Re: IH vs. WAY (or vs. FD)

[SlipKid@gnn.com (Ian Derby)]

>Date:	Sun, 5 May 1996 20:42:03 -0400
>From:	Bogie3200@aol.com
>Sender:	owner-thewho@mpath.com
>To:	thewho@mpath.com
>Subject:	IH vs. WAY (or vs. FD)
>
>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.