album. In comparison to the live versions, however, these studio takes seem and feel muted and lacking power. Whereas it’s certainly interesting to hear them doing it off-stage, one soon understands why the band have never been all that keen for the studio versions to be given any sort of prominent release.
Speaking of prominent releases, one may well sigh at the sight of Water and Naked Eye being included yet again as “rare” on a Who release. We cannot be all that far off these two songs being released as frequently as Substitute or My Generation, really. At least here they are included in some sort of context along with a track called Postcard – these three, along with I Don’t Even Know Myself, were intended as an ep to be released in advance of the Lifehouse project. That fell through; so did the single, but at least Postcard got a release as the promotional single for Odds and Sods.
Well worth a listen is Cousin Kevin Model Child. Now then, Who enthusiasts who hear the name Cousin Kevin would think of one thing and one thing only, and you’d be right to do so. This is the first attempt at a song about such a child for the Tommy album, and dear me what a complete mess it is. If you’ve already got or heard the 2 CD deluxe set of Tommy and heard the first demo version of it you shall be all too aware of what a catastrophic mess the whole of Tommy could have been if released as intended in its first draft state. I would really caution against listening to the whole of Tommy as a demo, but the two or so minutes of this song gives you an ample clue as to how bad it was. As for the other great rock opera from the band, Quadrophenia gets a look in with a track called We Close Tonight. It’s a pretty good, lighthearted number, the latter point being perhaps why it did not make its way onto that rather dark concept album.
In recent times Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have become rightly celebrated for their regular concerts geared towards raising funds for Teenage Cancer Charities. What may surprise some is for just how long they have been involved with this cause. On this album you will find a song called Little Billy, written and recorded in the late 60s and presented free of charge to the American Cancer Society to use however they saw fit to raise awareness and, more importantly, funds. Alas, they chose not to, and the tape sat unused in their offices between the time of recording right up until when John Entwistle was assembling the tracks for Odds and Sods. They played it once or twice live in anticipation of it getting a release, but alas it only did here. A shame, really, as it’s a great song.
Beyond that, the set features a lot of songs that you will either already have or have variants of if you’ve picked up the 30 Years Of Maximum R & B box set or the expanded versions of the albums. The current low price of the set, however, still makes it very much a worthwhile set to pick up. The artwork on the CD, featuring a ridiculous cartoon image of the band as super heroes in action, is worth a quid or two of anyone’s money.
Whilst it is worth picking this up, it is a reminder of how the fun has been taken out of finding rare and obscure recordings. Of course it has gone forever now, with absolutely every recording ever made apparently available, usually free, on the internet. Hunting down rare, hard to find tracks that you were never intended to hear was immense fun. I remember the days when a dear friend sought out (and eventually found) a copy of the notorious The Black Album, withdrawn at the last minute by Prince, and indeed another friend who compiled a collection of tapes that must have covered everything The Smiths had ever done. Now that one does not have to earn the right or work to hear them, it makes the songs rather more disposable and insignificant than they perhaps should be. Oh well, such is the way of the world I suppose.
as stated earlier, this album was the first effort to not only strike back at the bootleg industry, but also to try and give what the fans wanted. quite a few artists have released b-side and unreleased material compilations over the years. notable examples are Marillion, Suede, Oasis and the Manic Street Preachers, but perhaps the winner is The Rolling Stones. their album Tattoo You was little more than rejected songs from the 6 or 7 years before it; the set went on to sell and be viewed as one of their greatest albums ever.
Odds & Sods does not feature any great lost classic as such, but the average sound of The Who is better than, well, no Who. the music on here, by a whisker perhaps, should appeal to more than just completists. well worth considering picking up if you're currently happy with a greatest hits set or two by the band, are thinking about getting some of the albums but are unsure what the sound of them would be like. again, in the interests of providing links that will ship worldwide, you can pick this up off amazon for £2.99 at the time of this being published, or if you like the idea of paying a bit more HMV will sell it to you for £3.99.
many thanks again for reading. i already have the next album in the stereo, so expect another episode of this in the not too distant future.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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