The Who

[mpolak21]

This could be interesting: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cary-elwes-directing-biopic-about-legendary-the-who-manager-kit-lambert-20121214?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

[Analogman]

That makes me think of Roger's Keith Moon film. The last I heard about it - Mike Myers was going to play Keith.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I missed The Who's set on the 12/12 deal, but I'm surprised to see so many negative comments on Daltrey's performance. Maybe he didn't sing as well as he did when I saw them last month. He does have a limited ability to hit all the high notes at this point, but didn't try on some of them. For 68, he sounded great...in person, anyway.

[dtram]

I've been listening to the non-Who's Next Lifehouse songs, including the ones you sent, dtram, thanks again and I've been enjoying them quite a bit. Some of the mellower ones sound more like Quadrophenia songs than Who's Next songs. I guess I'm saying I can hear the transition into that Quadrophenia kind of songs in these Lifehouse ones.

 

I also orderd yet another version of Who's Next, the two disc deluxe edition that has the live show on disc 2. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm looking forward to digesting that and seeing if some of those live versions might sound cool in a Lifehouse sequence.

 

 

Glad you're enjoying them. My opinion; the stuff on the deluxe edition is cool to hear but doesn't fit with the studio stuff.

 

As for all of this talk about Rogers voice, I was listening to the Blues to the Bush live CD set from '99 and was actually shocked as to how good Rogers voice sounded then as compared to now. I remembered when it came out thinking he was sounding pretty shot but comparing it to now, he sounds like he was in top form and it's very listenable.

 

Saw them Saturday night, show was good but I think Pete had a cold so he was having trouble singing too, kind of a double whammy. I'm thinking they should stop after this tour as much as I hate to say it. Now that they have Roger lip synching the screams in Love Reign and Wont Get fooled Again, I think its time. And Roger showing off his belly the way he's been, he's quickly becoming a parody of aging rock stars not knowing it's time. Pains me to say it as the who were my first music love but it's time. Wish Pete would do more solo tours; the '93 tour he did was amazing and he still has a voice when he isnt sick.

[Beltmann]

My wife said he should have kept his shirt buttoned.

 

 

My 7-year-old daughter said the same thing: "Ugh, what's he doing! He looks like grandpa!"

 

As Lou said, it's unreasonable to think the voice is ever going to sound prime again.  That said, I thought he sounded much better than at the Super Bowl, which was quite poor.  Whatever the limitations of the 12-12-12 set, I'm grateful for it: After hearing them, my 4-year-old asked me to make him a mix CD of The Who, and he's been listening to it all morning while playing with Legos.

[mountain bed]

My 7-year-old daughter said the same thing: "Ugh, what's he doing! He looks like grandpa!"

 

As Lou said, it's unreasonable to think the voice is ever going to sound prime again.  That said, I thought he sounded much better than at the Super Bowl, which was quite poor.  Whatever the limitations of the 12-12-12 set, I'm grateful for it: After hearing them, my 4-year-old asked me to make him a mix CD of The Who, and he's been listening to it all morning while playing with Legos.

That's the spirit, man! The Who is one of those bands that deserve to be handed down from generation to generation. At their best they're simply without peer when it comes to embodying the ideals of Rock.

[bcdoc]

That's the spirit, man! The Who is one of those bands that deserve to be handed down from generation to generation. At their best they're simply without peer when it comes to embodying the ideals of Rock.

 

Nicely stated. I direct my students to check out the Isle of Wight dvd for proof of great live rock.

I am glad that they are getting some positive, later in life attention again. It was great to see them do this Quad tour, and I would love to see another show during the upcoming second leg.

[Beltmann]

That's the spirit, man! The Who is one of those bands that deserve to be handed down from generation to generation.

His other favorite CD is the soundtrack to The Blues Brothers, which has been in heavy rotation for months now.  (It's also his favorite movie; I made a kid-friendly edit for him and burned it to DVD.)  That's inspired all sorts of great conversations about music, partially because so many other great performers are in the film.

