The Who - Face Dances
#111
By Robbie Rist
March 16 1981
The Who
Face Dances
Genre: Hanging On By A Finger Rock
Allen’s Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Robbie’s Rating: 3.75
Highlights: You Better You Bet
Yes. Yes.
I know.
The faithful will sniff the air dismissively and say, 'It's not even a Who record'.
And they would be right.
Its more a Pete Townshend solo thing.
With two members of The Who helping out.
And a very odd choice to replace one of the most iconic players to ever play this kind of white blues based rock music.
Now, I don't know this from experience (unfortunately) but I can only assume that a band entering its third decade together must have a completely unique set of wins and losses.
The Who were a lot of things to a lot of people. Fashionable mod progenitors, hard rock improvisationalists, consistent hit makers and even, oddly, protectors of all that makes being a teenager magical.
They were coming off an amazing run of single in the seventies. Going Mobile, Won't Get Fooled Again, Who Are You. Hell, even Squeezebox had its own oddball charm.
The stoners loved them. The punks embraced them.
Now, I believe that most amazing things happen by synergy.
Name your band.
You like the Beatles , right?
Can you see the same rise to their position in Valhallah with Stu Sutcliffe? Pete Best?
Its not surprising that NO ONE from that band ever did ANYTHING as good solo as they did as a unit.
Synergy.
Some bands can live through it. Most don't.
And here is where The Who found themselves in the middle of 1980.
Like a person losing a lung, they can still get around but there are challenges.
And off they went into the studio.
With Moon's replacement, Kenny Jones.
A great but....mostly an RnB drummer.
Not the kind guy known for....well.....cutting loose.
I mean The Who may have started as that sort of band but, by 1980, they were completely different beast all together. On most of these tracks it feels like Jones is strapped to th back of a fast moving train and he is doing everything his power to....just....hang....on....
Didn't hurt that Townshend was drinking and drugging his balls off and, if you listen to Chinese Eyes and Empty Glass, he was keeping the really good songs to himself.
Then there is producer Bill Szymczyk who, aside from having a terrible paucity of vowels in his name, ended doing to them what he did to the Eagles.
He plucked out all of their teeth.
Ok.
It really seems an uphill battle for one of the top groups of the British Invasion.
However.
Lets say The Who never existed. That this was simply a record made by a bunch of journeyman session players or a one off all star ensemble.
Second drawer or not, there are a lot of great songs on this thing.
You better You Bet is an astonishing bit of classic power pop. I wish more bands in the 90s El Lay pop scene wrote more songs like this. Some of us might have actually made money.
Don't let Go The Coat. Ditto.
As a matter of fact, aside from it all sounding so....comtained, I have trouble finding fault with many of these songs.
It even ALMOST gets menacing (I said almost) with Entwhistle's The Quiet One.
Is it safe? Yeah. Is it a WHO record?
Doesn't sound like one to me. I mean I hear flashes of them but....no....just a really good band playing competent songs well.
If it's iconic you are looking for here, you won't find it.
By this point their iconic years were laying in a pine box with their old drummer.
But, with the benefit of hindsight, all of these songs bristle with a confidence born of taking a lot of swift kicks to the bollocks and writing skills that almost don't exist anymore..
And, sometimes, that can be pleasantly diverting.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2zLGQD3h1VG2tKzJCdAAyR?si=TPLJW9DKRmyGJTrFFQvaNA
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