WAY/FD/IH

["Gary M. Gillman" <garyg@inforamp.net>]

The common thread for me to these albums which weakens them considerably in
relation to what came before (although the problem really began with Quad)
is not the occasionally  poor drumming (whether of Moon or Jones), or any
bad songwriting ( there`s very little of that on these albums), or the
occasionally bad singing ( eg. Rog on New Song, or JAE on It`s Your Turn):
it`s Pete Townshend`s benign guitar playing, in the sense of his having
chosen for the first time to move the guitars to the back of the band`s
sound.  This made these albums much less than what they would otherwise have
been. This is not a production or mixing problem, as I don`t believe a bad
mix can fundamentally change a good sound. PT changed his fundamental guitar
sound after Who`s Next by making it much less obtrusive and quieter in the
recorded ensemble sound of the Who than it had been previously.  This was
for reasons best known to PT, but likely related to the onset in the
mid-70`s of hearing difficulties.  These led, probably, not so much to his
inability to play hard rock guitar ( because he continued to do so live),
but to a disinclination to rock out when he practiced or was recorded in the
studio ( with its endless takes). In fact, I remember distinctly reading an
interview with PT when IH came out in which he said the only "heavy guitars"
were on JAE`s songs because that`s the sound JAE wanted even though PT`s
ears were hurting from the volume he had to play to give JAE the desired
(i.e., classic Who) sound. Had PT played the guitars on these albums to
sound big and powerful ( allowing for the odd variation he clearly wanted
such as Blue, Red and Grey), these albums would have been monster sellers
AND major critical successes, IMO. The proof is by listening to how great
almost all these tunes sound when the Who did them live - this has been
pointed out on the list many times before. As just one example, I cite
Dreaming From The Waist as played live in 1975 - a powerful, exciting
performance of this tune can be seen and heard on the 30 years`
video.......Gary M.