The Who - Shakin' All Over / Spoonful

From the Live at Leeds Complete bootleg, The Who sing "Shakin' All Over" with a portion of "Spoonful." The song "Shakin' All Over" was written by Johnny Kidd and released in 1960 by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. "Spoonful" was penned by Willie Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1960.

Led Zeppelin On Jim Morrison

Apparently members of Led Zeppelin were not too impressed with The Doors' Jim Morrison. Below are some comments made about the frontman by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. I have heard Plant speak pretty glowingly of Jim Morrison, but those comments have come over the last couple of years.

Plant in New Musical Express:
“We only played with the Doors once in Seattle and it seemed like he was screwed up. He was giving the impression he was into really deep things like Skip Spence of Moby Grape. You get into a trip of your own that you don’t really realize what’s going on in the outside world. Morrison went on stage and said ‘Fuck you all’ which didn’t do anything except make a few girls scream. Then he hung on the side of the stage and nearly toppled into the audience and did all those things that I suppose were originally sexual things but as he got fatter and dirtier and more screwed up they became more bizarre. So it was really sickening to watch. My wife and I were there watching and we couldn’t believe it."

"...Morrison started saying all those strange things which nobody could get into. There were one or two people there crying ‘You’re God, you’re king’ and I was thinking why?”

Page also in New Musical Express:
"I was surprised after hearing a lot of advance publicity in England about how sexy Jim M. was. How virile and whatever. I was surprised to see how static he was live on stage.”

“Being dressed in black leather can only go so far but standing there like my father would on stage doesn’t really come across for me. As far as I could see the Morrison thing is just an embarrassment towards the audience. He would actually insult them and swear at them and his sexual thing is more an introvert thing, it isn’t so extroverted as Robert’s.”

Robert Plant On Singing and Aging

“My voice has changed but I can go to high places if it’s what I have to do.”

Robert Plant made those comments to VH1 Radio and were reprinted on UltimateClassicRock.com. For more click this.

Robert Plant and The Band Of Joy - Down to the Sea

One of the best songs that Robert Plant and the Band of Joy played on their recently concluded tour was "Down to the Sea," which comes from Plant's Fate of Nations 1993 solo album. The above video is from a concert at Nashville's War Memorial Auditorium and part of Live from the Artists Den that aired on WLIW.

Robert Plant and The Band of Joy - Silver Rider

Robert Plant and the Band of Joy covered two songs by the band Low for Band of Joy (2010). The songs were "Monkey" and "Silver Rider," which also appeared on Low's album, The Great Destroyer. Above Plant and B.O.J. sing "Silver Rider" on July 30, 2010 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida.

The Who News Roundup

Plenty of news about The Who the last couple of days.

First up, Keith Moon was remembered yesterday on what would have been his 65th birthday. Click here for an article at mlive.com and then another story on UltimateClassicRock.com here.

Meanwhile, part 1 of an interview that aired last night with Pete Townshend on BBC2 can be found by clicking this. Pete goes over the early days of The Who in an hour-long discussion. Part 2 will be put up on the website next week.

Gibson.com takes a look at the Pete Townshend J-200 Signature Artist Series acoustic guitar at this link.

The Who - Dogs Part Two

I have not heard this song until a few days ago. From the 1969 B-side of the "Pinball Wizard" single comes "Dogs Part Two," which is an instrumental that Keith Moon gets the credit for.

Keith Moon Drum Solo - Won't Get Fooled Again

Another great drum solo from Keith Moon. This one comes from the DVD The Who at Kilburn and a concert at the Gaumont State Theater on December 15, 1977.

Keith Moon - Who Are You (isolated drum track)

I came across this video yesterday of Keith Moon's isolated drumming on "Who Are You."
The footage of the band comes from the movie The Kids Are Alright.

Keith Moon - Rare Drum Solo

I'm not sure where this comes from, but it's classic Keith Moon! Also, starring a goldfish.

The Who - Isle Of Wight (1970)

The Who at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. The video is the conclusion of "Water" and includes a jam involving Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon.

The Who - Pure and Easy

Today would have been Keith Moon's 65th birthday. One of my favorite songs by The Who, "Pure and Easy," opens with trademark Keith Moon drumming. The audio above of "Pure and Easy" comes from the Record Plant in New York on March 17, 1971.

The master tape of this recording was mistakenly thrown in the garbage. Years later it was auctioned off and included on a bootleg, From Lifehouse to Leeds. In 1995, the tape was recovered by executive producer Chris Charlesworth and put on the reissue of Who's Next.

