Re: The Who Digest Vol 3 Num 148

[Jeff Williams <jeffw@mxim.com>]

God, what a lot of postings!  Here I am, gone for a few days, and it's like
reading War and Peace.

Joe Grimes, you rule! Period.

My Generation is the first rock album, if My Generation the song isn't the
first Rock song.  Though it probably is.  Listen to The Ox.  If it ain't
hard rock, with a healthy dose of R&B all swirled in candy-cane-like, I don't
know what...

When I hear that the R&B covers were not liked or considered amateurish or
naive (by the Who or their fans), I just shake my head sadly... I think that
stuff is some of the best moments of anything, period. Those guys did it 
naturally.  Kinda like a dog licking its nuts.  They were born with it.  
Mebbe some do it better than others, but I never heard anything so innate in 
my life.  Clapton and his ilk wanted to BECOME Blues, or R&B, or whatever, 
but these young dudes WERE it.  And so much more.  THey always showed me 
clearly that "Yeah, we can do this, so we'll show you how, but then watch
us: We'll do so much more, rather than retread American Blues till were blue
in the face (or thirty years older and doing it at the Grammys or somesuch)."

Don't get me wrong.  I love the Yardbirds and Cream all the way, as the 
Chairman would put it.  But goddammit, what the hell has Clapton done since
about 1973?  (Of course,  I do go on record not liking Who records beyond
1973.  Hmmm...).  Anyways, point is, good or bad, the Who broke some new
ground creatively, whether I personally like it or not, since then, as has
Townshend.  I don't see it with Clapton.  His popularity utterly baffles me.
I know, I know, it's his fame, fortune, etc.  but what the hell difference
does that make?