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Post by ganews on Apr 1, 2020 14:20:16 GMT -5
YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH It's been almost a year since I did a Discography Review myself, and this board has gotten very quiet. What better time to start writing about music again? I was already considering The Who, and look, in the time I was stalling they released a new album. Did anyone else know that? Dellarigg ? I have very little relationship with The Who, positive or negative. Obviously they were staples of the classic rock radio and even back into the oldies radio I grew up with. Contrast that with Led Zeppelin, who were also staples but who I actively sought out, downloading as listening to almost every album one I got to college and broadband internet. Or the Kinks, from whom I've listened to multiple albums. But, hell, I've never even seen "Tommy" on one of its many VH1 plays. About the only personal anecdote I have about The Who is that my graduate advisor was insistent that they were the greatest rock band of all time, and he sneered when I said I preferred Led Zeppelin (he'd clearly participated in that argument many times). I know the stories about the virtuosity and scandals around the band; they're in the class where I can name every member - time to see what it's all about. As usual, I'll be keeping track of band hallmarks as I go through every studio album. Roger Daltrey screaming is a gimme; suggestions for others are more than welcome. US titles and release dates
Quadrophenia (1973) The Who by Numbers (1975) Who Are You (1978) Face Dances (1981) It's Hard (1982) Endless Wire (2006) WHO (2019)
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Apr 2, 2020 5:29:09 GMT -5
Yeah, I knew about the new album - haven't heard it, though. Singles that turn up on comps aside, I stop listening after 1978, if I'm honest. One other screamy hallmark, though they might be hard to detect if you're listening on youtube or whatever, is Keith Moon's off-mic yelling as he goes into a particularly rambunctious drum part. Since the albums, even more than most 60s bands, give only a partial picture, I might point readers towards stand-alone singles. And I'll have to mention the incomparable Live At Leeds (1970), which is the definition of essential to understanding their impact. And when you get to Who's Next, I'll have a few words on the aborted project from whence it came and how you can assemble your own version at home. While I'm a huge fan, I hereby yield to Floyd D Barber as the bigger fan; I still turn a deathly white at the thought of his vinyl box set being stolen. I'm sure he'll have a lot of interest in this. |
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Post by MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusin on Apr 2, 2020 6:36:40 GMT -5
Thoughts on the Who
The new album isn't objectively terrible, but it's something I only to once and didn't ever feel the need to get around to again. I promise I will when you do your review, although I don't think I'll have developed any real strong opinion on it then either.
I'm a fan, but not to the level that I can name off every song and worship every record as absolute perfection--the classic-era line-up may be the greatest rock band ever, but not really my favorite band ever, if that makes any sense. Overall, I think of them the same way I think of most of the huge classic rock bands: several objectively good singles that have been played to absolute universal heat death that have obscured the much better parts of their catalog (nothing makes me turn off rock radio faster than Led Zeppelin, but whenever I hear a deeper cut I always think "Oh, this is why people this band--they're actually pretty good.") I still do listen to Who's Next a lot though, despite the fact that about half of it falls into that first category.
I have seen them in concert four times (first in 2006, so all of them were post-Entwistle), most recently last May (you can scroll a few pages in the concerts thread for my brief review).
Looking forward to the series and hope to chime in here and there.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Apr 2, 2020 7:51:43 GMT -5
I never listen to the radio, so the rock classics still sound fresh when I cycle back to them - Satisfaction, Stairway To Heaven, Pinball Wizard, Bad Moon Rising, you name it.
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ayatollahcm
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Post by ayatollahcm on Apr 2, 2020 20:45:33 GMT -5
If you get to The Who Sell Out and don't listen to the superior mix of single version of "I Can See For Miles", you're dead to me.
Also, their "Under My Thumb" > original version of "Under My Thumb"
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Post by ganews on Apr 11, 2020 13:29:21 GMT -5
The Who Sings My Generation (1965)
Pre-existing Prejudices I'm going to start off by admitting a real prejudice: I have a very difficult time getting over music sung by white English people in pronounced English accents. I don't know why this is, or why M.I.A. lands fine on my ears while IDLES or Kate Tempest have to work on me. This does not apply to any Who song that I know from the radio; it just popped into my head when looking at the US album cover on the left with those pasty, dour faces. Anyway, on to the actual album: I expect we're going to hear some heavy stuff, probably some white English blues. They're probably going to be too full of themselves; I recall some VH1 footage of John Entwistle demonstrating the difference between a bass player and a bassist, which is just like a bass player.
Songs "Out in the Street" - A little bluesy, kind of slight. John Entwistle's rumbley farty bass is kind of funny for how long it rumbles. A little fuzz gives it a flavor of an earlier decade.
