A Quick One, While You're Here
This Who cover album was conceived and recorded rather quickly. Recorded from 12/15/06 through 4/10/07, it was mostly done during breaks from mine and Kelli's upcoming (as of April, 2007) concept album. During these breaks, I grew quite restless, unable to bury my passion for playing music. But I wasn't ready to start writing all new music, since I was already doing that. I had been on a Who streak since spring, devouring all the sounds I could from them. Naturally, I was starting to see how I could cover some of my favorites. And I must say, there has always been a burning desire to do something....anything.....to make up for this 1990 massacre. Armed with good equipment and decent talent, I felt it was time to pay homage to one of my favorite rock bands.
Roger Daltrey's voice was difficult for me to emulate. Not simply because he's one of the most amazing rock vocalists ever, but in almost all of The Who's song, he is singing in such a way that it was difficult for me to decide which register I should use (Kelli might chuckle at this, but hear me well, I am aware that a register can be more than a vent cover in a house!). I ended up going with a higher pitch for most of these, mainly because the lower one was simply dull. I could not get anything out of my voice that resembled anything close to enthusiasm. So, you will hear a somewhat different vocal styling than what you are used to in a lot of these songs. Most would say this is a good thing.....
The title of the album is a play on a song Pete Townshend wrote in 1966 that ended up being sort of a prelude to Tommy, called "A Quick One, While He's Away". More details on that below. This is a collection of 10 of my favorites, though certainly not all of the songs I like. I had thought about covering Tommy completely, but there is simply too much in that music for me to respectfully reproduce. So here, we have some of their best-known music, bookended by their first hit and a song from their latest album, a span of 42 years.
Track 1: "I Can't Explain"
This was The Who's first hit, and was one of the songs responsible for getting me excited about rock and roll for the first time (it's a short list). One interesting note is that the backup vocals were session musicians, and the lead guitar solo is Jimmy Page, so there is less of the band than one would expect. It's probably a good thing their vocal talents were as good as they were, otherwise they may not have been so great. I don't think there is a single Who song that does not contain harmonies of some kind.
Track 2: "Tommy, Can You Hear Me"
When I found my parents' "Tommy" album, this was one of the songs I was transfixed by. The guitar playing was nice and smooth, and of course, the harmonies were perfect. I will be honest and say that this is probably my 10th best cover song out of the 10 presented here. It's likely a combination of my voice not being quite as good as theirs, and the fact that the song is so vocal-driven, it probably would have been a good idea to find at least one other person to help out (yes, Kelli, I hear your cries).
Track 3: "Happy Jack"
This is the only song that I took any real liberties on. I was listening to it a lot in my car during the winter of '06 and for some reason started singing it the way you hear now. After several iterations of it, I was having so much fun with it, there was no way I was going to be able to sing it "normal". For the record, the "laughing" parts nearly tore my throat out. I was raw for several days afterward. However, you do still have a nice contrast with the "la-la" backup vocals, so not everything has been tampered with.
Track 4: "Pinball Wizard"
Everybody knows that this has always been the #1 Who song for me. Fascinated with the guitar playing at age 13, I truly believe it was this song that set me on the road to becoming the rythym guitarist that I am, eschewing dramtic lead playing or much of anything that required nimble fingerwork. I have always been happier forming chords with my left hand and jamming with my right. There was no way I could leave this one off the list when I finally decided I was going to move forward with the album.
Track 5: "A Quick One, While You're Here"
If you have listened to all of these in order, grab a beverage or snack before you start this one, for its length is nearly that of the last four songs combined. This is considered The Who's "mini-opera", and Townshend himself has allowed the idea that it is about Tommy's parents. Basically, a guy is sent off to war and promises his girl that he'll be back soon. However, he is gone longer than expected, and she is depressed. Her friends try to help by providing a "remedy", an old engine driver named Ivor. They get together, but are caught in the act when the boyfriend comes home. The girl professes her love for him, he forgives her, and you have a happy ending.
This song clocks in at just under 7 1/2 minutes, and I was inspired (yet intimidated as Hell) to cover it based on the performance of it at the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, which wasn't released until recently. It's a remarkable performance, with all musical and vocal parts done at once, no dubbing. Though I could only do so much with the drums as far as that went, I did commit myself to doing everything in one take. It took quite a while to learn each part, particularly the vocals, and I was very pleased with the result. If you pay attention to the lyrics, you should be able to follow along with the story well enough.
Track 6: "There's A Doctor"
From "Tommy", this is as short as a song can get, but I've always liked it. The piano goes down an octave for the second verse, which in the original recording sounded very nice. The harmonies work pretty well here too.
Track 7: "I'm Free"
Another all-time favorite from "Tommy". This is simply a good rocker and includes a bit from "Pinball Wizard" at the end. I was tempted to start it with the riff from the movie version, but felt I should keep it simple.
Track 8: "Substitute"
I learned the guitar part on this when I was a teenager, always had fun playing it. I added a little harmony in a couple spots where I thought it would work, but other than that, it's another attempt at a true copy. Here, as well as a few others, I'm able to use a tambourine to flesh out the drums a bit. I always like to use as many real instruments or devices as I can.
Track 9: "You Better You Bet"
"A Quick One" may have been longer, but this one ended up being the real monster. Right from the start, there is a synth loop that I had to recreate. I haven't gotten into doing loops at all, so I had to go ahead and play it for a minute or so. Then there were two other keyboard parts, piano, both acoustic and electric guitars, lots of vocals, and crazy drums.
This song was on their last album (before the one they did last year), done in 1982 and was after drummer Keith Moon died. Kenney Jones replaced him, and was clearly very competent, but had nowhere near the level of talent that Moon had. I mistakenly believed this would give me an easier time emulating the drums. Alas, I needed 23 separate tracks to create the entire drum sound. This is compared to the 26 that were needed for "Behind Blue Eyes" (done with Kelli on "Lost Interest").
It is, in fact, the drum beat that makes the song what it is, in my opinion, so I was more than happy to work it all out. I was finally able to sing in a lower register, partly due to the fact that Roger Daltrey sang it a bit rougher, with more energy, and because my attempts at the higher register were just too strained. I think I ended up with some of my better piano work here (my talents here are a distant second to the guitar), and was very pleased with the overall result.
Track 10: "We Got A Hit"
Only the most die-hard Who fans will know this one, because it is on "Endless Wire", the album they released in 2006. This song is a quickie, but is mine and Tamara's favorite. There is a longer version, but I decided to go with the short one since it won't be as recognized (and because it was the last one I completed, and I was ready to be done!).
Footnote: I had also planned on doing "Christmas" and "Tommy's Holiday Camp" from "Tommy", but the former was just going to be too much to try to copy properly, and the latter fell out of the list once I decided I wanted an even 10 songs.
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