Re: The Hidden Entwistle

[mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman)]

>I've been a Who fan for years and have been frustrated by the fact 
>that the cameras, in various videos and concert footage over the 
>years, are rarely on Entwistle.  It seems the camera operators just
>naturally gravitate their lenses toward Daltry and Townshend.  I 
>enjoy watching Pete play, but I'd like to see more of what John is
>doing.  A few examples come to mind.  In the video for You Better,
>You Bet, the camera is solely on John for maybe 10-15 seconds during
>that video. 

Kreg:

I agree that Entwistle gets little camera time, and the odds are the film
makers are going for the action rather than concentrating on a balance of
members. And on the occasional glimpse we see John's hands moving like
lightning. 
However, the footage is edited before we see it. There is a camera on
Entwistle the entire time (in most cases), and the editor made the decision
to show him less. Why? I'm guessing, but I think the reason may be that the
footage wouldn't be a lot different from song to song (excluding his own
songs). He just stands there playing like a madman but not moving. So,
unless you're a bass player studying his technique, it probably wouldn't be
as exciting as watching Townshend, Datrey, and Moon.
A solution might be to show more short shots of John, but then I'm not the
editor.

>A second aspect of the hidden Entwistle must have something to do
>with record production.  On a lot of Who songs it is difficult to
>hear the bass guitar.  Maybe it has something to do with the way John
>plays, or the settings on his bass, or the fact that Who's bass was
>often the lead instrument.  Maybe its just record production. 

As we know, John isn't too pleased with the level his bass gets in the
albums. He leaped at the chance to revamp QUADROPHENIA (for the soundtrack),
which amounted to enhancing his bass. He did the same for I Can See For
Miles for the BBC (on the Max BBC boot). 
So I don't think it's the way he plays or the setting on his bass. More
likely it has to do with the vision of the producer for the songs. Keep in
mind that as innovative as The Who were, there were still limited by the
people working around them...and the standard practices of the time (even
Lambert, who was sort of working in the dark...I would imagine that he
leaned heavily on the engineers present for the mix).

              Cheers                        ML