Sunday, March 15, 2015

Sting... Sting...!



MCA was really scraping the Townshend/Daltrey barrel in 1987 when they finalized the last of their much-contested drawn-out contract with The Who. Keith Moon had been dead for nearly a decade and the band hadn't recorded anything new since 1982's It's Hard... MCA acquired rights to The Who's significant back catalog soon after (an ownership that continued until 2003) and not only re-released every legitimate album but started marketing era-appropriate obscurity compilations to keep the masses hungry for more. After 1985's Who's Missing chronicled most of the band's B-sides and random live "hits" there wasn't much left but to dig through lowly master tapes of long-defunct record label reel-to-reel archives. The result? Who knows if this is stuff the band would have ever actually wanted to be released but for enthusiasts there are real diamonds in the rough to be found here. Some sweet blues tracks - "Bald Headed Woman" and the incredible "I'm A Man" (a song I'll always love thanks to Mr. Hendrix) as well as a couple covers for Stone and Vandellas fans make this record impossible to listen to without a smile. Sadly, this LP did not get the gold certificate as did its predecessor - nixing the potential for a Three's Missing...


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