Friday A.M. WHO thoughts

[msecero@attmail.com (Martin J Secero)]

Good Morning, everyone!!!!!!!

A few thoughts/opinions on this lovely Friday morning:


1) Craig O'Neill's appraisal of the difference between the WHO and the Moody
Blues' styles of music and performance was right on the money. I already sent
out an opinion of my own yesterday (at least I THINK I sent one out to the
list), so I won't expand too much. But the idea of the Moodys interpreting a
WHO song is like, well, Ol' Blue Eyes doing a Pearl Jam song!!!! I can  hear
it now - "Jeremy spoke in class today----HEY!!!!"

2) Hey Steve Marshall!!! I WILL have my list ready by Monday 1/30. Sorry for
the delay: my mother's been sick and between hospital visits and performing
and recording my own musical projects, I've been VERY busy. But, have no fear.
Next Week, my friend. Thanks!!!

3) What a PHENOMENAL title for Pete's Greatest Hits album -
"Coolwalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking"----from the outset, we
know it won't be just your average hits album the record companies churn out
in their sleep. And, BTW, ICE magazine is INCORRECT---the name of the track is
"UNeasy Street", not "On Easy Street". (God, I hope I'm not wrong...)

4) Susan Whiting's views on the various interpretations of the WHO's music,
past, present and future, is brilliant. In fact, I can honestly say that
Susan's views pretty much reflect the overall consensus of MOST WHO fans. The
frustrating aspect of being a WHO/PT fan is that, for the most part, we are
fans of a body of musical work that is 30 years old now!!! And while Pete has
continued to release solo albums, they are put out with much less frequency
now. It's strange to say this, but I feel in a way that Pete's muse may have
left him permanently. That's not a put-down of his recent solo work---I
personally feel that "PsychoDerelict" was, in many ways, his best solo album
EVER. It helped free him from the WHO "band" context quite a bit, and this
freedom was capitalized on by the "Tommy" show, and the Derelict '93 tour and
PPV. But, as all longtime WHO fans know, Pete s been obsessed with addressing
his and the WHO's history over and over for years now. I, too, am afraid that
Pete and the WHO's musical legacy will eventually become a joke, and his
relevance as a contemporary songwriter will be diminished. But, like it or
not, people, this process may already have begun. Through the success
of the "Tommy" musical (which I am due to see again on Sat., Feb 18 via
half-price tickets!!!), Pete has decided that his first rock opera IS his best
work, and now everything he (or the WHO) has released or will release in the
future will be forever measured by the "Tommy" yardstick. And, realistically,
Pete's making a lot of money from "Tommy". He's also made money from rehashing
and revisiting the past before. Here is a list of projects in which Pete
and/or the WHO have restated/reworked/refined music of his/their past:

1972 - Tommy w/ the LSO
1973 - Quadrophenia, "Sea and Sand" "I'm the Face if you want it"
1975 - Tommy movie/soundtrack
1979 - Kids Are Alright movie/soundtrack
       Quadrophenia movie/soundtrack
1981 - Hooligans
1983 - WHO's Greatest Hits
       Scoop (Pete Demos)
1984 - WHO's Last (horrible!!!)
       The Singles (UK release)
1985 - WHO's Missing
       The WHO Collection (UK release)
1986 - Deep End Live! (Pete's live CD w/ WHO songs)
1987 - Two's Missing
       Another Scoop (more Pete demos)
1988 - WHO's Better, WHO's Best CD/Video
1989 - 25th Anniversary Tour
1993 - "The WHO's Tommy" Broadway Musical/ Cast Recording
       PsychoDerelict (w/ Lifehouse music)
1994 - 30 Years of Maximum R n B boxed set/video
       "A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and the WHO"
        The best of Roger Daltrey's Carnegie Hall shows on one CD
       Roger's 1994 U.S. tour

Not to mention the upcoming MCA/Polydor re-release program. As this example
illustrate, most of the WHO's output of the past 15-20 years have been
regurgitations of what all the real WHO fans already have. Granted, it's
important to keep that music alive and kicking. And granted, as Pete gets
older, his interest in making important, relevant NEW music will fade. But,
like it or not, people, Pete and the WHO have been making most of their
living for the past 10-20 years off of a relatively small body of work.

It's a fact that songwriters and performers need perspective on where
they've been in order to see where they're going next. But Pete Townshend is a
songwriter/performer who is obsessed with his past to the point that it eats
up the time that he could spend on NEW music. And that's a shame.

That being said, I must admit that I LOVE the "Tommy" musical. The music, the
visuals, the performances----it IS the "New" Broadway musical. And Pete has
every right to be proud of his work. It's a valid interpretation of the rock
opera. My point is that Pete should stop being so reflective and find a new
directive (well, there you go: I'm a poet and don't even know it!!)

Any thoughts/objections/comments?? Please write back.

All the best to you and yours,

Marty Secero

"Never spend your guitar and your pen" - wise words that Pete himself should
reconsider.