Final Show for Robert Plant and The Band of Joy

Sadly things have come to an end for Robert Plant and the Band of Joy. Plant and the group (Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Darrell Scott, Byron House and Marco Giovino) performed their last show on August 7 at the Big Chill Festival in Herefordshire, U.K. Although, this doesn't mark the end for Robert Plant's solo career as he has stated he wants to write some songs with Miller. For more on the final concert click this.

The Who - Sparks (Amsterdam 1969)

Pretty good audio from a concert The Who did in Amsterdam on Septembr 29, 1969. The "Sparks" portion begins around the 3:20 mark.

The Who - Time Is Passing

The Who sing "Time is Passing," which appeared on the 1998 reissue of Odds & Sods. The song was intended for the never completed Lifehouse. Pete Townshend also sang it on his 1972 solo album, Who Came First.

The Who - Sparks (New York 1970)

The quality of the sound is not great for this version of The Who's "Amazing Journey/Sparks," which comes from a concert at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on June 7, 1970. "Sparks" begins around 3:17.

Robert Plant - Tall Cool One

The third single released from Robert Plant's 1988 album Now and Zen is "Tall Cool One." Previously released songs from the record were "Heaven Knows" and "Ship of Fools." Plant and keyboardist Phil Johnstone wrote the song, while Jimmy Page is on guitar. "Tall Cool One" is notable because it contains samples at the end of some Led Zeppelin songs including "Black Dog," "Whole Lotta Love," "Custard Pie" and "The Ocean."

Robert Plant - Ship of Fools

"Ship of Fools" is off of Robert Plant's 1988 solo album Now and Zen.

Robert Plant - I Believe

Robert Plant's 1993 Fate of Nations album may be his best. "I Believe" comes from that album and is dedicated to Robert's late son Karac who died in July 1977 from a stomach infection.

Robert Plant - Big Log

Of all of Robert Plant's solo songs I particularly like "Big Log," which comes from Plant's 1983 solo album The Principle of Moments. Ironically enough, Victor Krauss covered this song for his album in 2004. Victor is the brother of Alison who most people know teamed up with Robert in 2007 for Raising Sand.

Robert Plant - In The Mood

"In the Mood" from Robert Plant's 1983 solo album The Principle of Moments was another big hit for Plant and received a fair amount of play on MTV at the time. The song was written by Plant, guitarist Robbie Blunt and bass player Paul Martinez. Also, Phil Collins was the drummer.

Robert Plant - Little By Little

Robert Plant turned 63 this past Saturday. I've enjoyed much of what Plant has done as a solo artist, in addition of course to his work with Led Zeppelin. One of his bigger hits was "Little by Little," which Plant wrote with his keyboardist at the time, Jezz Woodroffe. The song is off of his 1985 album Shaken 'n' Stirred.

The Who - Sparks (L.A. Forum 1971)

I'm never disappointed by "Sparks" and that's why it has its own label here on this blog. For the above audio, which comes courtesy of YouTube, let's go back to December 9, 1971 and the L.A. Forum in Los Angeles. The sound is shaky in spots, but that's OK with me. A few interesting spots for Pete Townshend. The first comes between 9 and 13 seconds which he somewhat repeats around 47 seconds. Also, he does something a little different around the 3:27 mark. The above "Sparks" clocks in at around seven minutes and so it is probably one of the longest versions I have heard. Also, John Entwistle's work on this or any "Sparks" should never be discounted, even though Pete and Keith Moon get the most attention on the song.

John Entwistle - Cinnamon Girl

John Entwistle covered Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl." It appeared as an outtake on The Ox's 1971 solo album Smash Your Head Against the Wall. The Who also played this song during some of their concerts in 1970.

Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia Guitar Sold for $50,000

I'm way behind on this but Pete Townshend's Les Paul guitar that he played on the band's 1972-73 Quadrophenia tour has been sold at an auction for $50,000, according to Gibson.com. If you want more information on the guitar (pictured above) click the Christies' link here.

The Who - Woodstock 1969

We are coming up on the anniversary of Woodstock which took place from August 15-18, 1969. A big moment for The Who was when they played "See Me, Feel Me/Listening to You" as the sun began rising at the festival in upstate New York. The above video comes from the movie.

Before They Were The Who

I came across this picture from around 1962 of The Detours, which featured from left to right Pete Townshend on rhythm guitar; John Entwistle on bass; Colin Dawson as the lead singer; Doug Sandom on drums; and Roger Daltrey on lead guitar. This particular group was active between 1962 and 1963. Dawson was fired by Roger in 1963 and Gabby Connolly was brought in to fill in as the lead vocalist for a short time until Roger took over. In 1964, the band realized there was another group in America named The Detours and so they decided to change the group's name. Townshend's old college roommate Richard Barnes suggested The Who and the rest as they say is history.

