There was an article in Melody Maker during the third week of July that stated that The Who were currently going into rehearsal to change their stage material and that they would be proceeding in a "hard pop" direction. This is probably the first indication of "power pop". In 1965 The Who were constantly changing their stage material. They had pretty much dropped the "Maximum R&B" moniker by Mid April as Smokestack Lightning" and "I'm a Man" were gone. During the R&B days, the band seemed to take the attitude that "We start where everybody finishes" and they would open up their sets with songs such as "Smokestack Lightning" which were normally the show stoppers for everybody else! If other bands were doing the same material, it was time to move on! The Who were keenly aware of what other London bands were playing. The Birds and The Action covererd ground that the Who found hard to compete with. The Action's live version of "Heatwave" had all the power of the Who version with stronger harmonies and a fuller guitar sound. The Birds version of "Leaving Here" trumps the Who version. For the first time, I can now reveal that the "hard pop" direction was fueled by two very formative Everly Brothers Albums (See Picture). The album "Rock and Soul" contains versions of both "Love Hurts" and "Dancing in the Street". You'll need to listen to the stereo version of "Dancing in the Street" to realize how Pete used his toggle switch to approximate the two guitars used in the Everly Brothers version. The vocal harmonies are virtually identical. The single "Love is Strange" was issued with "Man with Money" as the B-side and the stereo version is on the album "Beat & Soul" only. The Everly albums used great session players with a good dance beat. These four songs helped fill out the set beforethey were "discovered" by other musicians and "Love Hurts" was played on Ready Steady go in the autumn of 1965 Marvin Gaye's "Baby Don't You Do It" was the show stopper during the late 1965 period, which was invariably followed by the obligatory "My Generation". Listen to the version of "Baby Don't you do it" on the re- released Odd and Sods, it's exactly how it sounded in 1965 and I suspect that the sleeve notes are inaccurate in dating it in 1964. Let's hope for a re-released "My Generation" ( Shel Talmy please note !)