"I Don't Mind" - Doo-wop plus blues with a little piano, which is fine by me. "The Good's Gone" - A third sound by the third song, which is a very good sign. Poppy, not so far from George Harrison in that guitar tone. I'm getting the tiniest bit of distortion in the headphones. Keith Moon sure has been forward in these tracks for apparently just having joined the band this year. "La-La-La-Lies" - Yet another flavor of pop song, nearer to bubblegum with those upbeat shoop-shoops (and handclaps!). Moon's toms are almost comical; I can't think of another song that sounds like this. "Much Too Much" - Chorus intro, Moon more frantic on the drum kit. This is the first song that really sounds like my conception of the Who. Big strums, high chorus. "My Generation" - This song would have been incredibly severe whiplash without "Much Too Much" to ease us in a bit. I dig the stutter, actually. It really does bring to mind a stuttering teenager. The handclaps ever so slightly out-of-synch are a great compliment to that. Bass solo! Not super complex, but I can't think of too many other people with bass solos in 1965. And of course that drum solo late in the song, with just a small squeal of intentional feedback (only one year after John Lennon). What a great confluence of lyrical style and instrumentation. "The Kids Are Alright" - The other big classic. Light and lyrical against Moon tapping along (not that you could call this just a tap). I rather forgot about this little bridge, it's a nice change-up. The title phrase is so ingrained, plus being an Annette Benning movie, that you forget this is a dopey love song. "Please, Please, Please" - Daltrey's take on James Brown soul. Pretty ballsy to try to stand up against fucking James Brown, and it compare about as wel as anyone would have expected at the time. Pete Townsend puts out his first real solo on the record, making it sing. "It's Not True" - Rollicking fun. The session piano is subtle but really great here. Moon fills up the room, emphasized by when he takes a break for some boring strums to sound empty without him. So there! "I'm a Man" - This is an Englishman blues cover on the level of Peter Green Fleetwood Mac, and I absolutely do not mean that as a compliment. Daltrey's gritty affectation is practically an insult, abandoned halfway through the song in favor of some noise fuckery. The piano is the only thing that holds up well here, too bad it's Nicky Hopkins on session, they should have hired him to the band. "A Legal Matter" - Back to rollicking, lots of cymbal. It's about divorce and household stuff, and the most English-sounding; Ray Davies could sing this. "The Ox" (US) - Aw yeah get on those fucking toms like it's "Wipe Out". Townsend noodles while the piano tinkles and the cymbal crashes. Pretty cool. Then I can't tell if it freaks out too hard for 1965 or not hard enough. "Instant Party (Circles)" (UK) - Good, middle ground for this record. The building tension in the middle is pretty great, and I kind of like how it doesn't really pay off. It's a shame this got got for the US release. Summary: Quite a debut, and a very impressive collection of songs. Maybe they put the big singles in the middle of the record to get people to listen to their versatility first. It's not without clunkers, which I mainly blame on Daltrey failing to match James Brown (fair) and delivering a skunky bluesman impression (gross), but it's largely very listenable. I thought it might be heavier out of the gate, but they kept the noise and feedback very light, with plenty of pop and throwback pop. The piano was excellent; I hope Nicky Hopkins makes more appearances. There's probably no point is keeping count of who the record MVPs are, because right now it doesn't feel like Moon is going to be topped.
Favorite overall song: "My Generation". A classic for a very good reason. Favorite new-to-me song: "It's Not True" Roger Daltrey YEAH running count: 0 Feedback level, 0-5 scale: These scales are always hard to start. Because "The Ox" is optional I'll round down to 1. Album MVP: Moon
How old do they sound? With all these styles they've obviously done their homework, but you can't be too old and write "My Generation". I'll say 22.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Apr 12, 2020 9:52:13 GMT -5
It's a solid debut album - I came to it fantastically late, not till 2002, because it took an age to get a proper CD release, so there was a slight sense of anti-climax about it. But it's just a standard mid-60s album, with a lot of covers, and originals ranging from the tentative to the sublime, all recorded in a tearing hurry.
Other notables are the indispensable singles I Can't Explain and Anyway Anyhow Anywhere. These and the single release of My Generation must be one of the fiercest ways a band impressed themselves on a nation's conscience.
The former is a Kinksian delight, with Moon's drums as the lead instrument, all very clean and mod, while the latter has a noisy feedback breakdown in the middle that had record stations returning it as 'faulty'. I would suggest that the aural chaos contained therein was a huge inspiration for punk. Sue me.
Stray tracks Leaving Here and Shout and Shimmy are also worth hunting down.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2020 4:47:37 GMT -5
I don't have a lot of thoughts about the debut record so I'll take a moment to plug the Discography podcast's exhaustive series on The Who. Damned if I knew that Daltrey and Entwistle each had a metric ton of solo records. |
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Post by ganews on Apr 21, 2020 14:46:31 GMT -5
Happy Jack (1967) / A Quick One (1966) Pre-existing Prejudices I hope this US/UK split nonsense is done after this. What a goofy album cover, today it looks like a parody of a 60s album cover. I guess it's better than the very generic debut photos. The debut was good with quite a few styles; I assume they are going to settle into more their own thing now that they have a couple big singles under the belt.
Songs"Run Run Run" - Big open sounds like "My Generation" but not a very notable song until the bridge. Then instead of ending it fakes-out and reboots, the sort of trick I love in music.
