The Who -- "Who's for Tennis?"

Between the release of The Who Sell Out in December 1967 and the release of Tommy in March 1969 were 17 long months. The Who's management and record company wanted something to fill the gap. Although three singles were released during this time, there were also a couple of ideas thrown around about releasing a live album or a compilation album of various tracks that hadn’t made it onto albums yet. A working title for this compilation was Who’s for Tennis? Eventually, two best-of compilations were released: Direct Hits in Britain and the oddly named Magic Bus: The Who on Tour in the U.S.

For this exercise, I put together a Who’s for Tennis? compilation using what few songs we still have that we didn’t include on our previous re-imagined Who albums. The result was a tidy, 10-track album.

SIDE A

1. Glow Girl

2. Fortune Teller

3. Dogs

4. Call Me Lightning

5. Melancholia

SIDE B

1. Faith is Something Bigger

2. Little Billy

3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

4. Shakin' All Over

5. Magic Bus

"Glow Girl" was originally envisioned as an A-side of a single, and later to be the lead-off track to Who's for Tennis? Then it was considered for Tommy. Eventually, it ended up on 1974's Odds and Sods. While I'm not sure it's really worthy of being a single, it's a nice way to start Who's for Tennis? "Fortune Teller" was considered for an EP that was never released. "Dogs" was released as a single in June 1968, and didn't do very well. A song about domestic bliss probably wasn't something most Who fans were clamoring for in 1968. "Call Me Lightning" was the B-side to "Dogs." "Melancholia" is also a song originally planned for Who's for Tennis? but it didn't get released until the 1995 version of The Who Sell Out as a bonus track.

Side B begins with "Faith is Something Bigger," an attempt by Pete for The Who to preach to the fans. "Little Billy" is an anti-smoking song supposedly written for the American Cancer Society and considered as a possible single. But it too ended up in the vault until Odds and Sods. "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is a John Entwistle tune written about Keith Moon and his alcohol-fueled mood swings. It was released as the B-Side to "Magic Bus." "Shakin' All Over" is a cover song originally recorded by Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, a rival band of The Who in the early days. The album concludes with the biggest hit here, "Magic Bus."

All these songs are easy to find on various Who compilations. The album cover comes from the great I Design Album Covers website: https://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com/

So if you're keeping track, we have the following for a revised 1960s discography for The Who:

• Introducing The Who - http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-who-introducing-who.html (soniclovenoize)
• My Generation - https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-who-my-generation.html 
• Jigsaw - http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-who-jigsaw-puzzle.html (soniclovenoize)
• Happy Jack - https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-who-happy-jack.html
• The Who Sell Out - https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-who-who-sell-out-double-album.html
• Who's for Tennis - This page, obviously.

To close out the '60s, you can also include my single disc version of Tommy if you'd like: https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2018/12/double-albums-made-single.html