1974's "Odds & Sods" is a Who rarities album, and it's a great one. It's jam-packed with various tracks that were either released solely as singles (or at least were *intended* for single release), or were outtakes that didn't make it onto the original albums they were recorded for. This 1998 re-issue greatly expands "Odds & Sods" to a whopping 23 tracks (including previously unreleased material), so you're getting a whole lotta great Who music on one disc. There's not enough space here for me to go over every single track, but I'll mention some personal favorites: the rockin' singles "I'm The Face" and "Leaving Here" (which were two of the Who's earliest recordings), the Rolling Stones cover "Under My Thumb," the "Tommy"-esque "Glow Girl" (with it's closing line of "It's a girl, Mrs. Walker, it's a girl"), the all-time Who classic "Long Live Rock," the excellent "Put The Money Down," John Entwistle's humorous "Postcard" (a snapshot tale about life on the road), the groovy rock of "Water," and the brilliant "Naked Eye." Admittedly, there are a couple of throwaways: "Cousin Kevin Model Child," which was John Entwistle's first attempt at writing his classic song from "Tommy," and "We Close Tonight," a reject from "Quadrophenia." Both songs are listenable, but there's really nothing special about them (which is probably why they were rejected in the first place). But hey, 21 great songs out of 23 is a darn good score. The Who's "Odds & Sods" is a great rarities collection that no Who fan should do without.

I have this album both on the original vinyl (with only eleven songs) and the 1998 CD remaster with 23 songs. I had the CD before the vinyl, and can only say that the remastering and bonus tracks made a great compilation of rarities and unused songs even better. (Though on the vinyl, "Little Billy" sounds deeper and richer, there's a final keyboard and drumroll on "I'm the Face," and a few other nuances that aren't on the remaster, sadly.) The CD puts the 23 songs in chronological order, something the vinyl didn't do, which gives the listener a good picture of how the band's sound was developing, though it also has its downfalls. The eleven original songs were arranged in a specific order for a reason; on here having the songs arranged chronologically sometimes means no sense of cohesion or connectedness. Because this is a collection of rarities and unused songs that sat in the vaults for years, it's not really a proper album, with most of the songs related thematically. Since this was only my fourth Who album, it was kind of jarring to listen to at first, this movement from one type of song to a completely different one. It almost turned me off; I wouldn't recommend it to a new fan.

The songs I like best on here are "Postcard" (the original opening track), "Now I'm a Farmer," "We Close Tonight" (Keith sings a lot better than he usually does!), "Glow Girl," the long alternate version of "Love Ain't for Keeping," "Cousin Kevin Model Child," "Faith in Something Bigger," "Pure and Easy," "Too Much of Anything," and the beautiful closing track "Naked Eye." The original LP closes with "Long Live Rock," with "Naked Eye" being the penultimate track. The arrangement on the original LP was great, but "LLR" just doesn't seem like a closing track like the beautiful majestic "Naked Eye" does.

Rarely can a band make a consistent, solid album purely out of unreleased material, rarities, outtakes, and all the other names for such precious finds, and this vastly expanded edition of "Odds and Sods" solidifies that ability. This album was originally recorded to curve the bootlegging process going on at the time, not only because The Who didn't make money off bootlegs (that may have been the record company's motivation though), but also because the group wanted fans to have more listenable versions; the late bassist John Entwistle said, "They release really bad bootlegs of these songs all the time...they're really bad quality...We thought it was about time we released a bootleg of our own."
It's a true blessing that "Odds and Sods" is so highly recognized and appreciated as a solid effort, because many of these songs rank among some of Pete Townshend's most articulate songwriting and The Who's best performances in the studio. And we all know the fate of unreleased songs that are released here and there over time, popping up on random "best of" compilations; they become lost in time and labeled as empty-hearted gestures to get people to buy those greatest hits albums. Indeed, some of these songs, some in different versions, later appeared as bonus tracks on the remastered editions of The Who's classic albums (the best studio version of 'Pure and Easy' appeared on the reissue of "Who's Next" for example). But gathered together and focused on as "Odds and Sods," listeners can hear some glorious Who moments, packaged as one sturdy album.
The collection also does much to further prove the already well-established fact that The Who were major contributors in bridging 60s rock-pop to the more progressive harder rock of the 70s. For example there are tracks like the enjoyable naive quality of `I'm the Face' (a song recorded when The Who were known as The High Numbers), the poppy humor of `Little Billy,' the odd story of `Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand' (a different version than the one that originally appeared on "The Who Sell Out") and covers of the likes of `Summertime Blues,' `Leaving Here' and the cheeky `My Way.' But there are also more intricate, personal songs like `We Close Tonight' (based on one of Townshend's schooldays relationships), and `Too Much of Anything' as well as compositions that are self-mocking autobiographies of The Who such as the ego-deflating `Faith in Something Bigger,' and the look at exhaustive touring `Postcard.' And to further round out the progression of this great band's music, there are several tracks that came from The Who's innovation in "rock operas"; `Glow Girl' and `Cousin Kevin Model Child' were early ideas for "Tommy," one of the very first rock operas, and important elements from the infamous, aborted "Lifehouse" album/film such as `Time is Passing,' `Put the Money Down' and most notably `Pure and Easy,' the "Odds and Sods" track that everyone remembers, demonstrating The Who's desire to shed as much light on this unreleased material as that of their most memorable and well-known work.