"Boris the Spider" - Thunk dat bass. Appropriately creepy lyrics and vocal performance from Entwistle until you get the downright evil title drop. Creepy creepy crawly crawly! A Halloween classic, I love it.
"I Need You" - Moon shows up in a meaningful way for the first time. And it's him singing? I love this glockenspiel sound or whatever it is, very 60s, especially with Beatles-esque talk over it. The Wikipedia page doesn't say who plays it. This song is just the right length.
"Whiskey Man" - More Entwistle vocals, but I only know because I looked at the credits. I am terrible at differentiating these English vocals. Anyway, this is a pink elephant song, both in lyrical meaning and tone. Slight echo on the vocals also makes that 60s sound. Someone has a horn which is cool.
"Heat Wave" - I have never heard this version before, and I never would have expected this. I just can't expect anything except the Motown version. It's fine, it's just so funny to me. And so short! They must have been big fans of the original.
"Cobwebs and Strange" - The circus is here and is quite loony indeed. Everybody gets out the horns and maracas to fill in space around Moon's drum solos. Boys, you are not big enough to get away with this like the Beatles.
"Happy Jack" (US) - A pleasant ditty with lovely la-las. In fact, this song is a really great showcase for the value of Townsend's backing vocals. Moon does some very fine tom stomps, and handclaps are also fun. It is ridiculous that this didn't make the cut in the UK release.
"Don't Look Away" - Another "Generation" fake-out intro that gives way to an adequate pop song. Davey Jones could be shaking that tambourine. I like a little Western flare in my guitar bridges, like Mike Nesmith. (Yes, I am doing this on purpose.)
"See My Way" - Rolling beat and Beatles-esque delivery. Horns are nice too.
"So Sad About Us" - Big ringing guitar, steppin' beat, soaring vocal. The farthest forward the bass has been since "Boris the Spider".
"A Quick One, While He's Away" - And it's various subtitles which I am not going to type out or even get the numbering right. Let's see where this rock opus goes.
i) A cappella intro.
ii) Good instrumentation, very McCartney bass.
iii) This one chord is like a hammer hitting steel, it hurts my ears.
iv) A different plunky beat, while Moon rolls all over it.
v) more Western, and at this point the cymbal/production fuzz is killing me.
vi) Western but even harder, git along lil' doggies. It's like a parody of a Fleetwood Mac lineup that didn't exist yet. Literally, "come on ol' hoss".
vii) I think my mind would be blown if I had never heard the Beatles. This is why that movie "Yesterday" has a plot that doesn't work. Oh I do recognize the forgiven chorus, I love that part. It's great for ending an argument!
Summary: Hmm, this is actually almost a step backwards. Nothing drives forward or advances them beyond the debut until you get to the innovative opus of the title, and even that was a few germs of good songs with goofiness thrown in. The clunker of a Motown cover is still there. I think the weak link is actually Roger Daltrey. His vocals don't do anything special alone, only in harmony, and he doesn't even sing the best songs on the record. Too many of the songs are Beatles sound-alikes, and nothing matches the fresh brilliance of "My Generation" - maybe that's why multiple songs start on the same notes.
Favorite overall song: "Boris the Spider" is too cool to lose here, though "Happy Jack" is really good too. Favorite new-to-me song: "I Need You" Roger Daltrey YEAH running count: 0 Feedback level, 0-5 scale: Technically 1, with just one tiny squeak in the opener. Album MVP: Entwistle
How old do they sound? It takes practice to sound almost as good as the Beatles, but with less creativity of your own you can't be over 20.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Apr 21, 2020 16:36:14 GMT -5
I think this is a fun little album, with a few drawbacks. For some feeble reason - a 'marketing push', according to Wikipedia - all four members were asked to contribute songs. This was no problem for Townshend, of course, and Entwhistle quickly found his feet; Moon I suspect had some help, but Roger was left to flounder, only coming up with one (See My Way). That gap was filled by the Motown cover. So it lacks a singular vision, you could say.
The title suite is charming, I think, if fairly shallow. It sounds absolutely magnificent when performed at The Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus, though, so much so that the Stones couldn't top it and scrapped the broadcast. It also represents a significant footnote in that Paul McCartney 'borrowed' the idea of linked songs for Sgt. Pepper (not that he carried it through very thoroughly, of course.)
Happy Jack was a single here; maybe this time out they adhered to the 'no singles on an album' UK rule. I'm actually lukewarm on it, personally.
Which brings us to stray songs from this time, first and foremost the absolutely great Substitute. I'm A Boy, another single with some fantastic Moon mayhem, was an early, aborted attempt at an opera.
The Ready, Steady Who EP is also fine, featuring Circles, Disguises, and the very mod Batman theme, the latter two also essayed by The Jam some years later. They also covered So Sad About Us when Moon died. Spoiler alert.
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Post by ganews on May 4, 2020 14:51:29 GMT -5
The Who Sell Out (1967) 
Pre-existing Prejudices
It looks like we're done with differential releases, so that's good. What to make of this one? I only recognize one song title in the lineup, and we've got a cheeky title and cover art. Maybe things could get a bit experimental, but also looking at the track titles it looks like they'll be leaning hard into parody.
