Who’s Next Turns 50

Exactly 50 years ago today, on August 14, 1971, The Who released their fifth studio album Who’s Next. The English rock band is one of my all-time favorite groups, and if I would have to pick one album, it would be this gem. As such, I felt it was appropriate to dedicate a post to the record’s 50th anniversary. Who’s Next without a doubt is among my top 5 releases of 1971, an incredible year in music, along with The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, Led Zeppelin IV, Carole King’s Tapestry and Pink Floyd’s Meddle.

After the tremendous success of Tommy, Pete Townshend conceived Lifehouse, which was to become another rock opera, yet on a much more ambitious scale. The project was supposed to involve a live-recorded concept album that would provide the music for a film. The live footage would be captured in a series of concerts at the Young Vic theatre, a performing arts venue in London. During these gigs, the audience would be asked to interact with the band to create material for the film.

But after a few concerts at the Young Vic, Townshend grew disillusioned when he realized the audience was only interested in listening to The Who, not interact with the band to create material for the film. Together with other complexities of the project and a bad falling-out between Townshend and manager Kit Lambert, Lifehouse became mission impossible and was abandoned. The doomed project led to major stress within the band and a nervous breakdown of Townshend, with Roger Daltrey reportedly saying at the time The Who were never closer to breaking up.

Ironically, the Lifehouse disaster led to Who’s Next, one of the best if not the greatest album The Who ever made. A key figure in this context was recording engineer Glyn Johns. Not only did he convince the group to make it a single as opposed to a double LP, but he was also given license to assemble whichever songs he thought would be best in any order. Who’s Next ended up with eight tracks from Lifehouse and one additional tune. The focus was on recording great music, not to force-fit different tunes into an overarching concept. Despite his remarkable role, Johns only received credit as an associate producer (apart from recording and mixing). Let’s take a closer look at the album.

Opening side one is the majestic Baba O’Riley, one of the aforementioned eight songs from the Lifehouse project. Like all except one of the other tracks, the tune was written by Pete Townshend. Songfacts notes the “Baba” in the title refers to Meher Baba, Townshend’s spiritual guru. “Riley” comes from experimental, minimalist composer Terry Riley, one of Townshend’s influences who inspired many of the keyboard riffs and sound effects on the album. Referencing the liner notes, Songfacts also points out the tune reflects Townshend’s vision of what would happen if Baba’s spirit was fed into a computer and transformed into music. “The result would be Baba in the style of Terry Riley, or “Baba O’Riley.”” Here’s a neat lyric video.

Bargain, the second track on side one, is another homage to Baba, according to Songfacts. Townshend believed in his message of enlightenment. “Bargain” refers to losing all material goods for spiritual enlightenment. The song also featured a then just introduced ARP 2500 synthesizer, “the same synth used to call the extraterrestrials in the 1977 movie Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.” Now, there’s some trivia you always wanted to know!

My Wife, written by John Entwistle, is the album’s only song that wasn’t composed by Townshend. Morever, it is the one track that didn’t come from the Lifehouse project. Entwistle who sang lead vocals also included the tune on his third solo album Rigor Mortis Sets In that first appeared in the UK in May 1973.

On to side two. Here’s Going Mobile, the album’s only song featuring Townshend as the sole vocalist. From Songfacts: This is about taking a vacation by riding around in a car with no particular destination. It was something Pete Townshend liked to do...For the solo, Townshend ran his guitar through a device called an Envelope Follower. It was a type of synthesizer distortion that made it sound like he was playing under water.

Next up: Behind Blue Eyes. The lyrics were inspired by an encounter Townshend had with a female groupie after a gig in Denver in June 1970. While he was tempted, he ended up returning to his room by himself. Once there, be began writing a prayer that started with the words “When my fist clenches, crack it open,” which became part of the song’s lyrics. At least so the story goes. Here’s another lyric video.

The last track I’d like to call out is Won’t Get Fooled Again, the album’s epic 8:30-minute closer. From Songfacts: Pete Townshend wrote this song about a revolution. In the first verse, there is an uprising. In the middle, they overthrow those in power, but in the end, the new regime becomes just like the old one (“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”). Townshend felt revolution was pointless because whoever takes over is destined to become corrupt. I’m also including a link to a clip of The Who’s live performance of the tune at Shepperton Studios in 1978, filmed for the 1979 rockumentary The Kids Are Alright. What has to be one of the greatest moments in rock history sadly also turned out to be the last public performance by Keith Moon prior to his death on September 7, 1978 at the age of 32.

