I used to be a really big fan of The Who. And by big fan, I mean I bought all the bootlegs I could find, saw them whenever I could, bought all their solo albums and the peripheral books that got published, wore their shirts, and was known by everyone in high school and college as “that guy who likes The Who way too much.“
All of that is by way of saying that for a very long time I liked them a lot, but late in their career, after catching several of their goodbye tours, I got just a little tired of them. Some of that was Roger Daltrey‘s voice starting to go, some of that was Pete’s endless narcissism, more visible in the age of mass media, and some of that was just moving on to other music.
In any case, they have a new album out. And maybe because I had zero hope for it, or maybe because I’d stopped listening to them for a while, I am finding that it’s actually really excellent. They’re doing a good job of working around Roger’s voice, and there are some clever callbacks to older albums as well as strong lyrics. It very much has a “Who By Numbers” feel, and that’s a big compliment from me.
So good for them, I’m glad to see it. I still won’t go to their concerts, but I’m glad to learn that they can still put something decent together.
I’m a big Who fan too, such a big fan that if asked “Beatles or Stones?”, I would probably answer “The Who”. But I don’t like much of their post-Moon output, I prefer Pete’s solo work over that with the Moon-less band. I don’t even know if you can rightfully call a Townshend/Daltrey album a Who album. That said, I like the new album. Most songs are good and powerful, there are only two or three clunkers (“Break The News” sounds like their try on a modern radio-friendly folkish pop song a la Mumford And Sons, doesn’t sound at all like the Who and is misplaced on the album). The production is a bit too slick for my taste, but Roger’s voice sounds powerful. It’s not the great late oeuvre of one of the greatest rock bands of history, but a decent effort.
I really like this album, my favorite being Ball and Chain. Of course it can’t touch the band’s classic work, but those days are long gone. Overall much better than Endless Wire IMHO. Roger sounds really, really good, and there’s a a lot of of diversity in the songs with some great lyrics by Pete. Nice to hear Simon get a song on the album after all these years of being in the band.
It’s a shame that Target screwed up so bad in stocking and selling their “exclusive” version of the CD. It might have cost The Who achieving a number 1 album in the charts.
Yeah, he can be a prick, and yes, he has a big ego, but I love the guy, if just for his wit. (no, just kidding, of course also for his music and lyrics)