1965 – The Who play the Botwell House in Hayes, Middlesex

1966 – The Who play the Town Hall in Walsall

1967 – The Who play Stadthalle in Bremen

1967 – The Who record their appearance on Beat Club lip-syncing to “Pictures Of Lily.” The show would be broadcast on May 1.

A clip of the performance later appears in The Kids Are Alright and in its entirety on the video Who’s Better Who’s Best

1969 – Kit Lambert is interviewed in Disc and Music Echo

If anyone has a more legible version of this issue, please share!

Partial Transcript:

 

YOU-KNOW-WHO

Or DO you? David Hughes talks to their manager Kit Lambert about the men behind the music.

……

Roger Daltrey —yobbo gentleman.

“Despite his new tranquil surroundings, he’s still not the sort of person I would like to brush up against in a boozer just before closing time. I suppose it’s his piercing blue eyes that make him appear so tough, but he can and always could handle himself. At a not very inspired guess I’d say he was almost certainly in a gang in the early days of the group . . . and if he wasn’t in a gang he certainly should have been! He’s much calmer now than he was— mainly because of the realisation by the rest of the group of an ability people did not normally associate with him. His voice is capable of incredible technical feats like jumping into an impossible key. He always knew he had a good voice—he’s very conscious of his own vocal strength—and he was tough if you ever disagreed with him. Roger is now a gent and a yobbo combined. Although he now lives in a country half-timbered house he could still tell you to get knotted seconds after the butler has announced tea! His move into the country is by no means ‘Traffick-y’—he’s not there to contemplate or anything. He had a tough upbringing in a working-class part of London and has now got it together and lives far away from London for satisfaction.”

John Entwistle —strong and silent.

“Of all four John Is the one I’m most frightened of. Pete loses his temper about every half-hour; Keith every week and Roger every three months. But John only loses his once every five years, and when he does, his rages really frighten me. Although he seems to look onstage as if he couldn’t care less, he does enter into the spirit of things including the excitement. On one unique occasion he was known to break up his guitar. Despite his quietness, he is still a very strong member of the group. His strong quality is simply being himself, which IS the strong and silent type. He’s rather like Pop-Eye; you don’t think he’s strong, but if you hit him, you’ll bruise your knuckles.”

Keith Moon —mad? Never.

“The first thing that hit me about Keith was his immense vitality, and this is still true today. He didn’t seem to be a comedian, particularly in the early days, yet he had an enormously sophisticated sense of humour. He knows a lot of people think he’s mad, and he certainly suffers from megalomania. But he has enough sense of humour to realise this and laugh about it. Like the others he represented the ‘mod’ form of aggression (although I maintain none of the Who were actual mods—they didn’t look right. Mods were supposed to be pretty in a rough way, and the Who certainly weren’t that), which was aggression with no target. Their idea was similar to that of the French student uprising—don’t talk, just seize power. Don’t worry that you haven’t any concrete ideas of change, they will come in time. Keith still plays every concert and show as if it were his last—and I don’t know where his energy comes from either!”

Pete Townshend —vastly intelligent.

“A vastly intelligent person with a racing brain that occasionally comes unstuck. In five years, I’ve still not got him sussed, for in a rapid process of intellectual evolution it’s very difficult to pigeon-hole someone. Contrary to what many think, Pete is not irrational; in fact, he’s super rational in his reasoning processes. From a management angle he’s the toughest member of the group. He’s very ruthless, but then most clever people have to be. That doesn’t make him nasty, however. He’s certainly unsentimental, but at the same time very capable of love, which is quite different. He talks a lot to his audiences now and is capable of great generosity. On the contrary, he has an occasional hardness which might almost go to the point of cruelty, but this is always unpremeditated. He’ll also listen intently to the youngest and most inarticulate fan of the group if he or she has something sincere to say and is making some kind of sense—and he’ll take notice of what they say. In fact, the whole group is intelligent. This idea that still persists among some people that pop groups are unintelligent Is totally obsolete. As a musician, Pete is only now beginning to explore his true talent . . . there is no precedent for him.”

1969 – New Musical Express contains the article: “Moon: drummer extraordinaire”

 

Transcript:

As ‘Piebald Lizard’ leaps to No. 10, NME visits the Highgate Palace of . . .

Moon: Drummer extraordinaire

Pictures at home by STUART RICHMAN Words in the local by RICHARD GREEN

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Photo Captions

• ABOVE: Relaxing (if that’s ever possible with such an impish looking daughter) in the lounge of their Highgate flat are KEITH, KIM and daughter MANDY.

• RIGHT: In a fit of rage Keith hurled this bottle only to find it became imbedded in the wall. He was so delighted by the result (he missed) that he framed it.

• INSET, RIGHT: Well, who wouldn’t want to throw a bottle at a face like that!

• LEFT MARGIN: Keith might have thousands of fans, but when you’re Mandy’s age this is what Dads are for.

