I Can See For Miles
Baba O’riley
Guitar and Pen - “…Never Spend your Guitar or your Pen.”
There were times… when I was in love… “Bargain”
And Of Course… Slip Kid
“Keep away old man, you won’t fool me
You and your history won’t rule me!
You might have been a fighter, but admit you failed
I’m not affected by your blackmail
You won’t blackmail me…”
If I had to pick one, it would be “Athena”. A little surprised I am the first vote it received (unless I missed one).
The runner up would be “You Better You Bet.”
A couple more of my faves that haven’t been mentioned yet: God Speaks Of Marty Robbins and However Much I Booze.
I’ve loved The Who for a long long time and must admit there’s not a lot of ooomph coming off the stage anymore. I go see The Who now mostly to watch Pete play. He still gets fired up from time to time and lets loose with an extended jazzy lead or some furious power chording…moments like that make those overpriced tickets worth every penny to me.
A couple more of my faves that haven’t been mentioned yet: God Speaks Of Marty Robbins and However Much I Booze.
I’ve loved The Who for a long long time and must admit there’s just not a lot of ooomph coming off of the stage anymore. I go mostly to watch Pete play, He still gets fired up from time to time and lets loose with an extended jazzy lead or some furious power chording(like on Sparks)…moments like that make those overpriced tickets worth every penny to me.
Another vote for Sparks. I love most of their work, but that is the one that gives me the goosebumps.
Got to see them back in '02, but it was just one month after John died. Opening act was Robert Plant.
I think I love just about every song that’s been mentioned so far, but one that I haven’t seen yet is Naked Eye, especially the extended jam versions.
My Generation just has a kick and bounce that a lot of things don’t have.
I have the French horn from “Underture” stuck in my head after reading this thread,
I know that choosing Won’t Get Fooled Again seems like an unimaginative, lazy response to the OP’s question.
But, you know, damn!
mmm
Not if it’s Townshend’s solo guitar version played at the Secret Policeman’s Ball in 1979 with a Richie Havens feel to it, but yeah, the Glyn Johns version was worthy too. We didn’t hear enough of Townshend the acoustic guitar bard.
So true! Partly because I love his voice. I don;t care much for Daltrey’s voice (he does okay now and again). Imagine The Who as a power trio from the start…
A minor hijack for guitar geekery: Townshend is known for playing a Gibson J-200 - big honkin’ jumbo guitar. The have a bit of a rep for the “special ones” being few and far between. Their nickname is “the whispering giant” even while they are revered as a songwriter’s guitar and loved by folks like Emmylou.
I had played a few and been kinda meh. But then I play one from the 1950’s at a cool guitar shop. Man, it had “it.” It supported a great strum - took it to a whole 'nother level, like it carried the strum along.
I wanted to Townshend all over that thing - I could totally get why he loved that guitar.
Anyway, back to the thread - hard to say; I love so many. Fun to read the posts. I guess I would have to go with I Can See For Miles - middle period for them, perfectly captures the chaotic multi-lead performances that some how coalesce into a great, accessible, angry young man song.
And it has the greatest one note guitar solo ever, sorry Neil.
I always thought the early who stuff wasn’t so great. It was too English and kind of lost the plot, and the melody. “Miles” was apparently a song that Townshend had in reserve because he thought it was so great, if they really needed it it would save their bacon. They made it and it was a flop in the USA. I never warmed to it. I probably read about how great it was before I heard it and never forgave it.
I wouldn’t exactly call it a flop… it reached number 9. (Townshend, however, had figured it for a sure-fire #1, so by that standard it was a disappointment.)
Gotta be Boris the Spider…
okay, not really.
If I had to pick one then make it Behind Blue Eyes
Yeah that’s funny. It appears to be their biggest single. I think it points to Petes taste and judgement being not a singles oriented thing although his big philosophy in the 60s was Pop Art revolution. The Kinks singles were much greater.
It was a constant competition between Pete and Ray and they gave each other a run for their money each time. Nobody, really nobody had better runs of singles than the Who and the Kinks in the second half of the sixties, not even the Beatles, and I can’t see if there was a winner. I love them all. Btw, the Kinks were even a tad more English than the Who, which you objected to in the context of I Can See For Miles.
Yeah. I guess I meant that quality of Englishness that doesn’t cross the Atlantic well. Like that English audiences would like but that wouldn’t make Billboard. I find myself to agree with the US markets evaluation of the early Who. I thought Pete raised his game with Sell Out as an LP. He became quite an orchestrator and composer. Can’t help but think he learned a lot from his dad and his father-in-law about music while making that progress.
See, I’m in a neutral position, being German and born too late to be an ear-witness, so to say, and I guess the German charts of the times reflected that Englishness or Americanism weren’t a problem if the music was good. But I know what you mean, a song like Autumn Almanac could never have been a hit in the U.S., and even Sunny Afternoon was only #14 in America. America could only appreciate the Kinks when they played hard rock like at the beginning in 64 and 65 and later in the seventies.
ETA: Same with the Who. America largely ignored their pop singles and only embraced them when they became stadium rockers after Tommy and Woodstock.