The Who - 6 ft. Wide Garage, 7 ft. Wide Car - Non-Album Tracks (1970)

The last album I posted from the Who was "Who's for Tennis," a stray tracks album from 1968. For the Who, 1969 was consumed by the "Tommy" album, so that brings us to 1970. That year, the Who released the classic "Live at Leeds" live album, and the hit single "The Seeker." They also almost released a four-song EP as well, which probably was going to have the title "6 ft. Wide Garage, 7 ft. Wide Car" based on a joke by drummer Keith Moon. So that's why I've given this album that title. But ultimately, the group decided the EP wouldn't be an impressive enough follow-up to "Tommy."

In fact, just considering studio material, the Who had enough material for a solid album, not just an EP, so that's what I've made here. My challenge was to not include any songs from the group's next big concept album project, "Lifehouse," which eventually became the "Who's Next" album. The song "Naked Eye" was incorporated into some versions of "Lifehouse," but it actually was written by Pete Townshend in 1970 before he started to conceive of "Lifehouse," so I figure it's fair game here.

"I Don't Even Know Myself" is a 1970 B-side that also got retconned into "Lifehouse." But in this case there are two studio versions. So I've used the hard-to-find EP version here, allowing me to use the other version later. I also used the similarly rare EP version of "Postcard." But it doesn't actually matter much, since both of these versions are quite similar to their more well known versions (which can be found on the expanded version of "Odds and Sods.")

It turns out there's just enough material for a 36-minute long 1970 album, which is a decent album length for that year. In order to get that much, I had to use a couple of "Tommy" outtakes that didn't fit the plot. Luckily, the Who was firing on all cylinders in those years, so even their outtakes were quality songs.

01 The Seeker (Who)
02 Heaven and Hell (Who)
03 Here for More (Who)
04 Naked Eye (Who)
05 Young Man Blues (Who)
06 Trying to Get Through (Who)
07 I Don't Even Know Myself [EP Version] (Who)
08 Postcard [EP Version] (Who)
09 Now I'm a Farmer (Who)
10 Water (Who)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/5e3v6ZYP

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/HlPSd2nAyYvGz7M/file

I originally used cover art made by the music blogger "The Reconstructor." That blog also has a slightly different song list for this album, as well as a more detailed explanation of what the Who did that year. (I differed mainly in not wanting to include "Behind Blue Eyes" or "Drowned" on a 1970 album, even though they both were written in 1970.) I recommend you give it a read here:

http://the-reconstructor.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-who-7ft-wide-car-6ft-wide-garage.html

However, in 2025, I changed the cover to one made by Guy E (which I found at the Steve Hoffman music forum), since it better represents the situation described in the album title, of a car too big for its garage.