"Pure and Easy"--The Who...some questions

[darkstar]

Geeking on this one lately. 4:30 of pure power pop grace....

You Who fans...

What's the story on this tune? Was it written before or after the "Song is Over"?

Why wasn't it originally on Who's Next?

Two versions, right? A PT solo version and The Who? Very confusing...and finally...

How can it be so perfect?

[swag]

1. As I remember, it was originally released on the Townshend

solo album Who Came First which had a lot of other stuff, some interesting, some an expression of Townshend's devotion to Meher Baba.

Apparently it was part of the whole Lifehouse concept/opera/thingy whence most of Who's Next sprang.

It was later released on the out-takes album Odds 'n' Sods with a ripping guitar coda which may be the most vicious and righteous few bars that the Who has ever done.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it, until I find a definitive version of events.

[darkstar]

3. The Odds n Sods version

is the same one that's included on the Who's Next delux version, I gather?

And you're talking about the guitar riff at the end leading into the "once was a note...listen" end refrain?

I guess if Song is Over and P&E were part of the larger work Lighthouse, then the idea of recurring themes makes sense.

What a ripping, brilliant, ravishing song all around.

Thanks for the insights.

:hi:

[swag]

4. Hey, you know, I believe the one on "Who's Next?" deluxe is still another version

but I'll have to dig out that disc and try to confirm that.

But yeah, great song. I enjoy all of the versions I have heard.

Who's Next Wikipedia page echoes what I have read (some years back, obviously) in books about the Who:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_Next

[swag]

5. Yes, and the riff at the end,

(written without rhythm)

A major
G major
D suspended
D major

(I mostly chose that D sus over G major for the third chord because of Townshend's famous fondness for suspended chords, most obviously and famously demonstrated on "Pinball Wizard." Since I don't play banjo, I have been unable to determine if the suspended chord obsession is related to Townshend's banjo beginnings.)

[darkstar]

6. thanks again

More than any of the other songs on Who's Next, at least, this song sounds like a core piece given the inspirations. I.e., the sufi musician/vibrations (note...rippling...pure...breath..simple secret of a note in a song) and the Hindu avatar (the note is eternal...the note that began all can also destroy...killing is really changer....)

[tigereye]

11. Rough Mix with Ronnie Lane is a nice complement to that

if one likes Pete in devotee-ish mode.

[swag]

12. That's just a great record.

Thanks for mentioning it.

I'm not playing my bass much these days. How about you?

[tigereye]

13. I'm terrible

nothing was happening over the holidays - I want to see if we can do a family bass, drums (kid) and synthesizer (husband) thing in the basement, but of course we haven't.

(hangs head)

I was watching Antiques Road Show and there was a beautiful violin that had spent 30 plus years in a closet. I was bewailing this fact, when husband said, "this from the woman who has not played the bass in more than ___________."

So I was duly chastened.


Rough Mix was a house favorite for many years. I still really love the sound of it.

[swag]

2. More

"Lifehouse" on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_And_Easy

And my pure speculation: "Pure and Easy" probably wasn't included on Who's Next because the way the song sequence shook out may have seemed perfect or good enough to whoever had to cut a single album down for relief. One of my favorite things about that album is how the corrosively cynical, relatively retrograde sentiments of "My Wife" slice down right through the middle of the sentimental, hippy, groovy vibe of the rest of the blessed thing. Another of my favorite things about the album is the mixture of the automated (synths on "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again," with the organic slammings of Moon, Townshend, Entwistle.

[HughBeaumont]

9. Almost followed this one like I did "SMiLE" before it got redone.

Didn't he release, through his own record company, the Lifehouse sessions in a 3-disc set? Wasn't "Who Are You" (released in '78) supposed to be on it as well?

Ah, the "could have been" speculation on unreleased and unfinished albums. I remember people would have sites on what SMiLE would have sounded like (that is, before the lawyers got to them), posting whole song line-ups from demos, sessions, Smiley Smile and such. It was fun to follow that, before he re-did it. I was suprised at how well it sounded on re-release. He stayed true to the original sound of the album without glitzing it up. You almost forget he now sounds like Carl Spackler and not Carl Wilson.

[swag]

10. Yeah, Eel Pie released "Lifehouse Chronicles"

http://www.eelpie.com/shop/index.cfm?p=boxsets

and the mercifully more compact Lifehouse Elements

http://www.eelpie.com/shop/index.cfm?p=collections (scroll down)

As for "Who Are You" and "New Song" and stuff like that getting chucked in, I think he was taking a very kitchen sink approach to updating the project at that point.

So I think the final release of SMiLE was probably truer to the original intent than the recently emerging versions of Lifehouse.

[swag]

7. One more post about this (sorry, somebody finally asked my question)

http://www.thewho.net/linernotes/WhosNext.htm

Different versions on "Who's Next" deluxe and "Odds 'n' Sods."

I think the "Odds" version is more vicious.

[Orsino]

8. Was to kick off Lifehouse.

There's a Lifehouse Elements album that makes its place in the project clear, among some bits that wound up on Who's Next.