Joe L.'s Post With the Way-Too-Long Subject Line

["Schrade, Scott" <sschrade@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I've been enjoying the posts about different music likes/dislikes and
> the KISS AC/DC thread.

You forgot to mention Cake.  ;-/

> I had a 2 week KISS phase in 7th grade, then went to ELO for a while.

Aw, don't bring me down, Joe.            (sorry)

> I heard Who Are You while sitting in the Philadelphia Spectrum waiting 
> for an ELO concert to begin in 1977.

Now wait just a darn-tootin' minute here.  WHO ARE YOU didn't come out
'till 1978.  What gives?

> I really love the radio play now that I've listened to it several times.

How many times do you have to listen to it before it becomes good?  I'm
up to once.

> I am really looking forward to the TKAA DVD.   My kids are at a good age 
> to expose them to this, 

If they're not budding Who freaks by now, they will be after watching TKAA!
(And if that doesn't work I want them punished harshly.  Spare the rod....)

> I really wish Pete would have received more solo success if only for his 
> sake. 

Well, he tried, didn't he?  And he *has* had *moderate* success.  But even
among Who fans there's the opinion that his solo songs are hit or miss, &
the "hits" aren't exactly bulls eyes, either.

Maybe it has something to do with the overall "lightness" of his solo
albums.  People like Eric Clapton & Sting can get away it.  But Pete's solo
output (apart from EMPTY GLASS) seems to have rubbed the public the wrong 
way.  Kind of like how the public gets rubbed the wrong way when one of
Pete's songs turns up in a T.V. commercial while most other rock artists 
are given a free pass.  The Who double standard.

> I'm selfishly glad that he did not get accepted by the mainstream/adult 
> contemporary market even though he deserves to. 

Me, too, but it would've been nice if some of his last few solo albums
would've been......how should I put this?......better.  Maybe "consistent"
is a better good.  It's a shame when you can only find two or three good
songs on an album & the rest is garbage.

> Call me a dark pragmatist, but I like my Who under-appreciated. 

That's the only thing that separates The Who from the Beatles & Stones!
Some call it being unpopular; we Who fans call it street-cred!

> Most women I know don't consider Pete as a sex symbol like Sting, or Eric 
> Clapton, and I believe this is a big part of his failure to make solid 
> progress in this market segment. 

Partly.  Also, it's his voice.  I mean, *I* like his voice, but I don't 
think he has a strong enough voice to be a hugely successful solo artist.
He could've gotten away with it if all his solo songs would've been above
average.  But they weren't.  

> I knew that I was helping Betty through a tough time with some help from 
> Townshend.

Touching story.  Thanks for sharing.  I'd love to hear your version of "I'm
One" with your daughter singing!  I bet it's sweet.


- SCHRADE in Akron

Nature composes some of her loveliest poems for the microscope & the
telescope.
   - Theodore Roszak