“Who” The new album from The Who 2019 (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

“Who” was released in full today.
The record has 11 tracks and the deluxe has an additional 3 tracks.
The last so far is my favorite on the record.

Danny and my Ponies.
The song has a beautiful vocal from Pete.

As for the rest of the album it’s really actually pretty good.

Roger sounds better then he has in decades I think.
Pete sounds as good as he ever has.

It’s just a record, nothing tying all the songs together as far as I can tell.
There is one song written by Pete’s brother Simon.

Pete was on SiriusXM Deep Tracks earlier today on a recorded interview.
They played each song minus the extra three and Pete briefly talked about each song.
Will be replayed tomorrow at 10a est.

Anyway it’s much better then the record from 13 years ago Endless Wire which was actually decent enough.

One thing he revealed that I haven’t head before was that the song Hero Ground Zero is a song he wrote for what he called his magnus opus to be released in 2022.
But he wanted to get this out now, why hold on to it for two years since it’s ready now he basically said.

So I’m thrilled to hear he has another record coming in 2 years.
At that point it will have been 29 years between his last two albums.

If you’re a Who fan it definitely worth picking up or checking out in your music service.

 

[ChristopherG]

I listened to the broadcast on Sirius on Friday. I was very impressed with what I heard. Amazing that the two of them have been doing this for over 50 years and agree that Roger's vocals were great.

 

[TonyD]

Yeah Roger.
I’ve seen two concerts on this tour and it was surprising how good his voice has been.
This is before his recent throws surgery.

He sounds better then he does on his solo record from 1-2 years ago.

We saw The Who in the early 2000’s when they were prom Ting Pete’s Lifehouse box set and he sounded bad that tour.

I really like this record.

 

[WillG]

Going to have to respectfully disagree with some of you here. I heard some of the tracks when they were playing on Sirius/XM and can’t say it was The Who I once knew. That doesn’t surprise me, but couldn’t get into any of it. Roger Daltrey once famously sang “I hope I die before I get old” now he sings a song about getting old. Oh well.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

“This album is almost all new songs written last year, with just two exceptions. There is no theme, no concept, no story, just a set of songs that I (and my brother Simon) wrote to give Roger Daltrey some inspiration, challenges and scope for his newly revived singing voice. Roger and I are both old men now, by any measure, so I’ve tried to stay away from romance, but also from nostalgia if I can. I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Memories are OK, and some of the songs refer to the explosive state of things today. I made new home studio demos of all these songs in the summer of 2018 using a wide collection of instruments old and new. We started recording as The Who in March 2019, and have finished now in late August just in time to make some vinyl………maybe even some cassettes……ready for release in November.” - Pete Townsend

 

[Gary Seven]

I was geared to see The Who when Who Are You was released, as the announcements had been made, but then Keith Moon died. A few years later they toured again with the new drummer but I found the performance underwhelming. Then in 87 they toured again doing the Tommy album and they were amazing (I saw them without all the guest stars). Tighter performance, horn section, backing vocals, just an amazing show. That show was available on LD and DVD but out of print by now. I haven't heard the new stuff, I don't think, but they are not what they once were. But then again, who is?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I saw them in 2000 and again in 2002 and had a blast both tours. Zak Starkey on drums is a great fit with them.

 

[Ruz-El]

Saw them on the Hits 50 tour a few years ago, thought they did a fine job. Daltrey managed to nail "Love Reign Over Me" , no mean feat.

New album was fine, but no earworms for me. The past couple of years Townshend seems to be hardly capable of hiding his utter disdain for the history if the band. Roger and Pete were never in the studio together, so is their relationship. Townshend did all the music tracks, then sent them over for Roger to sing on. I think it shows on the album. Would probably have been better off as a solo album, and for Pete to just move on.

 

[WillG]

Saw them on the Hits 50 tour a few years ago, thought they did a fine job. Daltrey managed to nail "Love Reign Over Me" , no mean feat.

New album was fine, but no earworms for me. The past couple of years Townshend seems to be hardly capable of hiding his utter disdain for the history if the band. Roger and Pete were never in the studio together, so is their relationship. Townshend did all the music tracks, then sent them over for Roger to sing on. I think it shows on the album. Would probably have been better off as a solo album, and for Pete to just move on.

Didn’t Roger and Pete never really like each other all that much from the get go?

to paraphrase a quote from Pete I think I once heard “when I first saw him I knew [Roger] was perfect for the band, I’ve despised him ever since”

 

[Josh Steinberg]

But it just goes to show... you don’t need to be best friends with someone to do your best work. The best work of The Who is probably as amazing as it is, at least in part, because they didn’t love each other so much that they couldn’t say, “Your singing sucks there, do better” or “What the hell kind of guitar part do you think that is?”