Product Description

ODDS AND SODS stands out a bit in the Who canon. The aptly titled 1974 collection features songs that, for one reason or another, didn't end up on their initial recordings. It's amixed bag to be sure, one that includes pre-Who numbers like "I'm the Face", introspective and religious-themed pop ("Too Much of Anything", "Faith in Something Bigger"), and someinspired goofiness like the anti-smoking "Little Billy". Unlike a lot of out-takes collections, there are no clinkers here, and there are several gems.
"Pure and Easy", from the aborted "Lighthouse" project, ranks with any of the great melodies Pete Townshend has written. The slowly building "Naked Eye", passionately sung in alternating verses by Daltreyand Townshend, ebbs and flows to an explosive climax. The most familiar tune here is probably "Long Live Rock", whose canny lyrics look back at the band's early days and boast, "We were the first band to vomit in the bar/and find the distance to the stage too far". A quirky collection that grows more appealing as time goes by.

Track Listing

1. I'm The Face - The High Numbers
2. Leaving Here
3. Baby Don't You Do It
4. Summertime Blues
5. Under My Thumb
6. Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand
7. My Way
8. Faith In Something Bigger
9. Glow Girl
10. Little Billy
11. Young Man Blues
12. Cousin Kevin Model Child
13. Love Ain't For Keeping
14. Time Is Passing
15. Pure And Easy
16. Too Much Of Anything - Nicky Hopkins, The Who
17. Long Live Rock
18. Put The Money Down
19. We Close Tonight
20. Postcard
21. Now I'm A Farmer
22. Water
23. Naked Eye

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4479 in Music
• Released on: 1998-04-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 77 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
By the mid-1970s, even The Who's leftovers had more interest than most rock best-of albums--"Glow Girl" is a concise blueprint of 1969's "Tommy"; "Naked Eye" and "Pure and Easy" were victims of the doomed Lifehouse project; "I'm the Face" was the band's mod-obsessed first single; and even "Little Billy," an anti-smoking advertisement, still rocks hard. John Entwistle's faux country "Now I'm A Farmer" was contemptible, but the closing anthem "Long Live Rock" redeemed such missteps. The CD reissue adds studio versions of "Young Man Blues" and "Summertime Blues," among many others, and re-orders the tracks. --Steve Knopper

Customer Reviews

Almost essential
This CD is a great improvement on the original vinyl version. The original was less than half the length and features very little essential material at all. This expanded remastered version features much more stuff, nearly all of which much more essential to the original album, and somehow the songs from the original album sound better too. The remastered sound quality is excellent and the song sequencing is much better too. It doesn't quite deserve five stars but is still pretty much essential.

A well chosen reissue
This album is worth owning even if you have the original (which I have) and showcases some great early covers of rock n'roll songs plus the wonderful electric version of "Love ain't for keeping," other new additions include the sardonic "Cousin Kevin, model child," and the superb "Water" these tracks are backed up by stage standards such as "Long live rock," and "Naked Eye," well worth getting.