Entwistle review

[Roger Leduc <70672.3551@compuserve.com>]

To all Who-listers:
 The following review of John Entwistle's Jan. 25 show in Danbury, Conn. 
appeared in the Hartford Courant of Jan. 27.
 Don't slay the messenger, guys!
  -- RL

GOOD AND BAD SONGS AND GREAT BASS PLAYING
By Roger Catlin
Courant Rock Critic
 "This is our first gig," John Entwistle apologized Thursday evening. "I'm 
sure we're a bit rusty here and there. Bear with us."
 The venerable co-founder of the Who, 51, had to remove his thick fingers 
from his spidery bass a few times to direct the rest of his band during its 
set at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury. He had to indicate to drummer Steve 
Luongo, already under considerable pressure to reproduce Keith Moon's 
explosive drumwork, to speed up "My Wife." He chided keyboardist Alan St. 
John for forgetting his backup vocals during "Had Enough."
 Half the 16 songs Entwistle and his band played were from the Who, for whom 
he had become a reliable tunesmith by the band's end.
 "Success Story," the wry tale from "The Who By Numbers" and one of the best 
songs all night, told of the rise and fall of a rock band "being successful 
at least one time," he added sardonically before the few hundred fans.
 That song, and most of the others, were handled vocally by the rest of his 
quartet. Guitarist Godfrey Townsend had an authentic Roger Daltrey rasp but 
wasn't used as much as St. John, who had an annoying progressive-rock 
delivery. Even Luongo, in addition to his passable Moon tribute on 
drums, handled lead vocals, eventually taking over "My Wife."
 Entwistle was the one member of the Who who liked to tour, no matter what. 
His last solo outing was eight years ago, when he toured despite not being 
able to get an album out that he had recorded (the FBI closed down the record 
company). This time out, he pressed 5,000 copies of that old album to sell 
amid the $20 souvenir programs and $35 spider jewelry but otherwise had no 
other compelling promotional reason to tour, other than just to play.
 The songs on the album, "The Rock," are probably his worst ever, reflecting 
the last gasp of classic-rock stylings his band still prefers. The songs he 
played from the 1981 album before it, "Love Is a Heart Attack" and "Too Late 
the Hero," were just as bad.
 But it was worth sitting through them to get to the great stuff, or just to 
watch Entwistle's often-overlooked bass playing in action up close. 
Highlights included the opening "Heaven and Hell," a Who concert staple, and 
in the two encores, a pair of oldies that appeared on "Live at Leeds." The 
success of "Summertime Blues" and "Shakin' All Over" on that great live 
alnum, reissued last year, was due in large part to Entwistle's inventive 
musicianship; the latter brought the bassist's only extended soloing of 
the night.
 The centerpiece, of course, was "Boris the Spider," in a version that threw 
in a couple of other classics as well -- Mussorgsky's "A Night on Bald 
Mountain" and Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."
 Entwistle and his band also play the Sting in New Britain tonight [Saturday].