The Who; My Generation 1965 (Deluxe Edition 2002)

By 1965, the Who were all set after recruiting drummer Keith Moon and saw their former band name change from the Detours to the Who, after briefly being called the High Numbers. In the spring of

1965, the album was started during the Who's early "Maximum R&B" period and features cover versions of the popular R&B songs "I Don't Mind" and "Please, Please, Please", both originally by James Brown, in addition to the R&B leanings of the tracks written by the band's guitarist Pete Townshend. Nine tracks were recorded, but several of them were rejected for Townshend originals made at new sessions that began in October.
                                              

According to the booklet in the Deluxe Edition, "I'm a Man" was eliminated from the US release due to its sexual content. The US album also used the edited UK single version of "The Kids Are Alright", which cut a brief instrumental section laden with manic drum rolls and guitar feedback before the final verse.
                                                                                                    

Many of the songs on the album saw release as singles. Aside from "My Generation", which preceded the album's release and reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, "A Legal Matter", "La-La-La Lies",

and "The Kids Are Alright" were also released as domestic singles by Brunswick after the band had started releasing new material on the Reaction label in 1966. As they were not promoted by the band, they were not as commercially successful as "My Generation" or the Reaction singles. "The Kids Are Alright" was however a top 10 single in Sweden, peaking at No. 8.
                                                                                       

[AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger
An explosive debut, and the hardest mod pop recorded by anyone. At the time of its release, it also had the most ferociously powerful guitars and drums yet captured on a rock record. Pete Townshend's exhilarating chord crunches and guitar distortions threaten to leap off the grooves on "My Generation" and "Out in the Street"; Keith Moon attacks the drums with a lightning, ruthless finesse throughout.
                                                                                 

Some "Maximum R&B" influence lingered in the two James Brown covers, but much of Townshend's original material fused Beatlesque hooks and power chords with anthemic mod lyrics, with "The Good's

Gone," "Much Too Much," "La La La Lies," and especially "The Kids Are Alright" being highlights. "A Legal Matter" hinted at more ambitious lyrical concerns, and "The Ox" was instrumental mayhem that pushed the envelope of 1965 amplification with its guitar feedback and nonstop crashing drum rolls. While the execution was sometimes crude, and the songwriting not as sophisticated as it would shortly become, the Who never surpassed the pure energy level of this record.]
                                                                               

The UK release featured an iconic front sleeve, taken at Surrey Docks in south east London by Decca Records’ photographer David Wedgbury, featuring an aerial view of the four members of The Who gazing skywards, a pose that other bands, Blondie, The Jam and The Undertones amongst them, copied in almost perfect pastiches years later. In the US American Decca attempted to jump on the British Invasion bandwagon by using a different yet similarly iconic Wedgbury shot, featuring The Who with London’s most famous clock tower, Big Ben, in the background.
                                                                     

My Generation reached #5 in the UK charts but flopped in the US. Polydor, who would release The

Who’s recordings in the UK over the next two decades, didn’t own the rights to the album, which went out of print in the UK within 12 months of its release. For years no company seemed inclined to reissue the album in Britain until, curiously, Virgin picked it up in 1980 (V2179). This issue had good sound quality but was pressed on inferior vinyl and disappeared at the end of its meagre print run.
                                                                         

Decca kept the US version available domestically throughout the Sixties and, when MCA reorganised in the early Seventies, The Who Sings My Generation was issued as a double budget package with the US-only Magic Bus – The Who On Tour. MCA first issued the album on CD in the States in the early Eighties, but was criticised for the mastering job and a better version followed but with the same catalogue number.
                                                                   

In August 2002 My Generation was released as a Deluxe Edition double CD in the US (MCA 088 112 926-2, later SACD MCA 088 113 182-2) and in October in the UK (Polydor 112 926-2).

The Who

 

Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, harmonica, tambourine on "I Can't Explain"
Pete Townshend – electric guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "A Legal Matter"
John Entwistle – bass guitar, backing vocals
Keith Moon – drums, backing vocals on "Instant Party"

Additional musicians

Nicky Hopkins – piano
The Ivy League – backing vocals on "I Can't Explain" and "Bald Headed Woman"
Perry Ford – piano on "I Can't Explain"
Jimmy Page – lead guitar on "Bald Headed Woman"

DELUXE EDITION   (2002)

DISC ONE

 
01. Out in the Street         2:32
02. I Don't Mind  James Brown    2:33
03. The Good's Gone (lacks double-tracked vocals)         4:00
04. La-La-La Lies (lacks double-tracked vocals)         2:18
05. Much Too Much (lacks double-tracked vocals)         2:45
06. My Generation (lacks lead guitar, but is available on disc two in its original mono format)         3:21
07. The Kids Are Alright (lacks double-tracked vocals)         3:10
08. Please, Please, Please    james Brown, Johnny Terry    2:46
09. It's Not True         2:34
10. I'm a Man (complete with ending)    Diddley    3:23
11. A Legal Matter (lacks lead guitar, but is available on disc two in its original mono format)         2:54
12. The Ox (complete with ending) Townshend, Moon, Entwistle, Hopkins    3:58
13. Circles (Instant Party) (lacks Entwistle's French horn and double tracked vocals)         3:13
14. I Can't Explain (lacks tambourine)         2:04
15. Bald Headed Woman    Shel Talmy    2:32
16. Daddy Rolling Stone (alternate version to that found on Thirty Years of Maximum R&B)    Otis Blackwell    2:55

Total length:    46:58

MP3 @ 320 Size: 109 MB
Flac  Size: 314 MB

DISC TWO

01. Leaving Here (alternate version to that found on Thirty Years of Maximum R&B) Holland-Dozier-Holland    2:50
02. Lubie (Come Back Home)    Paul Revere, Mark Lindsay    3:40
03. Shout and Shimmy    Brown    3:20
04. (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave    Holland-Dozier-Holland    2:41
05. Motoring  (Ivy Jo Hunter, Phil Jones, William "Mickey" Stevenson)    2:52
06. Anytime You Want Me    Garnet Mimms    2:38
07. Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (alternate take)    Townshend, Roger Daltrey    2:43
08. Instant Party Mixture         3:24
09. I Don't Mind (full length version)    Brown    3:44
10. The Good's Gone (full length version)         4:29
11. My Generation (instrumental version)         3:27
12. Anytime You Want Me (a cappella version)    Mimms    2:29
13. A Legal Matter (mono version with guitar overdub)         2:49
14. My Generation (mono version with guitar overdub)  3:18

Total length:    44:24

MP3 @ 320 Size: 103 MB
Flac  Size: 287 MB

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