Re: My problem with a new Who album

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>Say a two-CD rock opera about middle-age Mods dealing with a mid-life 
>crisis done with Roger rapping.

Ooo.  I was with you until that.  ;)


>First off I don't see the problems that plagued The Who on their last four 
>studio albums (not two, four) having changed.  Roger wants something 
>personal and challenging to sing, John wants straight-ahead steamroller 
>rock and Pete wants jazz or rap or electronica or God knows what else other 
>than regular rock. So if John or someone other than Pete has song input on 
>the album, it's going to end up a mess of conflicting styles.

Actually, they seem to integrate musical styles very well.  They shift from 
one to another seamlessly, and combine different elements into one piece 
very well, too.  Until FACE DANCES, I didn't see anything wrong with what 
they came out with.  I don't think that album is well integrated, but quite 
likely that was a drummer and a production difference, rather than some 
disagreement within TED.


>Then there's Pete's remark of sometime ago saying that The Who wouldn't be 
>doing a concept album because that's not what people seem to want.

Nobody has the attention span to follow something like that anymore?  Hmmm.  
Maybe not.  Two minutes of attention is the best we can expect.  ;)


>Does anyone think any good Who album will come of The Who giving the people 
>what they want?  Is that why you're a fan of The Who?

Nah.  That's a committe project, and nobody ever likes those.  When you try 
to please everybody, then the ideas are too diluted, and you end up with 
lowest common denomintor crap.  Five people is about the limit as far as 
good decision-making goes.  Luckily, there are three to five people within 
the current Who that would be making the decisions.  Please them, and you've 
likely got a good-quality product.


>The only thing that will work is a gauntlet thrown. A challenge to Who fans 
>and the music critic establishment alike.  Something that would be a big 
>middle finger (or for you Brits, two fingers)
to everyone's expectations, would sound nothing like the usual Who record 
and take years to sink in.

Heheh.  That sounds like The Who.  About twenty years for QUAD, wasn't it?


keets
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