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Joined: May 08 2005
Location: Sweden
Status: Offline
Points: 3491
Posted: November 06 2010 at 10:14
The Who by numbers was a good album i like it, Who are you is the first bad who album i think, its okay i gues, but not on the same level as the other older albums, it was the last album with keith moon and it shows.
By Numbers is actually my favorite album of theirs. Much more personal than anything that came before it, and their equal musically IMO.
What he said. You could make an argument that the music on Who Are You is probably a lot more proggy (the arrangements feature strings, brass, synths and much more background detail than the normal Who fare) but as you state, the personal candour contained in Townshend's wonderful songs on By Numbers clinches the deal for me.
By Numbers has long been my favorite Who record.....it's Townshend's first step into "old fartdom". It was actually my first experience with the Who.....I borrowed it from the library when I was just a wee lad and fell in love with Slip Kid but really couldn't understand the rest....Townshend's tales of aging didn't really stick in my teen head. After totally absorbing the rest of their albums, it's to By Numbers that I return.
For casual Who fans, the expanded Odds and Sods and By Numbers are a real treat.
I like to feel the suspense when you're certain you know I am there.....
Joined: April 29 2004
Location: Heart of Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 20298
Posted: November 10 2010 at 08:48
ExittheLemming wrote:
Todd wrote:
By Numbers is actually my favorite album of theirs. Much more personal than anything that came before it, and their equal musically IMO.
What he said. You could make an argument that the music on Who Are You is probably a lot more proggy (the arrangements feature strings, brass, synths and much more background detail than the normal Who fare) but as you state, the personal candour contained in Townshend's wonderful songs on By Numbers clinches the deal for me.
I'm a little surprised by the results so far.....
Numbers is almost a bottom of the crawer thing with tracks datin,g from 69 or 60... generally leftovrers that didn't find space on other albums..... only two good songs on it and Slip Kids and Squeez Box are atrocious tracks that announces You Bette You Bet
Who Are You is their last good album (sometimes fantastic), but Moon's drumming is definitely sliding downhill
let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword
By Numbers is actually my favorite album of theirs. Much more personal than anything that came before it, and their equal musically IMO.
What he said. You could make an argument that the music on Who Are You is probably a lot more proggy (the arrangements feature strings, brass, synths and much more background detail than the normal Who fare) but as you state, the personal candour contained in Townshend's wonderful songs on By Numbers clinches the deal for me.
I'm a little surprised by the results so far.....
Numbers is almost a bottom of the crawer thing with tracks datin,g from 69 or 60... generally leftovrers that didn't find space on other albums..... only two good songs on it and Slip Kids and Squeez Box are atrocious tracks that announces You Bette You Bet
Who Are You is their last good album (sometimes fantastic), but Moon's drumming is definitely sliding downhill
I'm not a massive Who fan so maybe By Numbers is the Who album for people who don't like the Who? For me it dispenses with the sort of grand sweeping gestures of the so-called classic Who albums like say Who's Next, Tommy and Quadrophenia (which are good but Townshend clearly overreaches himself as a composer and librettist on the latter two IMO) I can see how hard-line Who buffs would hate things like Blue, Red and Gray - Squeezebox - They're All In Love as they represent a side of Townshend that he has hitherto only given rein to on his solo outings. None of the very personal songs on By Numbers carry the bombast of teenage rebellion or the boyish blasphemies of disaffected youth etc as by that stage Pete appears to have acknowledged the ageing process and the effect such would have on his world-view. So I guess it represents one of Rock's first rites of passage into middle age? (he was now singing: Hope I get old before I die)
Joined: September 20 2010
Location: Serbia
Status: Offline
Points: 10213
Posted: November 10 2010 at 23:32
ExittheLemming wrote:
Sean Trane wrote:
ExittheLemming wrote:
Todd wrote:
By Numbers is actually my favorite album of theirs. Much more personal than anything that came before it, and their equal musically IMO.
What he said. You could make an argument that the music on Who Are You is probably a lot more proggy (the arrangements feature strings, brass, synths and much more background detail than the normal Who fare) but as you state, the personal candour contained in Townshend's wonderful songs on By Numbers clinches the deal for me.
I'm a little surprised by the results so far.....
Numbers is almost a bottom of the crawer thing with tracks datin,g from 69 or 60... generally leftovrers that didn't find space on other albums..... only two good songs on it and Slip Kids and Squeez Box are atrocious tracks that announces You Bette You Bet
Who Are You is their last good album (sometimes fantastic), but Moon's drumming is definitely sliding downhill
I'm not a massive Who fan so maybe By Numbers is the Who album for people who don't like the Who? For me it dispenses with the sort of grand sweeping gestures of the so-called classic Who albums like say Who's Next, Tommy and Quadrophenia (which are good but Townshend clearly overreaches himself as a composer and librettist on the latter two IMO) I can see how hard-line Who buffs would hate things like Blue, Red and Gray - Squeezebox - They're All In Love as they represent a side of Townshend that he has hitherto only given rein to on his solo outings. None of the very personal songs on By Numbers carry the bombast of teenage rebellion or the boyish blasphemies of disaffected youth etc as by that stage Pete appears to have acknowledged the ageing process and the effect such would have on his world-view. So I guess it represents one of Rock's first rites of passage into middle age? (he was now singing: Hope I get old before I die)
Well, Dreaming From The Waist should be mentioned!
Joined: April 29 2004
Location: Heart of Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 20298
Posted: November 11 2010 at 04:31
ExittheLemming wrote:
(he was now singing: Hope I get old before I die)
i always figured they would, although Moon The Loon obliged....
let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword
Joined: January 28 2010
Status: Offline
Points: 248
Posted: November 12 2010 at 12:35
Though I am not a huge fan of either album, I chose By Numbers. Who Are You, though it has some excellent moments, is the first Who album that actually managed to bore me in places. Personally, I think the best Who studio album since Quadrophenia is Endless Wire, and I am really hoping that this is not the end of the wire for them.
Joined: September 20 2010
Location: Serbia
Status: Offline
Points: 10213
Posted: November 18 2010 at 06:41
ExittheLemming wrote:
Svetonio wrote:
Actually, Daltrey wrotte the lyrics for My Generation the song, not Townshend.
That's interesting, I had no idea they were Daltrey's words
Yes, that's true. Alsointeresting moment to me, from that debut LP, is The Ox, an instrumental track composed byJohn Entwistle, what sounds pretty proggy, IMO --
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The Who By Numbers vs Who Are You
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