Songs"Armenia City in the Sky" - Robot voice kicks us off, then things do get a little spacey with cut-up Moogy stuff over Entwistle's thumps. Still tracking with the Beatles. That's not how you pronounce Armenia. The the radio jingle comes back.
"Heinz Baked Beans" - Count it off, cue the Sgt. Pepper soprano trumpet, and lean in hard to the commercial jingle.
"Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand" - Sounds like a real song, light pop. I always like that South American percussion, and they lean into that nicely too. Moon tacks on a drum solo because he can, more wacky commercial tunes.
"Odorono" - Strumming sounds like the Hollies, Townshend sings. Actually someone other than Daltrey sings lead on most of the tracks, it's easier to note when he does sing. The song is slight, ends in more parody.
"Tattoo" - Story song with heavy strumming and pleasant vocal harmony. Kind of a cute little story sung to a tattoo, silly (rooty-toot-toot-tootle-tootle-toot) in subject but with pathos.
"Our Love Was" - Much the same as the last one, but Moon is doing some work low in the mix. Stray horn farts. Perhaps the story behind "lead drums" is that Moon is the only one rocking. Mooooore wacky commercial jingles.
"I Can See for Miles" - Now here's the good stuff: one of my favorites from oldies radio as a little kid. The constantly building tension, the stretched vocal performance over Moon's rolled snare, Townshend's twangs singing out. Ohhh yeaa-aahhh... (Finally I can count yeahs, even if they aren't screamed out; they do add something.) Love to sing along to the super-extended title drop; Daltrey shows that he has something positive to contribute to this band. The lyrics are complete and not too-cute for the first time in a while. Compare and contrast to R.E.M.'s cover of "I Am Superman".
"Can't Reach You" - Western ditty ad parody showing off more basso profundo. Heavy Davy Jones tambourine. Not a bad song, piano is rather rare, extra bass. Good crescendo to the end.
"Medac" - Another short, too-cute idea of a song/parody, with Moon to stomp along.
"Relax" - I am always ready for awesome 60s rock organ. "Listen to the sound of the band", very Monkees-like. This doesn't really rock though, it's more high vocal harmony. Bumping up against feedback in the back half.
"Silas Stingy" - A new odd Entwistle character, but this predates "Mean Mr. Mustard". I like the imposing church organ. Moon thumps along, I wonder what he thought of this concept nonsense. Could have use more of that Ennio Morricone horn. This goes on too long for what it is.
"Sunrise" - Lot of pickup on these acoustic guitar strings. Ooohhh, there's a note sequence in there that sounds like "Pinball Wizard". Good song really, just a bit tinny.
"Rael (1 and 2)" - Finale, this time with organ. Lots of snare to evoke a military campaign. It starts to get down a little two minutes in, but it's all on Moon and Entwistle. There's a bit of engineering to weird things up.
Summary: Obviously I am very pleased to continue my comparison to the Monkees, who when this record came out were halfway through their second TV season attempting to grow beyond their imitation-Beatles roots and play with counterculture and commercialization. The Who took the concept idea that worked decently well as an album closer last time and decided to make a whole silly album full of interludes and juvenile ditties. Anti-commercialism was hardly an unexplored theme at the time. Much too silly! It's not all bad, but the only time the music gets really great is when they forget the concept and produce whole songs. Much like early Kinks, the albums would be pretty great if they spaced things out just a little and combined their best work. Man, Roger Daltrey is fading away. He's hardly on the record. At least he had one truly great song.
Favorite overall song: "I Can See for Miles" and it's not even close Favorite new-to-me song: "Tattoo" is cute with a little depth
Roger Daltrey YEAH running count: 4
Feedback level, 0-5 scale: Again, barely round up to 1. Album MVP: (I'll go back and edit the other reviews.) Townshend, who of course the almost always the writer, but he also plays well and is responsible for the concept when it works.
How old do they sound? Well it's pretty juvenile, so I'm going to stick with 20
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on May 4, 2020 16:00:24 GMT -5
A decent album, and very decent sounding for the first time - I think they had more of a budget for this one, got themselves into a better studio. I'm massively in favour of I Can See For Miles, one of the best 60s songs, and I think Relax is one of their unsung gems. Tattoo is very nice, as well.
I find it frustrating, however, that the radio jingles conceit wasn't carried all the way through - bonus material on the reissued versions show they had enough snippets to go round. Oh well, that's The Who - it could be pretty shambolic at times in there.
Other notables, bridging the long gap between this and Tommy, include two top notch singles in Magic Bus and the wanking epic Pictures Of Lily. The Stones covers Under My Thumb and The Last Time pass muster to me, but Call Me Lightning and Dogs are forgettable.
Bonus tracks resurfacing years later, and worthy of your attention, include Early Morning Cold Taxi, their take on Hall Of The Mountain King, and Glow Girl - which has an interesting coda Townshend will soon repurpose. He'll do the same with Rael, too.