 

That kind of cultural knowledge is why I wanted the spawn to see the 12-12-12 concert.  We skipped past much of it, but watched the good stuff.  Couldn't get my daughter interested in The Who, but she already has a big poster of the Beatles in her bedroom, so she's on the right track.  She also has an interest in the Foo Fighters, and knows that Grohl was once in Nirvana, so she was quite intrigued by the McCartney/Nirvana thing.

 

The 4-year-old has started saying "Don't yell at me" in conversation, with the same inflection that Elwood uses.

[uncool2pillow]

His other favorite CD is the soundtrack to The Blues Brothers, which has been in heavy rotation for months now.  (It's also his favorite movie; I made a kid-friendly edit for him and burned it to DVD.)  That's inspired all sorts of great conversations about music, partially because so many other great performers are in the film. That kind of cultural knowledge is why I wanted the spawn to see the 12-12-12 concert.  We skipped past much of it, but watched the good stuff.  Couldn't get my daughter interested in The Who, but she already has a big poster of the Beatles in her bedroom, so she's on the right track.  She also has an interest in the Foo Fighters, and knows that Grohl was once in Nirvana, so she was quite intrigued by the McCartney/Nirvana thing.The 4-year-old has started saying "Don't yell at me" in conversation, with the same inflection that Elwood uses.

Love all of this!

[Mr. Heartbreak]

The 4-year-old has started saying "Don't yell at me" in conversation, with the same inflection that Elwood uses.

[Shug]

I saw the Quadrophenia tour last night, had an awesome experience (everyone on the floor stood the entire show and the bowl of the arena stood for the first 30 min and the last 45 or so. Dudes behind me were rocking out on their feet the whole night. I hate being around sitters at a rock show and I was really worried about this night given the "demographic" of their audience, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

This is in contrast to what Ira Robbins wrote. It must suck to be a jaded music critic.

 

Seeing The Who’s Quadrophenia performed by its composer Pete Townsend and his main living musical partner Roger Daltrey recently gave me a deeply emotional experience. As a piece of highly orchestrated rock created nearly 40 years ago, it has taken on sheen of timeless relevance like a classical symphony by one of the great masters like Bach or Beethoven. In the 21st century, the brilliance of Quadrophenia shines through more as a composition than how it is performed. It does not matter that Daltrey and Townsend come nowhere close to the power and intensity in performance that they were capable of in the early 70s (how could they possibly do that well into their 60s even if the utterly irreplaceable Moon and Entwistle were still alive?). Quadrophenia is a masterpiece with a deeply spiritual undertone about the universal experience of growing up and redefining one’s identity and because of that it is still powerful to this day. I loved this album so much when I was 16 years old in the early 80s for reasons that I did not understand back then. With 30 more years of perspective to hear it with, I have a far greater understanding of its themes and why the music resonated so deeply with me then and still does to this day.

 

I’m sure I’m one of a multitude of people in the world who feels like an outcast from their family (mine are all fundamentalist religious zealots or narcissistic alcoholics). Even with the surrogate “families” of friends I have sought out and surrounded myself with there are still barriers of fear that too often keep us from total connection. For us who on some level feel alone all the time and also love rock ‘n’ roll, the music serves a special purpose: it gets us. And that is no small thing because I believe that all humans have a deep need for connection with others who understand and accept them without judgment. Most of us are not spiritual masters, nor are our friends and families, so unconditional acceptance and understanding is not something that is easy to get from people. But music and literature and art can provide it. If you are like me, you have at times felt the truth behind the words “…the music is your only friend, dance on fire as it intends…”

 

Water is a pervasive motif in Quadrophenia and I believe it represents life force in all its permutations. The Sea is the source of all life, where life begins and where it ends, the alpha and the omega, the Divine, the Universal One. In rain and fog, rivers, lakes, and streams are bits of The Sea on a journey that will eventually lead back to the source.

 

“Let me flow into the ocean, let me flow back to The Sea, let me be stormy, let me be calm, let the tide in and set me free! I want to drown in cold water.”

 

It’s not a complicated theme, nor is it new or unique; in fact it’s what Joseph Campbell would call an archetypal myth, one that crosses all time and all cultures, universal and deeply resonant to all humans and human societies. This is what Townsend tapped into when he wrote Quadrophenia and this theme of the spiritual journey we are all on whether we realize it or not is a lot of what gives it its power, I believe.