Who’s Next is widely considered to be the best album by The Who. It topped the UK Official Albums Chart, reached no. 2 in France and The Netherlands, and climbed to no. 4 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. As of February 1993, the album reached 3X Multi-Platinum Certification in the U.S., meaning it has sold more than three million units. It is Platinum-certified in the UK as well.

Who’s Next also received broad acclaim from critics. Even Robert Christgau had something positive to say, calling it “the best hard rock album in years.” Who’s Next was ranked at no. 28 in Rolling Stones’ list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in both the 2003 and 2012 editions. In the latest revision from September 2020, it came in at no. 77.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

Best of What’s New

Welcome to another installment looking at newly released music, which oftentimes features artists and bands I encounter for the first time. This week, it’s a blend of new and familiar names, including what perhaps is my favorite contemporary band and an artist I first discovered through Best of What’s New last October. Let’s do it!

Southern Avenue/Control

If you are a more frequent visitor of the blog, you will likely have seen previous posts about Southern Avenue. This cool group from Memphis, Tenn., which has been around since 2015, blends Stax-style soul with blues, gospel, funk, rock and contemporary R&B. Their members include guitarist Ori Naftaly, who originally hails from Israel; sisters Tierinii Jackson (lead vocals) and Tikyra Jackson (drums, backing vocals); as well as Jeremy Powell (keyboards) and Evan Sarver (bass). From the time I first came across Southern Avenue in July 2017, thanks to a post by fellow blogger Music Enthusiast, I’ve dug this band. Control, co-written by Naftaly and Tierinii Jackson and released yesterday (August 13), is the latest single from Southern Avenue’s upcoming third studio album Be the Love You Want scheduled for August 27 – yet another great tune with killer vocals and an infectious groove!

A Great Big Pile of Leaves/Halloween

A Great Big Pile of Leaves is what I face around my house each autumn – actually make that many! It also is the name of an indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York. I can safely say I much prefer the group over the piles of autumn leaves! According to their Apple Music profile, they were founded by guitarist/singer Pete Weiland and drummer Tyler Soucy, Connecticut natives who moved to New York after their band Farewell to Arms split up in 2007. Their sound was rooted in both breezy classic indie pop and ’90s American underground acts like the Dismemberment Plan. The duo worked on and self-released two EPs, Fiery Works, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. After the release of these recordings, they expanded to include Tucker Yaro and Matt Fazzi. As the band gained momentum, they began touring, eventually doing shows with Saves the Day, Motion City Soundtrack, and Say Anything. In 2010 they completed their first full-length album Have You Seen My Prefrontal Cortex?. Fast-forward to August 13, 2021 and Pono, the band’s third studio album, their first new one in eight years. Somewhere along the way, Fazzi departed, making A Great Big Pile of Leaves a trio. Here’s Halloween credited to the group.

Son Volt/The Globe

Son Volt are an alternative country and Americana rock band around singer-songwriter and guitarist Jay Farrar. Farrar formed the group in 1994 after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo, another alt. country outfit he had co-founded in 1987. Son Volt’s studio debut Trace appeared in September 1995. The band has since released nine additional records, including the latest, Electro Melodier, which came out on July 30. The group’s line-up has changed over the years. In addition to Farrar, the current members include Chris Frame (guitar), Mark Spencer (keyboards, steel guitar), Andrew DuPlantis (bass) and Mark Patterson (drums). Here’s The Globe, which like all other tracks on the album was written by Farrar. The band’s website calls out the Moog line from Won’t Get Fooled Again – something I hadn’t noticed at first. It’s at around 2:13 minutes. The tune reminds me more of Bruce Springsteen than The Who – check it out!

