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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "John L. Micek" <jlmicek@mindspring.com> |
| Subject | Re: The World's Greatest Who Cover Band |
| Date | Thu, 27 May 2004 13:39:28 -0400 |
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And I'll defend Pino Palladino's bass playing even unto death. The man's one
of the finest bassists of his generation.
It's good that he's not trying to be Entwhistle -- only The Ox could be the
Ox.
Palladino's playing really made those early Paul Young records. The bass
line for "Come Back and Stay" and "Tear Your Playhouse Down" are some of the
most distinctive I've ever heard -- 15 or 20 years later, I can still
clearly recall them.
john.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Barry S." <BarryS@lernerweisslaw.com>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 12:48 PM
Subject: Re: The World's Greatest Who Cover Band
> Closing your post with "This will be my last Who show" was intended irony,
no?
>
> (By the way, there was nothing dignified about the ways Keith and John
died.)
>
> --- Barry Schlom
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: josh chasin [mailto:jchasin@nyc.rr.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 8:07 PM
> > To: myself
> > Subject: The World's Greatest Who Cover Band
> >
> > This past Saturday night I saw an interesting Who cover band. They go
by the name of
> > the Who. They played Madison Square Garden. They have much of the
Who's act
> > down-- including the Daltry and Townsend gestures-- but alas, the Who's
musical
> > dynamic was very much about a non-traditional, almost flip-flopping of
the roles of the
> > guitarist and the bass player. This combo's bass player was either not
inclined or not
> > up to the task, and the dynamic was totally different-- they missed
being the Who by a
> > mile and came off as a band playing Who songs (and/or TV commercial
jingles), which
> > just happened to contain Daltrey and Townsend. And sounding like a
shell of their
> > former selves-- and I'm talking about the former selves of 3 years ago,
not 1976.
> >
> > I could tell you what they played, but if you've seen the Who at any
time in the last 25
> > years, you already know, The big surprise-- outside of the overt
flakking of Then and
> > Now, their tenth(!) best-of, by playing one of its two new "and now"
songs (and really,
> > that was no surprise)-- was their playing "Won't Get Fooled Again" to
close the set
> > proper, as opposed to the encores. I nearly wet myself from the shock.
> >
> > Of course to most of the folks in attendance, none of this mattered. It
was sufficiently
> > familiar, no matter how lackluster, for them to actually believe they'd
seen the Who,
> > which I guess is what good cover bands can do.
> >
> > On the subject of hawking your entire damn catalog to the highest
commercial bidder--
> > even if you are the first band to vomit in the bar-- here's the deal.
They're your songs,
> > do what you will with them. Only,you no longer get to come to my town
and play
> > them and expect them to mean a damn to me anymore, because now they're
just
> > jingles. You don't get to have it both ways.
> >
> > Townsend's windmills, and Daltrey's mic twirling (and admittedly Daltrey
looked good)
> > are guaranteed to bring a cheer from the crowd-- on cue-- but these are
now empty
> > gestures that fall somewhere between cliché, and Vegas shtick on the
order of Charlie
> > Callas's noises.
> >
> > Highlights? The usual two-- "Drowned" and "5:15." Everything else was
a just so
> > story, guaranteed by familiarity to pull the kids young and old out of
their seats,
> > regardless of merit-- of whether they were played "just so" or not. "Me
hear 'Baba
> > O'Reilly, me pound fist in air!" The response is robotic. But hey, the
hypnotized never
> > lie, do ya?
> >
> > I hear they're working on a new album, Who's Left. Hope I die before I
get old,
> > indeed. Two of them, at least, had the dignity to do so.
> >
> > This will be my last Who show.
>
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