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| From | "Gary Littleton" <gary@garylittleton.com> |
| Subject | Re: The Early Who By A Landslide |
| Date | Tue, 4 Apr 2006 06:34:04 -0400 |
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I have to agree completely with you Rob.
Much of the early Who stuff was fun, and if you met a Martian you would
certainly want to play him My Generation, Pictures of Lily, Tattoo, I Can
See For Miles, etc (most of what ended up on Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy), but
for me those were still kids songs compared to the maturity of thought more
reflective of what a man goes through in our society that with Tommy, Who's
Next, Quadraphenia and the neglected masterpiece Who By Numbers.
The chilling self realization of a song like "The Punk Meets The Godfather"
where the idealistic my generation stutter is now the evolved voice of the
godfather that realizes we all lie and manipulate and compromise to some
degree as we grow and often become what we never envisioned we'd become as
idealistic kids is to me miles beyond the early stuff.
Meet the new boss, better than the old boss.
Cheers.
Gary
-----Original Message-----
From: audities-owner@smoe.org [mailto:audities-owner@smoe.org] On Behalf Of
rob@splitsville.com
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 6:49 PM
To: audities@smoe.org; audities@smoe.org; audities@smoe.org;
audities@smoe.org
Subject: RE: Re: The Early Who By A Landslide
I've always felt that some of the earlier stuff you site, ie the Beach
Boys-sounding stuff, while fun, was a bit silly and not really indicative of
the band.
In many ways they were still finding their voice and sound (surf music,
James Brown covers, etc), or at least intentionally messing around with
different styles. It wasn't until Tommy and after that they really found
their voice and sound in a substantial, extended way, many Earth-changing
singles excepted, of course, like My G, Anyway, A, A, Kids, etc. (Those who
are familiar in my mentions of The Who know that I tout as often as I can
that pre-Tommy Who invented both punk and power pop.)
However, if you were to meet a Martian and he asked what the big deal about
The Who was, I don't think you'd play him (it) 'I Don't Mind', 'Please
Please Please', 'Bucket- T', 'Kids', 'The Good's Gone' (those aren't bad
places to start, mind)- the best representation of The Who is 'Won't Get
Fooled Again', 'Baba', Leeds version of 'Summertime Blues', 'The Real Me',
'5:15', 'Slip Kid' and the like.
Townshend and the band were looking for power, volume and agression, and
while it's always been part of their nature as a band, in this regard I
don't think anyone can touch their output 1969 on.
Oh, the songs were truly brilliant, to boot.
Rob
>----- ------- Original Message ------- -----
>From: :audities@smoe.org
>To: audities@smoe.org, audities@smoe.org
>Sent: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 15:44:38
>
>Just casting my vote for the pre-"Tommy" Who. Those first four albums
>are amazing (even "Magic Bus," a record people never seem to count just
>because it's not "really" an album, even though the songs are
>brilliant). Not that there's anything wrong with the best of their
>later records. But for me, the early stuff is everything that rock 'n'
>roll was meant to be but rarely is. It's catchier. It's funnier. It's
>worlds more exciting. And it's got those goofy poor man's Beach Boys
>harmonies that make me smile as much today as the first time I heard
>them. Damn, I love the early Who.
>OK, I'm done now.
>
>Ed
>NP: The Who Sing My Generation
>PS: Does anyone know any power-pop people in Phoenix? I'll be moving
>The Breakup Society there and I need some musicians, preferably of the
>type that like the early Who more than the later Who. I have a drummer.
>And I'll be the singer and rhythm guitarist. So anything else is
>golden.
>
>Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 11:09:05 -0400
>From: rob@splitsville.com
>To: bholmes_fm@msn.com, bholmes_fm@msn.com, audities@smoe.org
>
>
>Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 11:09:05 -0400
>From: rob@splitsville.com
>To: bholmes_fm@msn.com, bholmes_fm@msn.com, audities@smoe.org
>Subject:
>=?US-ASCII?B?UkU6IENhcmVlciBlcXVhdG9ycw==?=
>Message-ID:
><200604031509.k33F96m8016410@mmm1912.dulles19-verio
>.com>
>
>If you use Tommy as a mid-point, I prefer The Who's second half output
>to the earlier stuff.
>
>Of course, the early singles and albums leading up to Tommy are
>amazing, but what followed was ridiculously fantastic: Live At Leeds,
>Who's Next, and in particular, Quad. By Numbers had its moments, too
>(tho' the cracks in Moon were beginning to show). In this period
>Daltrey really found his voice (admittedly, it was Tommy that brought
>it out of him), and Moon and Entwhistle were their usual brilliant
>selves.
>
>Townshend's writing got better, more intelligent, his musical
>experimentation increased (in a good way), and the band on the whole
>proved themselves to be fairly untouchable live. Sonically live and in
>the studio they were, as Pete called them, 'a war machine'.
>
>Yes, they did limp toward the finish line when Jones replaced Moon (and
>Pete went through a period of gargantuan alcohol and drug abuse), but
>both Face Dances and It's Hard are a bit under rated, mostly due to the
>fact those albums weren't as good as Who's Next. There are some
>absolutely ace tracks on both (Another Tricky Day, Athena, I've Known
>No War, You, Daily Records, You Better You Bet, etc.)
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