ODDS & SODS

I had this album back in 1975, a friend dropped it at my house with Carly Simon´s Hotcakes and Supertramp´s Crime Of The Century. For a pennyless teenage student it was pure gold! I heard those Lps so much I must have wore tham out! The Who´s Odds & Sodds was not a compilation album as much, but really a collection of unrelased songs they recorded over the years before. And I must say I was astonished by the level of quality those otherwise "rejected" songs had. It´s ok that the track order was not one of the best since John Entwistle´s Postcard and Townshend´s Now I´m A Farmer are probably the weakest tunes here and certainly not the ones I´d choose for opening the CD. However, they are not bad songs at all. In fact, I like them both. But they are inferior to the remaining sutff.

And, boy, do they have strong ones here! Pure And Easy is the highlight of Odds & Sods: probably one of The Who´s best tracks ever, it is a crime that they had drop it from the Who´s Next LP (it seems that the new remastered edition corrected this fault by including it as a bonus track). With a beautiful melody line and lyrics, one of Townshend´s most emotional solos and a stunning perfomance by the other members, this is probably the most underrated song this legendary group has ever recorded. Little Billy is another great tune that could have been a huge hit if it was released as a single (oddly, it was said to be music for an ad against students smoking in school). The late Keith Moon did a great job on this one.

Naked Eye, Long Live Rock and Too Much Of Anything are other fine rock tracks, while Glow Girl was a song that originated the whole Tommy idea (just listen to the final lines: It´s a girl, mrs. Walker... it´s a girl...). The only real odd number here is the group´s first ever single (when they were known - or rather unkown - as The High Numbers) I´m the Face. It´s a bit out of place here and if they wanted to included it as a collector´s item, then they should have also put its flip side, Zoot Suit, as well.

Odds & Sods reflects a time when the band was at its peak. So don´t be fooled by the ugly cover. If you´re a fan of the band, this is a must have. I really wish that other bands would have such quality material among they ´rejected´ tracks!