Re: Last Two Albums

[mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman)]

>That could easily give The Who back some of
>the "bite" they lacked on the last two albums.
>
>No sense looking for scapegoats, Face Dances and It's Hard couldn't have been
>made better by Chris Thomas, George Martin, Phil Spector or any other
>producer - there just wasn't the material to work with.  The Who as an entity
>had "broken their music muscle", as a friend and I are fond of saying about
>artists who are creatively dead. 

JJM:
I'm not Mr. Mxyztplk...

Now, I love IT'S HARD and have never been one to blame Szymczyk for FACE
DANCES...FD was weak because of the material, definitely, and IH was
great...but definitely lacked the "bite" that EMPTY GLASS has on Gonna Get
You (for instance). IH sounds a bit muffled to me, deadened the same way WN
was before the remix. For THAT I can "blame" (I would say: attribute to)
Johns. WAY also isn't nearly as bright as the Thomas/Townshend albums.

>Glyn Johns is top-notch and I think he achieved a good sound on IH but the
>failure of the album lies at the feet of the band. 

What failure, may I ask? IH entered the charts at # 2, and was called (as I
recall them saying at the time) the highest charting Who album ever
(although TOMMY also hit # 2).


                   Cheers                   ML

"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."  L. Long