Daniel Romano/Nocturne Child

Let’s wrap up things for this week with an artist I first featured in a Best of What’s New installment last October: Canadian singer-songwriter Daniel Romano. From that post: Wikipedia describes Daniel Romano (born Daniel Travis Romano in 1985) as a Canadian musician, poet and visual artist based out of his hometown of Welland, Ontario. He is primarily known as a solo artist, though he is also a member of [Canadian indie rock band] Attack in Black and has collaborated with [fellow Canadian music artists] Julie Doiron and Frederick Squire. He has also produced and performed with City and Colour, the recording project of Dallas Green [another Canadian music artist]…and is a partner in his own independent record label, You’ve Changed Records. Romano is a prolific artist. His solo debut Workin’ for the Music Man appeared in 2010. He has since released 12 additional albums under his name. Only since last year, he has also issued seven records together with his road band The Outfit as Daniel Romano’s Outfit. And this doesn’t count various additional collaboration albums. Nocturne Child, written by Romano, is a single that appeared on July 16 from yet another Daniel Romano’s Outfit album, Cobra Poems, scheduled for September 10. Check out the Stonesy guitars – love it!

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Son Volt website; YouTube

Fakefest Celebrated Triumphant Return to Atlantic City

It may be called Fakefest, but there’s very little that’s fake about it. Unless of course you consider tribute bands as fake. Or that nowadays you couldn’t have a music festival that features Tom Petty and Van Halen.

Fakefest is a free tribute band festival conducted annually on the outdoor deck of the Golden Nuggets hotel & casino in Atlantic City, N.J. Just like pretty much any other entertainment event, it was cancelled last year due to know what.

The line-up for the four-day event (July 8-11) featured tributes to Bruce Springsteen, Journey, Van Halen, Chicago, The Police, The Who, Tom Petty, U2 and The Rolling Stones. I was there on Saturday to see Beginnings, New York’s Finest and Who’s Next – tributes to Chicago, The Police and The Who, respectively. Following are some impressions.

Beginnings

According to their website, New York-based Beginnings, which were formed in 2002, perform music of Chicago from across the band’s 50-plus year songbook. At Fakefest, their set focused on Chicago’s late ’60s and ’70s phase, which I welcomed since I’m not particularly fond of their ’80s ballads!

I first saw this nationally touring tribute band in the summer of 2019. A few weeks later, I learned on Facebook that the band’s longtime leader, vocalist and bassist Mason Swearingen had died from a heart attack – on stage at a gig – yikes! After a four-month break, Beginnings resumed shows in December 2019.

The band put on an impressive set. Some of the tunes they played included Saturday in the Park, Beginnings, Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is, Just You ‘n’ Me, Feelin’ Stronger Every Day and 25 or 6 to 4.

Here’s their rendition of Just You ‘n’ Me. Written by James Pankow, the track appeared on Chicago’s fifth studio album Chicago VI from June 1973. Check it out!

How about another sample? Ask you shall receive: Feelin’ Stronger Every Day. This tune, co-written by Peter Cetera and Pankow, is another track from Chicago VI.

New York’s Finest

Next up were New York’s Finest, a tribute to The Police. They have played together for 10 years and are based in New York as well. According to a short video clip on the band’s Facebook page, their members Mark Rinzel (vocals, bass), Oscar Bautista (guitar) and Alan Camlet (drums) had known each other prior to starting the tribute. One day they were asked whether they would like to perform The Police’s first album for a classic album night show. They agreed, rehearsed and subsequently formed the band.

The set spanned music from all five Police studio albums, including Murder By Numbers, Walking on the Moon, Driven to Tears, Synchronicity II, Roxanne and Can’t Stand Losing You, among others. I thought Rinzel did a great job performing Sting’s vocals. The band also sounded fantastic. It was obvious these guys had played together for a long time.

Here’s set opener Murder By Numbers. Co-written by Andy Summers and Sting, the tune was the B-side of the single Every Breath You Take. It was also a bonus track on the CD and cassette versions of Synchronicity, The Police’s fifth and final studio album released in June 1983.

In my opinion, one of the highlights of the set was a medley of Driven to Tears and Synchronicity II. The former is from Zenyatta Mondatta (October 1980), while the latter appeared on Synchronicity. Both tunes were written by Sting.

