Odds & Sods
Compilation album by  The Who
Released	4 October 1974
Recorded	1964–1973
Genre	Rock
Length	40:23
Label	Track/MCA, Polydor
Producer	Glyn Johns, Kit Lambert, Peter Meaden, Chris Parmeinter, Shel Talmy, The Who
Compiler	John Alcock, John Entwistle
The Who chronology
Quadrophenia (1973) Odds & Sods (1974) Tommy (1975)
Singles from Odds & Sods
"Long Live Rock" Released: September 1974 (Europe) "Postcard" Released: November 1974

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide	B
MusicHound	3.5/5
Pitchfork	10.0/10
Rolling Stone	(satisfactory)
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Tom Hull	B

Odds & Sods is an album that consists of studio outtakes and rarities by British rock band the Who released by Track Records in the UK and Track/MCA in the US in 1974. It is notable as being one of the first and earliest examples of "rarities" compilations.

Background

In the autumn of 1973, while Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and Keith Moon were preparing for the Tommy film, John Entwistle was put in charge of compiling an album to counter the rampant bootlegging that arose from the Who's concerts. "If John Entwistle had never seen Who's Zoo," observed that bootleg's cover artist William Stout, "we might not have had the legitimate Who release of Odds & Sods."

"I tried to arrange it like a parallel sort of Who career – what singles we might have released and what album tracks we might have released," Entwistle explained. He and the producer of his solo albums, John Alcock, compiled Odds & Sods from various tapes. Two LPs of material were collected, but only one was released. "It could have been a double album, there was that much material," Entwistle said at the time of the album's release.

The album reached No. 10 on the UK charts and No. 15 in the US. Townshend wrote liner notes that included frank opinions of the quality of the songs. The notes were omitted from some copies of the original LP but included on the 1998 remastered CD. The latter featured material from the unreleased second LP.

On August 29, 2020, it was re-released as a limited edition coloured double vinyl LP, half-speed mastered at Abbey Road Studios. The first album consists of the original release. The second album consists of various tracks, many of which were included in the expanded CD reissue, some of which were included on other releases, and others available for the first time in this new release.

Songs

"Little Billy" was written by Townshend for the American Cancer Society, but it never saw the light of day because it never left the office of the record executive Townshend submitted it to.

"I'm the Face" (which is a reworking of the Slim Harpo classic "Got Love If You Want It") was The Who's first record release, when they were still performing as the High Numbers. It was recorded in 1964.

"Put the Money Down", "Too Much of Anything" and "Pure and Easy" were from the aborted Lifehouse project.

The mix of "Under My Thumb" on the 1998 remastered CD is a special stereo remix produced but not used for the Thirty Years of Maximum R&B box set that omits the original fuzzbox guitar part.

The studio version of "Young Man Blues" on the re-issue is not the sampler version of The House that Track Built but a slower out-take (seemingly due to the tape playing at the wrong speed) from the same sessions as the Sampler Version, which was finally released in an alternate mix on the 2013 deluxe version of Tommy. The iTunes American Store lists this version "Young Man Blues" as an "Alternate Studio Version" and at the end Kit Lambert is heard to remark: "No, that one didn't really work".

The 2011 reissue featuring the original analog mixes has some different takes than the 1998 version. "Young Man Blues" is a different take than the 1998 remix.

Track listing

All songs written by Pete Townshend except where noted.

Original album