Culture Fusion Reviews

In spite of the fact that I’m an inveterate (some might even say compulsive) music listener, I’ve never been super into live shows. Only in my recent years have I seen such luminaries as Paul McCartney, King Crimson, Boris, The Residents, Belle and Sebastian, and The Melvins and felt myself more compelled to attend shows. However, I do greatly enjoy live ALBUMS (hey, listen from the comfort of your home, eh?) and while a lot are cash grabs, work from artists like Frank Zappa and The Who, in their prime, are always worth it.

The Not-So Sublime Live Who Experience

I’m not particularly interested in going to see The Who live at this point, though I fear I will likely inevitably regret that when they die. Let me emphasize first that I am a very big fan of Townshend and The Who and have been so for over half my life. Though I fell off for a few years awhile back, recently (the last few months), I have come back again with a vengeance.

While I think they were one of the finest album bands at their prime (every one sounded a little different and had varying purposes), The Who live were electricity itself harnesses and let loose. With Keith Moon doing his thing (a musical genius) and sometimes playing a straight rhythm but mostly not, Entwistle filling all sonic and harmonic space with his beautifully complex lead bass, Townshend’s flawless (and complex) rhythm playing keeping the band coherent, and Daltrey roaring and spinning his mic…it’s a thing.

As I write, I’m listening to the band minus Keith Moon playing a 1982 show. “It’s Hard” had come and gone and history remembers it poorly. The tours around this time are not fondly remembered, either. Keith was gone, Pete was just out of rehab, and the last two albums had been their weakest. Note: I enjoy both “Face Dances” and, to an extent “It’s Hard” for what they offer, but they’re clearly not the band’s finest. Even in this setting, the band sounds great.

One element that I think has been unfairly derided is Kenney Jones’ contributions. No, he’s no Moon. Who ever was or could be Keith Moon? Instead, Kenney is a metronome: his beats are always on time, his fills perfectly chosen, his beats intelligently composed, his breaks suitable for the songs. Daltrey had lots of unkind words about Jones at the time that were unfair but likely driven by his frustration with losing Moon and expecting anyone to fill his shoes. In any other context, Jones’ drumming is fine.

Even in 1982, they were a good live band. Not beautiful and wonderful, but there was some flare of magic still there.

Magic With a Power Chord

“Smile you buggers! Pretend it’s Christmas!”

So says Townshend after the band started their legendary 1970 set at the Isle of Wight Festival. They’d just stomped through Entwistle’s classic “Heaven and Hell,” a song that never got a studio recording that John liked but which always tore down the house. Fresh off the back of the (honestly surprising) smash success of 1969’s “Tommy,” the band were out of the underground and one of the biggest bands in the world…and their performances reflect that.

Unlike the slightly psychedelic strains of “The Who Sell Out” and its often gentle (and frankly beautiful) songs or the stripped down sound of “Tommy” (often just guitar, bass, drums, and light piano with a little horn), The Who live during this period were raw rock power. The Rolling Stones the best rock band? Ha! Would that they put out anything as good as “Young Man’s Blues” around this time! Taste is taste, of course, but this song is everything to me.

The amazing interplay between Townshend, Entwistle, and Moon as they seemingly effortless rip out unforgettable riffs, sharp and brittle solos, and Townshend’s mad windmilling (you have to see the video, if you haven’t) make this, to me, the best distillation of rock ever recorded. Yes, I love Led Zeppelin. Of course, though it took me a long time to admit that. But for sheer musical abandonment and excitement, “Young Man Blues” is it for me.

That’s just one song! After two very strong version of “I Don’t Know Myself” and “Water” (two underrated classics), the band pumps out one of the best live versions of “Tommy” ever recorded before slamming, with barely a pause, into “Summertime Blues” and “Shakin’ All Over/Spoonful/Twist and Shout” to remind the audience that, sure, they just heard an opera but rock was never too far behind. The remaining tracks (a searing “Substitute,” surprisingly short (just 7:15) “My Generation”), pummeling “Naked Eye,” and truncated “Magic Bus”) are all great and amazing reminders of the power of rock.

The Legacy of The Who Now: Mixed

I’ve seen a trend in recent years of people downplaying The Who. Saying that they were inconsistent, that the albums aren’t as good as all that…that the only good work they did was before “Tommy.” That they were “just a good singles band.” Of course, not everybody believes that. Critical reputations are often cyclical anyway: what one generation loves, another abhors. In 10-20 years, I’m sure the pendulum will swing in the generation of adoration again.

For me, I’ll always love their studio albums for their varying approaches and turn to the live albums when rock bores me with its 10,000th variation on the Nickelback/Creed/Seether. But there is something that should be said to Pete and Roger (which also goes for the Rolling Stones). It’s time to just let it go. Stop touring. It’s not improving your legacy any more but hurting it. Of course, I wouldn’t be the first person to make such a claim: pretty sure jokes about the Stones and The Who being ancient started in 1981.

Oh well.