The Who
Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy

I admit I have never listened to this album despite knowing several tracks contained within it.

There are many musical things that you do not know until they happen to fall under your eyes, and that is precisely what happened to me just a few minutes ago with this record.

“Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy” is a compilation of 14 singles already released (except for 2, namely "Boris the Spider" and "I'm a Boy") selected by the guitarist, singer, and keyboardist Peter Dennis Blandford “Pete” Townshend of the Who (and who else?).

It entered the USA-made chart “Billboard 200” on November 20, '71, then reaching the 11th position, while in the United Kingdom chart it appeared two weeks later, and it reached the ninth position.

The release in the U.K. was delayed because the Who and their manager Bill Curbishley were unable to get clearance from another manager Kit Lambert, who intended to change the order of the tracks, but could not succeed because several copies had already been printed.

“Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy” conveys the character of the four historical members of the band, namely that of the singer Sir Roger Harry Daltrey the Athletic (Meaty), then the Pulsating Keith John Moon, who passed away at just thirty-two after taking cocaine, drinking alcohol, and during the night ingesting about thirty pills, (Beaty) on drums, “Big” the Great John Alec Entwistle on bass, who died at fifty-eight, having been suffering from heart disease for some time, and died in his sleep in a hotel room, due to acute myocardial infarction caused by cocaine use, he was the calmest and most composed of the magnificent 4, and last but not least Pete the Jumping (Bouncy) undisputed leader and guitarist of the Who.

The pianist Nicholas Christian Hopkins also appears here, one of the most significant session men of all time, so much so that it would be quicker to say who he hasn't played with, who will participate in three other albums of the “Who” including “My Generation” from '65, he would have played even more if madame “La Morte” hadn't taken him at only fifty in '94 also due to the excessive consumption of drugs and alcohol, although the primary cause was complications from intestinal surgery linked to his fight against Crohn's disease.

Most of the tracks from this album will also appear in subsequent compilations.

A curiosity, the panoramic photo of the inner cover is an exterior of the Railway Hotel, a pub that was located near the Harrow and Wealdstone station in London, which was destroyed in a fire in 2000 and after several years is now occupied by two blocks of apartments, named in memory of the band members: "Moon House" and "Daltrey House" and that’s it... actually, now I'll go listen to it all at maximum volume because on a Saturday afternoon, you can do that, right?