322: MEATY BEATY BIG AND BOUNCY | THE WHO
Wiki: Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy is a compilation album of singles by British rock band The Who, released in 1971 as Track 2406 006 in the UK and as Decca DL 79184 in the US. It entered the US Billboard 200 chart on 20 November 1971, peaking at number 11, and the UK chart on 3 December 1971, peaking at number 9. In 1987, Rolling Stone ranked it number 99 on their list of the 100 best albums of the period 1967–1987.
Aside from two songs, "Boris the Spider" and "I'm a Boy", every track on the album had been released as a single in the UK; further, all except "A Legal Matter", "Magic Bus", and "The Seeker" were top ten hits. "Happy Jack", "I Can See for Miles", "Magic Bus", and "Pinball Wizard" had also been Top 40 hits in the US. "Boris the Spider", the one song written by John Entwistle, was taken from the album A Quick One, whilst "I'm a Boy" was an alternate longer and slower version recorded two months after the release of the original single.
Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy was compiled by Pete Townshend. The band's manager Kit Lambert attempted to have the track order changed but failed because too many copies had already been pressed. The UK release was held up because The Who and Bill Curbishley had failed to clear it with Lambert.
The album is named after the members of the band: "Meaty" is Daltrey, who was quite fit at the time; "Beaty" is Moon, for his drumming; "Big" is Entwistle, who was a large person, often referred to as "The Ox" (lending his nickname to the instrumental of the same name); and "Bouncy" was Townshend, who jumped about quite acrobatically during performances.
The original vinyl album featured a longer alternative studio take of "Magic Bus" in fake stereo which was not included on the original compact disc version, because the true stereo or mono source could not be found for the long version of the song. This longer take appeared on The Who Collection compilation in 1988. On 25 July 2007 Universal Japan re-released Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy in a mini-LP sleeve that included the long alternative version of "Magic Bus" in fake stereo, as with the original album.
In 2017 Polydor Records issued a remastered 180 gram vinyl LP of Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy using Half Speed Mastering techniques. This edition includes the same mixes of the songs found on the original 1971 issue.