This Is Not Your Family Circus
September 1, 2007 2:55 AM   Subscribe

The Greatest Rock & Roll Show On Earth: Jethro Tull { Song For Jeffrey } The Who { A Quick One While He's Away } Taj Mahal { Checkin' Up On My Baby, Leaving Trunk, Corrina, Ain't That A Lot Of Love } Marianne Faithfull { Something Better } clowns The Dirty Mac John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards & Mitch Mitchell { Yer Blues [2nd take] } Yoko Ono with Ivry Gitlis & The Dirty Mac { Whole Lotta Yoko } The Rolling Stones { Jumpin' Jack Flash, No Expectations, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Sympathy For The Devil [previously] } (1968)
posted by Poolio (39 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 


Well, they've been sadly beating this to death on my local PBS, but there are still some cool spots.

John's 'Yer Blues' shows how effortlessly he could tinker with a venerated style and make something cool. It's also a great reminder that he usually sang with power and emotion. I think the Beatles are too often thought of as 'performers,' like magicians.

And The Who's 'Quick One..' shows how important group singing was to the band. It wasn't until their 70s epics that they let anybody go it alone.
posted by toma at 3:22 AM on September 1, 2007


Here's a great early 80s home video of John playing "Dear Yoko" acoustically.
posted by Poolio at 3:25 AM on September 1, 2007


I have this album. I know it was filmed, but for some reason it never occurred to me to try and find the video.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:02 AM on September 1, 2007


If only youtube had a search function. Cue vociferous defence.comment[!]=noise
posted by peacay at 5:41 AM on September 1, 2007


I'll let my posting history speak for itself, peacay.
posted by Poolio at 5:44 AM on September 1, 2007


That Yoko sings like a Meredith Monk without talent. And the violining added nothing to that song, to my ears -- just novelty.

Some of the other stuff was cool.
posted by creasy boy at 6:09 AM on September 1, 2007


I have this album, and it's great. The video, for some reason, not so much. There's something withering and soul-destroying about Dirty Mac tearing it up for 3+ minutes only to be joined by that yodeling wraith who proceeds to tear down everything great the performers up to that point have built up in the audience (me). I dig Yoko Ono alright, but she just killed that show.
posted by carsonb at 6:11 AM on September 1, 2007


That version of "A Quick One," which I first encountered on the The Kids Are Alright soundtrack, is the best one I've ever seen and/or heard.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:29 AM on September 1, 2007


Here's a great early 80s home video of John playing "Dear Yoko" acoustically.

I wish. But that "s" has to come off.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:37 AM on September 1, 2007


Wow, great stuff. The "You are forgiven" at the end of "A Quick One" always gets me right here. Thanks much for this!

And peacay, I like you, man, but for fuck's sake, don't piss in threads just 'cause you can. You could go into any post and say "If only the internet had a search function." You don't like YouTube posts? I'm guessing you've made the point before; now all that remains to you is to skip YouTube posts. Unless you just enjoy pissing for its own sake.
posted by languagehat at 6:37 AM on September 1, 2007


I watch the bit with The Who probably twice a month, and I still think it's one of the most propulsive rock and roll performances I've ever seen.

And given the conditions under which they came up with that? Wow.

The performances began at around 2 p.m. on December 11, 1968, but setting up between acts took longer than planned and the cameras kept breaking down, which meant that the final performances took place at almost 5 a.m. the next morning.
posted by merlinmann at 6:44 AM on September 1, 2007 [1 favorite]


Nothing involving Jethro Tull should ever be confused with "rock and roll." Period. The rest of it, very cool.
posted by fourcheesemac at 6:52 AM on September 1, 2007


O'oh...more Yoko.
posted by meh at 6:56 AM on September 1, 2007


Yoko Ono "Cut Piece" 1965 (performance art)
posted by Poolio at 7:02 AM on September 1, 2007


Wow, I've seen that Who clip many times but Moon's performance never fails to blow me away. A quick one is really six separate little songs and you'd think that he might have to concentrate a little to keep track where they where but he just tears through it.
posted by octothorpe at 7:08 AM on September 1, 2007


And given the conditions under which they came up with that? Wow.

Speed's a hell of a drug.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:14 AM on September 1, 2007


I never understood why people thought Mick Jagger was sexy until I saw the Rock and Roll Circus.
posted by needs more cowbell at 7:19 AM on September 1, 2007


Ha! At 1:28 of A Quick One, Pete's windmilling arm hits one of the overhead mics, which falls back and hits Keith right in the forehead - he doesn't miss a beat - you can see Pete's sheepish expression after it happens..