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on May 4, 2020 17:40:07 GMT -5
ganews, I appreciate your review. I wholeheartedly enjoy this record. I played (read: "guerilla DJ'd") the record all the way to "Rael" at a Cincinnati Halloween party in 2003; the party still lives on in my most memorable memories. I like "Odorono" a bunch. And, as Dellarigg suggested, the bonus tracks are worth a listen.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2020 8:55:43 GMT -5
Weirdly enough, "I Can See For Miles" is Who's lone Top Ten hit in the US when it cracked #9 in 1967.
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Post by The Spice Weasel on May 5, 2020 10:19:17 GMT -5
A little late to the party, but no matter.
A Quick One is one of my favorite Who songs. Sure, there's some goofy bits, but as you said, they stick the landing. And as Dellarigg pointed out, this kills:
Wes Anderson using it in Rushmore let me know that he and I would get along just fine. His use of Bowie in Life Aquatic sealed it.
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on May 6, 2020 3:29:42 GMT -5
Holy fuck, that Rock n Roll Circus footage ... no matter how many times I see it, Moon is completely transfixing - those sprays of water from his drums at the end!
The best thing about live Who footage, though, is the glances they give each other just as they go into a mad bit and start star-jumping or windmilling or using the microphone lead as a lasso. Outstanding.
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Post by ganews on May 19, 2020 14:06:49 GMT -5
Tommy (1969)
Pre-existing Prejudices Hm, I'm actually very suspicious of "rock opera". Sounds awfully pretentious, like concept album wasn't good enough anymore. Surely this must be very good...I've never seen the movie, but I know Elton John sings "Pinball Wizard" (which comes suspiciously late in the lineup) and Daltrey plays the title character. Maybe it's unfair to review this without the movie, but that's how I do these things and it was good enough for Prince. Is this going to be the rare double album that wouldn't have been better as a pruned single album?
Songs
"Overture" - Piano, strums, horn. I'm married to a former French horn player, so that's always welcome. And you know I dig the rock organ. Moon is relatively restrained. Ah, there's that Pinball Wizard riff. Gongs are very suitable for an overture.
"It's a Boy" - Oh so opera just means no pause in instrumentation. Mrs. Walker has given birth. I get the feeling these guys were fans of Monty Python.
"1921" - Is Ringo Starr on drums here? Pleasant, hopeful.
"Amazing Journey" - Daltrey shows up and beckons us in. Moon thumps.
"Sparks" - I can feel the bass vibrating in my head, then it goes into a very cool riff under the acoustic strums. This is very movie score, and I quite like it. It looks like I was approaching this album wrong, it's a score and not a soundtrack.
"The Hawker" - Daltrey has a vocal tone that finally sounds like the Roger Daltrey in my head and in my memory of the 70s singles, high and a little bit on edge, even though this is an adapted cover. Moon makes the atmosphere.
"Christmas" - And the new vocal tone continues. Tommy finally gets a name and a description of his condition. I guess everybody heard the big single before the movie/album so it doesn't matter that the explanation is a little vague. The question of "how can we save his soul if he isn't aware of us" is very Old World missionary.
"Cousin Kevin" - Pathos. The voice of a mean character, and therefore not too pleasant by itself. I guess Entwistle likes to write the dark stuff.
"The Acid Queen" - I was glad when the last song was over. I know this is the story element of Tommy's suffering and part of the whole, but it distresses me anyway. The music is find, Moon works the toms wonderfully but not in a way that feels like the lead.
"Underture" - Time for a long instrumental, which I'm glad of. More tambourine and kettle drum for drama. Long and repetitive, but it's a score.
"Do You Think It's Alright?" - "Welcome to disk 2, we sound like the Beatles when we want to."
"Fiddle About" - Entwistle writes another nasty little song from the perspective of an abuser.
"Pinball Wizard" - To the single finally. Great strums to the big riff. Daltrey soars, the music rocks for the first time. I always liked the double character, "How do ya think he does it? I don't know!" The bass underneath the verse/story is a sneaky great thing.
"There's a Doctor" - Ditty time; I warned you about the Beatles. After Tommy gets a bit of triumph in the last song its sad to see the story swing back.
"Go to the Mirror!" - Pastiche of themes. I'm getting tired of perspective of other people pitying and degrading Tommy. And this is supposed to be about Tommy gaining senses.
"Tommy Can You Hear Me?" - Chorus of bandmates, sounds like Steely Dan "Reelin' in the Years". Strums over bass.
"Smash the Mirror" - Daltrey puts in some emotion, the mirror gets smashed.
"Sensation" - Horn is back, and the piano is heavy again. This should be a hopeful or joyous track, but I'm feeling tired.
"Miracle Cure" - Except for the particular words, the sound and style sound like a Sell Out outtake.
"Sally Simpson" - A more pleasant story song. The piano is mirthful without being a ditty. It's not exactly world-changing out of context but it's a comfort here.
"I'm Free" - I can get down with this a little. It's like a softer "Peter Gun" progression, and soft vocal. An edge of Moon solo, just a taste to be cool without ostentatiousness. Bit of Tommy riff there.
