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Artistic improvement



(First of all, let's get a better title for this thread...)

On Mon, 12 Feb 1996, Lev Polinsky wrote:
}On Sat, 10 Feb 1996, Mark Leaman wrote:
}>> ...
}> Actually, while Moon disintegrated through the years, and Roger lost a bit
}> of his old fury, and John stayed about the same (read: the greatest bass
}> player in the world)...Pete was the only member of the band that got better
}> and better through the years. Not only his vocals, but his guitarwork...I
}> was thoroughly impressed with his playing on the `89 tour (when he did play
}> electric...he's always been an outstanding acoustic player).
}> 
}I've always felt that it was John who improved the most--his work on the 
}earlier albums is revolutionary, but some of the stuff he does on, say, 
}Quadrophenia, is truly mindblowing.
}

I agree with Lev (and not just because he got me a copy of the Tommy Demos at
great cost to his health!).  Starting with Who's Next, it seems that John was
starting [allowed?] to stretch out in the studio more.  The musicality of his
bass work on WN & Quad really awed me, more of a second lead guitar / counter-
point than an accompaniment.  Twenty-some years later, watching him at the Who
Convention (and I was about ten feet away) inspired even more awe, including
his flashy flutter-both-hands-at-the-same-time trick.  Too bad he didn't play
that Behind Blue Eyes bass run that I've loved so well all these years until
the final bars...

> Mike <