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RE:



   If the "cabaret act" line sounds familiar, it's because it's straight from
the mouth of Pete himself.  In his choice of drummers, Pete condemned the Who to
the very fate he had always feared for the band.  In any case, from the material
I've heard, Keith (and the Who in general- probably not a coincidence) was very
variable.  I know what you're talking about as per the Pontiac Dome show; Keith 
is obviously struggling just to keep time.  But the Swansea material on the box
set from 1976 is a very different matter- I think Keith plays great on it 
(though, admittedly, still not up to the peak level of his past).  I think it's
obvious that the Who, with Moon, were still capable of great performances into
the late seventies.  The main problem for Moon was the Who's sporadic touring 
schedule in the late 70's- it was during the off-time between tours that Keith's
skills deteriorated the most.  So, had the Who begun touring full-time again 
(and recall that Keith was trying to kick his alcohol habit at the time of his
death), who knows how far back Keith could have gotten?  And it always seemed 
that the other members of the Who, Pete in particular, fed off of Keith's 
enthusiasm.  So who knows what might have happened... 
   But the fact is, the members of the Who made a very poor choice to replace
Keith.  Kenny not only couldn't come up with original stuff as good as Keith's,
but he couldn't even replicate Keith's playing on the older material- the Who
just didn't sound like the Who with Kenny.  Were they still a good band?  Yea,
and they were still capable of being exciting.  But I firmly believe that they
could have been even better had they just found a drummer with a style closer
to Moon's.  And I'm sorry that I don't know about the fact that, before I was
born, Kenny Jones was once a good drummer.  I'm just judging from his work 
with the Who- all that's relevant, I think.  Just my "common" opinions....


                                                        M.M.