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Re: Last Two Albums



Mark L. wrote:

>I'm not Mr. Mxyztplk...

And I'm not Brainiac, but it's high time we let the Star Trek references take
a back seat to such Superman references, including this relatively obscure
one (and to prove that I'm compulsive about Man of Steel details as well as
Trek details as well as Who details, I must commend you on using the original
Golden Age spelling with "tp" as opposed to the contemporary spelling wherein
the t and p are reversed)!!

>Now, I love IT'S HARD... 

So do I; there may be a need for some of us to form a sub-group of this list
called "The It's Hard Anti-Defamation League."

>...IH was great...but definitely lacked the "bite" that EMPTY GLASS has on
Gonna 
>Get You (for instance). IH sounds a bit muffled to me, deadened the same way
WN
>was before the remix.  For THAT I can "blame" (I would say: attribute to)
Johns. WAY 
>also isn't nearly as bright as the Thomas/Townshend albums.

I never perceived earlier releases of WN to be muffled (in the way that I've
perceived this on earlier Tommys), but I understand what you're saying about
IH's sound.

>>Glyn Johns is top-notch and I think he achieved a good sound on IH but the
failure of 
>>the album lies at the feet of the band. 
>
>What failure, may I ask? IH entered the charts at # 2, and was called (as I
recall them 
>saying at the time) the highest charting Who album ever (although TOMMY also
hit # 
>2).

I guess I don't recall IH selling so strongly, and I certainly wasn't aware
of it getting to #2, though maybe Rolling Stone's very positive review helped
early sales.  So it entered at #2 but couldn't get to #1??  Do you recall
offhand what LP was #1 at the time?  I sometimes have seen old Billboard
lists and end up scratching my head--"How could THOSE TWO crappy LPs kept
Quadrophenia from getting to #1??"

Rich B.