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RE: POLITICS, NEW ALBUM, LIVE SHOW



Cor blimey, what a moaning bunch of old whiners some of us have become.  We
veer from liking one another to wanting to beat seven kinds of shit out of
each other!  Oh, well I suppose it's pretty much as I remember the "mod"
days of old.  The political debates have outraged me and amused me; the
insults hurtling back and forth are as much fun.  The Who on the road in
2002 is exciting for us all (I believe) even the oldest grumpy cynics who
will believe, forever, that The Who will never re-capture the spirit of '65
/ '68 / '70 / '71 / '73 (whenever) - delete the year(s) you want - BUT
they'll still go along to see 'em.

The Who recording a new album - I have two contradictory thoughts on
this......FANTASTIC and OH SHIT!  I'm looking forward to whatever it is they
may or may not manage to stick down on tape as I'm sure that (eventually)
I'll find something "new" by them that I like.  For christ's sake it took me
nearly twenty years to discover more than two decent tracks on their last
two official studio albums BUT even over those years I didn't lose faith.
How will they record it?  Well, my money is on Pete doing it the way he
claims he has always done - he writes 'em, demos 'em takes them along to the
others and they work out what they can or cannot do with them and then they
record what's chosen.  Perhaps Entwistle will contribute something that's
going to knock our collective socks off.  Maybe Daltrey will have a go doing
something, personally I doubt it but who am I to judge?

Whatever the outcome I am sure that it will a) hit our respective turntables
within hours of it's release, b) create many hours of "discussion" within
this and other net groups.  My personal hope is that Glyn Johns is the
producer / knob twiddler (but I doubt it) but Pete will probably have a
massive influence there as well.  (NO, let's NOT have another spate of
attacking Astley, please.)  Or perhaps he'll be really adventurous and will
use one of the "new" young producers - Ethan Johns (Glyn's son) is pretty
hot at the moment, he's done the Ryan Adams stuff or maybe another old hand
like Chris Kimsey.  My only hope is that whoever is used if they don't do it
themselves is that the person is a Brit and not American - this isn't meant
in a jingoistic fashion - it's just that I feel their one attempt with a
(very good) American producer Bill Sycmek (yes, I've mis-spelt his name)
who'se best known for his Eagles work etc, was actually their weakest
sounding work from the production point of view.  It was too "clean" and
"tidy".  And before you all jump on me I KNOW that Shel Talmy is an American
but look how unhappy that relationship quickly became - though the initial
results ARE AMAZING!

Now, finally, my wish list for the forthcoming RAH dates:

HEAVEN & HELL
SUBSTITUTE
CAN'T EXPLAIN
BORIS THE SPIDER
DREAMIN' FROM THE WAIST
TATTOO
I'M A BOY
AMAZING JOURNEY
SPARKS
THE ACID QUEEN
FIDDLE ABOUT
PINBALL WIZARD
I'M FREE
TOMMY'S HOLIDAY CAMP
WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT / SEE ME, FEEL ME
SUMMERTIME BLUES
MY WIFE
BARGAIN
BABA O'RILEY
SHAKIN' ALL OVER
SISTER DISCO
DR JIMMY
5.15
IT'S HARD
TRICK OF THE LIGHT
LOVE REIGN O'ER ME
WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN
NAKED EYE
MY GENERATION BLUES
WHO ARE YOU