The Who [[High Numbers) singing Motown

[MIKEW-UK]

Gotta dance to keep from cryin'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqtzI...eature=related

Leaving Here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYGYb...feature=fvwrel

[robb_k]

Bloody awful! Just about as bad as The Rolling Stones singing "My Girl" or Drifters' songs.

[MIKEW-UK]

Yep Robb, not to my taste either, but in the UK at this time, groups such as the Who and the Beatles were bringing awareness of Motown to the masses. This was somewhat significant to the promotion of Motown in the UK [[MODS), but also what a joy to purchase the original Motown artists' records and hear the sheer brilliance of those originals.

[roger]

I quite enjoyed that performance of "Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying".

Back in 1964 I would have been 10 years old and I probably had never heard the original by THE MIRACLES at that time.

1964 was [[ of course ) the year that the Motown sound made its first inroads into Britain .. with "My Guy" and "Where Did Our Love Go" both going Top 10 in the summer .. both of those tunes I loved from first hearing but they did sound "different" from the "beat music" that was dominating the British charts at that time and that was what I was used to hearing, largely as "Beat Music" seemed to be based upon having two or three guitarists a drummer and a vocalist. With those Motown tunes the guitars were way in the background.

Actually, groups like THE WHO were very much what I was listening to in 1965/6 until they started getting way too self indulgent for my taste and started singing about Deaf Dumb and Blind pinball players and other such nonsense.

According to wikipedia etc. the "Railway Hotel", where that performance was filmed, was in Harrow, north west London .. does anyone know exactly where it was and if it is still there?

Roger

[MIKEW-UK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmW8UGGNcCA

The site of the Railway Hotel, a Victorian hotel and public house associated with Harrow and Wealdstone Station, on Railway Approach [[historically named Marlborough Street). The building is indicated on Ordnance Survey historical mapping of 1843-1893. The Railway Hotel was a three storey brick building. In the 1950s it was also used as a jazz club and during the early to mid 1960s the building was the venue for a Rhythm and Blues club, known as The Bluesday. This club hosted groups such as The Who: this group later featured the building on one of their album covers. After a period of dereliction the building was badly damaged by a fire, it was demolished and the site redeveloped as blocks of flats: the buildings, such as Moon House and Daltrey House have been named after members of The Who.

[144man]

"Substitute", my favorite of their records, blatantly stole the bass line from "I Can't Help Myself". I quite liked them on their own material during the period they did songs like "I Can't Explain" and "Pictures of Lily", but as Roger says they soon became too self-indulgent.

As far as their performances of the Motown numbers above are concerned, they are pretty typical of British beat groups of the time. The Poets spring to mind. I'll be kind, and say that their hearts were in the right place.

[roger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmW8UGGNcCA

The site of the Railway Hotel, a Victorian hotel and public house associated with Harrow and Wealdstone Station, on Railway Approach [[historically named Marlborough Street). The building is indicated on Ordnance Survey historical mapping of 1843-1893. The Railway Hotel was a three storey brick building. In the 1950s it was also used as a jazz club and during the early to mid 1960s the building was the venue for a Rhythm and Blues club, known as The Bluesday. This club hosted groups such as The Who: this group later featured the building on one of their album covers. After a period of dereliction the building was badly damaged by a fire, it was demolished and the site redeveloped as blocks of flats: the buildings, such as Moon House and Daltrey House have been named after members of The Who.

Thanks for the info Mikew_uk .. I watched that You-tube tribute to the venue and it includes the performance of "Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying" as well!

I wonder if WHO fans are willing to pay extra to live in "Daltrey House" or "Moon House"

There are some interesting links in there to other clips about the London '60s "Mod" scene, and interestingly they all seem to use British "Blues/Rock" music as their soundtrack, whereas I always thought that that type of music was quite peripheral to the scene, at least in 1964/5 with "Mod" music being much more geared to U.S. "R&B" and "Soul". Have I got it wrong or were the compilers of those You-Tube clips just being lazy?

Roger

[Stone Diamond]

The other pub they played in was the Railway Tavern in West Hampstead, and it's still a pub, they played in the room at the back, and it was called the Kloots Kleek. I still drink in there as I live at the other end of the road. The Who played there when they were the High Numbers, and played their first gig as the Who there, and I was there for that gig; if you want to see my reaction, watch the movie "The Fantastic Journey", as I was interviewed in it. And for the record The Who used to sing the Contours "Shake Sherrie" as well.

[roger]

The other pub they played in was the Railway Tavern in West Hampstead, and it's still a pub, they played in the room at the back, and it was called the Kloots Kleek. I still drink in there as I live at the other end of the road. The Who played there when they were the High Numbers, and played their first gig as the Who there, and I was there for that gig; if you want to see my reaction, watch the movie "The Fantastic Journey", as I was interviewed in it. And for the record The Who used to sing the Contours "Shake Sherrie" as well.

You must mean this place ..

http://www.pub-explorer.com/gtlondon...thampstead.htm

Looks good to me. I might just pay it a visit soon ...

Roger

[Stone Diamond]

Yup that's the one, a good boozer too.

[stephanie]

This film is an extremely important historical document whether or not you are a WHO fan! Look at all of the Mods and Sods in there. Great to see early drumwork by Keith Moon. My favorite Who songs are I Can See For Miles and I Cant Explain. Loved them in their indulgent years as well although I prefer the overture of Tommy out of anything on that album. Eminence Front was probably their last great [[if you want to call it that) song. If I had to pick an early mod group who stayed true to their roots I would pick the Kinks but this is an awesome artifact of what was going on in England at the time before these guys hit huge. As much as I love the Moody Blues there is nothing like hearing them in their Go Now days and that chunk of film reminds me of how much the Brits took Motown and ran with it.