Who’s Next

This brings me to the final band of the day: Who’s Next. Named after the 1971 fifth studio album by The Who, their members include Bill Canell as Pete Townshend, Doug Zahn as Roger Daltrey, Mike Conte as John Entwistle  and Rich Savarese as Keith Moon. I had previously seen them at British Invasion festivals at the same venue in June 2017 and June 2018.

Among the songs the band performed were Who Are You, Love Reign O’er Me, Baba O’Riley, You Better You Bet, Won’t Get Fooled Again and Long Live Rock. One difference from the last time I saw Who’s Next was lead vocalist Doug Zahn. Just like his predecessor Dave McDonald, he did a great job capturing Roger Daltrey, both vocally and visually.

Here’s Who Are You, the title track written by Pete Townshend from The Who’s eighth studio album released in August 1978 – the last to feature Keith Moon.

Let’s do one more: the mighty Love Reign O’er Me, another Townshend composition. The track is the closer of Quadrophenia, the sixth studio album by The Who, which came out in October 1973. Zahn did an impressive job with what must be a tough song to sing. Frankly, the clip doesn’t do it full justice, though I think one can still get a good idea.

While as noted above I had been to British Invasion tribute events at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic before, this was my first time at Fakefest. Until a few weeks ago, I had not known about it. Given how much of a ball I had, there’s a good chance I’ll be back.

Sources: Wikipedia; Beginnings website; New York Finest website and Facebook page; Who’s Next Facebook page; YouTube

When Covers Are Just As Much Fun As Originals

Recently, I remembered a post from July 2017, which featured some of my favorite cover versions of songs I dig. This triggered the idea to put together a second part. Rather than focusing on covers I already knew, this time, I decided to take a slightly different approach. Except for one instance, I picked some of my all-time favorite songs and checked whether they have been covered and, if yes, by whom. Not only did I find some intriguing renditions, but there were also a couple of real surprises.

Ella Fitzgerald/Sunshine of Your Love

Did you know that one of the greatest voices in jazz, Ella Fitzgerald, covered Cream? I had absolutely no idea! Not only did she do so, but she even named a live album after the tune: Sunshine of Your Love, released in 1969. Composed by Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton with lyrics by Pete Brown, the original was included on Cream’s sophomore album Disraeli Gears from November 1967. Fitzgerald’s orchestral version is really cool. Obviously her singing is amazing. Check it out!

Richie Havens/Won’t Get Fooled Again

Richie Havens performing The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again was another unexpected find. He recorded the tune for his final studio album Nobody Left to Crown that appeared in March 2008. The original, written by Pete Townshend, was included on my favorite album by The Who, Who’s Next, their fifth studio release from August 1971. Haven’s acoustic guitar-driven taken is great. I also like the violin. He really made the epic rocker his own.

Townes Van Zandt/Dead Flowers

Townes Van Zandt wrote almost all tunes that are on his 10 studio albums, and many of them have been recorded by the likes of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Gillian Welch. One exception is the live album Roadsongs, a collection of live covers from the mid-’70s through the early ’80s, which was released in 1994. It includes a fantastic take of Dead Flowers, which has become my favorite song by The Rolling Stones, at least on most days! Co-written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Dead Flowers was included on Sticky Fingers, which also happens to believe is the best Stones album that appeared in April 1971. It’s almost a bit painful to listen to Van Zandt’s version, considering he had struggled with drug addiction for most of his short life.

Noah Guthrie/Whipping Post

Noah Guthrie is a 27-year-old South Carolina-based singer-songwriter. According to his website, he taught himself to play guitar and began writing songs at 14. Here’s a “quarantine” cover version of Whipping Post Guthrie recorded with his band Good Trouble in April 2020. Written by Gregg Allman, Whipping Post appeared on the eponymous debut album of The Allman Brothers Band from November 1969. While this cover stays close to the original, these guys are doing a great job, giving this classic a nice build.

Heart/Stairway to Heaven

This cover of the Led Zeppelin gem is the exception I noted above. In other words, I had known about it. Just the other day, I watched this footage again from the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors, during which Heart with Jon Bonham’s son Jason Bonham on drums honored the surviving members of Led Zeppelin. This is one of the most amazing renditions of Stairway to Heaven, co-written by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant (and Randy California of Spirit!), and included on Led Zeppelin IV from November 1971. Messrs. Page, John Paul Jones and Plant were visibly touched. Yes, it’s a bit bombastic but still so good!

