Direct Hits (The Who album)

Direct Hits
Compilation album by
ReleasedOctober 1968
Recorded1966–1968
GenreRock
Length32:49
LabelTrack/Polydor
The Who UK chronology
The Who Sell Out
(1967)
Direct Hits
(1968)
Tommy
(1969)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
Rolling Stone(favorable) [3]

Direct Hits is the first UK compilation album and the fourth UK LP released by The Who. It collects singles, B-sides, and album tracks originally recorded for Reaction Records and Track Records between 1966 and 1968.[4]

Earlier Who recordings from 1965, such as "My Generation", were released in the UK by Brunswick Records and were not available for this release due to music licensing issues. Thus the collection is not representative of the Who's hit recordings up to this point.

Direct Hits shares a few songs with the earlier US compilation album Magic Bus: The Who on Tour, but is otherwise unrelated to that release. Surprisingly, it does not include the song "Magic Bus", which had reached No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart during the summer of 1968. Until the early 1980s this was the only album to include Who rarities such as "In the City", "Dogs", and a version of the Rolling Stones' song "The Last Time".

  1. ^ "Direct Hits – The Who – Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  3. ^ Ward, Edmund O. (18 October 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone. No. 44. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. p. 45. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  4. ^ "The Who Official Band Website - Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon | | Direct Hits". Thewho.com. 1 October 1968. Retrieved 13 February 2012.