Bad Pub

[jimthewhofan at aol.com]

 Scott,
 
 Good post. Frankly, it's good that there are those here among us who are able to come out and bring negative criticism to bear on the album. 
 
 You are correct, to me, in your assessment of the lack of band cohesion on this album. The mini-opera feels unified (though "Trilby's Piano" is another lyrical embarrassment for Pete). I find that Peter Huntington really helps hold the opera together and I'll go on record here--I prefer his playing to Zak Starkey's. None of the new studio material on which Zak plays (on this album, and the two songs from '04) impresses me drumwise. I'm not crazy about his reliance on large, dark crash cymbals and the guy who once was labelled by a lot of us as the perfect guy to replace Keith Moon is just damned restrained on record. 
 
 This lack of cohesion makes it easier, for me anyway, to pick and choose what I will listen on this record. "In The Ether" and "...Marty Robbins" both get ignored by me after those first couple of listens. I'm not bothered by Pete's continued forays into supernatural, as you put it. Pete has long been a proponent of the temporal and spiritual salvation power that music has (to wit, "The Sea Refuses No River" and "Let My Love Open The Door"). When Pete goes "religious" on us, I just choose to interpret his work differently than perhaps he intended. Pete may feel connected to his God through his music, but it's not mandatory that I feel the same thing he does when listening to one of Pete's songs. However, your mileage may vary.
 
 But hey, it's perfectly OK not to love or even like this album. I still group this album with FACE DANCES and IT'S HARD. I tend to prefer it to those records. To me, of those three "last" Who albums, FD has the most cohesion. IH and EW have some really strong great Who moments. And some real clunkers. But I count myself as lucky that EW has the moments it has--I won't deny that I was worried about the record before I'd heard anything. I'm just sorry that after all this buildup, you find yourself not liking it.
 
  http://www.igtc.com/mailman/listinfo/thewho
   
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