The Who: My Generation [BRUNSWICK / POLYDOR]

Why you'll love it

This edition presents the original mono mix, cut at Abbey Road and pressed in the EU with the Brunswick label design. My Generation reached No. 5 in the UK, and in 2008 it entered the US National Recording Registry.

This edition

• Mono mix
• Cut at Abbey Road
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Before they were the Who they were the Detours, then briefly the High Numbers, and by 1965 Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon had settled on a name and a sound that was louder than anybody else's. They started the album in the spring during their "Maximum R&B" period, then swapped several early recordings for new Townshend originals cut from October.

The R&B roots show in two James Brown covers, "I Don't Mind" and "Please, Please, Please," while session man Nicky Hopkins adds piano. But the Townshend songs are the reason it lasts. "My Generation" had already hit No. 2 on the UK singles chart, "The Kids Are Alright" became a Top 10 single in Sweden, and "A Legal Matter" and "La-La-La-Lies" both went out as singles too. "The Ox" is a ferocious instrumental, and critics have long pointed to the album's hard sound as an early blueprint for punk and heavy metal.

In America it appeared as The Who Sings My Generation with a different cover and running order, so this is the one the band's home crowd heard. Sixty-odd years on, the kids are still alright; the amplifiers, we gather, fared less well.

Also at Kops: more The Who on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Brunswick / Polydor (cat# 3715603), a reissue of the 1965 album.