Stuph

["Kevin Winn" <kwinn@chrome.com>]

Ian writes:
>The way Moon was playing on the Who Are You album, the '79 tour 
>would've been a joke.  He lost his sence of time.  Whether it was
>the alchohol I don't know, but Moon lost that ablity to do a long 
>drum fill and come back on the beat.  If not that he was afraid or 
>unable to take those risks he accomplished so well in his prime.  
>Relying
>on his simple beats sounded so weak. 

I remember reading in Full Moon that Keith was being threatened with 
dismissal at the time they recorded Who Are You.  He had been through one 
of his more intense drug/alcohol/stupid periods, and PT was serious about 
booting him.  He cleaned up shortly before the sessions, and this was very 
hard for him.  So, I would guess that between the sheepish "I'm really 
sorry, Pete" attitude and the physical withdrawls, that would account for 
his inability or unwllingness to go for it like he used to.

I think if he hadn't died, they would have toured, and it would have either 
been the best they'd ever done, or they would have played five or six shows 
and PT would have walked out.


>Again I guess I'm one of the rare ones who actually puts Who By 
>Numbers near the top of the list.  I still think Who Are You needed 
>to be done.  The direction PT was heading in 1978 would've been a 
>lot better than Face Dances had things been able to stay together.  
>Afterall, think of Empty Glass as a Who album.

I also put WBN up as one of the best.  At the time, I was living on a 
steady diet of Quad and Leeds, and the melodic quality of WBN was a real 
surprise.  I started paying more attention to the construction of the music 
rather than just playing it loud, and it made me appreciate everything 
they'd done previously even more (especially Who's Next).  Lyrically, I 
thought it was every bit as good as Quad, just with less raw angst.  It was 
about this time that I started playing the guitar.


>JeffW mentions bands "reinventing" themselves

I think that the Who reinvented themselves with every album, at least up 
through WBN, then PT started reinventing himself.  Empty Glass was what he 
wished the Who could be, but knew could never happen.

I am probably in the minority on this one, but I think Zep did the same 
thing, constantly reinventing their identity.  And I like much of the No 
Quarter CD.  I respect them for leaving it alone for 15 years, then picking 
it up and looking at things again.  They didn't try to sound like Zep (they 
can't *help* that!), just enjoy their music again.  As for Jimmy, I agree 
with Jeff that he's looking pretty tired, but he's always looked that way, 
and he should be well-practiced by the time he gets to Portland this month 
(of COURSE, I'm going).  But just as you give the pardoning nod to Clapton 
(for his Crossroads solo) and Ian gives the nod to Moon (just for being 
Moon), I must nod to Jimmy for a whole shitload of pioneering guitar work.

But I digress...


The reinvention seems to have stopped in the Face Dances period.  Maybe it 
just started going around in circles instead of forward (it certainly 
didn't go BACKWARDS, as WBN 2 would have been far better than Face Dances). 
It seemed after Moon died, Pete lost interest, but he still had to show up, 
like two kids that play together all the time and fight a lot, but don't 
want to play with anyone else.



Anyway, just a few things I wanted to get off my chest...


OK,
KLW


PS:  The PT Quote of The Day is coming!  I promise!