Keeping up with The Who collections
There’s been a bunch of reissue and collections put out by The Who in recent weeks, and what seems to be the final one — for this year at least — hits shelves next Friday. Let’s take a look at which ones have been made available.
MAXIMUM As & Bs
Following the success of the four 7-inch singles box sets from the band, ‘Maximum As & Bs’ presents all of The Who’s A sides, B sides and EPs in one place for the very first time. The five-disc set features 86 tracks from the Brunswick, Reaction, Track and Polydor labels and is out Oct. 27.
‘Maximum As & Bs’ includes classic hits such as “Pictures of Lily,” “I Can See For Miles,” “Magic Bus,” “Pinball Wizard,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Real Good Looking Boy” and the band’s last recorded track to date “Be Lucky.” The set includes rarely heard B sides and EP tracks along with the group’s first single, when they were known as the High Numbers, “Zoot Suit” b/w “I’m The Face.”
The box set features the five discs in separate wallets, housed in a rigid, liftoff-lid style box along with a 48-page booklet, with trackby-track annotation by acclaimed Who writers with period photos and memorabilia.
LIVE AT LEEDS (VINYL)
Out Oct. 27, another edition of one of the many, many reissues of what is arguably the greatest concert album in rock and roll history, ‘Live at Leeds.’ What makes this one different than the five official one which have come before? It’s been cut at Abbey Road studios with a half-speed mastering process and will be released heavyweight 180gram vinyl.
MEATY, BEATY, BIG & BOUNCY
Also out next week and cut the same way as ‘Live at Leeds’ is The Who’s first singles collection from 1971, ‘Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy.’ It features classics from the group like “I Can’t Explain,” “Boris the Spider” and “The Seeker.”
SCOOP, ANOTHER SCOOP AND SCOOP 3
Late this past August saw the reissue for the first time in a decade and a half of guitarist Pete Townshend’s critically acclaimed demo and outtake collections ‘Scoop,’ “Another Scoop’ and ‘Scoop 3.’ The albums give a unique insight into Townshend’s creative process and feature early versions of future Who classics including “Eminence Front,” “The Real Me,” “Long Live Rock,” “The Magic Bus” as well as many other Who hits.
These double-CD and vinyl sets have been newly remastered at Abbey Road with the LPs remastered at half speed and pressed on pink (‘Scoop’), yellow (‘Another Scoop’) and light blue (‘Scoop 3’) vinyl.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of The Who’s 1982 farewell tour, which obviously didn’t go according to plan. Earlier this month the band wrapped up a 19 date tour which ended in South America. Frontman Roger Daltrey has now embarked on a brief solo tour, and has announced a fall 2018 release date for his first ever memoir.