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Re: doing unplugged




> 
> Yeah, I accept your observations on it being oblig. for rising artists.  I do think some fit right into 
> the slot, and others it's a round peg in a square hole.  
> 
> I will probably forever not find agreement with late-model-Who fans concerning my extreme and unmitigated
> disappointment at what I hear relative to their earlier glory.  LAL just fans the flames, I'm afraid.  Others
> out there are far less charitable on their opinions of the Who, but then again they are not on this newsgroup.
> ("Townshend has turned the Who into his own living Chuck Berry nightmare") is one I heard YEARS ago....

I don't think late-model Who fans exist, they like all the band as
an entity.  If you split up the who like this : 1)Pre Tommy 
2)Tommy-Quadrophenia 3)Who By Numbers-Who Are You  4)Face Dances-Present

I fall in the #2 slot, however I happen to like all of it.  My least
favorite is #4 like many others, BUT for some reason it sounds a hell
of a lot better than the worst Rolling Stones album.  

I'd rather not have the Who tour actually, I wish Roger never did
his barnstorming tour last year.  To me it appears that Pete isn't
doing the Chuck Berry act but rather Roger who is trying his best to
keep it alive.  Pete seems like he's finally done away with the Who,
except when it comes to his compositions.


> And I'd rather they play once a year and sustain the energy than a tour and not do it.  I don't know how
> they could... I just know they should.  They're the musicians in the band - they should figure it out.
> Part of it is that Townshend lost his heart in it after Moon died.  Well, I got news for you.. there are
> drummers who I have personally experienced who coulda filled his shoes infinitely better than who he has had
> in the past.  I found 'em, so could have Pete.  It frankly pisses me off that he didn't.  When Jones replaced
> Moon, I went,"well, there goes the neighborhood!". Looking at some of the live stuff from '79 I will say
> Jones tried his level best, but it was stiff-arming, really.  Gotta have that light, mobile, jazzy touch to
> the playing.  The music Townshend is STILL putting out dictates it.  If Simon Bolivar wants to use tom-toms,
> listen to Dogs Part II and get a lesson.  

Townshend lost his heart BEFORE Moon died.  Had Moon lived the Who
would've disbanded by early '79.  It was Moon's death that gave Pete
a new life and frankly the 1979 tour was pretty damn exciting.  I
think we all know why Jones was selected by now.  They didn't want a
Moon clone because (and rightfully so) everyone would've tried to
draw comparisons.  Carl Palmer would've been a great choice though
:).

Jones was stiff, however he got worse as it wore on, that's why I
think the 1979 tour wasn't bad.  

> 
> Come on, folks, how could someone who wrote "I am the One" write lyrics like "slit skirts slit skirts 
> Jeannie never wears those slit skirts".  My, how the mighty have fallen......

What about "The Sea Refuses No River" from the same album?  I could
always draw an unfavorable comparison to "Wasp Man".



> 
> I agree about the impropriety of Clapton's schmaltz being compared to the Who, but Clapton gets a nod becuase
> he did the solo in Crossroads, and anybody who does that can do whatever they want for the rest of their
> lives because that solo kicks ass. 


Then let Pete do his thing too.  I'll take Psychoderelict over
"Journeyman" anyday.  



How many artists of Pete's age have held their integrity?  I can sit
here and write three pages on how today's Rolling Stones aren't
worth crap to what they were doing with Mick Taylor.  I can also say
that Clapton hasn't done anything of worth since Layla, someone who
I think is worse than Townshend when it comes to this type of
scrutiny.  Or how Genesis (my vote for worst band decline) and Yes turned 
from great prog rock bands into pop hit trash.  The Who did make a
path for the worse, but there are better examples of how bands really 
took the gas pipe.


To end all of this, the simple fact is that Moon should've lived.
Then the Who's lifespan would've ended with Who Are You, a fitting
end.