I enjoy it....another fun album. The title track, "Run Run Run" and "So Sad About Us" are my favorites......going into the bonus tracks, I think "Doctor Doctor" and "Disguises" are both great.....both made my Ipod.

A nice little album, and you can see things coming together. As with MG, some overlooked gems here - "So Sad About Us", "See My Way", and to a lesser extent, "A Quick One". "Cobwebs And Strange" is a cool little piece of mania.

Short side note - years ago, I was at a film reperatory that was showing "The Kids Are Alright". The film got to the part where Pete talks about how "A Quick One" came to be, and someone in the crowd yelled "Tommy!" Followed shortly thereafter by someone else shouting, "It's 'A Quick One', you asshole!"

Alan

I always got a kick out of this album--"So Sad About Us" is the best Who song to never wind up on a best-of (that I know of) and "Cobwebs And Strange" is both silly and amazing at the same time. Really, after all of these years, the only negative thing I can say about it is the same as I said about the first album--it would have been even better if it had had "I'm A Boy" and "Substitute", the other two 1966 Who singles.

This has had a weird history on CD. The original MCA version in the US retained the "A Quick One (Happy Jack)" title, cover, and tracklisting. IIRC, the expanded 1995 CD was somewhat hampered by the fact that for some reason the master tapess for some of these songs were still in the hands of Shel Talmy, so an acoustic version of "Happy Jack" was substituted for the standard version and a bunch of the album songs either were in mono or some sort of rechannelled stereo. The 1995 bonus tracks also included most of the 1966 UK EP "Ready, Steady, Who!", including "Batman", which had never been released in the US up till that point, but not the remake of "Circles", apparently because of Talmy for some reason. After reaching agreement with Talmy and issuing the expanded "My Generation" in 2002, his tapes were used to create a sonically updated "A Quick One" with all of the stereo mixes, but retaining exactly the same tracklisting and artwork. (That is, if I'm remembering all of this correctly.)

Two songs that appeared officially for the first time on the 1995 remaster were "Man With Money" and the "My Generation/Land Of Hope And Glory", both of which had previously appeared on bootleg. Other bootlegs floating around from this era are things such as "Do The Strip", which sounds like a Pete demo, and an instrumental called either "Signal 30" or "Sodding About" which was (I think) recorded for the BBC. Officially released Townshend demos include a portion of "So Sad About Us" (on "Scoop") "Substitute", and "Happy Jack" (on "Another Scoop").

As with "My Generation", a 2008 Japanese boxed set collected all of these stereo and mono mixes along with all of the other relevant 1966 songs--regular and alternate versions of "I'm A Boy", three versions of "Happy Jack" (another alternate version had appeared on a bonus disc with the "Ultimate Collection" best-of in 2002), the standard version of "Substitute" along with the censored US version, and a previously unreleased instrumental version of "Batman".

Soorry--I know I'm a geek, but I'm having fun here playing with my CD booklets.

As much as I like the first album, to my ears this one was a big leap of quality. It's got cool quirky originals, some interesting covers on the remastered version (and here I'll confess my love for "Bucket T") not to mentionTownsend's ambitious title track. My favorite Who album is just around the corner but this one gets played almost as much around here. The fact that it's a bit of a mixed bag is, strangely, one of its charms.

I always think of "Bucket T" as a song from "Magic Bus: The Who On Tour", a 1968 US comp disowned by the band, but for years the only US source for certain tracks. When I first bought these albums on vinyl in the 80's, they were only availble as 2-fers--one was "The Who Sings My Generation/Magic Bus" and the other was "A Quick One (Happy Jack)/"The Who Sell Out".

I wonder how many people bought "Magic Bus: The Who On Tour" thinking it would be a live album? When it comes to deceptive titles that one is right up there with "Best of the Beatles" ... by Pete Best.

The Who's brilliant performance of "A Quick One" from Rock and Roll Circus.

Braniac brings up the 2003 reissue-I do not have that and would like to get it for all the reasons he mentioned since the 1995 remaster used some inferior mixes and had the strange acoustic "Happy Jack".
Does anyone have that version and is it superior to the 1995?

A few years back I used to regularly attend crazy parties in Lawrence, Massachusetts that would take place on the upper floor of an abandoned factory. This guy regularly performed a solo rendition of A Quick One up there on just bass and guitar. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. One of my favorite who songs.

This album is a personal favorite of mine. I just wish the sound were a little more full. Good things around the corner too.

What a difference between this performance and the one at Monerey just a year and a half earlier. The band as a whole is light years ahead of where it had been and this is the first performance in which we get to year the Roger Daltrey voice. He was a good singer before this. From this point on though, he was one of rock's greatest vocalists.

Just classic!

For years, the version of "A Quick One" on the home video versions of "The Kids Are Alright" was incomplete - cable stations showed the whole version, but the version released on tape and the initial DVD (as I recall) was butchered. For years, I'd attributed it to an editing error (I think I actually got that from one of the companies that released it - back when you could write them a letter and actually get a letter in response), but according to the web site referenced above, it was edited by John Entwistle, along with some dialogue before the performance, because he felt it was boring.

Alan

It's now available in all of its great glory.

The 2003 version still has the acoustic "Happy Jack". When it first came out, one could tell that it was the stereo disc by a sticker on the shrinkwrap, but I don't know which version Amazon may or may not send out if you order this from them. As when I first heard the stereo "My Generation" when I first heard the 2003 disc, I recall hearing differences in the songs (much like Beatles fans spotting the differences in the mono mixes) but I'm now hard pressed to remember exactly which songs contained what differences. Here's one webpage that attempts to sort through the various versions of "A Quick One", but not in a particularly organized manner:

http://www.thewho.info/AQuickOne2.htm

I tried doing a bit more digging into all of the drama surrounding the 1995 remaster. ICE covered it rather extensively (are we ever going to get an online archive?) I need to go out into the garage and dig out that back issue for the final word on the matter.