Kenny Lattimore/While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Here’s a great soulful version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps by Kenny Lattimore, an R&B and gospel singer-songwriter who has released seven studio albums to date. This cover of the George Harrison tune – one of his best during his period with The Beatles, IMO – is included on his sophomore album From the Soul of Man that came out in October 1998. While My Guitar Gently Weeps was first recorded for the White Album from November 1968. Thank goodness John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn’t reject all of Harrison’s songs!

Green Day/Like a Rolling Stone

In case you’ve ever asked yourself how Bob Dylan would sound grunge style, here’s one possible answer. Green Day’s eighth studio album 21st Century Breakdown from May 2009 includes this version of Like a Rolling Stone as a bonus track. The maestro first recorded the tune for his sixth studio album Highway 61 Revisited released in August 1965.

Willie Nelson/Have You Ever Seen the Rain (feat. Paula Nelson)

The last cover I’d like to call out is a breathtakingly beautiful rendition of my favorite Creedence Clearwater Revival song: Have You Ever Seen the Rain, written by John Fogerty and included on CCR’s sixth studio album Pendulum from December 1970. Willie Nelson recorded this rendition with his daughter Paula Nelson for his 62nd studio album To All the Girls…, which appeared in October 2013. Nelson, who at age 87 remains active, has a new album coming out on February 26, his 71st! In April 2019, Nelson told Rolling Stone weed had “saved his life,” adding, “I wouldn’t have lived 85 years if I’d have kept drinking and smoking like I was when I was 30, 40 years old.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Noah Guthrie website; Rolling Stone; YouTube

Another Turkey Day Brings Another Rock & Roll Radio Marathon

I’m not much of a radio guy, not even in the car, where despite having access to Sirius XM, I prefer listening to music from my streaming provider most of the time. An exception for the past few years has been a massive four and a half-day countdown of songs New York classic radio station Q104.3 does around each Thanksgiving. Ingeniously, they call it the Top 1043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time.

To come up with the list, the station asks listeners to submit their top 10 songs in no particular order, which each counting as one vote. They then tally the submissions, determine the 1043 songs with the most votes, and play all of them in one shot, starting with the tune that got the least votes. The only interruption happens at noon on Thanksgiving, when they play Arlo Guthrie classic Alice’s Restaurant in its entire 18 minutes plus. The whole thing lasts from 1:00 pm ET on Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving until sometime on Sunday evening after the holiday!

This year marks the 19th annual annual countdown. Wow, that’s what I call devotion – and smart marketing/audience engagement! Remarkably, each year Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven has been the most popular song. And while the station does not reveal actual vote totals, the hosts have said in the past the tune has always won by many votes.

Don’t get me wrong, I dig Stairway – big time. In fact, if I could only choose one rock song, it probably would be that Zep classic, even though The Beatles generally remain my all-time favorite band. There are other tunes that usually make the top 10, such as Hey Jude and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Again, there’s nothing wrong with these songs and I like them as well.

But the recurrence of the above tracks makes the countdown predictable. To me this means it’s not as much fun as it could be. As I noted before, I think it’s time to shake things up a bit. Following is the set of tunes I submitted. I almost would have forgotten about it and literally did so at 3:00 am this morning when I went to the bathroom and remembered – okay, call me a loony! Here are my choices in no particular order.

Of course, it’s unlikely my selections will change much if anything. On the other hand it’s like elections. If everybody thought they couldn’t impact the outcome, nobody would vote. And that would indeed guarantee that nothing would ever change! So here’s to hoping for a new number one this year. How about Hey Jude?😆

Sources: Q104.3 website; Wikipedia; YouTube

 

 

 

Clips & Pix: The Who/Won’t Get Fooled Again

I just read about The Who’s new single I Don’t Wanna Get Wise from their upcoming album Who set for release on December 6. And while it’s not a bad song, I decided to hold writing about it until the album’s release and instead post the above killer clip of Won’t Get Fooled Again.

