No Subject

Noel knows Who's best
by Noel Gallagher

I'm playing with The Who at the Royal Albert Hall. It's a charity gig in aid of
the Teenage Cancer Trust and I'm in their band!

I'm doing a week's rehearsals, and I'm f***ing mad for it, mate! The musical
director phoned up the other day and said, "You're doing 'Won't Get Fooled
Again' - are you up for any more?" I went, "I'll do as many as you f***ing want,
I know them all anyway!"

It's funny, because for me it was always the Beatles, the Stones, the Sex
Pistols. Then last Christmas I saw The Who at Shepherd's Bush Empire and it was
absolute magic, they just blew me away. That's what I meant when I called the
last Oasis studio album Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants. We took the legacy
of these Sixties and Seventies groups and made it ours in the Nineties.

"Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is" on the last album sounded a lot like The Who,
and of course we also did a cover of "My Generation" for a Radio 1 session.
Years ago, Johnny Marr sold me a guitar which used to belong to Pete Townshend
and I wrote "Slide Away" on it. Zak Starkey, who is Ringo Starr's son and is
drumming with Johnny's band The Healers, also plays with The Who. Last year I
bought Dear Boy: The Life Of Keith Moon by Tony Fletcher and I was captivated.

The more it goes on, the more similarities I see between Oasis and The Who.
Townshend and Roger Daltrey aren't related but they used to fight like me and
our kid. The singer gets a bit lippy and you end up giving him a smack and not
getting on the tour bus with him! Mind you, I don't like any of The Who's
albums - I can't sit through Tommy or Quadrophenia. But some of their singles
and the tracks on Who's Next are fantastic. My favourite album of theirs is
Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy, the hits collection - great sleeve too.

The Who were the original band with no passengers. John Entwistle is deaf as a
post but he's an amazing bass player, and Live At Leeds is probably the best
live album of all time, miles above Thin Lizzy's Live And Dangerous and U2's
Under A Blood Red Sky. Familiar To Millions, our live album, is really good but
you can't compete with The Who. So I might as well join them for one night.

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