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TOMMY without the Who



Mark, re:

>>>I don't agree. I think TOMMY would have still been a major release. Not to
downplay Daltrey's contribution (studiowise, we're talking here)...but he
really came into his own as a Rock vocalist with LAL, for those of us who
weren't fortunate enough to see him. Remember, Dylan did alright with just
content and music not nearly on par with Pete's.<<<

I hope I'm following your thread here correctly, Mark.  But it seems to me
that TOMMY may not even have ever existed without the Who having existed
first.  TOMMY was a response to their failure to garner hit singles.  I don't
think you can stretch so far as to say that TOMMY would have major anything
without the dynamics of the Who's career that came before it.  It's hard to
even say that Pete Townshend would have ever been recognized without the Who
to project his songs (perhaps if Pete had joined another band, but it's so
hard to predict or theorize about how the dynamics of this other band would
have unfolded--maybe that band would have had hit singles).

Certainly the demos that Townshend produced for TOMMY indicate the depth of
Pete's thinking, and perhaps if Pete had bolted the Who then and done TOMMY
as a solo album it would have been the major release you are arguing about.
 But the TOMMY that we know needed the Who/Townshend's failure to generate
hits before it come to fruition

Jim