According to Universal entertainment website uDiscovermusic, where I spotted this amazing footage, it’s one of two videos The Who released remastered in high quality leading up to their new album. It was filmed on May 25, 1978 at England’s Shepperton Studios, about 20 miles southwest of London, for the closing sequence of the band’s rockumentary The Kids Are Alright. It turned out to be the last live performance of Keith Moon who passed away on September 7 that year.

The band’s energy is through the roof. Pete Townshend is working his Gibson Les Paul and the stage like a madman. Roger Daltrey is equally animated, jumping around and spinning his microphone. Meanwhile, The Ox John Entwistle essentially remains motionless as usual, running his thunderfingers across the fretboard of his bass. And Moon, while physically changed from his earlier years with the band, is still fiercely banging his drums.

Written by Townshend, Won’t Get Fooled Again first appeared in June 1971 as the lead single to The Who’s fifth studio album Who’s Next, released in August of the same year. I think uDiscovermusic may be right to call the above The Who’s definitive performance of the song. It nicely illustrates their power as a live band.

Sources: uDiscovermusic; YouTube

The Who Rock New York, Backed By Symphonic Orchestra

Last year, I read several stories about Roger Daltrey being pretty candid about aging, saying he’d stop performing if he realized his voice was no longer up to par. While other music artists haven’t followed through on similar retirement talk and The Who previously suggested their 50th anniversary tour could be their last, Daltrey’s above comments felt genuine to me. When I learned about Moving On! tour, I got a ticket right away, thinking this may well be my third and last time to see one of my favorite British bands. But there was one detail that I somehow had completely missed. Apart from traditional touring musicians, Moving On! features local symphonic orchestras backing Daltrey and Pete Townshend. Frankly, I’m not sure I would have jumped to get a ticket, had I known that.

In general, the thought of combining a rock band with a symphonic orchestra gives me mixed feelings. One can easily picture that the former gets drowned out by the latter or that the music becomes overly massive and feels overproduced. On the other hand, The Who are known for a grandiose sound. So did the combination work Monday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City? For the most part it did for me, so my initial ignorance about the details of the tour wasn’t a bad thing after all.

Before getting to The Who, I’d like to say a few words about New York singer-songwriter Leslie Mendelson, who performed a captivating opening set. In 2009, following the release of her second album Swan Feathers, Mendelson was compared to Carole King and Rickie Lee Jones, and her record was nominated for a Grammy. Then a series of setbacks stopped her upward trajectory, but things seem to look more promising again for Mendelson these days. A new album, If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…, is almost done. She’s currently raising money through Kickstarter to support promotion for a planned autumn release.

Monday night, Mendelson was accompanied by her longtime collaborator Steve McEwan, a British songwriter and musician, who played a vintage-looking electric guitar and provided backing vocals. Since I wanted to conserve my aging smartphone battery, unfortunately, I didn’t take any footage, but here’s a clip of The Hardest Part, a single from the new record, captured last December at a much smaller venue. The guy in the clip is McEwan. I’m pretty impressed with Mendelson and plan to do a separate post on her in the near future.

After a short intermission it was time for The Who! The first section of their show was with orchestra and mostly focused on songs from Tommy, The Who’s first rock opera from May 1969 – an appropriate choice, as the album nears its 50th anniversary of release on May 23. It started with the record’s first five tracks: Overture, It’s A Boy, 1921, Amazing Journey and Sparks. This was followed by Pinball Wizard and We’re Not Gonna Take It.  The remainder of the first section featured tunes from various other albums, including Who Are You (Who Are You, 1978), Eminence Front (It’s Hard, 1982),  Imagine A Man (The Who By Numbers, 1975) and the non-album single Join Together (1972). Here’s We’re Not Gonna Take It, the final track from Tommy, which like most Who songs was written by Townshend.

The middle section of the concert featured The Who only. Daltrey jokingly pointed out that union rules required the orchestra to take a break and now it was only the band, “so we can fuck up things even more.” The section consisted of five songs: Non-album single Substitute (1966), I Can See For Miles (The Who Sell Out, 1967),  Won’t Get Fooled Again and Behind Blue Eyes (both Who’s Next, 1971) and Tea & Theatre (Endless Wire, 2006). Here is I Can See For Miles.

