The Who were once the loudest band in the world. It's official - check out The Guinness Book of World Records if you don't believe me. And, for what it's worth, I was there the night they turned the amps up to eleven.Pete Townshend is paying for it now though. These days his hearing loss is so bad that Roger Daltrey can call him all the names under the sun and he can't a hear a bloody word. Here's some recent footage of him playing a delightful song from The Who By Numbers album. He'd written Blue Red and Grey with suicide uppermost in his mind and definitely didn't want the song put on the band's latest platter. Their producer, Glyn Johns, was having none of it and, with just a little bit of muted trumpet from John Entwistle as a backdrop for Townshend's ukelele and fragile vocal, it became the album's diamond in the rough.
One of the delights of listening to an album by The Who is if we get some PT sensitivity thrown in. Fine tune.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, his voice never was and never will be as powerful as Daltrey's: when Townshend took charge of the mic stand it gave a Who album much needed contrast. You must check out his La Jolla live set where he interprets Who classics (he did write the bloody things after all) as well as playing his non Who songs. Conversely, Daltrey has been playing Blue Red and Grey (also with a uke) on his recent solo outings.
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