"I'm gonna take my problem to the United Nations": Fun with The Who's early covers
It's easy to find no end of products sporting The Who's iconic "Maximum R&B" poster design, and difficult to find a good collection of them playing R&B. While researching my Gateways To Geekery entry on The Who running today, I realized I couldn't name one compilation that helpfully pulls together all of the band's versions of soul and early-rock-'n'-roll classics and obscurities. These covers were often used as live staples, or got swept up in a blur of radio sessions and B-sides. They weren't a priority in the studio. Luckily, they remain scattered across various compilations and expanded reissues of proper albums, and by extension YouTube. For those of you who like your soul with about 100 times more cymbal crashes, here's a listen to The Who's raw and sometimes messianic take.
"Heat Wave" (available on A Quick One)
The only track on this list that's actually part of a proper studio LP, this cheerful, swinging version of "Heat Wave" perversely followed John Entwistle's sick-humored tale of alcoholic madness, "Whiskey Man," on 1966's A Quick One.
"Roadrunner" (available on double-disc Who's Next reissue)
The Who tried everything to beat Townshend's wildly conceived Lifehouse project into shape (before eventually letting it become the standard-length and brilliant LP Who's Next), including recording a series of shows at London's Young Vic theater in 1971. While meant to test out new songs like "I Don't Know Myself" and "Naked Eye," these performances apparently still had a lot in common with other Who shows of the era, in that the band uses this cover of Bo Diddley's "Roadrunner" to spiral off into instrumental fireworks that have almost as much in common with the melodic sense of Tommy (hear Townshend's glittery chords near the end) as they do with the blues.
"Leaving Here" (available on BBC Sessions, Odds And Sods)