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Album Review: The Who And The Dolls

© Clark F. Paull, III

At their peak,The Who (feh, more like The Two) members  Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon roamed the earth like an eight-legged stun gun, hellbent on administering a thorough amplified ass stomping or, at the very least, a proper thrashing about the head and shoulders of their audience as well as each other.

Quite simply put, Entwistle and Moon were the greatest rhythm section ever to tread the boards and thus it shall remain, world without end, Amen. Townshend was and probably remains a pop music genius and look no further than Daltrey for the alpha male front man prototype.

Sadly, for reasons it would take a book to lay out, it all headed south for them about 30 years ago (ouch!), long about the time of their last great album, “The Who By Numbers.” Always thought “Who Are You” sort of stunk.

“Then & Now 1964-2004” (Geffen) ain't a half-bad compilation for the uninitiated, i.e., MTV kids just learning to think for themselves, trying to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, or for completists (uh, the latter would include yours truly), but any Who fan worth his salt already owns all of these songs once or twice over. Let’s face it – this is one overanthologized band.

So let's cut to the chase - the two new songs. If you armchair quarterbacked Townshend and Daltrey's decision to soldier on after the heartbreaking death of Entwistle, this is your time to gloat. "Real Good Looking Boy" and "Old Red Wine" make anything on "Face Dances" or "It's Hard," heretofore viewed as the band's nadir, sound like uncanny masterpieces.

Both wallow in the maudlin at a time when it would have behooved all involved to come up with something celebratory, unhinged, and deafening, rife with big chords and a stiff middle finger to the naysayers.

Without a doubt, Zak Starkey is a phenomenal drummer, coming as close to replacing Moon as humanly possible, but a thousand fill-in bassists like Greg Lake (!) and Pino Palladino could never do the same for The Ox.

After Moon's death some 26 years ago, many of the faithful were willing to cut Townshend and Daltrey some slack, but it may now be too late for either to age with a modicum of grace or dignity. If those two new tunes aren't some sort of sign, how about this: Daltrey on TV shilling for Time-Life's latest 70's rock and roll compendium? Amen...