You Are Who?
Overall Album Score: 7.9 out of 10 Me? Why my name is Michael Lawrence. I was born in 1982 in Renton, Washington to a pair of freaky old parents. (If one of my freaky old parents happens to be reading this, I'll probably have a lot of explaining to do. Just the same, you guys are freaky, and you'll have to come to terms with that sooner or later.) I'm sure that Pete Townshend didn't call this album Who Are You so that I could answer the question. (By the way, that reminds me ... I spent the past two days on a geology field trip in New Mexico. I was out buying some granola bars in a grocery store. The cashier asked me "How are you," but because of the accent, I thought she said "Who are you." I was baffled until about two seconds later when I realized what she really asked. ANYWAY, this is the final album of the original line-up of The Who. As we are all pretty much are aware, Keith Moon died of a sleeping pill overdose, leaving the band's sky in a New Moon state well into the 00s (when the band had to continue without Entwistles). And so, Who Are You is where The Who tries to gain some ground back by throwing in a few experimental numbers into the mix. That is a good quality. Unfortunately, even though Who Are You is an enjoyable album for the most part, it gets a bit boring. Oh well! Who fans still must have it. Overall Album Score: 7.9 out of 10 (I'm going against some of the critics' grain by giving this album a lower score than Who By Numbers ... but, heck, I don't find this album quite as enjoyable.) Average Song Score: 8.2 (This is a pretty good collection of tunes! ... Some of the songs are quite fetching, indeed!) Album Tilt: 7.5 (This might have some "fetching" songs in it, but there are enough BLAH moments in here for me to want to keep its score rather low.) Artist Rating: 8.0 (Interesting! Of course, this is a far cry from what occurred the band's glory days, but this album is too interesting to legitimately be considered an artistic failure in the slightest.) Track Reviews New Song 8.5/10 Cool! It doesn't pack quite the same punch as "Baba O'Riley," but those synthesizers are hella cool! Also, the melody here is completely awesome ... and, this is proof of the Who's complete un-washedupness! It's both bold and well played. Had Enough 7.5/10 Whoah! Is John Entwistle still trying to write songs! He has three of them in here! ... Fortunately, though, this one is actually pretty good. The melody ... hmmmmm ... it's quite evident that this isn't one of Peties! There aren't enough hooks or genuine feeling in here to make this one quite up to par. But this is still perfectly cool. 905 7/10 ANOTHER Entwistle thingy! The electronic intro of this one is kinda cool, I guess. Remember how in my review of Who By Numbers, I complained how much Entwistle's song in that album sounded so much like Kiss? THE SAME THING HERE! Maybe that's just 'cause of his singing voice. It's also because this is kinda mediocre (albeit, his melodic skills are way more advanced than Kiss ever was able to get). But I like the electronic intro thingy. ... I'm not sure about the electronic stuff in the middle of this song, but ... eh, whatever! This is mildly enjoyable. Sister Disco 9/10 Hi, Pete! I missed ya! Already, I'm getting a much more serious and sincere vibe from this one. The synthesizers are pretty cool (frankly, I don't know why people complain about 'em ... again, this is hardly a "Baba O'Riley," but ... yes, they're WAY awesome.) And the melody and hooks are back! And the complicated song structures! Just check out how utterly sudden this song gets to its chorus. Either Pete was being lazy, or being way artistic. You decide! Music Must Change 8/10 Hey! I don't want to hear excuses! I *like* The Who of 1978! ... I sure wish old Keith would have stuck around, though. Arrrrrrgh!!!! This is an interesting song that is a sort of combination of old 40s and 50s show-tune jazz and our own, fondly regarded rock-and-roll. Yikes! This song is so odd though! Even further evidence that The Who wasn't washed up at this point. Washed up bands don't make such interestingly peculiar songs! ... It does leave a little bit to be desired, though. Trick of the Light 8/10 Yeah ... this is definitely a slightly more 'normal' sounding Whosian rock song. But it's still an interesting song with an intriguing riff and a good tune. Guitar and Pen 8.5/10 Neat piano effect! This is a nursery song-reminiscent one that eventually turns into a weaker-sounding version of "Won't Get Fooled Again" from Who's Next. But so what? That song was so awesome that I completely welcome another such attempt at it. (Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.) Love is Coming Down 7.5/10 JOHNNY BOY!!!!! The third Entwistle tune on here tries to be sweeping an inspirational. It manages the sweeping part, but it's not too inspirational. Just the same, this is still an enjoyable song. I like it. Who Are You 9.5/10 This song is probably The Who's last glory! It's a radio staple that overdoes it a bit on the electronics (and a drum machine????) ... but that doesn't keep this song from being totally cool. I really like Daltrey's vocal performance on this, too. It's passionate! The instrumentation at the end of this thing sounds out of this world, too. Yep, this is a pop-radio classic. BONUS TRACKS No Road Romance Cool bonus track! I would only give it an 8, but ... this is interesting. Though, it's not necessarily enjoyable. (It's also really long, clocking in at over 5 minutes.) Empty Glass This is a cool song! It makes my butt wiggle up and down to its merry beat. (And then is stops wiggling when the cool beat is replaced by more folky stuff. Yes, it's very long at over SIX minutes, this time, but it's not bad at all. An 8. Also included are different versions of "Guitar and Pen," "Love is Coming Down" and "Who Are You." Ho hum. When are you going to send me a comment about "Who Are You?" When you decide, send it here! |
All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. He doesn't belch in front of women, but he might tell a rude joke or two.