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Article Text

PRINCE Pizzowl Teenuque Moon, self-styled Ambassador to Highgate, made his grand entrance in the local exactly one hundred minutes late and graciously explained: “Matters of State, you know.”

His subjects, instead of showing the required respect, fell about laughing. This because “his Highness” is the latest guise of Keith Moon, Who drummer extraordinaire.

Since he advertised in a national newspaper recently for a title, Keith has been enjoying his own brand of regal status. He likes being introduced as a prince and he screws up his eyes and shakes with mirth when people respond.

Keith is feeling pleased that “Pinball Wizard”, or “Piebald Lizard” as he insists it be called, is doing well. Apparently this means the group will not have to work so hard on it.

Holiday

“Oh, good,” he replied when I told him its high NME position. “We can have a holiday now. That’s the best time to go away, when they all want you here.”

Keith has been spending some time recently in Bournemouth. To prevent panic among the more staid members of that community, I hasten to add that he has only been staying with his parents-in-law and has no evil intent.

“You have to get away now and again, else you’d go mad,” he grinned. “That’s why I won’t have a phone. You’d get home from a gig about four a.m., get the baby off to sleep and the phone’d go, there’d be people yelling ‘We’re coming round’ and the next thing, they’d be lugging crates up the stairs.

“You’d lie in bed watching them troop through, alsatians, performing elephants, the lot. They can’t phone me now, so I’m safe.”

And he broke up into another period of squeaking laughter. Whoever wrote “laugh and the world laughs with you” must have had Mr. Moon in mind.

He ordered another round of “tomato juices with the wonder ingredient — vodka,” then told me: “The LP’s finished. Actually, it was quite a quick one, it only took about four years! There’s only the mixing to do now.”

Stage act

As Pete Townshend revealed in the NME a few weeks ago, the Who’s act is to be based entirely around the “Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy” album. Keith, in a rare moment of seriousness, elaborated.

“We may have to cut a bit because the album lasts about two hours,” he commented. “Maybe we’ll cut it to ninety. We’re doing that now on stage, though. Specially places like universities where it goes on until one. We go on about eleven and there’s no hurry.

“It doesn’t mean the group’ll change, just the act. That’s only to get the feel of a continuing story across. All the songs are linked by a theme and one carries on from another.”

A friend asked Keith what the growths at the side of John Entwistle’s mouth were. He had been seen on “Top Of The Pops” sporting them.

“Oh, the best way to annoy the Ox (a Who-ism for J.E.) is to keep calling him Peter Sarstedt,” Keith advised, once more the Satanic smirk playing about his mouth.

Someone else asked Keith what the programme had been like and he replied: “We were about the only group down there, they’re filming most of it now. One bloke that was on was that coloured guy who’s good with his hands . . . Black and Decker’s his name I think.”

At this point, a reporter phoned and asked to speak to Keith. Keith decided it was time for a merry jape and put me on the line to answer the questions for him. We wait with baited breath for the resultant feature.

Outrageous

Enter Pete Townshend to try and persuade Keith that a rehearsal is necessary. Keith tells Pete that I’ve already written the feature while waiting for him and I add that Keith’s statements have been outrageous.

“Oh, Christ, what’s he been saying,” Pete moaned. “I can just see next week: We’ll be holding auditions for a new drummer!”

Pete dragged a protesting Keith away before further harm was done, Keith wanting to go back to his fifteen-room flat above a garage.

Make noise

“It’s useful being above a garage, you can make as much noise as you like,” he pointed out. “I only use two rooms and let some to a little old lady. There’s one where a bloke had a party about a year ago and I haven’t bothered to take the decorations down yet.”

There is also the room where a champagne bottle emerges from a wall. Keith alleges that having got upset with Kim, his wife, once he aimed the bottle at her head from a distance of two feet and missed. It stuck in the wall where it has remained ever since. Much to the amusement of two year-old Mandy who is used to seeing Daddy do funny things.

1969 – Melody Maker has the article: “Why The Who aren’t pop anymore” with quotes from Pete and Keith. Pete declares, “I feel anti-pop now. I don’t call our music ‘pop’ any more. It would be nice to be in a pop industry where music with meaning sells, but that happens so rarely.”

 

Transcript:

Why the Who aren’t ‘pop’ anymore

By Chris Welch

“When the Revolution comes in England, the first to get his head cut off would be Mick Jagger, the second would be John Lennon and the third would be Yoko Ono. Tom Jones would be made Prime Minister.”

This gloomy prophecy of a reactionary revolution, as opposed to the usual dream of instant socialism, comes from Pete Townshend, a pop star. And says Pete: “In two years’ time the police in England will be armed.”

This may all sound like alarmist pessimism. After all, it’s not England, order and freedom and tolerance, a byword throughout the uncivilised world.

But it must be remembered that Pete Townshend is a pop star, the lowest caste of society. He could be refused service in a pub, refused a hotel room, barred from a country, hounded by police or newspapers.

Or, as in Pete Townshend’s case, he could have a bullet fired at his head by a policeman at point-blank range.