 

I may know and understand a lot more than I did when I was 16 but I don’t feel much differently now at 45 than I did then. I still crave to be understood by my family and I still feel alone much of the time and those feelings will probably be with me my entire life. To be in the presence of the composer of that music and two of those artists whose music made me, both as a teen and even still now, feel understood and not so alone in the world was incredibly joyful. To appreciate the massive contributions of Moon and Entwistle, two of the greatest rock virtuosos that ever will be, and to mourn their loss added another layer of sadness and gratitude. To hear that fantastic majestic piece of music performed by a full rock orchestra was awesome. To have a deeper understanding of the composer’s intentions and motivations and why the music moves me so much took this far beyond just a rock concert. To hear it build through the first stage-setting half into the power and bombast of the second half was thrilling. When Doctor Jimmy finished and the music slipped into The Rock with the first hints of Love Reign O’er Me, I could feel the impending glorious crescendo of redemption. The spiritual theme of Quadrophenia is the antithesis of the religious hypocrisy that I was force-fed yet rejected as a child. I realized in a more complete way than ever before that this music speaks eloquently yet subtly the truths that have always been in my heart and my mind as far back as I can remember, ones that no one in my family will ever share with me. Townsend, as the composer of these songs, not only understands the things I believe, but he believes in their importance enough to make it his life’s work to express them in music, a potent combination of big truths and grandiose powerful music. To hear it played by him was to be validated, accepted, understood. All these feelings swirling around, expressed in movement, rocking out, air-guitar, fans joining together with the band, out came the tears, weeping in pleasure, sadness, joy, relief. There it was, the transcendent experience that The Who had delivered to so many thousands of fans over the years, the highest level that a rock concert can attain, Townsend’s life work coming to fruition yet again. So much gratitude coming out of me for his music and what it means. It was truly a priceless, overwhelming, soul-cleansing experience of catharsis that doesn’t come around all that often and one that I am deeply grateful and extremely fortunate to have experienced. I’m so glad that I lived in the times when the great masters of rock still played their masterpieces

 

Long Live Rock!

 

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Fantastic post. Your experience greatly mirrors mine, not only in terms of life in general but also of this tour in particular. 

Reminds me of another great rock song quote: "Music is my savior/And I was maimed by rock and roll/I was tamed by rock and roll/I got my name from rock and roll."

Rock on, brother.

[mountain bed]

Shug - dude that was just spot-on. MUCH more eloquent than my "embodying the ideals of Rock" thing, You NAILED that sucker.

 

I think you also boiled down the Grateful Dead fan experience as well - "All humans have a deep need to feel connection with others who understand and accept them without judgement". That's not something a person can easily find these days. But when it happens - well, that's the gold of life right there.

[kidsmoke]

I must be spending too much time on facebook. I really wanted to "Like" your post, and Shug's.

[The Inside of Outside]

Sounds like a great, great night, Shug.

[Shug]

Thanks for the kind responses, folks. Writing about these powerful experiences helps me process the experience and sharing it is a way to try to connect with people, so thanks for being a good group of folks to ramble on about music with!

 

Yeah, mountainbed,the stuff I wrote about is not far from the Dead experience. I think that's what impressed Joseph Campbell so much when he went to see the Dead.

 

And I think a lot of how a rock show goes has to do with the attitude, energy and expectations/desires of the audience. How else to explain the difference between the reactions of Ira Robbins and me to the same show? I know well how a negative critical mindset can ruin my enjoyment of a show, I succumbed to that too many times at Dead shows when repetive setlists and lethargic playing bummed me out. I'm glad that everything came together just perfectly for me at this show, likely the last time I'll get to see Townshend and Daltrey together.

 

[LouieB]

Re-Shug's post. When the album first came out a friend and I listened to it and we then spent a long time discussing the Joycian implications of the work.  Quadrophenia lends itself to multilayered interpretation. 

 

I saw this on tour a decade or so ago, before Entwistle passed. It was very moving, surprisingly so in a huge shed on the south side of Chicago.

