English rock can be a bit too lumpy and laboured at times in
comparison to so much of the blues and southern rock stuff
that has come out of america since the Beatles invaded the
planet. The four lads from Liverpool at the very least were
adventurous and experimental, most of the other UK rock
acts from the late 70`s onwards have never made it big in
the US because they`ve either been too rough around the
edges and not sophisticated enough or they`ve been medi-
ocre in comparison to american acts who are playing exact-
ly the same sort of music. America is a place where dreams
are made and where dreams are shattered in music terms,
not even the mega-successful ABBA ever really made it big
in america, even though their glossy pop was very sophisti-
cated and made for easy listening radio. Whether you are a
pop act or a rock act, in america having a good record produ-
cer who can tweek your music the right way is as important
as the music you write and play. One seminal english band
which was clunky and unrefined but nonetheless a blast to
listen to is The Who. You dont need me to introduce Pete
Townsend i am sure, the eccentric and eclecticly charged
original heavy rock guitarist who straddled metal on the
odd occasion but never went too far away from the loose
and improvised garage sound which took The Who to the
heights of fame in the late 60`s and early 70`s. The band
was augmented by the Robert Plant-ish Roger Daltry and
the wildman of the skins, arguably one of the craziest son
of a bitches in the music business at the time, the one and
only Keith Moon. Oh yeah, and how could i forget the bass
guitarist John Entwistle, who like most `bass` players was
a bit more reserved and just happy to remain a musician in
a rock band, bass players aren`t exactly renowned for being
the ringleaders of backstage sex groupies and being respon-
sible for their lead guitarists smashing their guitar to smith-
erines on stage for a bit of fun. Pete Townsend made a habit
of doing that forsure. The Who are cited by many punk rock
bands as being a major influence, i guess if you combine the
swagger of The Who with the grind of The Stooges, who are
also considered to be a seminal punk act, you would come up
with a sound which wouldn`t be all together diffrent than the
Sex Pistols and the punk which took over London after 1977.
But The Who were just as much old time rock`n`roll as they
were hard rock or proto-type punk, and Pete Townsends in-
cendiary and ferocious guitar playing, along with Moon`s out-
landish and swashbuckling drumming, combined to make The
Who the most robust and energized english rock act in history.
Roger Daltry was never a great singer, but his goofy yet char-
ismatic stage presence made up for his vocal insufficiencies. I
always think of more latter day hard rock vocalist Sebastian
Bach of early Skid Row when i think of Daltry, both were ve-
ry average singers but both had the magical charisma which
only a handful of rock vocalists poccess. I was born in `74 so
up until a few years ago i actually thought the concept album
`Tommy` from the early 70`s, was sort of the beginning of
The Who. I really had no idea up until then that The Who
had been around since the mid 60`s, and had recorded a lot
of music which ended up on what has become my favourite
recording of the Who, `Live At Leeds`. I have listened to
`Tommy` a few times, which has the radio staple `Pinball
Wizard` on it, and i think the song from later on in the 70`s
called `Wont Get Fooled Again`, which was popularised by
Van Halen for many years when Sammy Hagar was singing
for that band, is a great proto-type heavy rock guitar song.
But to me `Live At Leeds` is the best thing i have heard of
The Who to date, it is a scorching album which is brimming
with Pete Townsend feedback and thundering powerdrum-
ming from a maniacal Keith Moon. It serves as being a live
greatest hits of their 60`s material, with classic songs that
get reborn to virtual heavy metal proportions. `I Cant Ex-
plain`, `Shakin All Over`, `My Generation`, `Substitute`
and the hilarious parody `A Quick One, While He`s Away`
are just some of the highlights of the album. `Heaven and
Hell` and `Fortune Teller` are less known songs but are
also beefed up to the max for the Leeds University audi-
ence. `Live At Leeds` is now 40 years old but it remains
one of the greatest live albums of all time, one of its best
assets is its laid back feel. It`s improvisation at its best.
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