Keith Moon was the most charismatic member of The Who. Which really, has nothing to do with this record at all, I just felt like saying it as a means of introduction. There was a concept for this record. Well. What can you say? The little snippets of Radio Commercials ( some real, some faked in the studio ) aren't just pieces of fluff and certainly aren't meant to be psychedelic. The idea to link the songs on this record together, was to sequence the songs with the jingles to give the impression you were listening to a genuine Sixties radio show. Radio stations didn't have huge play-lists in the Sixties, tending to program an hours worth of songs which would then start to be repeated at various points throughout the day. Now, to hold this concept together, The Who introduce a number of elements to various songs here to vary the sound, to pass themselves off as different groups, if not exactly pretending to be different groups. An example of this is the use of Beach Boys styled harmonies during parts of 'Our Love Was'. 'Sunrise' was taken solo by Pete Townshend and reveals folk influences. 'Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand' and 'Odorono' have seemingly 'nonsense' lyrics ( although the former is possibly about something, ah....lets see! ) both to portray certain psychedelic elements but mainly just the cheesy side of Sixties pop music. With all of these elements you also get a fair does of genuine Who music mixed in. 'I Can See For Miles' is just 100% The Who and is cleverly placed slap bang in the centre of the record for maximum impact. Its position IS central, to the record as a whole. The first section of songs, once 'I Can See For Miles' begins, seems to have been DESIGNED to give 'I Can See For Miles' even greater impact.
'Armenia City In The Sky' kicks things off following a brief radio jingle snippet. We get a thumping rhythm section, A straight ( ish ) Roger Daltery vocal and plenty of Townshend guitar to hold the thing together. The guitar goes forwards, backwards. Twists around and adds a psychedelic element to the track. Some Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd styled lyrics and noises are in there somewhere, too. 'Armenia' is followed by a genuine promo for Radio London and followed by 'Heinz Baked Beans' concocted by The Who in the studio, possibly after a few beers. The album begins to pick up pace and purpose. 'Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand' sounds so wonderful. It sounds romantic in an odd kind of way, sounds very Sixties pop and the lyrics are clever in their word play. The informal acoustic guitars that do a sort of calypso towards the end are also a nice touch and attention to detail. Many of the songs here are full of such detail. 'Odorono' makes use of Roger Daltery's acting passion and instincts. A 'role-play' vocal, a high vocal that sounds beautiful and airy. The album is still picking up pace, building towards something. 'Tattoo' repeats the vocal 'acting' of the previous song and is sung almost entirely in a high falsetto. The harmonies recall The Beach Boys in places and go off during the middle to sound like The Beatles harmonies of 'Rubber Soul' or 'Revolver'. The harmonies here backing up Daltery's beautiful lead add to the ethereal beauty of the song. The percussion is minimal but focuses the song and keeps it grounded. 'Our Love Was' is just.....perfection itself! Stupendously powerful and exciting Keith Moon drum parts during the extended vocal refrain to close. The music suddenly goes all 'Who' and explodes. The drumming is a thing to behold, the 'love, love, love, long' harmonies another nod to The Beach Boys and other Sixties vocal groups. A guitar solo twists the whole thing towards prime Who Rock n Roll music, we swing back to the opening Sixties pop/rock, repeat to close. Three and a half minutes. A perfect pop song and more than that. So many elements together, so well employed.
Two brief radio jingles break the up the record sonically to give the introduction to 'I Can See For Miles' even greater impact. Quite simply, it's absolutely stunningly loud, a real tour-de-force performance from everyone, especially Keith. Roger and Pete sing together, a true classic sixties single, a classic rock song that rewards attentive listening to pick up the many exhilarating musical parts! Something strong had to follow such a performance, and it does. 'I Can't Reach You' is a seemingly throwaway love song in terms of subject matter. It is structured perfectly though, absolutely perfectly....more beautiful vocal sections. The Who rhythm section do a fine job here as well. Another jingle, 'Medac' is just so very silly, full of humour, more Syd Barrett influenced nonsense that raises a smile and really does add to the album. 'Relax' nods to The Byrds of 'Fifth Dimension' and 'Younger Than Yesterday'. The use of different elements of a variety of Sixties forms and styles of course reinforces the concept of the record as a whole, the illusion you are listening to a radio show from The Sixties. The originality comes through by the Who elements in every single song, often provided by The rhythm section, occasionally by Pete Townshend. 'Silas Stingy' is a character song, slightly silly in subject matter but perfectly suiting the record and again, providing a different sonic feel and mood musically. And, you've just got to love the 'money money money...' vocal section! 'Sunrise' as I mentioned earlier is a solo Townshend number, slightly folky, slightly confessional and very singer/songwriter in how it comes across. 'Rael' is a mini Rock opera and nods towards 'Tommy'. A multi-section song, more astonishing rhythm section performances during the rockier sections of the track especially. It's the type of thing they'd arguably do better through subsequent work but even here is pretty well done, if not exactly smooth in it's transitions between sections. It's a slightly unsatisfying end to the album, actually. It just ends, there's no conclusion, no goodbye. Still, what's gone before is all hugely entertaining, sometimes beautiful and often breathtaking. The middle sequence of songs in particular is as good as anything from anybody.
