The Who unissued and unreleased songs--a comprehensive list

I know a guy who has a stereo recording of the '77 Shepperton rehearsal session - I haven't had any luck in getting a copy from him, so far, though.

 

The 2011 Japan shm cd set, for the added rarities.

 

Have you heard it ? Do you know what's on it ?

 

No, I haven't heard it. I can't remember - I'd have to scroll way back through my FB messenger to see what all he said about it - it's been a couple of years since he told me about it. I remember he also said something about having a recording of a live practice session of Pete rehearsing for his Chinese Eyes album with a full band!

 

Plus you need a copy of The BBC Sessions . It's available on vinyl / cd (and bootleg).

 

It's oop. Do you have the complete tracklist for it?

 

I'd say "Rarities 1&2" is the best one. "Who's/Two's Missing" are also nice albums, but most of the important tracks are also on "Rarities".
I have never liked those old covers like "Lubie", "Shout & Shimmy", "Motoring", "Leaving Here" and "Bald Headed Woman".

 

https://www.discogs.com/The-Who-Whos-Missing-Twos-Missing/release/5901194

 

My goodness! That seller wants almost $300.00 for that set!

 

Damm, I'm rich!

Rick A.

 

Glad I bought mine in 2011! It's undoubtedly the best release from that set of 2011 Japan shm CDs.

 

This one was on Ebay yesterday. Description by the seller.

This is a 10-inch acetate with an unusual, and potentially unique short version of the song was run up to get it some airplay for a few key DJs. This is a 2:44 version of the song, quite different from the 3:55 version on the usual 45rpm. Even the pink label Decca promos were 3:55.
The edit is the removal of the whole of the second verse & chorus.
Then the end of the song is edited to shorten as well, and it is in MONO.
Add to that, the whole recording is running a bit fast, to brighten it up and reduce time as well. All in all, it’s a really unusual version that I’ve not seen elsewhere, bonifide by Decca USA. Is this a unique version?



Sold for $ 570.

 

They also did I Saw Her Standing There. The Barbara Ann footage is fantastic, it's what a big time rock band looks like when they're screwing around.

 

What's the difference between this and the one on "Quadrophenia" Deluxe?

 

Link to the sold ebay listing?

 

WHO / unique DECCA edit I CAN SEE FOR MILES 2:45 ACETATE 1967 (Hear it!) | eBay »

 

The track on Quadrophenia Super Deluxe is a Townshend demo. He's referring to the Who version of the song, which appeared on the Quadrophenia soundtrack album. The assumption he seems to be making is that there was a mix of the song made in 1973 which is still unreleased, and that the version which has been released is a 1979 remix. That may well be true, but it also may be true that the song was never mixed (or even completed) in 1973. We know Moon is drumming on the track, but we don't know how much else of it was recorded in 1973 as compared to 1979.

 

From what I remember FWIW! the track list sheets showed a dated and maybe timed and what may appear to be a 'finished' band version of Quadrophenic or 'a' (Four Faces) in the 'summer' of '73. As it does, IIRC, for We Close Tonight. I would have to log in to the Cloud again and not sure if I have my passwords or can find those studio notes. It is a question though there may now never be a definitive answer that can be answered by ears?

 

Well, what do you know, about time there was a 25% edit of the 4 minute single
Kudos for posting the link.

 

Either way, I've always loved the song and wish it had fitted into the album somehow.

 

I"ll look for this to show up on WF's November new arrival list. It's my understanding, studio time for a digital transfer has already been booked.

 

I hate to sound like a skeptic, but here I go sounding like a skeptic: If full band/studio versions of any of these tracks actually exist, I find it extremely unlikely they would remain unreleased and unbootlegged a full twenty years before such material began being officially released in earnest.

Further complicating matters is that Pete seems fairly fluid about the titles he uses for his compositions. Is there any meaningful difference between "Miss Simpson" and "Sally Simpson"? They may be different recordings, but the former is clearly an earlier version of the latter. And there are also those songs which received different titles in the US and the UK--"I Don't Even Know Myself"/"Don't Know Myself", "1921"/"You Didn't Hear It", "Circles"/"Instant Party", etc.

The best example of a so-called unreleased Who song hiding in plain sight is "Electronic Wizardry"/"Wizardry". In an article in ICE Magazine a couple of decades ago, this was mentioned as a "Quadrophenia" outtake, but did not appear on the 1996 re-release. As a result, the Who faithful continued to clamor for it. As it turns out, the song had been actually released--officially--in 1993, as a b-side on the "English Boy" CD single from Pete's solo "Psychoderelict" album.

Don't get me wrong--I'm as big a fan of Pete's home recordings as anybody. It just strikes me as fairly likely that a list of, say, 20 "unreleased Who" song titles (a) does not necessarily represent twenty distinctly different, finished compositions which were never further developed into songs recorded and released by the band, and (b) does not necessarily mean that Moon, Entwistle or Daltrey ever attempted to record the song.

It depresses me to write this, but I think that much of this will remain sheer speculation until such time that Pete's personal recordings are turned over and cataloged by an outside archivist, somthing I've never heard him express any interest whatsoever in doing. (In other words, this will probably never happen until after he passes.)

 

I didn't care for the "presentation", however the In The Attic series was something of a showcase for PT's "archival" tracks. I"ll look into it see if there is a master list.

 

Why does the existence/release of the Townshend demo of this song lead you to conclude there is no Who version of the track? Astley specifically said (in ICE) that there was a Who version of the song. It's possible he could be mistaken (he did make a lot of mistakes in the 90s) but why make the assumption he is mistaken about that, minus any evidence? According to Astley (in ICE) the reason this track and the other outtakes ("Bank Holiday" and "We Close Tonight") were not released on the 1996 remaster is that Townshend thought it would be jarring to have bonus tracks at the end of the album, since he viewed the album as a complete statement/story.

 

Song I'd never heard of popped up in my Spotify weekly "Release Radar" a couple weeks ago.

It's called "The Girls I Could've Had", and it's solo Pete singing and accompanying himself on electric guitar. Says it's from the deluxe My Generation release that's coming out.

Anyone know anything about this track? It's pretty good.