The Who: Eminence Front

sorry dad(s)

FUCK THIS SONG

― rip van wanko,

^^ it's a put-on

"it's a put on"

― velko, Thursday, May 27, 2010 2:27 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's just too much the safe go-to tasteful/sophisticated jam for boomers who never ventured anywhere beyond

there are more risible suspects

everyone needs to take a deep breath and watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2cARUVg-s

It wasn't a hit when it was released (#68), but it endured in the Who's live sets mainly because Townshend loved/loves (they played it last night!) soloing on that groove, and to give Daltrey a break from singing.

From what I've observed at shows, boomers tolerate this song; they dig the solos, but can't get down with it otherwise.

It's less that boomers never ventured beyond, and more that they don't even really want to venture here.

and many boomers didn't buy It's Hard.

Fuckin' New Wave sell outs…

http://i.imgur.com/G8KkPH2.jpg

Daltrey:

"It's Hard should never have been released. I had huge rows with Pete...when the album was finished and I heard it I said, 'Pete, this is just a complete piece of shit and it should never come out!' It came out because as usual we were being manipulated at that time by other things. The record company wanted a record out and they wanted us to do a tour. What I said to Pete was, 'Pete, if we'd tried to get any of these songs onto Face Dances, or any of the albums that we've done since our first fucking album, we would not allow these songs to be on an album! Why are we releasing them? Why? Let's just say that was an experience to pull the band back together, now let's go and make an album.' He said, 'Too late. It's good enough, that's how we are now.'...I hated it. I still hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it!"

Weird that Athena charted higher in the U.S. than Eminence Front.

people forget

I think people were sick of the Who by the time "Eminence Front" was released as a single. There'd been the whole media blitz around the "farewell" tour for months (including, but not limited to, Schlitz ads), and the single came out a week after the tour ended.

One of my favorite and most enduring tracks from them; with concept! Poseur-fucks.

I think people were sick of the Who by the time "Eminence Front" was released as a single.

...and maybe people were just sick of previous crappy singles like "Squeeze Box", "You Better You Bet" and "Athena"

Eminence Front is a great track and always will be, come on now.

Won't you come and join the party

xxp whoa, whoa, let's not drag "You Better You Bet" into this

and I always liked "Squeeze Box." Not their best, but a nice goofy single to remind fans that they used to be all about goofy singles.

hey guys, why you posing on a staircase

http://i.imgur.com/cLZzk63.jpg

I had never heard this song until about a year ago and was pretty astounded when I heard it. It's a terrible song.

"You Better You Bet" is terrible. "You welcome me with open arms...and open LEGS."

Back in, I guess the late 80s, when I was first getting into music and my budget was tight and since I didn't have any older siblings & my parents didn't exactly have a lot of records (or the ones they had were dumb), I would resort to checking out records from the library. I was really into the Who, I had Tommy and I wanted more but the only two Who records they had were Faces Dances and It's Hard.

Even at 13 I knew It's Hard sucked. I'll fuck with "Eminence Front" though, even though...what the hell is the song about?

"You Better You Bet" is terrible. "You welcome me with open arms...and open LEGS."

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, April 28, 2015 2:30 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I have a weird love/hate relationship with that lyric and with Daltrey's bizarre delivery of it.

I've heard Faces Dances way more than any normal person should

Face Dances[ has a couple of jams. "Another Tricky Day" used to get a lot of Classic VH-1 play a decade ago – a better New Wave tune than YBYB.

Daltrey didn't know what the fuck to do with what Townshend was writing in 1981-82. Townshend's singing on his demo is better -- it sounds like he was actually drunk when he recorded the vocal (and odds are, he was), whereas Daltrey was doing a forced impression of someone who's drunk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKI1B_MeGDo

and I LOOK pretty crappy SOMETIMEZZ

I actually can't comprehend not liking this song. I don't believe the people who claim to hate or dislike it here.

Why didn't Townshend write a concept album about Greek gods? Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Ares. I wouldn't have put it past him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxy9wa1Fg3s

Even at 13 I knew It's Hard sucked. I'll fuck with "Eminence Front" though, even though...what the hell is the song about?

― chr1sb3singer

People using drugs or constructed personas as a facade to keep from being "real".

Townshend's singing on his demo is better -- it sounds like he was actually drunk when he recorded the vocal (and odds are, he was)

Actually that whole song makes more sense if you think about it being sung by or just being from the perspective of a drunk person

This song is swag as fuck

it's just too much the safe go-to tasteful/sophisticated jam for boomers who never ventured anywhere beyond

oh god here we go, tasteful sophisticated smooth slick commercial overproduced bandwagon-hopping soulless desperate cod safe soft unadventurous

roger: Why are we releasing them? Why? Let's just say that was an experience to pull the band back together, now let's go and make an album.

pete: Too late. It's good enough, that's how we are now.

i love that pete quote. reminds me of a great line from lorne michaels in the new saturday night live documentary: "we don't go on because we're ready. we go on because it's 11:30."