"Welcome" - Slow and sleepy dirge style. Changes up midway. Daltrey puffs a little harmonica, his first credited instrumental contribution. Roll it out not once but twice, so it feels like the end.
"Tommy's Holiday Camp" - But wait, we have to tack off an intentionally annoying ditty parody!! Did you know Townshend can pluck a banjo??
"We're Not Gonna Take It" - One more for the road, sigh. At least Tommy finally gets to sing his own perspective. "Smokin' 'mother nature'," I haven't heard that euphemism before. The whispered title grates on my ears. I'm afraid I can't rate this above Twisted Sister. Finish with the See Me Touch Me Feel Me theme.
Summary: I approached this album from the wrong perspective; it's a score, not a soundtrack collection of songs. So it's not a bloat, it just is what a score is. Unfortunately too much of this is deliberately unpleasant, harsh on its own invented character for no reason. This is Townshend's fault, but I'm also very disappointed in Entwistle's nastiness. Congratulation to the guys on making a rock movie with something to say, but The Monkees had already released Head in 1968. Daltrey again sings lead on fewer than half the songs, but he at least comes out finally as a great contribution to this band. I had been wondering if they were keeping him around as a pretty face.
Favorite overall song: "Pinball Wizard", it's a classic riff. Favorite new-to-me song: "I'm Free"
Roger Daltrey YEAH running count: 4
Feedback level, 0-5 scale: 0 as far as I can tell.
Album MVP: Daltrey comes into his own
How old do they sound? Mature enough to execute a vision but still making nasty bits and ditties: 24
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on May 21, 2020 10:31:03 GMT -5
I'll take this opportunity to pitch Live At Leeds. Tommy won them a lot of new fans, and they wanted these fans to know that the acoustic and cerebral approach wasn't all they could do - a big, crunching live album was deemed just the ticket, and that's what you get.
This has appeared in various guises down the years, reaching its final form in the complete two hour show (50 minutes of which is a shortened Tommy, which is often all the Tommy I want, if I'm honest). You can even get the Live At Hull show they did the night before (or after), which was deemed unusable at the time because of a problem recording the bass. (Apparently they've now been able to import the bass from Leeds to Hull or some such voodoo.)
However, I would recommend the original 6 track* album from 1970. It has a blues cover (Young Man Blues), two rock n' roll covers (Summertime Blues and Shakin All Over), a short version of Substitute, a long version of Magic Bus, and an even longer (15 minute) version of My Generation that takes in some of the Tommy Underture stuff and other improvisations (one of which would become Naked Eye, pointing forward to Townshend's next, but troubled, epic. More of that anon).
The playing throughout is nothing short of tremendous, Moon in particular bursting from the speakers. The sound is loud and thick and manages to make even the quieter passages sound relentless. Everyone is at full tilt, and the energy and invention is incredible. As good a live album as has ever been thrown to the crowds.
*That said ... it could be a little longer. Side 1 isn't much more than 15 minutes. I would've offered up I Can't Explain.
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Post by The Spice Weasel on May 21, 2020 12:01:16 GMT -5
There are a lot of songs on Tommy but the album as a whole isn't a favorite.
I always thought that the original Metroid had a song that borrowed a bit from that interlude in Sparks. I don't think it is really close, but any time I hear Sparks it reminds me of Metroid.
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2020 8:54:18 GMT -5
Honestly, the only thing I recall about the Tommy movie is Oliver Reed who, despite a complete inability to sing, gives it his all as Tommy's father. I remember absolutely nothing about Quadrophenia, so I guess Who on film just isn't for me.
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Post by MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusin on Jun 1, 2020 14:29:49 GMT -5
There’s really was trend of delayed, too-late film adaptations of sixties classics thing, wasn’t there? I assume you're referring to the Sgt Peppers film from the late seventies, which is really just a list of "Who could possibly have though this was a good idea?" concepts listed over and over. |
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Jul 6, 2020 8:15:22 GMT -5
Has this thread died just as we're getting to the best album?
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Post by ganews on Jul 6, 2020 11:03:40 GMT -5
Has this thread died just as we're getting to the best album? Don't worry. June was just a busy month. |
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Post by ganews on Jul 19, 2020 15:19:12 GMT -5
Holy cow I never knew it was possible to be this busy when stuck at home. Now, to where we left off two months ago...
Who's Next (1971)
Pre-existing Prejudices I am prepared to enjoy the hell out of this album full of tracks from Classic Rock Radio. It was my graduate advisor's favorite album, which I got at in the column intro. Going by the songs I know we're getting into the big-time, no more of this faffing about concept Beatles wannabe. The cover art suggests there is still plenty of room to be juvenile. Kind of a terrible album name.
Songs
"Baba O'Riley" - Wait it's not called "Teenage Wasteland"? Napster lied to us all! My only association with this song other than the radio is its appearance in the Spike Lee joint Summer of Sam which I somehow saw in the theater, it plays when Adrian Brody is doing a stage show at the club where he tricks and he destroys a stuffed doll. Anyway I like the synth intro. Big statement from a guitar band, I guess. Better when Moon stomps in, pretty boring for Entwistle for most of the song. "They're all WASTED", a rallying cry for a new decade. The violin is a great addition to final frenzy over jug-band stomp which is the best part of the song.
