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Re: The Who Mailing List Digest V8 #186



>> I sincerely believe that losing Kit was 100 times more damaging to The 
>> Who's  artistic momentum than Keith Moon's death. >>
> 
> One thing I hate is an assinine statement such as this.  How could a manager 
> with weak production skills be more damaging to the Who's artistic momentum 
> than Keith Moon's death. 

Asinine (one "s", BTW)?  I don't think so.  Sure, the knee-jerk reaction is to think, 
"How could losing Kit Lambert be more detrimental than losing Keith Moon?"  But 
you gotta know your Who history here.

Lambert & Stamp were *directly* responsible for shaping & controlling the Golden 
Age of The Who.  They've been referred to as the 5th & 6th members of the band.
Without their guidence, The Who would've *never* gotten off the ground, with or
without Keith Moon.  Their assistance in formulating The Who cannot be overlooked.

Kit Lambert was *not* just a manager with "weak production skills."  This is the
guy who guided Pete during The Who's singles period.  The guy who helped struct-
ure their stage show.  The guy who told Pete if something was rubbish.  The guy 
who told Pete if something was good.  The guy who told Pete he *could* write a
grand piece of music encapsulating individual rock songs.  Fact is, besides Townsh-
end, Lambert is the most important member of the early Who camp.  Without him
there might not have been the creative output of Townshend compositions for Keith
Moon to display his talents on.

Of course the loss of Moon was a huge setback for The Who.  Huge.  But the loss
of Kit Lambert as Townshend's mentor ranks right up there as one of the leading
contributors of The Who's creative slide throughout the 70's.  Lambert's importance
to The Who must *never* be understated.  

Many see the downfall of The Who in the 70's as Pete's gradual use of Rock in a 
self-analytical style rather than the artistic, literary bent used before that.  Surely,
Keith Moon's diminishing drum skills weren't the reason for Pete's switch in song-
writing approaches.  However, the loss of Lambert might very well have been the
reason.  


- SCHRADE in Akron