Real Good Looking Boy reminds me a lot of Walking In My Sleep from the Daltrey solo album Parting Should Be Painless, with a few Townshend strums thrown in. Old Red Wine is a bit more powerful, and my favorite of the two. I like the songs, but they don't kick my ass (and that's what I think we need in a new Who album, especially in a single). RGLB doesn't sound much like a Who song, but if any more like one from It's Hard. ORW is more like it, mainly because of the jam toward the end. Both sound like they might have been unreleased tracks from It's Hard. I can see where some think it sounds like a demo. The production is very sparse, and Townshend's guitar in particular is plain and unadorned. I'm disappointed that the songs weren't more like the pyrotechnics we've seen from the band live in the last few years. Not a lot of energy in either song. My greatest fear has been realized: these songs are mediocre. Also when my wife heard RGLB for the first time, she got a funny look on her face. When it finished, I asked what she thought. She has more than a passing familiarity with the band after living with a Who fan for 28 years and seeing them three times. She asked why Pete was writing a song about a guy. I explained the song and she said "Oh." Later, after hearing both, she said they were good. But I'm guessing most listeners aren't going to get the Elvis references (as "in your face" as they are) and just think it's a song about a guy. Anyway...to me, and I'll admit I'm a harsh critic, these songs sound like album filler, like A Man Is A Man or Why Did I Fall For That.
"If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign." George "my opponents are all traitors" Bush
===== Cheers ML
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