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The Rehabilitation of FACE DANCES



Fang, Jimbo, re:

Jimbo said:

>Regarding Roger's opening of WhoFest with "You Better.." and "Another..."
maybe it's an attempt to "rehabilitate" FD.  

And Fang replied:

"Rehabilitate"??? Did I actually read that??? Can you perhaps describe the
thought process that one may use in doing the same?

And now I say:

Perhaps Roger's playing FD material on the Who Fest was Roger's attempt to
say that the songs have grown on him a little bit (or a lot, I dunno).  I
can't imagine Roger playing tracks he absolutely hates when he's pretty much
in charge of the gig.  And he used to think that FD was pretty bad.

Fang then said:

Other "Face Dances" songs that are noteworthy are: "Don't Let Go The Coat"
and "Daily Records"...

I say:

What makes these songs noteworthy?  To me, they are simply songs that Pete
wrote that should've been kept for a Pete solo album.  Can Roger Daltrey
relate to either of these songs? Can 
Entwistle?  I'm not saying they have to relate to them, but I would think
they'd want to play stuff that had some meaning to them.  Hey, it was a WHO
album, not a TOWNSHEND album.  Does FD need some rehabilitation?  Yes, but we
can't go back in time and re-produce the record.  Maybe it would have been
nice if Smyzckdkdkdkdk whatever had said to Pete, "hey, can you try a little
harder?"    But, each response to Who is personal, and if you like FD, fine.
 Nobody's gonna shoot you for it.

Jimbo said:

I hated the production, particularly the drums which were so muffled and
dampened.

I say (as a drummer myself):

I agree.  The drums are not as rich and full as even those we got on IH.  It
may be due to Kenney's removing the bottom heads from his drums, which tends
to deaden the drum sound because the bottom head's vibration contributes to
drum's overall sound.  Notice that Kenney's drums sound kinda damped too on
the NYC boots from 79, where he used the one-head appraoch (but where he
played with much more intensity).  I think with IH he was back to using two
heads (hey, two heads are better than one...drum humor).  

But Fang said to Jimbo:

I don't know what you are listening to the album on or what format you are
using as a source, but I wouldn't describe the drums SOUND [on FD] as
"muffled" or "dampened". However, there is a clear LACK of druming on the
album which doesn't help..

And I say, finally:

Fang is right in that there is a general lack of drumming on that album.  I
blame not Jones so much as Pete's songs (there's lots of drumming going on in
THE QUIET ONE, with its great interplay of ride cymbal, crash cymbals, and
snare; Keith couldn't have done it if you'd put a gun to his head and kept
him sober).  I don't think Pete's material on that album gives a drummer much
to do.  Also, keep in mind that Jones couldn't win for losing.  If he'd done
a Neil Peart imitation,  so many Who fans would say that he was simply
mimicking Keith.  If he plays it more as a timekeeper, then people say it's
boring and he has no imagination and can't take a song to greater heights.  

This doesn't mean I totally defend Kenney.  On the 82 tour (at least the
recorded stuff that's commercially available), he's barely there, just
putting in his time and cashing his checks.   He didn't want the Who to end,
but since it was, he just bided his time.  I wish he would've tried a little
harder.

--Jim