The Who: The Who By Numbers - 1975
After 1971's wonderful Who's Next and 1973's almost as impressive Quadrophenia, this 1976 album from the by now mega-group The Who had a lot to live up to.
It doesn't quite equal them, not at all, but it is still a reasonable album, containing some of the best aspects of both of its predecessors. It just doesn't quite have that certain je ne sais quoi that they had. It was recorded with Pete Townshend in a bit of a state - drunken, drugged up and questioning whether he should still be playing rock. Keith Moon obviously still had his own problems. Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle just worked around it, although Daltrey was said to be regularly bad-tempered at that time.
Despite those problems, it comes over as a remarkable coherent and fulfilled piece of work. Indeed, Daltrey has sometimes claimed it to be his favourite Who album, surprisingly. Many compare this album unfavourably with Who's Next. To compare it with that is unfair. Just take it on face value and you will find it is a very good Who album. I hadn't listened to it for years and was pleasantly surprised upon revisiting it. I played it over several times.
Slip Kid starts with an intoxicatingly rhythmic drum and guitar groove before Daltrey's vocal leads us through a mid-pace typical Who rocker. It could have fitted on Quadrophenia to be honest, musically, at least. the instrumental break in the middle is intoxicating and the following guitar solo searing. It also features some excellent piano parts (by Nicky Hopkins, of Rolling Stones fame).
How Much I Booze is an appealing, upbeat number that again has many recognisable Who traits - a strong, dramatic vocal, great drums, acoustic and electric guitars merged together so well. It is an autobiographical confession song from Pete Townshend about his drink problem.
Squeeze Box was a hit single and is a bit lightweight in a country rock-ish sort of way. That said, it is a singalong pleasure and has a silly double entendre lyric. "She goes in and out and in and out....". Indeed. The rollicking banjo style solo is infectious too. The remastered album contains a live version of the song which is far heavier.
Dreaming From The Waist has some excellent, attacking Keith Moon drums, a big rumbling bass and a lot of verve and vibrancy. It also features some archetypal Who vocal harmonies. It sounds like quite a lot of the Quadrophenia material. It was, apparently, bassist John Entwistle's favourite song to play. Townshend, perversely, stated it was his least favourite!
Imagine A Man is a lovely rock ballad, with a sumptuous bass line and some seriously powerful instrumentation. Again, it is a typical piece of grandiose Who balladry. Success Story is a muscular song about the pitfalls of the music industry. More great vocal harmonies feature. a lovely piano and bass interplay introduces the beautiful They Are All In Love. The track fades into the light, plaintive acoustic McCartney-esque whimsy of Blue Red And Grey. Some Beatles-style horns feature on the backing.
How Many Friends again has a great bass line and another convincing Daltrey vocal. It is a cynical song from Townshend. "How many friends have I really got..." he asks. There is something Rolling Stones about the backing, for me, with shades of Mott The Hoople too. That is probably just me, though. More Stonesy riffery and some heavy rock guitar launches the solid rock of In A Hand Or A Face. Moon has some great drum parts on this too. It is a pretty short album, certainly no behemoth like Quadrophenia and certainly lacks the sheer brilliance of Who's Next, but it is not without its unsung charms. Well worth checking out.
Give Who Are You some attention too. Click on the title.