I love stuff like that.
posted by davey_darling at 7:38 AM on September 1, 2007


Nice post, poolio.

(Do I have to be a musician to understand any love for Yoko Ono? Because I cannot stand her.)
posted by maxwelton at 8:00 AM on September 1, 2007


This is fantastic! Thanks!
posted by Nabubrush at 8:03 AM on September 1, 2007


"We wanted to put cellos on the track but Kit Lambert said we couldn't afford it. That's why we sing 'cello, cello, cello, cello' where we thought they should be." -- John Entwistle on "A Quick One"
posted by kirkaracha at 8:39 AM on September 1, 2007


Poolio writes "Yoko in the studio breaking up The Beatles"

Isn't that from the Two Virgins album? That wasn't a Beatles project, other than the fact that it came out on the Apple label.

Good Yoko.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:52 AM on September 1, 2007


A Quick One never ceases to amaze.
posted by pokermonk at 8:54 AM on September 1, 2007


The Who for the win.
posted by billysumday at 9:02 AM on September 1, 2007


That was from the Let It Be sessions, PeterMcDermott.
posted by Poolio at 9:07 AM on September 1, 2007


Nothing involving Jethro Tull should ever be confused with "rock and roll." Period.

except for the part where tony iommi plays guitar for them
posted by pyramid termite at 9:32 AM on September 1, 2007


What an incredible voodoo freak-out Sympathy for the Devil is.
posted by empath at 9:35 AM on September 1, 2007


More proof that The Who is the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Completely blew the Stones off the stage.
posted by Arch_Stanton at 10:39 AM on September 1, 2007


Arch, I'm afraid some people will need more convincing. Maybe this will help...

The Who perform Sparks at Tanglewood, MA - 1970

Full download available at Long Live Rock
posted by action man bow-tie at 11:26 AM on September 1, 2007 [2 favorites]


That's great footage, action man...I believe there were three or four songs from that concert on the 30th anniversary Maximum Rock 'n' Roll tape they put out concurrent with the box set about 13 years ago.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:35 AM on September 1, 2007


Christ, the Who were great. Thanks for that, action man!

(I never get tired of watching Entwistle stand there calmly playing as three guys go completely nuts around him. Sometimes, when Daltrey gets a little wild with the tambourines, he backs off a couple of steps. Calmly.)
posted by languagehat at 3:08 PM on September 1, 2007


Nothing involving Jethro Tull should ever be confused with "rock and roll." Period. The rest of it, very cool.

Except at the time they very much considered themselves a Blues band.

'Note that Ian is trying really hard to stand on one leg as often as possible. He was very fond of the fact that some people wanted to go see that band with the one-legged flute player', thinking he had only one leg.
posted by Gungho at 4:53 PM on September 1, 2007




Marianne's so wasted.

Sigh, Brian Jones.
posted by padraigin at 10:08 PM on September 1, 2007


Jesus Christ, why did I click the Yoko Ono link first?
posted by phaedon at 8:00 AM on September 2, 2007


More proof that The Who is the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Completely blew the Stones off the stage.

I've heard that the Who's performance is the exact reason the Stones chose not to release the film when it was first shot.

For more John Lennon supergroup action of decidedly shabbier quality, sink your ears into A Toot and a Snore in '74 (download here) You might think that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Stevie Wonder getting into a studio together to jam might sound earthshattering, but you probably didn't consider the amount of liquor and cocaine they were on.
posted by thatswherebatslive at 9:01 PM on September 2, 2007 [1 favorite]


In case you are wondering why all those people are wearing ugly ponchos during the Dirty Mac set, what you are actually seeing is the baggist in its natural habitat.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:17 PM on September 2, 2007 [1 favorite]


More proof that The Who is the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Completely blew the Stones off the stage.

That section of Sparks about 2.5 minutes in, where it picks up speed, would blow anybody off the stage; thanks for posting it, action man. It was a similar concert (i.e. fantastic) when I saw them in the gym at Georgetown University about eight months before that youtube clip was shot — they did most of Tommy and then cuts from Live at Leeds, to remind everybody that even though they had done an 'opera,' the band still could rock harder than anyone else. (Not a bad show for $5.)
posted by LeLiLo at 5:38 PM on September 3, 2007


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