The Who dream compilation… your additions?

In his thread about TP and non-TP artists, STEVE mentioned The Who, and it sent me looking back at their music. Just kind of a reflexive twinge.

I was born in ‘66 so was too young for their heyday. I knew them from FM rock radio, and ‘who are you’ came when I was 12, but truthfully I knew Pete’s ‘empty glass’ much better… it was ‘mine’.

TP69 featured an imagined compilation of Who tracks, written by Ira. This article and the listed songs were my real gateway to The Who. I liked it because it didn’t just dwell on their big hits… it went deeper. I searched for these tracks in the vinyl bins!

I have a few songs I’d like to add to volume 2.

“Blue Red and Gray” and “Imagine a man”, both from ‘who by numbers’. Really nice introspective tracks. Better lp than I thought.

“I’m One” from Quadrophenia. Again, the whole album plays better than I remember. Songs like “the dirty jobs” surprisingly strong. Maybe my ears are maturing….

What Who tracks would you add?

(By the way, I know STEVE was calling The Who non-TP entry because they’re not listed in reviews or record guides. But they sure were all over the magazine… I didnt realize how much until I was able to go back and see the older issues).

"Blue Red and Gray" and "I'm One" are great ones, I would definitely have put them on a Who compilation.

This may be redundant because it was on the soundtrack for The Kids Are Alright (which is essentially a compilation) but The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus version of "A Quick One, While He's Away" is one of their greatest recordings (and one of my favorites). It's really the definitive version of that suite but I've never seen it on a "best of" type compilation, possibly because ABKCO owns it and it became a lot tougher to license their recordings after the 1970s.

"Armenia City in the Sky," "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand," and "Tattoo" from The Who Sell Out are all favorites as well. FWIW, I didn't hear that album until after the expanded reissues came out, and I've never really thought of it without the bonus cuts that brought the original concept to complete realization. I was able to get the super deluxe box set for cheap and it's probably my favorite one they've released so far.

I have been listening to Andrew Hickey's history of Rock Music in 500 songs podcast and currently I am on the "Pinball Wizard" episode so this post caught me in a Who moment.

I prefer early Who to later, rarely listening to anything after Quadrophenia.

The original TP69 Ira wrote was in response to the then recently released 1981 "Hooligans" compilation. He was proposing a companion compilation to that one that included songs that one missed so I won't repeat any songs from Ira's list or on the Hooligans comp.

These are the songs I would add:

Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere - 1965
The Kids are Alright - 1965 (how was this one missed?)
Disguises - 1966
Dogs (pt. 1) - 1968
Call me lightening - 1968