 

The movie is also strangely moving too. I rewatched it recently.  I think the theme of complete alienation from everyone and one's self is very powerful.  The over exposure of the Who and the Who's songs have diluted the overall impact and importance of Townsend's work. Too much CSI, commercials, musicals, other uses of the his songs have made him seem much more of a hack than he really is.  While Ray Davies gets credit for being the premier poet of the Brtitish Invasion bands, I think Townsend is a greater figure, but his status has been greatly diminished by his over exposure.  He wrote about some deep deep shit, but it is easy to forget when you hear the songs so often in such dreadful commercial contexts.

 

LouieB

[Hixter]

I saw the Quadrophenia tour last night

With the replacement drummer (from Daltrey's band, I think?) or was Zak Starkey back on the kit?

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Yeah, mountainbed,the stuff I wrote about is not far from the Dead experience. I think that's what impressed Joseph Campbell so much when he went to see the Dead.

 

And I think a lot of how a rock show goes has to do with the attitude, energy and expectations/desires of the audience. How else to explain the difference between the reactions of Ira Robbins and me to the same show? I know well how a negative critical mindset can ruin my enjoyment of a show, I succumbed to that too many times at Dead shows when repetive setlists and lethargic playing bummed me out. I'm glad that everything came together just perfectly for me at this show, likely the last time I'll get to see Townshend and Daltrey together.

 

The first few Dead shows I attended were from '82-'84. Caught them one last time in '91, and didn't want more. The energy had changed so much for the worse, with lots of drugged out Heads following them around, people selling doodads to try to support their habit, etc. etc. It was a major, if trippy, drag.

 

My first show (http://archive.org/details/gd82-09-23.sen421.miller.12520.sbeok.shnf) was probably just average for '82, but for me it was special and life-changing in so many ways, and the crowd response had a lot to do with it. Jerry came right out of the gate with Alabama (in those pre-Internet days, we did not know how typical an opener that was), and the first set also featured the relatively rare Althea. Fantastic. Second set opened with Touch of Grey and featured The Wheel and a killer Throwin' Stones. All of these songs became sing-a-longs for the audience. I guess "Ashes, ashes all fall down" is an easy enough lyric to pick up on, since it comes from a nursery rhyme, but it was still something special. At that point we called that song "Ashes" and Touch of Grey was known as "I Will Get By." 

 

Good times.

[jff]

I listened to Quadrophenia last night for the first time in a long time.  For me, this album has always seemed overblown and pompous (in a different way than they usually are), and I've never really liked it all that much, despite the Who being one of my all time favorite bands.  It still seems overblown to me, but I picked up on a few things while listening last night that I either didn't notice before, or did notice but rejected.  Those things (and I can't even put my finger on what exactly "those things" were) made it start to click for me, at least a little bit.   

 

Now that I've come here today and read the last few days of posts, I hope this album will become as important for me as it obviously is for many of you.  I can certainly consider the meaning/message/whatever of this music from a lot of new angles thanks to what's been written here recently.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write that, Shug.

 

Have a great weekend, y'all.

[tinnitus photography]

Shug, awesome post. i highly recommend trying to find the BBC special on the making of Quadrophenia...i DVR'd it a few months ago and watched in about 4 weeks ago. really great stuff going on there.

 

quadrophenia will always be my favorite Who record for a lot of the same reasons you voiced. and damned if the end of "Cut My Hair" won't always raise a lump in my throat. music can summon such strong emotions, and Pete hit the motherlode on that one.

[bcdoc]

Terrific to read these comments. It is so well worth it to see this tour. I love "Cut My Hair," and it was great to hear it live as well as all of the other songs off of the album get their proper due. Thanks for the posts.

[Shug]

For Phoenix and San Diego, it was Scott Devours on drums.  Pete announced Zak Starkey has tendonitis.  Not sure what will happen for the remaining dates.  Scott did more than I would have expected in terms of being tight and strong in his playing.  I was worried when I first heard Zak would not be playing, but I was more than happy with Scott's playing.  He came out after the show was over and he gave my 12 year old a guitar pick, nice guy.

 

Yeah, tinnitus, that Quad documentary is really good.  I saw it on Palladia a couple months ago.  It really primed me for this show.  Well worth seeking out if you are a Who fan, for sure.