MY GENERATION
July 18, 2008 – 6:59 amPete Townshend: “Before we go - back to England, we’d just like to say why don’t all you fuckers who wanted to cause trouble, and that includes the COPS, why don’t you go to Washington because this is a rock ‘n’ roll concert… where we play for you MUSIC. And we’re gonna finish off with new music so why don’t you relax…. Cos we know OUR JOB and we do OUR JOB… right? And WE DO IT RIGHT.
“So why don’t you FUCKIN’ SIT DOWN!.. My Generation….”
The place is Georgetown University, Washington. The year is 1969. A generation was in motion against war, protesting for civil rights and practicing citizen power. The Who were about to play My Generation with the memorable line “hope I die before I get old”. An angry young man’s wish but an old man’s curse. This song asks the question what did you do with your youth to better your life and your neighbours? Was it a life well-lived?
To Townshend and his mates, rock ‘n’ roll was a mission. Like a “job” but more than a “job”, it was also meant to be life-altering and empowering.
Almost 40 years later, on July 12, 2008, their fans and peers paid tribute to the remains of The Who - Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend - at a show in Los Angeles. Of all the rock bands from the ’60s, The Who have aged well, shakened off their Tommy albatross, offered punks direction, stayed clear of fads and contributed classic rock ‘n’ roll songs. The Who captured the essence of what it was to be young and optimistic in 1969. Won’t get fooled again was still some distance away in 1971.
This weekend, we offer you The 1969 Soundboard Tapes, compiled by Professor Stoned.
Click on the panels for a better view or to download artwork.
THE WHO
The 1969 Soundboard Tapes Vol. 1 - Restored & Remastered [no label, 1CD]
Thanks to Prof. Stoned who restored, edited and mastered the tracks, and especially for sharing them on the Dime site. Thanks too to G. The Cock for the artwork.
Prof. Stoned’s notes:
“This time I have attempted to restore some of the many 1969 soundboard tapes that are floating around. The problem with all these recordings is that they are not properly labelled and, in some cases, it is impossible to say from which date the recording originates.
“Personally, I believe these are all rough mixes, made from the multitracks. These shows were recorded for a live album, but the tapes were rejected. It is claimed that Pete ‘burned all of the tapes”. If this is true, I assume he burned the multitrack tapes, and not the mixdown tapes of which you can hear here. There are both reasons whether this could or could not have happened.
“One reason why it could be true, is that nothing of these recordings have been officially issued in any form so far. But apparantly in 1982, the forthcoming live album “Who’s Last” was considered to be a mix of recently recorded live material paired with live material from 1969, which would have to be from the fall tour. Sadly, this plan never materialised, and all we can do for now is hope that some of this material will find its way on an official release, one day.
“The recordings here are sourced from two bootlegs: 1969: Wintertime Trip (a.k.a. Cops & Robbers & Higher Education) and Pure Rock Theatre. Many of you already got these. But there’s a world of difference in what you’ll hear on those CDs compared to what’s on this new version.
“How these tapes leaked from the Who Archive is a mystery, but one can guess that this material was actually stolen by some employee or ‘friend’.”
Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (these are high quality stereo MP3s - sample rate of 192 kibit/s). As far as we can ascertain, this recording has never been officially released.
These tracks are no longer available for download. Kindly email us at mybigo@bigozine.com if you want to download these tracks at a later time.
Track 101. Heaven and Hell
Track 102. Can’t Explain
Track 103. Summertime Blues
Track 104. Shakin’ All Over
Track 105. My Generation
Track 106. Overture (misses first secs)
Track 107. It’s a Boy
Track 108. 1921
Track 109. Amazing Journey
Track 110. Sparks (some tape flaws)
Track 111. Fortune Teller
Track 112. Young Man Blues
Time: 49m42s
Tr. 1-5: McDonough Gymnasium, Georgetown University, Washington D.C. - 2 November 1969
Tr. 6-10: State University of New York, Long Island (Stoneybrook), NY - 18 October 1969
Tr. 11-12: The two mystery tracks from 1969: Winter Time Trip
Line up:
Roger Daltrey - Vocals, Harp
Pete Townshend - Vocals, Gibson SG
John Entwistle - Vocals, Bass
Keith Moon - The Loon
Click on the link to order Who
11 Responses to “MY GENERATION”
Totally Great! Of all the fantastic live recordings featured here–and there’s been a lot–this rivals any other for Top Dog. Raw and exciting stuff. Thanks!
By Dave C. on Jul 18, 2008
Amazing !!!! always the rarest stuff…Awesome.
By DANIELITO on Jul 18, 2008
Great bootleg!
Great sound quality!
Great band!
Simply, the best.
Many many thanks to the bigO team !!!
By Mario on Jul 18, 2008
Great, great stuff. Amazing quality. Kudos the mixmaster who did this.
By srcstcbstrd on Jul 19, 2008
Great 1969 sounds from the void! THANX!
By Timmy on Jul 20, 2008
Most of the sound here is marvelous. And I think the versions compare favorably with Live at Leeds… from what I remember of it. I never owned it. It was just embedded in my brain back in the 70’s.
Sparks & Young Man’s Blues is however a bit rough sounding. I must admit I much prefer Quadro Jimmy to Pinball Tommy. Fortune Teller is nice but it ain’t as good as the Stones version.
The Georgetown show though is by George, I think they’ve got it. Hot. Pete is pissed off and that’s always a good thing. Summertime Blues has a vicious lead. Shakin all over does just that. My Generation is nothing that different or special cf to Leeds, till Listening to You ends and the band goes off the rails into this blues jam that had me standing, chair aside & dancing the mad wave. Not an epic MG version, no Sparks here, but still good ‘n plenty of them, if you get my drift.
Loves it. Cheers!
By thewaymouth on Jul 21, 2008
Back cover for Vol 1 has amended. Readers might want to retake this.
By bigozine2 on Jul 28, 2008
Amazing quality.
The best band on earth.
By Cristiano on Apr 11, 2010