Out of My Brain On the Train
What do you do if you’re an old, deaf rock star who’s lost his voice? You go on tour of course!That’s right Who fans, Pete and Roger have announced yet another tour!
A sort of Who by Two, if you will.
To be fair at 60 plus years old, a rocker morphing into the deaf, dumb and blind kid is probably an occupational hazard. It could be worse, they could be The Stones.
Anyway I stumbled onto Pete Townshend’s web site the other night and watched an hour of The Who performing live in Yokohama, Japan in 2004. If you’re interested in hearing how they sound without John Entwistle this is the place to go: http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/
The video starts with I Can’t Explain, Substitute, Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, and Baba O’Riley. So far so good. As the familiar hymns rolled along I was reminded of a Righteous Brothers concert I went to a few years back. It was painfully obvious that Bobby Hatfield couldn't hit the high notes anymore. He was a big enough person to admit it to the audience and have a laugh over it.
Aside from the sad state of their voices — the repetitive “who, who” sung in Who Are You sounds like a dog barking somewhere at the end of a long alley and Daltry’s vocals on 5:15 are simply horrendous — Pete’s guitar is still vibrant as ever and their two new songs Old Red Wine and Real Good Looking Boy are quite good, very fresh and unique.
The most surprising thing about their performance was the drummer. No more Kenny Jones. He, whoever he is, returns The Who to their old frenetic Keith Moon sound. He is simply amazing! It gives the overall sound lots more energy, more than making up for other deficiencies. Another surprising thing is that the electric piano player is a dead ringer (pun intended) for John Entwistle which is fine because the bassist is nearly invisible off to the side just as John was.
Toward the end of the video I began to hear the old Who sound again. Daltry seemed to have saved his voice for a big finish on See Me Feel Me and Pinball Wizard and Pete was his old incredible self on Amazing Journey and Sparks, a master at his craft, unmercifully torturing his guitar and wringing from it the last full measure of sound.
Will I go and see these oldsters of rock on tour?
You better, you bet!
And I’ll probably see you there with your kids and grandkids too.
posted by Yakimaniac at 9:40 PM
21 Comments:
Peter. Quick! Please! "Peter's Ashtray" has become something other than "all about the SC". I fear the Yak Man thinks he's created a blog about...well, about his own life and interests. First his music reviews, then his hometown travel guide, and now his music video reviews. Who does this guy think he is? Who are you? Who, who, who, who.
I'm singing this note 'cause it fits in well
With the chords I'm playing
I can't pretend there's any meaning here
Or in the things I'm saying
But I'm in tune
Right in tune
I'm in tune
And I'm gonna tune
Right in on you
Right in on you
Right in on you
P. Townshend
And THEN
They'd do something he liked least of all!
Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing.
They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the Whos would start singing!
D. Seuss
Who cares?
Does anyone live close to Fullerton? Can you maybe stop by and help carry the computer into the garage and hook it up? Anybody?
Right on Garcia!
Who is this guy anyway? Next we'll be hearing about his family's skiing trips to some other backwater place. Or worse, he'll have to tell us all about the air speed velocity of a coconut-laden swallow!
I rather enjoyed the post. I don't agree with everything said about Pete but I do think The Who and Townshend in particular has had a major influence on pop culture. Let's not forget that after Tommy came out music critics were saying that Pete was the spokeman for his g-g-generation.
BS! Nothing can take the place of the Mud Shark in your mythology!
Oh Puleeze! Can't we just get back to stuff about Peter S. Mooney? It's a wallow,I know, but it's our wallow.
I quite agree. I can't get through my day without some SC humor.
I have been enjoying Quadrophenia in my car for the past 33 years, time to change my 8 track tapes, or time to buy a new car, or both. "Love rain o'er me" is one of the most inspiring songs from the 70's. "Can you see the real me" is one of the songs that made me give up trying to play the bass guitar, it just wasn't that easy after all. Little did I know then that it could also lead to an early demise, but then so can downhill skiiing...so our family has chosen to ski uphill only and we don't play bass...even though our mama sang bass (forgive me for wandering, it just dawned on me that very few people will ever read this comment, so I strive to be out of the ordinary).
Dear YB of the SC,
Please spare us all this insanity by making a direct appeal to the Wife of the SC. She is the key or has the key to Peter's computer equipment locked away in some mini-storage. She has held him incommunicado for long enough. Surely he has paid his dues by now? Tell her he should be saving the world from humdrum and mindless banalities about Yukimoo, Washington. Do it now. You must face the peril. Do it for the team.
Have you considered the possibility that the SC....(gulp)...got a job?
You all need to just leave the SC and especially the wife of the SC alone. This is a transitional time in their lives. Be patient. First things first. Maybe he's having trouble unraveling the extension cords.
Stage an ambush at the Hometown Buffet. He's sure to be there sometime today. Throw a hood over his head and toss him in the trunk. Don't release him until he writes a post.
I like this entry. It's a classic blog entry. The kind of entry the blog was set up for. Only I have tried to pervert it for monetary gain.
I failed miserably. So, let this be a lessson to you all.
Sincerely,
The SC has spoken.
Verily and let it be, Oh Tardy One!
I think that my wife prefers your blog to mine. So that should be a nice complement to you or a horrible chastisement to me. I suspect it's a venerable place for her to correspond.
YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE TO WRITE SOMETHING NEW EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. DO YOU THINK I LIKE BLOGGING? HEAVENS NO.
I'M JUST A VOICE CRYING OUT FROM THE WILDERNESS. THAT'S NOT FUN, BELIEVE ME.
Please accept our apologies. We thought now that you are back online maybe you'd spell us while we got out of town for a few days. We're home now staring at the blank screen waiting for the next creative idea to jump on to the page.
Okay, how about a belch?
The son of YB is landing at O'Hare as I write this note, while the son of PA is seeing Europe (for the first time?). The SC saw fit to provide me with a Black Sabbath as well as an Alice Cooper collection on the occassion of my birthday and I had the perfect chance to blast them both this afternoon in my office. If you could only afford one collection I would suggest the Black Sabbath one, it hits on every album that they did, perfect for me as I had stopped after the 3rd and it turns out that they just kept right on going without me! The SC and Ozzy have a few things in common, but I'll leave that for another day. Happy Birthday to me - greatest surprise was having an old HS friend come to my "party"...perhaps he could add a little artwork to the SC.
Yes, 'tis true. The son of the YB of the SC returns to classes this week, while our son tromps around Europe. Of course, the son of the YB should have gone too, but he got derailed for a bit. He'll have his chance of course down the road. We just stay home....and pay the bills.
We did wonder after reading Shilohman's blog whether we're guilty of bad parenting. We worshipped this morning in a converted basketball gymnasium; our son worshipped at Westminster Abbey. He just enjoyed a family ski trip over Spring Break, and he never did get around to cleaning our carpets. We'd have him clean out the basement, but we don't have one. We're afraid to ask him to clean out the garage. He'd never make it out alive.
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