Perhaps the highlight of the section was an acoustic rendition of Won’t Get Fooled Again. Unfortunately, I didn’t capture it, in part to conserve battery, but here’s a clip from the tour opener in Madison, Wis. Even though the camera person was much closer to the stage than I was, the MSG performance felt more dynamic, so I feel the footage doesn’t do it full justice. Or maybe it was the excitement of the moment!

The third and last section of the show, which saw the return of the orchestra, almost entirely focused on Quadrophenia. The Who’s second rock opera perhaps is the album that best lends itself to the use of symphonic orchestration. It’s the band’s only record that was entirely composed by Pete Townshend. Here’s section opener The Real Me, one of favorite Who tunes.

Other tracks from Quadrophenia included I’m One, The Punk And The Godfather, 5:15, Drowned, The Rock and the mighty Love, Reign O’er Me. Of course, I couldn’t resist recording the last track, so here it is.

By the time I had Love, Reign O’er Me in the can, my phone battery was on life support, so I couldn’t capture the show’s finale, Baba O’Riley, another tune from the Who’s Next album. Luckily somebody else who was there did, so I’m borrowing their clip – thanks, “ForgottenNYC”! Check out the solo by amazing lead violonist Katie Jacoby, which starts at around 3:40 min – that woman stole the show from Townshend, at least temporarily!

Monday night saw Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend in excellent shape. Daltrey still commands the stage, singing with a strong voice and swinging his microphone like a mad man, while Townshend continues to be a kickass windmilling rock guitarist. One could almost forget these guys are in their mid-70s! I think they also deserve credit for continuing to push the envelope at this stage in their careers, when they could have played it safe instead of bringing in a symphonic orchestra. The fans including myself would have been perfectly happy with a “regular” performance.

I must also mention the great backing band: Simon Townshend (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Pete’s younger brother; Zak Starkey (drums), son of Ringo Starr, who has been The Who’s touring drummer since 1996; Loren Gold (keyboards, backing vocals), and one of the standouts in addition to Jacoby; and Jon Button (bass).

Upcoming dates for the Moving On! tour include Noblesville, Ind (May 18); Tinley Park, Ill (May 21); St. Louis (May 23); Philadelphia (May 25); and Detroit (May 28). The full schedule is available here.

Sources: Wikipedia, setlist.fm, Leslie Mendelson website, The Who website, YouTube

No Meteor Shower Over Central N.J. Sunday Night But Stars Were Still Aligned

As noted in a previous post, seeing Ann Wilson, Jeff Beck and Paul Rodgers as part of their Stars Align Tour at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., was a spontaneous decision, based on promising reviews and YouTube clips. Another reason was my previous disappointment that Bad Company wasn’t among the special guests during  Lynyrd Skynyrd’s farewell concert there in June. While Sunday night’s event wasn’t the best show I’ve ever seen, I came away a happy camper after three and a half hours of solid rock at a very reasonable cost.

As anticipated, Ann Wilson opened the night; what I didn’t expect was that she started at 7:00 p.m. on the dot, literally as printed on the ticket. I had just taken my seat – good thing I had decided against food and drink, which are completed overpriced to begin with. I can’t recall a rock & roll show I’ve been to that got underway on time!

Except for Heart’s Barracuda, Wilson presented covers, mostly from her upcoming solo album that is set to arrive September 14. Called Immortal, it honors artists who have passed away, such as David Bowie, Tom Petty and Glenn Frey.

Here’s Barracuda, one of Heart’s best known songs credited to Ann Wilson and other members of the band, including her sister and lead guitarist Nancy Wilson, guitarist Roger Fisher and drummer Michael Derosier. The tune was the lead single from Heart’s second studio album Little Queen that appeared in May 1977.

Wilson opened and closed her set with tunes by The Who, The Real Me and Won’t Get Fooled Again, respectively. Below is a clip of the latter. Written by Pete Townshend, the song is the closer of Who’s Next, the band’s fifth studio album from August 1971. It also was released separately as the record’s lead single in June that year.

Next up was Jeff Beck, which came a bit as a surprise to me. Since I think it’s fair to say he’s the heavy weight among the three, I thought he’d close out the night. This was my second time seeing Beck, so I knew that much of his set would be instrumental. While his guitar-playing and sound are mind-blowing, I generally prefer his songs with vocals, especially with Rod Stewart on Beck-Ola. I realize true Beck fans may not be with me here.

