Re: "Is you is or is you ain't The Who..."

[Ian Derby <iderby19@us.net>]

> 
> Huh? I've listened to those demos, too, and they have their points of
> interest. But Roger Daltrey *made* Tommy. To this day I cannot imagine
> anyone else persuasively singing "See me. Feel me. Touch me. Heal me."
> Roger at the very least has to be on anyone's short-list of the
> greatest rock singers of our time. Pete, while his voice has a certain
> charm, is simply not a great singer. Had Pete released the demos,
> however "tarted up", as a solo album, it would now be one the great
> rock "trivia" items.
> 


While I agree with you that Tommy needed the Who to make it succeed, 
(hell, Roger is THE perfect rock singer, not too high not too low, but 
plenty of emotion, spirit, and yet tunefull.) To say Pete wasn't a great 
singer is simply blasphemy.  His backup vocals (along with JE's) made Who 
songs for what they were.  The Who had advantages over so-called 
"advanced" rock bands like LZ because they had the capability of backup 
vocal support.  The truth was it was the Who who had all the elements of 
a band that allowed them to proceed further and open the envelope in 
rock, IE Quad.