Pete Townshend Inducts The Rolling Stones into the Rock Hall of Fame

Great speech by Pete Townshend (pictured second from left with the band) inducting the Rolling Stones into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

Pete Townshend Collaborations

Pete Townshend has stated on several occasions that he has always found it difficult to collaborate. Even on the album he did with Ronnie Lane, Rough Mix, there aren't any songs that the two co-wrote.

But there is one person that some feel Pete would work well with: Mick Jagger (pictured to the left with David Bowie and Pete).

Townshend supplied extra guitar on the Rolling Stones' song "Slave" on their 1981 Tattoo You album, but Pete and Mick have never written together.

"Y'know, even very, very intimate friends like Mick Jagger, and I'm a great fan of his solo work, I think it's incredibly underestimated. Y'know, he's asked me to work on several records with him and I've very much enjoyed doing it. But he's never suggested that we write together. Now, his ex-wife Jerry (Hall) used to say all the time, 'You and Pete should write together.' And we would kind of go, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. It may happen, it may not.'"

My money is on it not happening, but we'll see.

Pete did provide guitar for two songs - "Gun" and "Joy" - on Mick's Goddess in the Doorway album which came out in 2001. "Gun" is below.


U2's Bono also worked on "Joy" which you can see Jagger and Bono working together if you click this.

Another rock star that Pete has never done any writing with is David Bowie, although Pete did play guitar on a few of Bowie's songs:

Below Pete and Bowie on "Because You're Young,"which is off of Bowie's 1980 album Scary Monsters and Super Creeps.


The video below is Pete and David Bowie on "Slow Burn," which is from Bowie's 2002 album Heathen.

Quadrophenia Boxset Coming

TheWho.com has announced November 14 as the day that the Quadrophenia boxset will be released. The announcement is below:

“Quadrophenia is the Who album I am most proud of” – Pete Townshend

A stunning ‘Director’s Cut’ of the landmark 1973 album produced, authorised and overseen by Pete Townshend.

After the 1971 album ‘Who’s Next’, Pete Townshend returned to the ‘rock-opera’ concept, so dramatically realised through ‘Tommy’, with another ambitious double-album masterpiece. Based around the story of Jimmy – Quadrophenia tells the tale of a young mod and his struggle to come of age in the mid-1960s.The story also takes its influence from the band’s early fans from the original mod era, and its themes of teenage angst and disaffection still resonate strongly today.

The project was intended to reflect the four characters of The Who and features some of Townshend’s most inspired, personal song-writing - way ahead of its time in scope and purpose.

This is one of the most widely recognised albums of The Who’s career because of its classic depiction of mod culture, its renowned imagery and the magnificent music and powerful performances.

The album is hugely significant in popular culture, influencing many other artists, musicians and film-makers – inspiring the classic 1979 British film by Franc Roddam and the UK ‘mod revival’ of the 1970s.

“This 2011 revisit to The Who’s 1973 Quadrophenia recording is inspired by current and continuing interest in the project,” explains Townshend. “The Who performed a concert version of the piece at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010 for the Teenage Cancer Trust with excellent reviews, and the success of that event led to the prospect of a Who tour in 2012 based on the album. The last such tour was between 1996-1997.”

The album is scheduled for release via Universal Music Catalogue on November 14th, 2011. The box set gives a unique insight into the creation of this landmark album and will feature a re-master of the original double album, Pete Townshend’s previously unheard demos including songs that didn’t make it onto the original album, an exclusive eight track 5.1 sound DVD, a deluxe hard-back book, previously unseen personal notes, photographs, memorabilia and other exclusive material that will be announced over the coming months.

‘Quadrophenia: The Director’s Cut’ will be the definitive version of the album and a must for any self-respecting fan of The Who and beyond.

To accompany the box set, double vinyl, 2-disc digi-pak and digital versions will also be released. Pre order now by clicking here.

Led Zeppelin Live in Knebworth 1979 Full Concert

In August 1979, Led Zeppelin played the Knebworth Festival in Hertfordshire, England. Someone has put the audio of the entire concert up on YouTube.The band's performance received mixed reviews, although in my opinion the negativity was a bit overblown.

The Who - Sparks (Madison Square Garden July 31, 2002)

Great memories from a great tour. I was at this show at Madison Square Garden in 2002. Robert Plant was the "opener."