I see a few fights coming Perfect timing... which track did Page play on???? Depends on which interview you read.
' I Can't Explain ' is the Who becoming The Who. " Dizzy in the head and I'm feelin' blue. The things you said well maybe they're true..."
It's not really accurate to describe it as a Kinks cover... it's a song both the Kinks and Who covered. And I have to say, the Who were never very convincing to me as an R&B band. Townshend wasn't much of a traditional lead guitarist, Moon was a jazzy/surf drummer whose style didn't fit the genre, and whenever they did R&B Roger always tried to adopt this croaky old bluesman voice which sounded more contrived than convincing (Eric Burdon or Steve Marriott he was not). It's a good thing Pete started writing songs, because I can't see them going very far with this kind of material. I Can't Explain on the other hand is perfect. A debut single which is arguably as good as the band ever got. As much as I love their later stuff, they never did a song better than this. The lyrics sum up teenage inarticulateness and uncertainty perfectly, and Pete's idea to play Kinks power chords on a 12-string is really cool. And Moon is the absolute star of the song with his lead drumming. The song may be Kinks-influenced, but no Kinks song had drumming like this. It's telling that although Talmy had Jimmy Page on standby, he never once considered calling Bobby Graham to this session. At age 18 Moon was already at the absolute peak of his abilities.
Isn’t it true Talmy wanted to use a session drummer on I Can’t Explain? I think the live version circa ‘65 from TKAA is freakin’ amazing!!! Moon is on fire and your attention is drawn to his performance.
You’re post had me go look up a quote I remembered from Pete Townshend in the 2001 Who book called “Eyewitness”. In the book Townshend is referring to the date of September 21, 1964 and a session at Studio 2, Abbey Road, London. Pete Townshend: That was an amazing session. We recorded it in the same room that The Beatles did their first album in. We were overawed by it and incredibly nervous. We did a tape that was bloody dynamite. Dop pop a doo, stuff like that - incredible fu**ing stuff. “Smokestack Lightning”. This was on page 35.
I can't Explain-----A tad Beatles-y.....but with more abandon--noteworthy early use of power chords in pop/rock Bald headed woman-----Stonesey......but with more abandon---the early part of the songs droning dirge must of been something from the pits of WTF at the time.... When I say abandon, I mean in terms of studio takes........
Absolutely fantastic! Love early Who. I can't see how anyone could prefer Tommy etc over this! Keith is just killing it here!
I've read 21st-century interviews with Talmy where he talked about how great Moon was, and how he never considered using a session drummer. That could be revisionism on his part, but I've also never read anything about a session drummer being on hand at that session, and no one else (to my knowledge) has reported that one was considered.
And why would there be any thought about a session drummer ? We're talking about Keith Moon here not effing Pete Best !
Assuming Pete's memory is correct, this argues against the recordings we have being the Abbey Road audition, since neither of the two songs mentioned (Smokestack Lightning and Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doo) is on the tape. But it also argues against it being a forgery, since if you were going to make a deliberate forgery of the Who's Abbey Road audition, you'd think you would at minimum include the two songs Pete specifically recalled them doing. So again, I come down to the opinion that it's likely the Who, but is not their Abbey Road audition but rather some other recording.
Talmy used a session drummer on the early Kinks recordings, and Mick Avory was a far sight better than Pete Best. But to be fair, Avory was also no Keith Moon.
Background info that will color all my inputs here: I spent my high school years in a remote area with nothing but country music. Prior to moving there I had one friend who had a copy of Tommy which I heard at age 12. After that, I really had no significant Who exposure (other than hearing Baba O'Riley on the radio during a trip to the city) until age 17 and my first Who album purchase was Face Dances, after which I worked my way back through the catalog. At that age, the first few Who albums were still a little "too 60s" for my tastes. Can't Explain What a great freakin' song! I didn't hear this until familiar with all the groups 70s output and a lot of the 60s stuff didn't immediately grab me. But this one did. So groovy. Such a cool, different take on the familiar obsession with a girl theme. Cool solo from Pete, too. Gotta' think he'd heard Dave Davies on You Really Got Me from the previous year. Upon hearing this, I kinda' wished I 'd been able to go along with The Who from the start rather than playing catch up later on.
Looks like Pete was doing the windmill right from the start! Fun song. Maybe not an original, but the delivery is still very, very Who!
I Can't Explain - Very primal and raw. I love the piano playing the ascending and descending riff for a few sections (original mono mix only) again the Motown influence of early Who is evident. the song lacks a unique signature from Moon (i recall that Talmy wanted restrained drumming) or Entwistle. Another part of the development of their sound. Bald Headed Woman - personally i don't dig this track at all, but you can hear that Pete plays a vicious guitar. Moon is also less restrained on the drums. Overall a very good single. i doubt the b side got played much....
Also @mark winstanley this could be useful for you The Who | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company
Being one who bought 7" 45s primarily because I often didn't have enough money to buy the albums....I played the flip sides even when they weren't too good... Personal examples........ Styx -Renegade-Sing for the day Bad Company- R&R Fantasy-Crazy Circles Ace Frehley-New York Groove-Snow Blind The Beatles-Let it be-You know my name----old Beatles singles were still sold in stores in the late 70s ------in the end I've always been an album guy who doesn't skip tracks and never owned more than a small handful of singles.
My first exposure to 'I Can't Explain' was the Shindig performance as featured in the film The Kids Are Alright. So I've always loved it. Its just classic, early Who. Eventually got a proper copy when I picked up Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy on lp and eventually CD. Bald Headed Woman, on the other hand, is a song I only recently came into contact with when I picked up a copy of the deluxe edition of My Generation. To be honest, its never made much of an impact on me, in fact I had to check my copy to see that it was indeed included. There it was at the tail end of disc 1. To be fair, I usually just listen to the original record when listening to My Generation, so I've probably only casually listened to BHW maybe once or twice. Its alright.
Band I used to be in covered I Can’t Explain. Lotta fun. I played bass and this is probably my speed for trying to copy Entwistle; everything else besides Magic Bus is an absolute mutha to try to play along with. It’s one of their best songs to this day, which for being one of the first is pretty cool. I don’t find it that derivative of the Kinks except maybe the guitar solo, kinda sorta. It’s much brighter sounding than the Kinks, too.
...and they never really did all that well in the U.S. either. ' I Can See For Miles ' was their only Top 10 hit. You'd think that something like ' Pinball Wizard ' or ' Who Are You ' would have bee big hits but they weren't.
Wow. Yet so many of their songs are classics, whereas many UK number ones would now be remembered as bilge. The Who comprehensively won the long game!
Perfect first single. So good that it has been the opening song for most of their career. Not much else to say about it but here’s a great cover from Yvonne Elliman from about 1974. It has Pete on guitar. Back then on Radio 1 in the U.K. DJ Johnny Walker has a spot on his radio show called “The One That Got Away” where listeners suggested he play songs that should have been hits but weren’t. This was my choice and he played it.