"Bargain" - Play with the stereo a bit on the intro, then it sounds like classic Who. Daltrey holds his first note on the album, and I'm already guessing who the MVP is going to be. There's more for everybody who isn't Townshend to do. You know, his bridge vocals are fine but he really ought to leave them to Daltrey. I like that bit of synth in the bridge. Given that this is a hard love song about looking for God, it would have seriously appealed to me when I was a teenager. Love the double-kicks in the last minute.
"Love Ain't for Keeping" - Big strums. Easy jam, laid back. Alternate universe Fleetwood Mac.
"My Wife" - Sounds like a rocker. Entwistle song, but Moon is the one kicking butt. A bit too much piano actually, whereas the farty brass is welcome.
"The Song Is Over" - Slow it down for more piano with a touch of synth. Rather a sad English bastard vocal from Townshend. Gets a lot cooler when Daltrey comes in and the band picks up. Perhaps the best bass part yet, and more great fills from Moon when Townshend isn't bringing it down in the verse. I wonder how many kids taking piano lessons tried to play along with this song.
"Getting in Tune" - Hmmm even more piano. Piano does not equal maturity, guys, especially with piddly lyrics like this. Entwistle's bass sounds like he deliberately incorporated a finger exercise to fit with the theme of the song. The echoed vocals don't do much for me either, honestly. Like every other song here you've heard fewer than one million times on rock radio, it's best when the tempo picks up.
"Going Mobile" - Extra nice Moon fills. Surely some cellular company licensed this at some point. Very cool song, would have been even better if they'd let Daltrey sing - especially clear when Townsend whoops and beeps and sounds ridiculous. Nice guitar wahs and synth touches.
"Behind Blue Eyes" - Daltrey comes back to show who the real singer is. The acoustic strums are nice, the bass fills up. The backup ah-ahs, this is what Townsend vocals were meant for. Then it busts open and Daltrey gets nasty, love this snarl. When the song slows again at the end, I'm not disappointed like "The Song Is Over".
"Won't Get Fooled Again" - Bookend synth. Strike those big chords, bring out Moon, let Entwistle's bass travel anywhere it wants. Everything about this is great. Handclaps baby! Bridge, we're all having a good time, the guitar takes a nice solo. Then a YEAH to bring it back, but it's actually s little muted, like Daltrey was backed off the mic. Rock out a while longer, retreat back to synth. But wait...Moon fills...and Daltrey lets out a scream for the ages. The lyrics end with actual poignancy - after the great struggle, the new boss is the same. Truly this is the best-balanced of any Who song.
Summary: A real achievement. Not perfect all the way through, but bookended by four truly great songs. My major notes are over-reliance on piano and, again, under-utilization of Daltrey. Entwistle gets to do his own little weird thing once an album, no big deal. Townshend is the driving force behind every other song, so why is that not enough for him? He is responsible for many good things but also clearly the worst elements, and that's the way it goes when you monopolize 75% of the work. How did Daltrey even manage to stay in this band for the past five years, especially in the early going when he was not the beast he is now? Somehow Pete Townshend is fused in my mind with post-Monkees Mike Nesmith who was also visibly a talented asshole but in a take-my-ball-and-go-home way. Anyway this is probably the end of the Monkees comparisons.
Favorite overall song: "Won't Get Fooled Again", probably the best Who song period, but incredibly difficult to choose over "Bargain" and "Behind Blue Eyes" Favorite new-to-me song: "Going Mobile", too bad about the vocalist
Roger Daltrey YEAH running count: 6
Feedback level, 0-5 scale: 0 again I think. This is the 70s man, you're living in the past
Album MVP: I must give this a 4-way tie, I'm afraid. Everyone was pretty indispensable, and Townshend's achievements make up for the deficiencies here
How old do they sound? The age when all artists do their best work, 26
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Jul 20, 2020 6:32:02 GMT -5
As might be widely known, this was an album salvaged from a much larger project, the fabled Lifehouse. Townshend couldn't articulate it well enough so that the band could understand it, is the short version. Over to Pete (though I'm not sure when this quote is from):
"The essence of the story-line was a kind a futuristic scene…It’s a fantasy set at a time when rock ’n’ roll didn’t exist. The world was completely collapsing and the only experience that anybody ever had was through test tubes. In a way they lived as if they were in television programmes. Everything was programmed. The enemies were people who gave us entertainment intravenously, and the heroes were savages who’d kept rock ‘n’ roll as a primitive force and had gone to live with it in the woods. The story was about these two sides coming together and having a brief battle."
A little more from Wikipedia:
The plan was for the Who to take over the Young Vic theatre with a regular audience, develop the new material on stage and allow the communal activity to influence the songs and performances. Individuals would emerge from the audience and find a role in the music and the film. When the concerts became strong enough, they would be filmed along with other peripheral activity from the theater. A storyline would evolve alongside the music. Although the finished film was to have many fictitious and scripted elements, the concert footage was to be authentic, and would provide the driving force for the whole production.[3]
Townshend went wild, working out a complex scenario whereby a personal profile of each concert-goer would be compiled, from the individual’s astrological chart to his hobbies, even physical appearance. All the characteristics would then be fed into a computer at the same moment, leading to one musical note culminating in mass nirvana that Townshend dubbed ‘a kind of celestial cacophony.’
