MAGIC BUS: THE WHO ON TOUR

Unlike its title mistakenly suggests, this is not a live album. It was first released for the UK market and features some singles and B- side songs. You know my "enthusiasm" and scepticism about such compilations. This one is no exception.

Some of the tracks are really childish and poorly recorded ("Disguises" is probably the worst of all). Like the earlier albums from The Who, the mood is of course very much Beatles oriented ("I Can't Reach You" which a ballad and "Call Me Lightning" a rock song like the Fab Four produced a lot). Very much early sixties oriented. A song like "Someone's Coming" is particularly bad as well.

To make a long story short, I would say that only "Run, Run, Run", Magic Bus" of course as "Picture Of Lilly" and "Doctor, Doctor" are really worth. I have a special thought for the latter two ones which come out the first Who single I ever owned (an EP actually).

The lyrics for "Pictures Of Lilly" were considered as an hymn to masturbation : "I used to wake up in the morning, I used to feel so bad. I got so sick of having sleepless nights, I went and told my dad. He said, 'Son now here's some little something', And stuck them on my wall. And now my nights ain't quite so lonely, In fact I, I don't feel bad at all".

No comment.

I will rate it two stars but be aware that only four tracks are good ones. The rest of this joke is almost unbearable. Two stars. Only for die-hard fans. The Who did produced several very good compilations. Let's stick to those ones, and avoid this one which is absolutely not essential.

It's the earlies 60s again again!

No, this is not the Who on tour and no, it's not a studio album. Here is a rather odd b-sides and rarities album thrown out by the band sometime after "The Who Sell Out". While this would have been a good album (with some polish... or a lot of polish) in the early years, here it doesn't really cut it too well. Not only is the recording quality not top-notch (I'm looking at you DISGUISES... what's that strange trash-can-like-sound in the background?), but the songs range from okay (such as the interesting DOCTOR, DOCTOR, or the weird DR. JECKEL...) to plain annoying, case in point: the irritatingly irritating BUCKET-T. Some songs aren't bad, such as the obviously Beatles inspired RUN, RUN, RUN or the classic MAGIC BUS itself, but really this is a collection, so there's not much that can be said about origianlity or longevity.

All in all I would only recommend this to fans and completionists. Conveniently, that's a rating on this site, so I'll give it that. 2 stars, start your Who collection off with Tommy or Who's Next... or Quadrophenia... just not this.