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As the Who prepares for tour, Daltrey plans new album
By KEVIN O'HARE
Newhouse News Service

As star-studded rock extravaganzas go, it'd be tough
to top the talent assembled for last October's Concert
for New York City in Madison Square Garden. 

Held just weeks after Sept. 11 to benefit relief
efforts, the show featured everyone from Paul
McCartney, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to Eric
Clapton, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Elton John and
countless other superstars. 

Now it's looking more and more like that night might
have marked a new beginning for the British rock
icons. On the heels of a sprawling new double disc
hits package (The Ultimate Collection) the Who are
embarking on a major U.S. tour this summer --
beginning June 28 in Las Vegas and concluding Sept. 19
in Englewood, Colo. But the even bigger news is that
the band is planning to head into the recording studio
in October, to work on what it hopes will be its first
new studio album since 1982's It's Hard. 

In a recent interview from Los Angeles, Who singer
Roger Daltrey was warm and reflective about the band's
storied past, and positively exuberant about its
future. Yet when it came to talking about The Concert
for New York City, he was contemplative. 

"That was one of the most emotional nights of my
life," he said of performing before the firefighters,
police and family members who'd been so devastated by
Sept. 11. "To be there was incredibly humbling. We
just wanted to give them a good time because they'd
had such a miserable time during the past six weeks.
We said, 'Let's just try and take them out of it with
a few minutes of good rock 'n' roll.'" 

They did just that, with a raucous performance of
songs that will undoubtedly find their way into the
Who's shows this summer. But Daltrey predicts there'll
be some musical surprises along the way as well. 

"We intend to do a few more obscure things we haven't
done for a while," Daltrey said. "For a while we
tended to get into the kind of FM radio play side of
what people expect from the Who. But we are going to
explore the other areas. ... You'll get the hits but
you'll also get the quirky stuff that a lot of our
fans have really, really missed." 

When asked for an example, Daltrey pointed to the
band's often overlooked 1975 album The Who By Numbers.


"We haven't played stuff from The Who By Numbers for
years and there's a lot of good material on that," he
said. 

Daltrey and chief songwriter/guitarist Pete Townshend
have had numerous discussions about going back into
the studio. 

"The tour basically is to get us in shape to go into
the studio and make a great record, not just something
that'd pedantic," Daltrey said. 

But he stressed that there are no guarantees. 

"We're going in the studio in October," he said. "I've
been writing and I know Pete's got a few things up his
sleeve. But obviously he's got the most to lose out of
all this -- if he never writes another song in his
life everyone remembers all those great songs. If he
writes a song now, even if it's a great song -- but
not quite as good as Baba O'Riley -- he'll be
criticized. I understand it totally. He's in kind of a
no-win situation and it can't be easy for him. But I
still think the band is in better shape now than it
has been since probably 1973. I think we're musically
more qualified and able to make a better record now
than we have since then." 

One of the reasons Daltrey is so confident in the
current musical lineup is the presence of drummer Zak
Starkey -- the son of Ringo Starr. Starkey's more than
held up the spot once occupied by the legendary and
maniacal Keith Moon, who died in September 1978,
shortly after the release of Who Are You. After Moon
died, the Who added ex-Faces drummer Kenney Jones, but
the firepower was never quite the same as it had been
with Moon. 

"No disrespect against Kenney. He's a
top-of-the-class, A-1 drummer," Daltrey said. "But he
was the wrong style. Zak is just the perfect drummer
for us. It takes a very particular style to fill that
seat because we are a very unusual band. John
(Entwistle) is really a lead guitarist playing the
bass, Pete's a rhythm and lead guitarist all in one.
And then there's a vocalist out front. We've got
keyboards now, and the way we play, if you just put a
straight drummer down the middle, it just doesn't
flow. 

"Our heads are in a different place musically now, and
we gel technically as players," Daltrey said. "I know
as a singer my voice is better now too. I might not be
able to hit as many of the higher notes as I used to,
but the lower notes are better, and there's a richness
that's developed with age that was never there on
those early records." 

Daltrey hopes that a new generation will be turned on
by the 35-song new release The Ultimate Collection,
which starts with the band's 1965 first single I Can't
Explain and includes everything from My Generation and
Magic Bus to Behind Blue Eyes, Pinball Wizard and the
Who's last studio hit, 1982's Eminence Front. 

"It's really for people who've just discovered the
band," Daltrey said. "The market changes all the time
and there's a new audience just discovering rock 'n'
roll. ... It's a good example of who the Who are, and
if they like that, they can explore it further." 

He attributes the group's multigenerational appeal to
its working-class roots. 

"The heart of the Who has always been in the right
place," Daltrey said. "We're a working-class band and
we maintained our roots. We've never been aloof or
apart from our audience. We're a part of it, and
that's really why our fans have been so loyal. But the
songs too are so timeless. Every generation goes
through painful times, those certain times of their
life. Those songs will always speak to them 'cause
they come from an incredibly honest part of Pete's
psyche." 

One of the reissue projects currently under way is of
the Who's debut album from 1965, The Who Sings My
Generation. 

Daltrey's excited about that project, which will
likely include plenty of rarities. 

"I haven't heard it yet," he said. "But there's an a
cappella My Generation which I can't wait to hear,
because for the life of me, I can't remember doing
it." 

Actor, singer and frontman for one of the world's most
enduring bands, Daltrey is looking forward to the tour
and especially the upcoming studio sessions with
optimism tempered by a sense of reality. 

"It would be great to think we could have another hit
album but who knows," he said. "We may spend a month
in the studio and say this is a load of (expletive)
and that'll be the end of it. So that's why I don't
think too much about the future. I just want to take a
day at a time and be thankful that I'm here, and use
the band to do as much good work as we can." 

-- 
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
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