![]() ![]() And WHO has provided a few more songs to a discography that lives at the highest echelon of pop and rock music from the 20th century. If his music does fade, it won’t be for a very long time - his catalog and his influence on kids bashing away at guitars will surely outlive the man. Does he really believe that “all this music must fade?” Or is it just his mouth f-ing with him? In the aforementioned Rolling Stone interview, he marvels at some of the things that he’s said on record: “I find sometimes I’ll be saying things and I think, ‘Do I really feel that, or is my mouth just f-ing with me?’” This is a guy who has been curating his legacy for decades, from the Who’s 1974 collection of outtakes Odds & Sods to his Scoop collections to the copious amount of expanded editions of Who albums and archival live recordings. ![]() There are a lot of reasons for that, and that’s a subject for another feature.īut “All This Music Must Fade” is also a contender for the album’s best song, and you have to wonder if Townshend really believes that title. As is the case with other “legacy acts” - Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, U2, even Pearl Jam - it would be difficult for the band to release an album that makes an impact like the ones they released in their 20s and 30s. Townshend can say what he wants about that, but an entity called “The Who” have a pretty solid new album. Bassist Pino Palladino, and Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, among others, also contribute to the album. On WHO, Townshend and Daltrey are accompanied by a number of other musicians, including drummers Zakk Starkey, Carla Azar (formerly of Jack White’s band), Matt Chamberlin (who has played with both Pearl Jam and Soundgarden), and Joey Waronker (his credits include R.E.M. It’s been a long time.) And WHO isn’t dragged down by a weighty concept, as was the case with Endless Wire. (His last studio album, Psychoderelict, was released in 1993, the same year Radiohead released their debut album, Pablo Honey…and Radiohead are now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Unlike the aforementioned ’70s and ’80s albums, this time around Townshend isn’t divided between the band and his solo career. It could surely hold its own in a scrap with 1981’s Face Dances and even 1975’s The Who By Numbers. Daltrey told the same Rolling Stone writer that WHO is their best since 1973’s Quadrophenia. And while fans may argue whether or not it is better than 1978’s Who Are You, it’s certainly superior to their last album, 2006’s Endless Wire and their prior effort, 1982’s It’s Hard. There’s a lot of people who don’t like it when I say it, but we’re just not a f-ing band.”Īnd yet, that band just released a new album. In the same interview, he reprised something that he’s said in varying ways, since the band’s first reunion tour in 1989: “We’re not a band anymore. So when he passed away, it was like, ‘Oh, I don’t have to keep time anymore.’” I said, ‘Wow, I have a job.’ With Keith, my job was keeping time, because he didn’t do that. I think my musical discipline, my musical efficiency as a rhythm player, held the band together. When passed away and I did the first few shows without him, with Pino on bass, he was playing without all that stuff…. And, of course, the man doesn’t hold back when he talks to the press, either: his recent Rolling Stone interview raised eyebrows and even offended many of the band’s fans, particularly his comments about Moon and Entwistle. “It’s not going to make Who fans very happy, but thank God they’re gone,” he infamously said. And it’s even more interesting that they dare the listener to stick with the album, less than twenty seconds into it.īut Townshend has always often been brutally honest: he pulled away the veil of mystery around himself and his artistic process (via his Scoop collections of demos, which he began releasing in 1983). It’s interesting that, over 50 years into their career, they’d even bother to make an album they routinely sell out arenas regardless of whether or not they have new material. But to hear them tell it, Daltrey and Townshend’s relationship has never been better. Is Townshend addressing the Who’s fans here? Or is he talking to Daltrey (the two were apparently never in the studio at the same time while recording WHO)? The chemistry of the Who has changed over the past few decades, due to (among other things) the deaths of drummer Keith Moon in 1978 and bassist John Entwistle in 2002. Of course, Daltrey is delivering lyrics written by his bandmate of nearly 60 years, Pete Townshend, who has never been one to mince words. He continues, “I know you’re gonna hate this song/And that’s fair/We never really got along!”
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