Having said the above, the first tune I’d like to highlight here is an instrumental, a smoking hot cover of You Know You Know. Originally, the John McLaughlin tune appeared on The Inner Mounting Flame, the 1971 debut album by jazz-rock fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. Part of the reason I chose this track is the cool extended solo by ace bassist Rhonda Smith. When I saw Beck for the first time in July 2016, his backing band also included a killer female bassist: Tal Wilkenfeld. Speaking of Beck’s excellent band, the other members were cellist Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and vocalist Jimmy Hall. Since I missed recording it myself, I’m relying on a clip from another recent gig.

Among the songs featuring Hall on vocals was the Jimi Hendrix tune Little Wing. It was included on the second studio album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Axis: Bold As Love, which came out in December 1967. While Hall is a solid vocalist, I felt by comparison he wasn’t as top-notch as the other members of the band.

The second to last song of the regular set was a great cover of Superstition, one of my favorite Stevie Wonder tunes. Wonder included it on his 15th studio album Talking Book from October 1972. It also was released separately as the lead single that appeared a few days prior to the album.

After a two-song encore by Beck, it was on to Paul Rodgers. Of the three artists I’m most familiar with his music, so it’s perhaps not a big surprise that he was the most accessible performer to me. Except for two covers, Rodgers’ set was evenly divided between Bad Company and Free songs. I thought he was in great shape, as was his backing band featuring Pete Bullick (guitar), Ian Rowley (bass), Rich Newman (drums) and Gerard Louis (keyboards).

The first tune I’d like to call out is Feel Like Makin’ Love. Co-written by Rodgers and Bad Company guitarist and co-founder Mick Ralphs, the song appeared on the band’s second studio album Straight Shooter from April 1975. It was also released separately as the record’s second single in November that year.

One the Free tunes Rodgers played was Mr. Big. Credited to all members of the band that in addition to Rodgers included Andy Fraser, Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke, the song appeared on their third studio album Fire And Water. Among others, Rowley shines with a solo, the second extended bass solo for the night.

The last song of Rodgers’ regular set was another Bad Company classic, Rock & Roll Fantasy. Penned by him, the tune was included on the band’s fifth studio album Desolation Angels, which came out in March 1979. It also became the record’s lead single and the band’s best-selling single in the U.S. About 1:40 minutes into the song, somebody wearing a hat and playing a tambourine walked on stage, who turned out to be Steven Van Zandt. As if to prove it, he briefly took off his hat to reveal his signature bandana.

Rodgers saved Free’s signature tune All Right Now until the very end of the night as his second encore. Co-written by him and Fraser, the song was also included on the Fire And Water album and became Free’s most successful single.

Last night, The Stars Align Tour played Jones Beach Theatre in Wantagh on New York’s Long Island. The remaining four dates are Nashville, Tenn. (Aug 17), Charlotte, N.C. (Aug 19), West Palm Beach, Fla. (Aug 25) and Tampa, Fla. (Aug 26).

Sources: Wikipedia, Setlist.fm, Paul Rodgers website, YouTube

Clips & Pix: The Who/Won’t Get Fooled Again

After seeing a Facebook post about Who’s Next, a very cool tribute band to The Who, I just felt like listening to the real me. Above is a killer live version of one the band’s anthems, or make that rock music in general, captured sometime during the ’70s.

The Who were truly on top of their game during that performance of Won’t Get Fooled Again. The intensity of each of these guys was just through the roof! In a weird way, they oftentimes seemed compete against each other on stage more so than playing with each other. And while this would probably spell death for most other bands, not only did it work for The Who, it made them even more compelling.

Written by Pete Townshend, Won’t Get Fooled Again was the lead single for Who’s Next, the band’s fifth studio release. The more radio-friendly 3:36-minute take appeared in June 1971, about two months ahead of the record. The full album version clocks in at a mighty 8:32 minutes.

The single peaked at no. 9 on the UK Singles Chart and reached no. 15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Won’t Get Fooled Again is ranked at no. 134 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. It is truely remarkable that after now 45-plus years, the tune still sounds amazing.

Sources: Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, YouTube