Re: FACE DANCES

["Jeremy Craine" <jcraine@hotmail.com>]

what about "It's in You" on the remaster?
I really got into this song lately and think its one of the top 4 songs on 
the album.Vocals are fantastic and its a great lyrical song too with enough 
humour to keep it light.
almost in the same vein as "new song" on WAY...
anyone else love this song or am i alone..?


>From: "L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>
>To: TheWho@igtc.com
>Subject: Re: FACE DANCES
>Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2000 07:37:46 GMT
>
>>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.
>
>I've been really enjoying IT'S HARD just lately.  A couple of tracks annoy
>me (unusual for a Who album), but I've figured out to just skip over them,
>and then it plays much better.  For this one, they went back to the style 
>of
>WAY, which is one of my favorite Who albums (no accounting for taste, huh?)
>It tends to sound underdeveloped, but there are some real winners on there.
>
>
>>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.
>
>Big one here.  I've just been saying that about "How Can You Do It Alone."
>I like the version they made up on stage better because it's more raw and
>immediate.  In obscuring the emotional heart of the songs, Pete has made
>them forgettable.
>
>Is the key to writing for The Who?  In FACE DANCES they've followed Pete
>into the style of his solo albums.  They've spent some time developing 
>these
>songs and (I think) caught Pete's new sound fairly well.  It just doesn't
>suit The Who.
>
>Pete still has a tendency to write this way.  Is that what he means about
>not being able to write any more for Roger's (The Who's) voice?
>
>
>>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.
>
>No biggie.
>
>
>>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?
>
>A mismatch.  It's what Pete was looking for.  It's Roger and John that 
>don't
>fit.
>
>
>>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.
>>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.
>
>I don't have much complaint about Roger's performance here.  Now and then 
>he
>overdoes it, but generally he's caught the effect very well.  Apparently he
>enjoyed singing in the different style, too.  I think "Do You Steal My
>Money" is the best Roger track on the album.  He's found serious elements 
>in
>the song and expressed them well--plus he stays on top of the bass.  On 
>"How
>Can You Do It Alone" he doesn't, though.  Sometimes he's too light--is that
>the problem?
>
>Speaking of bass, I sure do hear JAE on some of these songs.  Talk about
>heavy-handed.  ;)  Pete sings on "I Like Nightmares" and "Somebody Saved
>Me."  Theoretically these should sound like his solo albums, but John
>completely spoils the effect.  "Somebody Saved Me" is a great song,
>too--rates up there with the material Pete does solo.  He's very expressive
>on this one, too, but Roger might have sounded better against the bass.  
>For
>this style, John REALLY needs to turn down.
>
>To be fair, the bass problem is probably in the engineering, but also it's 
>a
>very simple bass line for John.  Bet this album bored JAE to death, and it
>seems like they could have worked out a better role for him in these
>songs--I love the ending to "You" where he almost has a solo.
>
>
>>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.
>
>I agree with that.
>
>
>>  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.
>
>A fatal problem, as far as the studio album went.  Actually the songs 
>aren't
>bad, but they don't take advantage of the energy that The Who produces, or
>the delicate expression that Pete achieves by himself.  Did they ever play
>more than "You Better, You Bet" on stage?
>
>
>keets
>________________________________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
>

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com