I love the hypnotic keyboard and I'd bet that it some Roland beat machine loop under the intro ala 'In the Air Tonight' with that fat beat, bass line, rhodes keys and scratchy guitar. As a production, I think it holds up pretty well.

The "drunk myself blind to the sounds of old T-Rex" has to even out the "open arms, open legs" line surely somewhat.

Bass nerd note: the isolated track makes it easier to hear that Entwistle isn't playing standard slap bass here; it's mostly what he called his "typewriter style". He's slapping/tapping the fingers of his right hand against the fretboard. He was a really weird player and a lot of his later career tonal moves were influenced by his increasing deafness, which doesn't make them less cool sounding.

Yeah, totally. His rig got larger/more insane as his hearing loss progressed. By all accounts, he was stone deaf in his last few years, and suffered far more hearing loss than anyone else in the Who -- but he also toured during their downtime, going out-of-pocket (and heavily into debt) to keep his solo band on the road in the 90s and 00s. He loved playing live/loud so much that he just kept turning up the volume.

When they played it tonight, it got one of the bigger initial responses from the mostly 50+ crowd.

Sometimes, people forget (because they're growing senile.)

I'm not a fan of the new arrangement. Zak Starkey's lack of Jonesy swing and Simon Townshend's self-consciously pseudo-funky wah-wah bit deflate the groove.

I really like EMINENCE FRONT "it's a put on"

wait, is the who just people's kids now? is nigel daltrey the singer?

they're becoming the justice society of rock. in a few years the who will be made up entirely of the descendants of the greats of decades past.

http://i.imgur.com/bY9JEp6.jpg

it just occurred to me that i don't know anything about the who's love life. probably for the best.

check Pete's credit card statement from '02.

Daltrey's been happily married since 1971. Townshend was married from 1968-1994; his bender during the Psychoderelict tour was the last straw for his wife. He's been with musician Rachel Fuller since 1995 or so (pretty sure she contributed an arrangement or two to Endless Wire).

this is weird, my headphones are fucked up or something, maybe missing a stereo channel? And listening to this track I can barely heard the synth but everything else is loud and clear. This muscley guitar warmup session, definitely missing something but I had barely noticed this had a lead guitar part before. Recommended!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV5-DaI5ULg

or wait it's just this Youtube. Is this an alternate take? What's going on?

Yeah, this is the official video, but an alternate/live/soundcheck take (Capital Center, Largo, MD 9/22/82).

Ahhhhhh, dig it. It's cool! In no way would replace the studio recording, but it's revealing.

I had to go back and look at where this placed on the classic rock poll - just cracked the top 100 at #99.

it's a putin

I just watched a bunch of Eminence Front videos and I kinda want to hear an isolated track of Daltrey's guitar.

Like, we know he could play guitar, I am reliably informed that he started on guitar.

But what is he actually playing here? It is not in the mix as far as I can tell.

The sheer goofiness of "yo Roger, you aren't singing lead but you will look stupid if you're just standing there, so please make meaningless gestures with this guitar that we will probably plug in, but which we will not actually amplify"... just seems silly.

The dude was/is one of the most famous rock singers / front men in history. He could just sat this one out. But no. If he isn't singing lead, let's give him a guitar and have him pretend to play it meaningfully while a legendary guitarist just does everything necessary a few feet to your left. Thx

reflexively tried to hit ‘like’ on this post

This song is swag as fuck

― brimstead, Tuesday, April 28, 2015 9:27 PM (seven years ago)

But what is he actually playing here? It is not in the mix as far as I can tell.

What are you trying to say here? That it's a put on?

The dude was/is one of the most famous rock singers / front men in history. He could just sat this one out. But no. If he isn't singing lead, let's give him a guitar and have him pretend to play it meaningfully while a legendary guitarist just does everything necessary a few feet to your left. Thx

― your marshmallows may vary (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, July 25, 2022 11:10 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

haha Daltrey just doubles the main riff, but the only live recording where he's audible is the official video/soundcheck thing from 1982. He also played rhythm guitar on "It's Hard" on the 1982 tour. My guess is that he played those parts in the studio out of expediency -- they only spent two weeks recording It's Hard -- and decided to do it live as well.

Since 1996 he's played acoustic on "Who Are You," but I've never been able to hear it. He did play a much more audible acoustic part on their '96-'97 encores where they did a medley of "Ring of Fire," "I Walk The Line," and (sometimes) "A Legal Matter."

he shd quit singing and concentrate on inaudible guitar imo

Major 'inaudible' guitarists

New Wave Who was a good idea after that bit in Cincinnati, frankly.

That specific shard of guitar at 2:43 is my favourite moment

The vocal flub blows it for me. No idea why they left that in. They didn't replicate it on the tour.