Armenia City In The Sky / Heinz Baked Beans / Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand / Odorono / Tattoo / Our Love Was / I Can See For Miles / I Can't Reach You / Medac / Relax / Silas Stingy / Sunrise / Rael
'Armenia City In The Sky' kicks things off following a brief radio jingle snippet. We get a thumping rhythm section, A straight ( ish ) Roger Daltery vocal and plenty of Townshend guitar to hold the thing together. The guitar goes forwards, backwards. Twists around and adds a psychedelic element to the track. Some Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd styled lyrics and noises are in there somewhere, too. 'Armenia' is followed by a genuine promo for Radio London and followed by 'Heinz Baked Beans' concocted by The Who in the studio, possibly after a few beers. The album begins to pick up pace and purpose. 'Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand' sounds so wonderful. It sounds romantic in an odd kind of way, sounds very Sixties pop and the lyrics are clever in their word play. The informal acoustic guitars that do a sort of calypso towards the end are also a nice touch and attention to detail. Many of the songs here are full of such detail. 'Odorono' makes use of Roger Daltery's acting passion and instincts. A 'role-play' vocal, a high vocal that sounds beautiful and airy. The album is still picking up pace, building towards something. 'Tattoo' repeats the vocal 'acting' of the previous song and is sung almost entirely in a high falsetto. The harmonies recall The Beach Boys in places and go off during the middle to sound like The Beatles harmonies of 'Rubber Soul' or 'Revolver'. The harmonies here backing up Daltery's beautiful lead add to the ethereal beauty of the song. The percussion is minimal but focuses the song and keeps it grounded. 'Our Love Was' is just.....perfection itself! Stupendously powerful and exciting Keith Moon drum parts during the extended vocal refrain to close. The music suddenly goes all 'Who' and explodes. The drumming is a thing to behold, the 'love, love, love, long' harmonies another nod to The Beach Boys and other Sixties vocal groups. A guitar solo twists the whole thing towards prime Who Rock n Roll music, we swing back to the opening Sixties pop/rock, repeat to close. Three and a half minutes. A perfect pop song and more than that. So many elements together, so well employed.
Two brief radio jingles break the up the record sonically to give the introduction to 'I Can See For Miles' even greater impact. Quite simply, it's absolutely stunningly loud, a real tour-de-force performance from everyone, especially Keith. Roger and Pete sing together, a true classic sixties single, a classic rock song that rewards attentive listening to pick up the many exhilarating musical parts! Something strong had to follow such a performance, and it does. 'I Can't Reach You' is a seemingly throwaway love song in terms of subject matter. It is structured perfectly though, absolutely perfectly....more beautiful vocal sections. The Who rhythm section do a fine job here as well. Another jingle, 'Medac' is just so very silly, full of humour, more Syd Barrett influenced nonsense that raises a smile and really does add to the album. 'Relax' nods to The Byrds of 'Fifth Dimension' and 'Younger Than Yesterday'. The use of different elements of a variety of Sixties forms and styles of course reinforces the concept of the record as a whole, the illusion you are listening to a radio show from The Sixties. The originality comes through by the Who elements in every single song, often provided by The rhythm section, occasionally by Pete Townshend. 'Silas Stingy' is a character song, slightly silly in subject matter but perfectly suiting the record and again, providing a different sonic feel and mood musically. And, you've just got to love the 'money money money...' vocal section! 'Sunrise' as I mentioned earlier is a solo Townshend number, slightly folky, slightly confessional and very singer/songwriter in how it comes across. 'Rael' is a mini Rock opera and nods towards 'Tommy'. A multi-section song, more astonishing rhythm section performances during the rockier sections of the track especially. It's the type of thing they'd arguably do better through subsequent work but even here is pretty well done, if not exactly smooth in it's transitions between sections. It's a slightly unsatisfying end to the album, actually. It just ends, there's no conclusion, no goodbye. Still, what's gone before is all hugely entertaining, sometimes beautiful and often breathtaking. The middle sequence of songs in particular is as good as anything from anybody.
Armenia City In The Sky / Heinz Baked Beans / Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand / Odorono / Tattoo / Our Love Was / I Can See For Miles / I Can't Reach You / Medac / Relax / Silas Stingy / Sunrise / Rael