IH vs. WAY (or vs. FD)

[Bogie3200@aol.com]

After a few days away, I want to take this opportunity to offer some
reactions to what may be a very important debate.  There has long been a
"Moon vs post-Moon" debate, but rarely has it become this focused, which I
think is a healthy development.  Hopefully those of us who enjoy many
post-Moon songs will be tolerated a little more in the future. I do think
that many people on the other side of the debate don't fully respect the
disagreement in opinion, but rather think that fans of post-Moon Who material
are a few Faces short of a Hundred.

On this subject I'm generally in agreement with Mark Leaman, who recently
wrote:

>Good songs on WAY:           Good songs on IH:
>
>905                                      Athena
>Sister Disco                          It's Your Turn
>Music Must Change              Cooks County
>Trick Of The Light                  It's Hard
>Guitar And Pen                     Dangerous
>Who Are You                        Eminence Front
>                                           I've Known No War
>                                           A Man Is A Man
>                                           Cry If You Want

I would add "Had Enough" to the WAY list but delete three others (discussed
below) that are "okay" in the sense that I just don't enjoy as much any
longer for whatever reason, so on balance I think this is a valid list.  (But
I've gotta disagree with your assessment of "Another Tricky Day," which is
one of my Top 10 Favorite Who Songs; never thought of that beat in the middle
as "disco" and I was once a proud owner of a "Disco Sucks" shirt!).

On the other side of this subject, Ian (who I think I usually agree with)
wrote:

>I can't believe ANYONE would prefer this album to Who Are You.  Simply put,
this 
>album proves as tired as the band was (even with Keith's problems) that the
Who were 
>nothing without Keith.  As much as I've diagnosed when Keith Moon "lost it",
I still 
>realize he had a knack for feeling the music.  Kenny Jones never lived
inside a 
>Townshend/Entwistle composition.  He never used the proper accents to bring
forth the 
>beauty of each individual song.  Even on WAY, Keith knew how a song should
be 
>expressed.  IH lacks a lot of feeling which disables John from bouncing off
of Keith's 
>attack (so does FD, but FD has superior songwriting to IH, my opinion of
course).  >Personally New Song, Had Enough, Trick of the Light, Music Must
Change, and Who 
>Are You outshine any IH composition. 

I think that "Had Enough" and "Trick Of The Light" are great songs, but I
prefer just about anything on IH to "New Song" and "Music Must Change."

>First of all, WAY is a song for the ages, I don't see any song of that
stature on IH.  

This is true, as was a later statement you made:  "Cry If You Want is
probably the best 
song on the album, but compare it to the WAY (the song).  WAY was the last
WHO album where Pete still had the home run."  So I'd like to use a baseball
analogy, with pitching instead of hitting (though I could create one for
hitting, too):  When future Hall-Of-Famer Greg Maddux was on the Cubs, the
team's five-man starting rotation consisted of a superstar (like the song
"Who Are You") and four guys who were good at times, but not always.  The
Braves back then had nobody quite as good as Maddux, but EACH of their five
starters was VERY good, and they've almost always won a helluva lot more
games than the Cubs (who, in a grave injustice, let Maddux become a Brave!).
 So WAY may have it's "superstar" title track, but the IH lineup is the
winning team.

>Second, songs like Eminence and Cry if You Want are compositions which go
against 
>the traditional Who philosophy.  Both songs are directed to a trad. style
drummer, and 
>probably would've been better songs on a PT solo album.  Athena doesn't even
enter 
>the equation because it's the worst Who single ever, bar none!  (I'll defend
the Squeeze 
>Box fort to the end!!!<g>)  

In music, going against the "traditional philosophy" can be a GOOD
thing--e.g., prevent a group from being too predictable or stale.  Also, I've
heard many people on this list wish that certain solo songs had become Who
songs, but rarely the other way around (except that Mark suggested this
regarding "Love Is Coming Down" which is a point I can appreciate, though I
like The Who's version just fine).  I'm not a "Squeeze Box" detractor like
many on this list, but I must respectually disagree--if such a thing is
allowed on this list <g>--regarding "Athena," which is a song I've come to
appreciate MORE over the years after liking it to begin with.  

Also, though there are at least two songs on Face Dances that I love, it
definitely takes a back seat in my mind to IH.

And finally, during this debate and a few other times over the past year
there have been comments about Roger's voice weakening.  I think Fang
responded well to this.  I, too, feared at some point that his voice was
deteriorating, but after seeing him live this decade or listening to "Rocks
In The Head," my worries have been eliminated.  John's voice, on the other
hand, I'm not so sure about...

Rich B.