I can\u2019t overstate the influence that The Who have had on my musical taste and, to be honest, my approach to life itself. On the cusp of 50, it\u2019s perhaps debatable whether that\u2019s been for better or worse. (That\u2019s a joke! They were a godsend to an already disaffected pre-teen. I don\u2019t blame them for what will likely be a dodgy retirement.) <\/p>\n
Anyway, despite the band\u2019s many ups and downs, I\u2019ve remained interested and engaged, buying the records and reissues, reading the interviews\u2014$16.99 for another issue of Mojo<\/i>?! Alas! \u2014and have paid more for a good seat to see Daltrey, Townshend, et al, than for any other band. Which is also to say that I know enough to temper my excitement when a new album is announced. But I\u2019m certainly going to give it a good listen. Probably many listens, in fact. Even when the tunes don\u2019t quite grab me. <\/p>\n
And such is the case with Who<\/i>, the first band\u2019s proper album since 2006\u2019s Endless Wire<\/i>. Largely panned by\u2026 almost everyone, Endless Wire<\/i> grew on me over time until I became pretty fond of it. Maybe the same will happen with Who<\/i>, but it hasn\u2019t quite happened yet.<\/p>\n
Things start out promisingly enough with the stabbing \u201cAll This Music Must Fade,\u201d containing the (re)statement of purpose \u201cI don\u2019t care \/ I know you\u2019re gonna hate this song \/ And that\u2019s fair \/ We never really got along.\u201d A bit of a return to form then both musically and philosophically. \u201cBall And Chain,\u201d about the Guantanamo Bay prison, is also quite good. But then things get bumpy. <\/p>\n
Midway through side one the funky \u201cDetour\u201d doesn\u2019t quite grab, but the swelling \u201cBeads On A String\u201d is an improvement. \u201cHero Ground Zero\u201d comes across as a good song that\u2019s been strangely muted, despite some excellent Who-type drumming in the middle by Matt Chamberlain and NOT by Zak Starkey, the band\u2019s longtime semi-permanent drummer and Ringo Starr\u2019s son.<\/p>\n
Side two wavers immediately, with the auto-tune on Townshend\u2019s backing vocal on \u201cStreet Song\u201d raising an eyebrow; I love Townshend\u2019s voice and don\u2019t want it to resemble HAL. Some less intrusive modulation colors \u201cI\u2019ll Be Back,\u201d on which Townshend sings lead. It\u2019s just a little too yacht rock for my taste. \u201cBreak The News\u201d is better, a playful romp with a sympathetic vocal by Daltrey. And, say what I may, Daltrey sounds great on this record, as he still does live. All the years of not partying and opting for tea over Courvoisier would seem to be paying dividends.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cRockin\u2019 In Rage\u201d sounds starts off fairly theatrical (imagine that!) before kicking into a classic bit of rhythmic Who riffing, the latter approach being more gripping than the former. The wind up, \u201cShe Rocked My World,\u201d employs a bit of Latin flavor but takes things out with a bit of a whimper. <\/p>\n
Listen, I still love these guys, and the fact that they\u2019ve put out a clearly honest, relatively non-commercial record still goes a long way with me. If you\u2019re a fan, you\u2019ve probably already heard the album, and your mileage may vary. As for me, I\u2019ll throw it on every now and then, but after the record is over if you ask me to tell you what I just heard it may be awhile yet before I can tell you.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":33988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5649],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-46384","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-who","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46384"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}