Of course, I could stand to find the time to get out my sixties Who and try and compare alll these versions for myself, although I'm not sure I'd be able to tell the difference between "fake"/"rechannelled" stereo and "true" stereo--apparently "See My Way" is the sole song on here that has never been available in true stereo, so knowing this, maybe I will finally be able to learn how to hear the difference.

But I love this album. By itself, it's kind of uneven, but placed into context, this album represents how each member of the band was evolving: If nothing else, the record company's idea to have all four band members write songs was at least suuccessful in spurring Entwistle to begin writing his own material; Daltrey was no longer trying to play bluesman, and was searching for his ultimate "Woodstock" persona; Townshend was being actively encouraged by Kit Lambert to become increasingly grandiose (in a good way) with his songwriting, and he was also in the process of adapting his style of guitar playing into what would become the Who's sound--to me, "Pictures Of Lily", which came out in 1967, would be the first Who single to really nail that Who sound, with the slashing guitar and Entwistle's French horn. Moon, on the other hand, apparently began a long, gradually, downward slide from the moment he was handed his very first paycheck for playing the drums, but he''s in top form here, still a few years away from a noticiable decline.

A Quick One (or "A Quick One/Happy Jack" as I originally knew it) is a flawed but great album, just like the debut. Some of the songs are throwaways, but the best songs ("So Sad About Us," as everyone else also seems to love, "A Quick One While He's Away," "Boris The Spider") are Who classics. It's surprising how soon into their career Pete was writing multi-part suites. Considering he was only around 20-21 at the time, it's even more amazing. The expanded CD was a welcome addition, for the extra music and the detailed packaging. Not sure if this or "Sell Out" is my favorite of the pre-Tommy years.

I remember you now!!

Chris, are you saying you're the guy who used to play A Quick One up in that factory?

Yes, he was - but his Quick One wasn't the Who song!

Alan

A few corrections to what Brainy posted upthread:
1. Happy Jack was omitted from the 1995 A Quick One reissue because it was not on the original British version of the album. It was added to the US LP because the song had been a minor US hit. Its omission on the cd had nothing to do with master tapes being unavailable.
2. The cd was released in mono because they could not find the stereo master tapes at the time, but Talmy had nothing to do with that. The multi track tapes were later located and most of the album was remixed and reissued in stereo.
3. The Ready Steady Who EP version of Circles was left off the cd because reissue producer Jon Astley was unaware that there were two versions of the song. He thought there was only the Talmy version (which they didn't have the master tapes for). He didn't know the EP version was a remake and that they did have master tapes available for it.

It's not the absence of overdubs that makes the Deluxe Edition disappointing... it's the fact that it's such a shitty stereo mix. It's practically mono with almost everything mixed in the center, and only occasional random instruments off to the side. Fake stereo is used on the vocals at times. They could have created a great Who-style mix with bass left , guitar right, and drums and vocals center, just like Live at Leeds. Why they mixed it the way they did Is beyond me.

Yeah...that sounds right--I still need to dig that back issue of ICE out of the garage. This whole business of the Who being unable to locate their own master tapes, however...I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that Kit Lambert wasn't the most, um, efficient producer in the world, although then I consider Townshend's stories of having burned all of the original "Tommy" masters in a bonfire and just sort of throw up my hands.

Was it Astley who was interviewed by ICE several times during this whole reissue program? I sort of miss the sort of transparancy that the CD Watchdog demanded--even Steve Hoffman was forced to 'splain himself a couple of times.

"Happy Jack" is yet another song where I need to sit down and sift through all of the different versions. There was a bootleg version, an alternate take (I believe) that began with studio chatter from Pete ("Let's get down to good, serious, recording") that IIRC showed up on the boxed set. Not sure if the alternate take (if it was an alternate take) ever showed up officially.

Another track from this era worth a mention: "Waltz For A Pig", an instrumental not recorded by the Who, but which showed up as a "Substitute" b-side during the whole Talmy dispute. Supposedly the pig was Talmy. A few weeks back, somebody on these boards stated that this was officially released on a Japan on a disc called "Exciting The Who", but at least one source I've found says that this title is actually a Japanese bootleg.

The Who Sell Out (1967)

Side one "Radio London" (Days of The Week)
1."Armenia City in the Sky" (John Keen) – 3:12 "Wonderful Radio London"
2."Heinz Baked Beans" (John Entwistle) – 0:57 "Radio London" (More Music)
3."Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand" – 2:04 (retitled "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hands" on the US version) "Premier Drums"
"Radio London" (Instrumental)
4."Odorono" – 2:16 "Radio London" (Smooth Sailing)
5."Tattoo" – 2:42 "Radio London" (Church of Your Choice)
6."Our Love Was" – 3:07 (retitled "Our Love Was, Is" on the US version) "Radio London" (Pussycat)
"Pour-Easy"
"Rotosound Strings"
7."I Can See for Miles" – 4:44

Side two "Charles Atlas"
1."Can't Reach You"[5] – 3:03 (retitled "I Can't Reach You" on the US version and many reissues)
2."Medac" (Entwistle) – 0:57
3."Relax" – 2:38 "Rotosound Strings" (1995 remix only)
4."Silas Stingy" (Entwistle) – 3:04
5."Sunrise" – 3:03
6."Rael (1 and 2)" – 5:44 (retitled "Rael 1" on 1995 reissue) "Track Records" (Instrumental version) (This track repeats into the endless locked groove at the end of side 2. Also found after Rael 1 mono mix on disc 2 of the deluxe edtion).

UK #13 US #48

singles:
"I Can See For Miles" UK #10 US #9