― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 02:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 02:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 03:41 (eighteen years ago) link
Plus, cause of Moon's disinterest in/inability to keep straight time, you can't fuck to the Who. Whereas LZ, via the baddest, solidest, most-deliciously behind the beat englishman to ever put wood to pigskin, well…
― veronica moser (veronica moser), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 03:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― Cunga (Cunga), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 03:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 03:59 (eighteen years ago) link
When I do pull them out I have a bit of a preference for parts of It's Hard. "I've Never Known War" kills me every time. Best anti-war song ever, I think. As for Who's Next, it's hard to imagine listening to it from beginning to end. "Going Mobile" is my favourite, though.
― All The Furniture Is In The Garage (Bimble...), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 04:59 (eighteen years ago) link
I think this sums up why they have had such a brutal critical reappraisal over the last ten or so years.
I, also, never need to hear this record EVER AGAIN.
― sleeve (sleeve), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 05:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 05:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― happy jack, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― timmy tannin (pompous), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― happy jack, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:41 (eighteen years ago) link
I listen to the radio when not driving my own car. Mostly oldies radio but classic rock is on the presets usually.
― Cunga (Cunga), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 06:48 (eighteen years ago) link
"Don't let Colin M see this."
Saw it, wasn't offended, Douglas was absolutely right anyway (Heaven and Hell).
― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 08:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Let's get this clear...I am NOT technology (Bimble...), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 08:26 (eighteen years ago) link
It did indeed 'born' the whole Classic Rock idiom.
That's how good it was.
I missed out on the whole "Who" love at the time, and got the 2CD version in a competition. And it's a big marvellous thing. Sure, I love "Who Sellout" more, but that is only to be expected, it's more human and has fragile moments and out and out comedy.
I admire it without necessarily loving it. (I certainly like it well enough)
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 09:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Craig Kenny (Dr X O'Skeleton), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 10:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 10:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 10:29 (eighteen years ago) link
-- Ned Raggett
but is a classic album just wish they hadn't sold out to everyone possible...
On a side note is Mark, Ryan?
― BeeOK (boo radley), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 10:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― happy jack, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 13:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 13:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― dr x o'skeleton, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:00 (eighteen years ago) link
My Wife is funny, but not poignant. Heaven and Hell is funny and poignant. Postcard is funny but not that poignant.
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:05 (eighteen years ago) link
I don't consider "Getting In Tune" bad at all, at the least for the part where Roger sings the "right in on you..." part, and Entwhistle and Moon kick things up a few notches, turning what was a ballad into a heavy rocker.
― James, Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:15 (eighteen years ago) link
since classic rock radio has no analogue in the U.K. (or does it? not sure), did '70s-era "rock and roll is IMPORTANT" 'Oo get shoved down yr throats?
i ask cuz i know lots of english ex-pats who never heard LZ—or at least were disinclined to check 'em out— until they moved to the US, since punk and new wave was opposed to dinoaur-ism.
― veronica moser (veronica moser), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:23 (eighteen years ago) link
and Entwistle wrote a song for the 'Oo called "When I was a boy" that was "serious."
― veronica moser (veronica moser), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:24 (eighteen years ago) link
It doesn't
did '70s-era "rock and roll is IMPORTANT" 'Oo get shoved down yr throats?
No reason for it, after punk
― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 14:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 15:04 (eighteen years ago) link
-- BeeOK
Not sure if this was addressed to me, but if so, Mark is Mark, not Ryan.
― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 16:12 (eighteen years ago) link
Back to Who's Next, It's patchy and I think it's status as the first classic rock album puts it in a bad light but a lot of it isn't worth recommending. I'd say the essential Who is Live At Leeds, The Who Sell Out and that compliation from 2002. After that the orginal My Generation. I think you had to be there for Tommy and Quadrophenia, they are even more patchy than Who's Next
― MitchellStirling (MitchellStirling), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 17:02 (eighteen years ago) link
As for Who's Next it's both classic and dud. Past 1967, Townshend's failures are generally pretty interesting and the sinking of Lifehouse results in a pretty outstanding rock album without all the conceptual blubber of hippie mysticism weighing it down. I'd dump some of the tracks with a couple of the Odds And Sods leftovers (really just "Pure And Easy" and "Naked Eye") though.
Who's Next also marks the point where the studio version of The Who completely separates from the live version of The Who. It's not surprising, Townshend has everything he needs to feed his maniac pursuit to whatever/wherever, but the one thing he can't do is get the live sound down of the 70s-era Who. Too bad, the live versions of "Won't Get...," "Baba...," and "My Wife" on The Kids Are Alright are still U & K and there's a live take of "Bargain" out there that's just amazing.
― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 19:32 (eighteen years ago) link
I think the biggest reason the Who haven't aged well is because of all the falsetto. It's terrible, and sucks all the masculine power out of every song. A shame, because they're pretty good otherwise.
― Poliopolice, Thursday, 6 September 2012 05:23 (eleven years ago) link
Where does he sing in falsetto?
― timellison, Thursday, 6 September 2012 05:36 (eleven years ago) link
i've always called this album a shit sandwich on golden bread."baba o'rielly" and "won't get fooled" again are amazing. the rest... shit.
― BringTheAuBonPain, Thursday, 6 September 2012 05:49 (eleven years ago) link
This album really isn't very good, is it? Case in point: The Song Is Over is like Yes if Yes were shit
― imago, Friday, 9 August 2019 15:40 (four years ago) link
the song is over is nothing like yes
― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili), Friday, 9 August 2019 15:42 (four years ago) link
Even Baba O'Reilly commits the sin of ending just as it's getting interesting again
― imago, Friday, 9 August 2019 15:43 (four years ago) link
ok if you think the intro and the outro are the best parts of baba o'riley then this album is just not for you
― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili), Friday, 9 August 2019 15:43 (four years ago) link
The last minute of BOR heads in a cool new direction and you're like woo prog o'clock and then it just ENDS
― imago, Friday, 9 August 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
'Won't Get Fooled Again' conveniently describes my feelings every time I deign give this album another chance.
