This month’s UNCUT CD is rather special. We’re delighted to present 10 tracks taken from The Who’s upcoming Who’s Next / Life House deluxe edition – a mod-tastic feast of home demos, studio rarities and live versions. Please play it loud – but first here’s a few words from Pete Townshend himself…
- ORDER NOW: The Who are on the cover of the latest UNCUT
“One of the interesting things about the demos for Life House was that there were two phases for me. I was right in the middle of producing the Thunderclap Newman album, Hollywood Dream, where I was working with stereo tape machines, bouncing from one to the other. Then the second half of the experiment was on eight-track, which I’d imported in. The two crafts are very different. So a whole other avenue kind of opened up for me when it came to Life House. My demo process evolved. Listening to those eight-track tapes now – where you’ve got this big, bulky box with a tape in it, then you slam it on – takes you right back. So I think the music on this Uncut CD, with demos and studio sessions and live tracks, is an interesting selection of stuff. It gives a kind of cross-section of the mix-up that’s on the boxset. And you’re getting fucking free music!”
1
PURE AND EASY *
(PETE TOWNSHEND HOME STUDIO DEMO)
The backbone of Life House, salvaged for Townshend’s Who Came First, but here in its original extended form
TOWNSHEND: For Tommy, the founding song was ‘Amazing Journey’, which told the whole back story, the under story, of it. And ‘Pure And Easy’ did the same for Lifehouse, which is why it’s such a shame it was left off Who’s Next. It was easy to write and it was a pleasure to write. It’s very simple, just three chords, basically. I wrote it on piano.
2
GOING MOBILE
Townshend takes lead vocals on this joyful salute to the open road, inspired by his Dodge Travco
TOWNSHEND: At the time, pollution was a massive issue, as it still is. Of course, the one thing I didn’t take into account was the amount of shit I would’ve been putting into the air myself with my big V8 American campervan. I’d used it to attend the Isle of Wight Festival, so it was part of my life at the time. And it occurred to me that it was a good theme for a song.
3
BEHIND BLUE EYES *
(RECORD PLANT NEW YORK SESSIONS, 1971)
Presaged by studio chat, The Who master the art of the quiet/loud dynamic
TOWNSHEND: This is Brick’s song, one of the villains of the Life House story. I remember I did it at home, went downstairs to the kitchen to get some tea and my wife said, ‘That song’s beautiful.’ I said, ‘Oh dear, is it?’ It’s about a guy who’s treacherous and lies and cheats, then he gets his comeuppance.
4
MARY *
(PETE TOWNSHEND HOME STUDIO DEMO)
Townshend at his most delicate and vulnerable, outlining a key Life House protagonist
TOWNSHEND: In the graphic novel you can see that Mary’s the main character, along with the two Londoners who hadn’t managed to get to the North, to get away from police prosecution. In fact, Mary wakes up in her experience suit. So they’re trying to find somewhere to go and they hear about the Life House as an underground potential. The whole song took about ten minutes to write.
5
LOVE AIN’T FOR KEEPING *
(RECORD PLANT NEW YORK SESSIONS, 1971)
A looser, heavier, harder-edged primer for the Who’s Next version
TOWNSHEND: This song is about something we still do. We’re in a world of climate change and we’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s OK to have a barbecue. Yeah, it’s OK to have a Land Rover and drive up and down a hill. It’s OK to fly to Singapore. We deserve it.’ So they’re lying in the fields, there’s black ash from the foundry, they’re in a polluted atmosphere. And all they can think about is shagging!
6
TIME IS PASSING
(PETE TOWNSHEND HOME STUDIO DEMO)
The soundtrack for Life House’s escaped music hacker, complete with pedal steel guitar
TOWNSHEND: This would’ve been inspired by me trying to add a song to the Lifehouse story that might fit in. When I was working on demos, I was always thinking that I might have to write another song for when the film gets made, but I’ll do this for now and it will help build a pitch. Time is passing, it’s getting late. It’s not so much a political statement as much as a composer’s device.
7
GETTING IN TUNE
Daltrey is at his explosive best on this stirring hymn to musical communion
TOWNSHEND: I think this is about the power of music. In the story, this is somebody that’s got to grips with the process within the Lifehouse. They’ve got their own music, they’re getting in tune with their own music, getting a feeling of being a part of a concert event, part of a music experiment that’s starting to work. It’s all beginning to come together.
8
WON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN *
(LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1971)
An epic version of The Who’s magisterial stadium-pleaser, recorded at the Civic Auditorium
TOWNSHEND: It’s just a great song to play in big and small venues. I think Roger’s edging towards trying to drop it from the set now, but I don’t know what we’d do to replace it. We’ve reintroduced ‘My Generation’ the way the single was done, with lots of modulations. I think Roger must spend a lot of time listening to old Who singles.
9
BABA O’RILEY *
(LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1971)
Who’s Next’s other great show-stopper in full, delirious effect
TOWNSHEND: I had a room full of synthesizers, where you can sit for four hours and make a nice sort of farting noise. But to actually make music is something else. So this was a device with a Lowrey organ and I found this marimba effect to make this incredible kind of Terry Riley-type sound. I definitely knew this piece was going to work from the off.
10
SONG IS OVER
The intended denouement of Life House, one of Townshend’s greatest ballads
TOWNSHEND: This is Roger and I sharing vocals. When we do get together musically in this way, it’s like we both acknowledge that there’s something greater than just the two of us. I love this song. And a lot of people love it too. It’s an aspirational, kind of corny testament to the universe.
* Previously unreleased