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| Marc |
 Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:05 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Quote: Marc - This was great. Listened to every minute; lots of very thoughtful, insightful stuff from both you guys.
Lorne, thank you. |
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| RodneyWelch |
| Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:17 pm |
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Joined: 08 Apr 2007
Posts: 9
Location: Elgin, SC
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| A few months ago, I bought "The Who Sell Out," which has been nicely re-issued in one of those spiffy 2-CD "deluxe edition" formats, and I was totally turned on by it. It is several things: a concept album, an homage to radio, a rather subversive suggestion that great songs and great jingles aren't always that far apart, and above and beyond anything else a consistently lively set of fantastic songs. Inspired by the band's own love of pirate radio, the album is formatted a little like a radio program, where real songs (including some great ones, like "I Can See For Miles" and "Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand") are interspersed with jingles for real products (Heinz Baked Beans, Coke, Rotosound Guitar Strings). Not too far in, some of the jingles actually become songs with genuine stories. "Odorno," an anti-perspirant, is the story of a woman who loses a date because she fails to clean up. In "Medac," we meet Henry, the poor pimply youth who was a social outcast before the title product made his cheeks as smooth as a baby's bottom. Very funny, very smart record, and in its way a rather introspective ones: it's as if Pete Townshend is publicly (and quite playfully, starting with the famously outrageous cover) asking himself if he's a true punk or just one more rocker who wants to make a very big score as quickly as possible. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:33 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| A few months ago I got an e-mail from a friend I hadn't heard from in a while, badly written and telling me how good her new Korean laptop computer was. I immediately e-mailed my friend and alerted her. She wrote back that her computer had been "phished." Fortunately things are back to normal with her now. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:57 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Have never been totally sure about The Who, a great live band with some rip-roaring songs, but a band that I never really knew where to place in the scheme of things. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I felt this was not a case of The Who being too elusive or clever to be pigeon-holed, but rather them not being able to find the niche they were looking for. from their Mod and pop stylings they moved with the decade without ever really being part of it.
I never had a similar sense of unease with the likes of The Kinks or Pink Floyd, say, who always seemed to be comfortable with who they were. I'm not sure The Who ever had the right type of artistic sensibility to be totally at home in the late sixties and early seventies underground and 'progressive' music secenes - there concept type albums tended to be too literal and somewhat embarrassing. But they still thrived, perhaps in no small part due to their ability to write a solid rock song. There somewhat theatrical kit smashing turns also did no harm to their 'rock' credibility. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:17 am |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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Marc wrote: Yambu,
I was the 19 year old guy with hair down to my waist, yoga pants, beads and a really cute cute girl who had hair down to her waist, yoga pants and beads. Do you remember me? |
Last edited by yambu on Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:27 am; edited 1 time in total
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That was great for you. How was it for me? |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:22 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| philostrate (Rodney) has returned from the dead. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:53 am |
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Is Rodney, philostrate? I always thought that Rodney was Rod with a second ID, like Lorne and I think, some others.
I remember philostrate from the NYTFF of course, but don't remember the kind of posts he wrote. I only remember the posts of the members there that I hated or just disagreed with all the time.  |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:54 am |
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| My feelings about The Who are very similar to Jeremy's. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:39 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| The Who were one of the great singles bands who got unfortunately got into concept albums. I've got at least three versions of "Pinball Wizard" (The Who, Elton John and Rod Stewart) and I don't even like the song. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:52 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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| Pinball Wizard is a really fun guitar song. But the lyrics are plain dumb, and the theme of the concept album from whence it came is as deep as an air bubble. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:13 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| It's basic Eastern philopsophy. Not sure that's "deep" or not. As I said, I love Tommy, love The Who. It's a little foolish though to say concept albums destroyed them, when Tommy pretty much made them, and certainly made Roger Daltrey. They only put out two concept albums, by the way. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:40 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Joe Vitus wrote: It's basic Eastern philopsophy. Not sure that's "deep" or not. As I said, I love Tommy, love The Who. It's a little foolish though to say concept albums destroyed them, when Tommy pretty much made them, and certainly made Roger Daltrey. They only put out two concept albums, by the way.
And some of my favorite Who singles came out after Tommy, so I stand corrected. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:15 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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| I was a kid when Tommy came out, and I remember loving the tunes and being caught up in the album's quality of alienated weirdness. Some of the music is still extremely catchy, but the theme now sounds really hokey. I give Townsend credit for trying, but Tommy is The Last Supper as painted by a comic-book artist. Interesting but insubstantial. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:41 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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Tommy is one of my favorites (I still like "Who's Next" as my favorite Who album) and I will listen to it often. When I first heard the album, it was a year before the movie came out (starring Roger Daltrey, Elton John and Ann-Margaret) and it seemed so less over-produced than the Tommy movie soundtrack (once I heard it).
Other albums like "Who Are You?" and "It's Hard" (from 1982) have also found a place in my Who favorites. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:51 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Chilly,
It's funny that the original album is so quiet and understated (meditative?) and the soundtrack is so overblown. Truth be told, I like the movie, but it's a different kettle of fish. A silly comic book, whereas the original work is a more earnest reflection on spiritual development (and some laughs, too)
I like that Ken Russel insisted on clarifying the story and putting the elements in a more logical order, but I'm not surprised he alienated rock purists. |
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