In the summer of 1964, after teddy-boys and before punks and skinheads, the two factions on the streets of England were Mods and Rockers. Mods wore suits and rode on scooters wearing parkas. Rockers wore leather jackets, boots or brothel creepers and rode motorbikes.
I was 13 going on 14. I couldn't own either a scooter or a bike, but I did have a leather jacket. I bought some silver star studs and stuck them in the back of my leather jacket to spell out ..
"Live Fast
Love Hard
Die Young"
I say again, I was 13 going on 14. I couldn't fight my way out of a paper bag. I walked around in a studded leather jacket wearing tight jeans and winklepickers !!
I say this to illustrate a basic conflict. By late '64 we had moved to Australia, and in 1965 when 'My Generation' dropped it was too hot for leather and I really really liked the music The Who were playing. I swapped sides. Well, maybe not swapped sides. It's very hard to make a fashion statement when you're a red-headed freckly pasty Yorkshire kid living in a mining town on the edge of the Simpson Desert with temperatures in excess of 100f for days on end. Let's just say I became more cosmopolitan in my tastes in music and clothing.
So back to the music. There was a live album released in 1970, 'Live at Leeds' but 'Who's Next' was the Who's first studio effort since 'Tommy' in 1969. Like 'Tommy' this was meant to be another rock opera by Pete Townshend with the project name 'Lifehouse'. It never happened, in a nutshell Pete's vision included all sorts of theatrics and production and in the end, after a few trial performances, the rest of the group decided against it and Pete had a nervous breakdown.The premise of the rock opera was a dystopian near future. Music is not allowed and people live indoors wearing experience suits. Bobby, a bit of a rebel, starts sending rock music into the suits.
Although the concept and project itself was effectively shelved, 'Who's Next' has 9 songs and 8 of them were originally part of 'Lifehouse'.
The difference is that once the restrains of making a rock opera out of the songs was lifted the group then were able to treat the tracks as individual compositions and create an album of cohesive, but not necessarily thematic songs. The only one not taken from the 'Lifehouse' project was Jon Entwistle's 'My Wife'. All the rest were by Pete Townshend.
'Baba O'Riley' is so often misnamed as 'Teenage Wasteland' that it should almost be a title in parenthesis. Problem is, 'Teenage Wasteland' was the working title for 'Baba O'Riley' but eventually became a song in it's own right with different lyrics and a slower tempo. 'Baba O'Riley' came from a combination of Townshend's two mentors Meher Baba and Terry Riley. I've included a link to Pete's original demo of 'Teenage Wasteland' below.
The opening line of 'Bargain' uses one of Meher Baba's phrases, "I'd gladly lose me to find you" showing again the influence he had over Pete Townshend.
Apart from 'Baba O'Riley' the other two tracks from the album released as singles were 'Behind Blue Eyes' and 'Won't Get Fooled Again'.
The highest charting was by 'Won't Get Fooled ..', in fact the other two did nothing in England and 'Baba..' barely scratched the surface in the US. It was only later that these songs became not only extremely well received but also radio station classics.
I'm a bit of a hit and miss Who fan. I loved all their early singles ..
'Substitute', 'Happy Jack', Pictures of Lily', 'Magic Bus', 'I Can See For Miles' .. but when it comes to albums I'm a bit ambivalent.
I just looked through some of my stuff and pulled out my copy of 'Quadrophenia'. The cover shows just a little sign of wear and tear, I've been carrying it around for 47 years !! The 22 page booklet inside is intact and the 2 vinyl albums are pristine. There's a good reason for that. I dislike the album with a passion. Hardly ever played it. Cannot find one song on there I like and 'Love, Reign O'er Me' makes me want to burst my eardrums with hot needles.
Personal taste I suppose.
In the meantime, 'Who's Next', using the cherry-pickings of a forgotten unfinished rock opera is not a bad listen. This is actually the 1981 '$uper $tars' re-issue so it was even better value for money.
Fill yer boots.
Teenage Wasteland (Pete Townshend Demo)
No comments:
Post a Comment