Nå kommer The Who Singles Boxes - Volum 2

Da The Who slo gjennom midt på 1960-tallet var det først og fremst singlene deres som vakte oppmerksomhet. De oppnådde alle godt salg og høye listeplasseringer. 14. august kommer vinylboksen ”The Reaction singles” – volume 2 i en serie bokser som startet med ”The Brunswick singles” for kort tid siden.

Reaction var plateselskapet som overtok deres utgivelser etter at The Who røk uklar med produsenten Shelk Talmy og forlot Brunswick. Boksen inneholder flere av deres største klassikere, som for eksempel ”Substitute”, ”I’m a boy”, ”Happy Jack” og den sagnomsuste EP’en ”Ready steady Who”. Sistnevnte går i dag på samlermarkedet for store summer på samlermarkedet. ”I’m a boy” og ”Happy Jack” var de mestselgende singlene deres her hjemme. Senere følger også bokser med singleutgivelser fra The Who på selskapene Track og Polydor, alt dette som del av feiringen av gruppens 50 årsjubileum.

Les mer om slippet her:

In early 1966, The Who broke their contract with producer Shel Talmy and Brunswick Records, they signed a temporary deal with their agent and future music mogul Robert Stigwood’s independent Reaction Records. In March, just before Brunswick released A Legal Matter without the Who’s permission, the band issued their own new single, Substitute.

The Who’s bust-up with Shel Talmy meant that the original Substitute single, with Circles on the flipside, had to be withdrawn from sale. The Who reissued the single a week later with Circles re-titled Instant Party.

When Substitute reappeared for a third time, its new B-side, an instrumental entitled Waltz For A Pig, was credited to ‘The Who Orchestra’ but actually featured another of Robert Stigwood’s clients, the Graham Bond Organization. Despite that legal tug of war, Substitute reached Number 5 in the UK; a timeless snapshot of The Who in their power-pop prime.

A five-track EP released in November ’66, the title of Ready Steady Who referenced the popular ITV pop show Ready Steady Go, on which the band were regular guests. The EP’s song selection was certainly eclectic. Circles, a track that had appeared as the B-side of the original Substitute single, made a re-appearance on the A-side here, and was joined by a new Townshend composition, Disguises, a song driven by hypnotic percussive rhythms and jangling guitar. The reverse side of the EP featured The Who in a lighter mood. It included one of their current live numbers, a version of the popular Batman TV show theme, plus two of Keith Moon’s favourite songs: US surf duo Jan And Dean’s Bucket T and Barbara Ann, which had been a hit for The Beach Boys earlier that year.