BBC SESSIONS

This is a document of rock history, recorded for the Beeb. Like its counterparts from Deep Purple and Led Zep, this was released way after the actual recordings. In 2000. Most of the songs are gently rendered and are not really in-line with The Who's fame on stage. The version I have, features more songs than the ones listed on PA. Here they are.

The numbers were played between May 65 and January 1973. Lots of different shows were involved : Saturday Club for "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", "Just You And Me, Darling", "Leaving Here". "Good Lovin" was recorded on June 15 for the Top Gear show. The last 65 session (Saturday Club) holds "My Generation", "The Good's Gone", "La La La Lies". The latter two not being real great I must say.

A little jump in time (March 66) for the next three number. "Substitute", "Man with Money" (a cover song from the Everly Brothers), "Dancing in the Street" which is another cover from Marvin Gaye (amongst others). No real big fuss about these (except "Substitute" of course). They were recorded for Saturday Club.

"Disguises" and "I'm A Boy" were taped at the BBC Playhouse Theater in September 66. Sound for the former is pretty bad while during the introduction of the latter, the speaker asked if there's a special meaning behind the latter. But the answer will be .... not at all even if lots of journalists were trying to find complex explanations for some Who songs like "Substitute" which had no meaning at all (dixit The Who).

Another jump in time (January 67) for the next four numbers again for Saturday Night. " Run Run Run", "Boris The Spider", "Happy Jack" and "See My Way". None belongs to my most estimated Who numbers. "Boris" is of course extremely psychedelic but has never been a fave of mine at all. At the end of the song, the speaker asked Pete about their reputation of smashing equipment on stage and if they knew the value of the instruments destroyed so far. Pete will say : about 6,000 £ ! Remember, we are in 1967 and The Who only had a short career behind them ! Jack is also better known but really too naïve to be interesting to me.

One of the most interesting sequence is the one recorded on the 10th of October for Top Gear, involving the extremely funny radio jingle of "My Generation" recorded to promote Radio One (Radio One is my favourite station), "Pictures Of Lilly" and "A Quick One (While He's Away)" their first mini-opera. Personally, I far much prefer their live version available on the Deluxe version of "Live At Leeds" which is really extraordinary.

We'll jump now seriously in time with the next recording taking place in April, 1970. It was broadcast in the Dave Lee Travis show. The fame of The Who after their Woodstock appearence and the release of Tommy is now enormous. Still, only one number from "Tommy" with "I'm Free" (a very positive song of course in a nice but gentle rendition). But why did they need to perform "Substitute" again ? "The Seeker" was their latest single at the moment, so it is quite logic to get it played while "Shakin' All Over" was a classic of their live performances at the time.

From the last session in January 73 (29th), we'll get "Relay" a great Who single that never appeared on an album (it was the year of Quadrophenia...). I am also biased with this song. I bought the single at the time of release and quite liked it. This live version, although over-extended at the end is rather good.

This album can not compete with some other ones recorded for the Beeb (Purple, Led Zep, Hendrix...). The performances of The Who here are far much too polished. They lack some craziness and wildness I guess. Therefore, I can only rate it with two stars. This is for die-hard fans only. The live reference for The Who still remains "Live At Leeds" (the double CD Deluxe edition).