Huge amounts of songs were written for this, and I would say it's the songwriting peak of the band. The 'rejects' were scattered around various singles, b-sides, and the 1974 Odds and Sods album round-up. A handful of demos have emerged on various boxsets over the years, too.
However, someone on the internet who takes it upon himself to repurpose abandoned artefacts from the rock era had a go at this one, and I listened intently. I hereby present to you my modified and unreleasably long version. It was a while ago, so I no longer remember the ins and outs of selection and sequencing, so don't @ me. I've asterisked the essential songs not included on the released album. Disc 1: Teenage Wasteland Time Is Passing* Love Ain't For Keeping Going Mobile Baby Don't You Do It* Baba O'Riley Water* Mary I Don't Even Know Myself* Greyhound Girl Bargain Disc 2: Naked Eye* Behind Blue Eyes Too Much Of Anything* Put The Money Down Let's See Action* Getting In Tune Pure and Easy* Relay* Join Together* Won't Get Fooled Again The Song Is Over
This lasts 1hr 43mins, though it doesn't feel like it. Not to me, anyway, but I still have a liking for 'GIANT, white guy blues-rock'.
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ayatollahcm
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Post by ayatollahcm on Jul 20, 2020 14:18:18 GMT -5
As might be widely known, this was an album salvaged from a much larger project, the fabled Lifehouse. Townshend couldn't articulate it well enough so that the band could understand it, is the short version. Over to Pete (though I'm not sure when this quote is from):
"The essence of the story-line was a kind a futuristic scene…It’s a fantasy set at a time when rock ’n’ roll didn’t exist. The world was completely collapsing and the only experience that anybody ever had was through test tubes. In a way they lived as if they were in television programmes. Everything was programmed. The enemies were people who gave us entertainment intravenously, and the heroes were savages who’d kept rock ‘n’ roll as a primitive force and had gone to live with it in the woods. The story was about these two sides coming together and having a brief battle."
A little more from Wikipedia:
The plan was for the Who to take over the Young Vic theatre with a regular audience, develop the new material on stage and allow the communal activity to influence the songs and performances. Individuals would emerge from the audience and find a role in the music and the film. When the concerts became strong enough, they would be filmed along with other peripheral activity from the theater. A storyline would evolve alongside the music. Although the finished film was to have many fictitious and scripted elements, the concert footage was to be authentic, and would provide the driving force for the whole production.[3]
Townshend went wild, working out a complex scenario whereby a personal profile of each concert-goer would be compiled, from the individual’s astrological chart to his hobbies, even physical appearance. All the characteristics would then be fed into a computer at the same moment, leading to one musical note culminating in mass nirvana that Townshend dubbed ‘a kind of celestial cacophony.’
Huge amounts of songs were written for this, and I would say it's the songwriting peak of the band. The 'rejects' were scattered around various singles, b-sides, and the 1974 Odds and Sods album round-up. A handful of demos have emerged on various boxsets over the years, too.
However, someone on the internet who takes it upon himself to repurpose abandoned artefacts from the rock era had a go at this one, and I listened intently. I hereby present to you my modified and unreleasably long version. It was a while ago, so I no longer remember the ins and outs of selection and sequencing, so don't @ me. I've asterisked the essential songs not included on the released album. Disc 1: Teenage Wasteland Time Is Passing* Love Ain't For Keeping Going Mobile Baby Don't You Do It* Baba O'Riley Water* Mary I Don't Even Know Myself* Greyhound Girl Bargain Disc 2: Naked Eye* Behind Blue Eyes Too Much Of Anything* Put The Money Down Let's See Action* Getting In Tune Pure and Easy* Relay* Join Together* Won't Get Fooled Again The Song Is Over
This lasts 1hr 43mins, though it doesn't feel like it. Not to me, anyway, but I still have a liking for 'GIANT, white guy blues-rock'.
My favorite bit about why Townshend abandoned Lifehouse was a quote about a failed concert: "I had these ambitions that this was going to spark something in the audience, that they were going to rise up and have a revolution...but then it chimed 4:00 and everyone left for tea." |
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Post by MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusin on Jul 22, 2020 8:40:00 GMT -5
"Going Mobile" - Extra nice Moon fills. Surely some cellular company licensed this at some point. Very cool song, would have been even better if they'd let Daltrey sing - especially clear when Townsend whoops and beeps and sounds ridiculous. Nice guitar wahs and synth touches.
You got me thinking about how much better this would have been with Roger singing lead over Pete, which lead to me trying to decide if there's a Roger song in their catalog that would have sounded better with Pete on lead vocals and I'm coming up empty. If anything, possibly something late into their catalog, as Pete's voice hasn't suffered due to age nearly as much as Roger's. |
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