Thus he sees the worldwide swing to violence, intolerance, etc., in uncomfortable proximity. He is fairly convinced that freedom lovers, individuals and other democracy freaks would be the first to go.

The Who, highly pleased with the success of “Pinball Wizard” after a couple of failures with songs like “Magic Bus,” were excited in the individuality of BBC TV’s “Top of the Pops” studio last week with a merry afternoon and evening of taping to boot.

Not all Top of the Poppers were willing to join in with the spirit of the occasion, however, and when Keith Moon caused a diversion during the show with a certain amount of leaping and hollering, one or two long faces were noted among the men of the Pops.

“Fun—that’s what it’s all about, fun,” complained Keith to me later in the bar. “Everybody thinks I’m laughing at them, but I want them to laugh with me.”

Whereupon he broke into hearty laughter and flicked drinks in the direction of Ian McLagan, of the Small Faces, who had dropped in to see his old mates in action.

The Who have been working extremely hard in recent weeks, completing their new double album, and are now taking a well-earned holiday.

But before they fled from “Top of the Pops,” Pete chatted about “Pinball Wizard” and other pressings.

“It’s sold much more than ‘Magic Bus’ already,” he reveals. “I knew that would be a bomb, despite all the promotion we did with the bus touring Fleet Street.

“This has been a hit without any promotion, and I’m glad that in the end it really depends on the record.

“We did ‘Dogs’ and ‘Magic Bus’ because our American contract forces us to release a certain number of records. We just had to have some records out for contractual reasons.

“I didn’t think ‘Pinball Wizard’ would be a hit, especially as it’s an uptempo, swinging rockabilly number. But people seem to like it.”

Although some deejays have called the hit “sick,” it is, in fact, a serious song from the Who’s next album and, says Pete: “We have done everything to stop giving offence or causing trouble. It’s not sick.”

Why have the Who decided on a double album? Doesn’t this generally mean padding and poor production?

“We hate double albums. After so many half-hearted ones have been released. You usually get two or three good tracks and the rest are terrible. But we had a lot of good stuff that we needed space for.”

“I feel anti-pop now. I don’t call our music ‘pop’ anymore. It would be nice to be in a pop industry where music with meaning sells, but that happens so rarely. The best scene in England are the colleges, where they listen to music.”

The Who are going to America soon for another tour and the conversation fell to comparing England and America, violence and pacifism.

“England is on the downward path and will be like America soon,” Pete maintained. “Still, it should help the music. There’s nothing like a good depression to make the jazz swing.

“The mods are coming back to Britain. To think I was like that once. The only reason they wear short hair is because you get kicked out of the pubs quicker if you’ve got long hair. It’s frightening.

“The good thing about joining armies is the thing about discipline. Everybody needs discipline—this group couldn’t work without it.

“That’s the only good thing about the army, because you have to suffer all the brainwashing that goes with it. The Army is the straight man’s acid. Be a drop-out and join the Army!”

“We’ve never had much trouble with police, but I think the police in Germany and America must be the most violent. They all want to cut your heads off.

“There is always a reason when the people become violent. In America and Ireland, the police are mindless and despise the people.

“The English police are different, of course, but they are learning. They’ll have guns like the rest in a couple of years. Once you’ve got a gun, you’ve got power.

“In New York a superintendent of police saw me smash my guitar on stage. He came into our dressing room, took out a gun, aimed it at my head, fired it from my skull and said if I smashed my guitar in the second half he would blow my head off.

“He could have killed me, but he probably went home to his wife and kids and thought nothing about it.”

1973 – Keith appears in a filmed segment on the BBC-2 TV programme Europa, discussing pinball with Derek Hart.

1974 – Keith leaves his residence at the Santa Monica beachhouse to return to London for the filming of Tommy

1974 – Ringo’s film Count Downe, now retitled Son Of Dracula and featuring a cameo by Keith, premiers in Atlanta

1977 – On or about this date, the day after Keith leaves Cedars-Sinai Hospital where he had been undergoing treatment for his alcoholism and drug abuse, he is kicked out of Ye Olde King’s Head pub in Santa Monica after “simulating the act of intercourse” with a girl on the barroom floor. Prior to this he had ripped the sink out of the wall in the men’s bathroom.

1980 – New Musical Express prints a new interview with Pete in which he discusses the possibility of a Lifehouse script to be written by Ray Bradbury.

1980 – Annie Liebovitz photographs Pete for Rolling Stone magazine. Read more about it here

1980 – The Who play the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California

2000 – Pete releases remastered versions of Scoop and Another Scoop with redone artwork on his website. There is also a limited edition art print (500 copies), signed by Pete.

2012 – Japanese record sellers list an upcoming release The Who Live At Budokan from the band’s 2008 appearance. The Who change their minds and the release is cancelled.  Bootleg recordings later came out with that same name.

2015 – The Who play the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida

2017 – Pete attends “Symfunny No.2” at The Royal Albert Hall