THE WHO - PART 1 (1965-1968)

Yep, more Sunday-to-Monday stream-of-consciousness posting. This one, let's face it, was predictable....

For whatever reason, I got the bee-in-the-bonnet/ants-in-the-pants itch to immerse myself in THE WHO's discography on Saturday afternoon. While I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about music, I must admit to having some rather alarmingly cavernous gaps in my education/experience. Thus, some years ago, I immersed myself in THE BEATLES' recorded output and learned that RUBBER SOUL and ABBEY ROAD were my two favorites of theirs. A year or so later, I pulled the same stunt with BOB DYLAN and learned that I'm much more about the songs than the albums when it comes to the Bobster, but that, in a pinch, I'd have to go with BLONDE ON BLONDE (or maybe BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, if I were afforded an additional pinch).

Which brings us to the Who. My favorite LP of theirs turned out to be an extremely easy choice: WHO'S NEXT. My favorite year for Who songs: 1966. Favorite Who song I'd never even heard before: "So Sad About Us." JOHN ENTWISTLE ditty I liked better than "Boris the Spider": "Doctor, Doctor." Song I vaguely remembered from my youth but hadn't thought about since my youth: "Eminence Front." General impression: Other than WHO'S NEXT, I didn't much care for the band's '70s efforts. QUADROPHENIA seems grossly overrated (TOMMY, too, when it comes down to it; guess I'm not a "rock opera" sort of guy).

So this begins a three-part series, with the others to follow in a week or so. Might as well start at the beginning....

[MP3] "I Can't Explain" [1965]

[MP3] "My Generation" [1965]

[MP3] "The Kids Are Alright" [1966]

[MP3] "Happy Jack" [1966]

[MP3] "Substitute" [1966]

[MP3] "I'm a Boy" [1966]

[MP3] "So Sad About Us" [1966]

[MP3] "Doctor, Doctor" [1967]