The Who announces 'My Generation' Deluxe Edition

Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) is set to release The Who My Generation: Deluxe Edition as a five CD box set on November 18th. The spectacular 79 track, five disc super-deluxe edition features unheard songs as well as unreleased demos, unreleased alternate mixes, new remasters and a stereo remix which was created using new overdubs from Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. For this mix Townshend used the same exact guitars and amps as the original album with Roger using same type of microphone.

The super-deluxe edition also features a stunning 80-page color book with many rare and unseen period photos, candid and insightful new notes from Pete Townshend and period memorabilia.

In the half century since its release, The Who’s debut album My Generation hasn’t lost any of its raw, visceral power and still stands as the ultimate musical declaration of teenage rebellion. The title track alone has been covered innumerable times by the likes of Oasis, Green Day, Patti Smith, Billy Joel, Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden amongst many more.

Back in 1965, the band was considered to be so dangerous that the tailors tasked with turning a Union Jack into a pop art mod jacket for the cover feared that they would be jailed for desecration of the nation’s flag.

The Who’s surly demeanour that day in 1965 at Surrey Docks and the brazen appropriation of the symbol of state is the best advert possible for My Generation. It’s an album that sounds like it looks: terse, confrontational and full of youthful angst and energy.

Brunswick Records first issued My Generation in the UK in December 1965, and later in the U.S. under the title The Who Sings My Generation in April 1966, and was produced by Shel Talmy who shot to fame with his work with The Kinks, a group that the teenage Pete Townshend admired greatly.

During a break in touring in 2015 Pete Townshend discovered tapes in his audio archive featuring previously unheard demos for the album which also included three totally unreleased songs that The Who hadn’t ever revisited “The Girls I Could Have Had,” “As Children We Grew” and “My Own Love.”

“Gathering these demos for this collection has been enjoyable; it’s wonderful for me to have these tapes made fifty-two years ago to listen to,” Pete Townshend comments on the package. “I hope you enjoy them. They have a naiveté and innocence, a simplicity and directness, and an ingenuousness that reveals me as a young man struggling to keep up with the more mature and developed men around me. What an incredible group of strong, talented, young and engaging men they were!”

CD 1: Original album (mono mixes)

Originally released 1965
Remastered 2016

CD 2: Original album (new stereo mixes)

Previously unreleased on CD or vinyl. Released on iTunes 2014.
Remixed by the band in 2014 – Pete Townshend used the exactly same guitars and amps as the original album and Roger used the same type of microphone.
Recorded at Pete Townshend’s home studio and Yellowfish Studio.

CD 3: Mono mixes – bonus tracks

Tracks 1–12 originally released 1965-1966. Reissued 2002.
Tracks 13-23 remixed in 2000, previously unreleased
Remastered 2016

CD 4: Stereo mixes – bonus tracks

Tracks 1-17 previously unreleased on CD or vinyl. Released on iTunes 2014.
Tracks 18-21 previously unreleased.
Remastered 2016

CD 5: The Demos

Track 1 previously released as 45 rpm flexi-disc with the Maximum R&B book (re-mastered 2016)
Tracks 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, & 11 previously unreleased demo versions
Tracks 3, 5, & 9 previously unreleased songs – “The Girls I Could Have Had,” “As Children We Grew,” “My Own Love”
Track 10 previously released on ‘Scoop’ (remastered 2016)

Super Deluxe Edition

Stunning 80-page color book with many rare and unseen period photos and memorabilia.
Candid and insightful new notes from Pete Townshend illustrating the genesis of the demos and creative process.
New essay by acclaimed music writer Mark Blake with additional track annotation by Who biographer Andy Neill.
Six replica inserts
Flyer for The Who’s Tuesday night residency at the Marquee Club 1965.
Membership card to the Scene Club in Ham Yard.
Calling card for The Who’s management New Action Ltd. with a photo of the group
Admission card to recording of Ready Steady Go! at Redifusion TV Studios.
20″ x 30″ poster from 1966 gig.
20″ x 30″ poster of a gig at the Goldhawk Social Club.
Hardback 12 x 12 album size slipcase.