In addition to being the most unique bassist in Rock, John Entwistle had a great talent as the historian and documentarian of the Who, as ODDS & SODS makes abundently clear.

Twenty-three fantastic oddities from the greatest Rock band, and there's really only one I ever skip over. That's a batting percentage most bands would give their left Hiwatt for.

There are three tunes here--"Pure and Easy," "Naked Eye" and the studio version of "Young Man Blues"--that are absolute classics; they may never have been heard by the general public if not for ODDS & SODS. Townshend was so sussed by the collapse of LIFEHOUSE that he seems to have shelved "Pure and Easy" (save a solo acoustic version on WHO CAME FIRST) and "Naked Eye." Both tunes were cosmic in concert and are, to me, at the center of the Who's greatness. The version of "Young Man Blues" here is, if anything, heavier than the LIVE AT LEEDS/ISLE OF WIGHT/WOODSTOCK live versions. Townshend had perfected the fuzzy distorted guitar buzz by '67, and this track really blows a lot of the UK's blues-revival pretenders out of the water. The one-off of "Love Ain't For Keeping," with Townshend taking the lead vocal, is great too.

Gotta wonder about "Cousin Kevin Model Child" though. For starters, who the heck is singing it? I know it's been credited to Moon for a long time, but it sounds more like Legs Larry from the Bonzo's to me. A bit too camp for my taste--sounds too much like the Rocky Horror Show--and if I had to make a cut from this LP, it would be here.

This is not a "greatest hits/best of" repackaging; it is a single-disc Who "Anthology" issued twenty years before the Beatles thought of doing their own. It's great, and you don't really understand the Who until you own ODDS & SODS.

I loved the original Odds & Sods, and eagerly awaited the reissue. After all, I had known for years that there were dozens of Who outtakes that had yet to be collected (and I owned on bottlegs), so hearing official releases would be a treat.

Of course, I hadn't counted on Jon Astley, Pete Townshend's brother-in-law and the "producer" of the re-issue. I knew from earlier reissues that Astley couldn't leave well enough alone, and had remixed Quadrophenia and Who Are You and other albums to the point where they were *too* different from the original release. But his work here is unbelievably sloppy.

The original album was great; alas, here Astley agains feels the need to fade out "I'm The Face," and play around with "Naked Eye." Still, it is the new tracks which suffer most.

For instance, he includes "Under My Thumb"--and forgot to mix in the electric guitar (easily heard on Who's Missing)! He put on the WRONG studio version of "Young Man Blues"; instead of the dynamic version included on a Track sampler, we get what is obviously an outtake that is too slow and lethargic. And it sounds as if he remastered "My Way" off a bootleg.

On the other hand, we get "Cousin Kevin/Model Child," "Time Is Passing," "We Close Tonight" and a number of great tunes. Still a good album. But it should have been much better.

And where is "Do You Want Kids, Kids?", "Dogs Part II," "Waspman," "When I Was A Boy" and dozens of other Who classics? Who knows. I keep waiting for Odds and Sods II, but it doesn't appear to be coming. On the other hand, I've read that the Shel Talmy tapes are finally going to remastered, and the Who are recording a new record.