FACE DANCES

For those The Who fans, I believe that "Who Are You" is probably the best or at least strong album by the band. And post death of Keith Moon was a real challenge for the band to move forward with their musical career. In 1981, the band stood up and started the decade with totally new approach in this "Face Dances" album with the new drummer. Kenney Jones, the new drummer, was of course not Keith Moon. However, he could sit quite well at the drum stool. John Entwhistle had been an excellent songwriter and in this album he was given more to contribute while Pete ran quite low on creativity.

This album was not successful for the band, commercially, even though it had the band's highest chart position single. But for those who have been familiar with the Who, they will find that the basic ingredients and characteristics of the Who sound are prevalent here and there in the album. For me personally, John Entwhistle is still a great bass player. In fact, in order to grab the subtleties of his playing, I use headphone when listening this album. Yes, his bass playing is great. And it's obvious that Roger Daltrey vocal sounds best here with this album regardless the song quality. What I really like about this album is the bonus tracks.

Being a not best-selling album does not necessarily mean that it's bad one, but it's a bit different with the original music of The Who. I still consider this album is worth collecting for The Who fans.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW