Ready Steady Who
Ready Steady Who is the first EP by the Who, released on 11 November 1966, about a month prior to their album A Quick One. The title refers to a Ready Steady Go! TV special the band had recently appeared in, but the EP contains different recordings from those performed on the TV show.
EP profile[edit]
The record features two original songs by Pete Townshend on one side and three covers on the other, all of which were previously recorded by Jan and Dean: the theme from the Batman TV series, the duo's own "Bucket T", and The Regents' "Barbara Ann". As well as performing "Barbara Ann" with Jan Berry, Dean Torrence had suggested the Beach Boys record it and sang lead on their version (uncredited), and the Who's cover follows this arrangement. Despite what the title implies, the EP was not recorded on Ready Steady Go!; it is a studio recording and is unaffiliated with the television show.
All of the songs are available as bonus tracks on the 1995 reissue CD of A Quick One, except for "Circles", which differs from the version on the 2002 deluxe version of the My Generation LP, and can be found on Two's Missing.[1]
The original EP credits the song "Batman" to Jan Berry, Don Altfeld (misspelled as "Altfield") and Fred Weider. However the song was actually written by Neal Hefti, and the Who's cover is of the original rather than Jan and Dean's reworking. The credit was corrected in the liner notes to the 1995 CD release of A Quick One.
An abridged version of "My Generation" was recorded for the EP, but was not included. This version was later included as a bonus track on the 1995 remaster of A Quick One. The main difference between this version and the original is that it is heavily abridged and that the hail of feedback that ends the original serves as a transition into a chaotic rendition of Edward Elgar's "Land of Hope and Glory." In the album's liner notes the song is credited to both Townshend and Elgar.