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Re: FACE DANCES



> Why is it that FACE DANCES isn't especially popular?  Not enough angst?
It
> sounds a lot like Pete's solo albums to me.

Always a big question for me, not because I'm such a champion of the album
(although, in toto, I like it better than Who Are You), but because I think
both the last two albums are routinely slammed for predisposed reasons and
not because people have actually listened carefully to them.

Here's the major complaints that have made about Face Dances:

1) Pete's writing style:  Pete was then going for a complex, poetic style of
writing in which he said he was smashing words and images like he used to
smash guitars.  So the songs have strong images in them that are complete
non-sequitars (like "volcanoes exploding through snow" in "Music Must
Change" for instance; yes, I know it's on Who Are You).  This "obscure and
oblique" style of writing was very off-putting to fans who were previously
attracted to Pete's writing for its straight-forward emotionalism.

2) Keyboards handle a lot of the leads instead of Pete's electric guitar.
This was done because Pete was trying to protect his hearing but most fans
won't accept that.

3) Kenney's much blander drumming style.  Face Dances made Kenney look bad
and it wasn't totally his fault.  Both Pete and John wrote their songs with
Kenney's style in mind (has Simon Phillips or Zac Starkey played "You Better
You Bet" in a style different from the way Kenney plays it here?  If they
have, I haven't heard it).  And he does shine on a few tracks (see "Daily
Records" which is very good).  He also complained that his drums were poorly
recorded and mixed.  Of course, the real reason was that he wasn't Keith
and, as great as Keith was, many fans then and now mindlessly genuflect to
Keith and clap their hands over their ears rather than hear anything else
Pete, Roger and John have done with any other drummer.

4) Roger's singing.  Not that it's bad singing from a technical sense, but
that he often "overacts" the songs.  For instance, even Roger said (as well
as Pete) that "Do You Steal My Money" was supposed to be a fun little
throwaway number much like The Who used to do on A Quick One or The Who Sell
Out.  But Roger sings the song with such force that it comes off sounding
like another stadium shouter and that kills the song's humor.  He's not
totally the only one to blame on this one.  There's a definite lack of
delicacy in the way The Who approach all the songs on Face Dances that at
times swamps the songs Pete gave them.  "How Can You Do It Alone" really
suffers from their "pound the stadium into submission" approach.

All in all, I feel that if you switched the songs on Face Dances with the
ones on Empty Glass, they'd still sound flawed on The Who album and Pete's
solo album would sound superior.  In 1980 Pete as a solo artist had the
greater flexibility to handle light pop tunes, moody think pieces and
flat-out rockers all on one album.  The Who had lost almost all of that
flexibility by then (both by the band's choice and their fans' demands) and
IMHO that's the principle problem with Face Dances.

        -Brian in Atlanta
         The Who This Month!
        http://members.home.net/cadyb/who.htm