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WBN, Naked Eye, and a nice pair




> I hate to represent the "I-Hate-By Numbers" group because I don't hate
any Who
> album, even "Who's Last."

Brian:

(GASP!) EVEN WL??? You ARE a fan!

> 1) "Squeeze Box" would have to top the list.

I completely agree. I understand it was meant to be commercial after a
double album of non-commercial material, but it's still a bit cheesy for
me.

> Otherwise, not only the worst Who song

Worse than How Can You Do It Alone and Did You Steal My Money? I don't know
about that...

> but one of the worst of the Seventies and that's saying a lot.

No, no...I am forced to disagree with you here. Nothing could be worse than
Jimmy Buffett's entire output, REO (ditto), Disco (all of it), Beach Baby,
Billy Don't Be A Hero, The (freakin') Night Chicago Died....oh, the list is
ENDLESS!

DISCO DUCK! How can ANYTHING be worse than THAT??? Oh, yeah: PAC MAN
FEVER!!!!!!!

> 2) That banjo.  What is a banjo doing in a song as bleak as "However Much
I
> Booze?"  I can barely tolerate it in "I've Had Enough" but up front it
almost
> reduces the song to a joke.

I do like the banjo, and after all Pete learned to play guitar from the
banjo...which gave him a very unique sound and damned good acoustic licks,
too. My guess is he put it in HMIB to lighten the mood a bit, take the
sting out, as a self-depreciating sort of release from the bleakness.
Several lines work in a similar fashion, or so I read them: 

"Dish me out another tailor-made compliment..."

"You at home can easily decide what's right/By glancing very briefly at the
songs I write..."

And, of course, the very concept of being able to "booze" your way out of
such a state of mind is rather humorous. "However much I booze/There still
ain't no way out..." Even Homer Simpson could figure that one out.

>   worst: FAITH IN SOMETHING BIGGER (which I am listening to right now,
> as I type this)  uggggh.

Jim:

Oh, I like this one! For instance, I recently used the opening line to
counter the non-metaphoric accusation concerning Pete's lyrics, requiring
McGoo to come up with something Dickinson wrote as good as:

"It may be warm/But the snow is going to fall/Enough to cover us all..."

(which, BTW, he was unable to do)

Pretty damned good, if you ask me. And you've got to love those backing
vocals.

> My wish is that Pete will quit being so stubborn and the Who would
> make another hit album (to prove to everyone who the best rock and roll
band
> is in the world) and then do a tour but only playing small concert halls.

Denise:

That's a nice pair of wishes you've got there. Although I can imagine how
good Pete's solo albums (especially the last two) would have been as Who
albums, I'd rather they not make a new one at this point. Like the
Republicans in Congress, the boys have no way to win. Anything they release
would be relentlessly hacked apart and/or ignored and it would drive them
(and us) crazy, and there would be Who fans who would stand behind it even
if it was complete garbage (insert ELP reference here).
Who needs all of that? Besides, Pete's not even making solo albums anymore.
And I'd cite as my case in point what happened with the two Kenny Jones
albums.
Bands with little or nothing going in the first place, like Kiss and Styx
for instance, can make a "reunion" album successfully...but for The Who, it
would be like climbing Mt. Everest. And I'm sure you'll agree that we don't
need any substandard material.
A tour would be very nice, as long as it was done as well as the `97 QUAD
tour. I'd hate to watch them deteriorate on stage (insert Stones reference
here). And that IS the reason Pete disbanded the band.