― pomenitul, Friday, 9 August 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
"it's like they realized they wrote a perfect song, panicked, then added a violin solo."
― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili), Friday, 9 August 2019 15:45 (four years ago) link
Won't Get Fooled Again still has 3 minutes left, but I can't imagine what it has left to give
― imago, Friday, 9 August 2019 15:58 (four years ago) link
Turned out to be 'aimless noodling', as expected. Oh wait what's this? Do I smell false ending? No, I smell 'we've heard of Terry Riley* and all our best stuff is basically him'
*John Cage? Whatever
Oh hey, it was a false ending! Way to goooo
― imago, Friday, 9 August 2019 16:01 (four years ago) link
all our best stuff
it's ok to admit that a band is just not for you, then move on. like idk what you're going for here, but the best thing about a band that has Keith Moon in it isn't their brief detours into minimalism.
― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili), Friday, 9 August 2019 16:16 (four years ago) link
Rong.
― pomenitul, Friday, 9 August 2019 16:17 (four years ago) link
Quadrophenia opened up for me in hearing the most recent mixes, fwiw. I don't care for the original mix.
― timellison, Friday, 9 August 2019 19:55 (four years ago) link
Can't seem to find it now, but I was remembering some discussion in Richie Unterberger's Won't Get Fooled Again about Keith Moon playing it straighter on Who's Next. Not sure I agree with your characterization completely Tarfumes - I think something like "Go to the Mirror" is classic Moon and pretty wild playing. "Sally Simpson" is like playing a fill through the whole freaking song.
― timellison, Friday, August 9, 2019 2:40 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
I hear what you're saying, but this strikes me as far more unhinged than "Sally Simpson" or even "Go To The Mirror." A lot of it is the aggression, but he does some straight-up batshit things here, like his left foot alternating between the hi-hat and the left bass drum (in order to hit both bass drums in unison...but only sometimes) starting around 2:36:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJH8DmPfVmU
And this doesn't exactly strike me as "reined in":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyOibvBoJKM
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 9 August 2019 19:56 (four years ago) link
I think the angle for reconsidering 70s/80s Townshend is in the tensions of his longing for highbrow acceptance (the more experimental stuff of the Scoop demos) and his constant thinly veiled, yet always veiled, bisexual longings. Like, even considering a song as intentionally idiotic as Squeeze Box, when he comes in and sings Mama's part on the bridge, there's a sincerity to his delivery, acting out the feminine role. That same quaking vibe comes fully out in "And I Moved".
I stuck a bunch of his 70/80s stuff on a Spotify playlist along with contemporaneous John Cale and Arthur Russell, 'cuz there's a similarity to their singing styles, but found a similarity of intent and longing as well.
― bendy, Friday, 9 August 2019 20:01 (four years ago) link
> Maybe 'wanting them to' is part of the fun?
You're totally right. I'm not sure why I wanted to stop wanting, but it hasn't come back.
― bendy, Friday, 9 August 2019 20:02 (four years ago) link
I had my (inexplicably belated) first listen to Vintage Violence the other day, and definitely got a Townshend vibe from the vocals.
And I dunno if they were in the studio at the time, but Cale played with Townshend and Moon on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHoqssrKBFg
xp
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 9 August 2019 20:03 (four years ago) link
^ boy that's area Who with the Daltryisms excized.
Daltry seems like the nicest guy in a band with some very dark souls, I feel bad for ragging.
― bendy, Friday, 9 August 2019 20:17 (four years ago) link
I don't know if that would work for me because I hate the muddy overstuffed sound of "Quadrophenia". I tried listening to "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" once (God help me) and got the same feeling. Love the 70s but sometimes it sucked.
― Euripedes' Trousers (Tom D.), Friday, 9 August 2019 20:29 (four years ago) link
the classicest
getting in tune to the straight and narrow
just banging on my old piano
and nothing in the street
seems so different to me
and if i smile
tell me some bad news
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 02:21 (three years ago) link
Is that Unterberger book good?
― An Andalusian Do-rag (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 05:15 (three years ago) link
Too late.
The Unterberger book is well-written, and unties the knots of this period of The Who's history about as well as you could hope, but the basic problem is that Townshend never really decided what Lifehouse was. So if you're looking to have that explained lucidly, you may be let down. The making of Quadrophenia is very detailed, and less confused, as well.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 11 November 2020 05:22 (three years ago) link
Unterberger says that three songs were newly recorded in ‘78/‘79 with Kenney Jones for the Quadrophenia soundtrack album: “Joker James,” “Get Out And Stay Out,” and “Four Faces.” That last one, though, was recorded (for the most part) in 1973 and has Keith on drums. I emailed Unterberger about this, and he said that documentation (wasn’t more specific than that) says it’s Jones on “Four Faces.” But it’s pretty obvious just by listening that it’s Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGF2N00K-Ws
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 13:46 (three years ago) link
https://images2.imgbox.com/10/cb/Axn9cRNZ_o.jpg
― conrad, Friday, 12 January 2024 00:23 (four months ago) link
gives a new meaning to the album title tbh
― kissinger on my list (voodoo chili), Friday, 12 January 2024 00:57 (four months ago) link
or it's almost like the name of the album is asking "who (of the members of the band that recorded me)'s next (to die? after all, two of the original four have already passed away)" - and then roger daltrey (the singer) says "it's probably me, I'm probably next." ba dum tish!
― conrad, Friday, 12 January 2024 05:34 (four months ago) link