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It IS hard...hard to continue writing songs that are relevant to the music scene after performing for over twenty years, basically inventing the Rock Opera, defining the Mod scene, and establishing a performance that was as much a part of the group as the songs. It's hard, but not impossible. This, their tenth studio album, was something of a last gasp for The Who's run as a chart threat; they would come together for more albums, but for the most part, they were live albums; and album of new material would come out in 2006 in "Endless Wire", but without the presence of the late John Entwhistle, and with very little excitement over the content.
And you can see that downward trend here. Songs like "Why Did I Fall For That", "One Life's Enough" and "I've Known No War" are okay...you have a great guitarist in Pete Townshend, top notch vocalist in Roger Daltry, all-time great bassist in John Entwhistle, so you are going to have a degree of quality. But earlier, The Who declared "The Music Must Change", and it had...leaving much of the music here behind, and largely irrelevant to the musical landscape of the time.
But that's not to say there is nothing here to like. There are, in fact, two excellent songs. The first kicks off the album, "Athena". It was originally to be called "Theresa", after the actual woman Pete Townshend wrote it for, but he decided it was too personal, and the name was changed. The song hit number 28 in US, actually making it to number five in Canada; it's a fun, unique song. The band was not so high on it, however; it was played live only a handful of times during this tour, and never since. They thought it was too "hard" to pull off, and they never liked how it came off.
The other song that really lasted from this album is "Eminence Front". The song opens with a series of repeated tones, reminiscent of "Baba O'Riley"; it's been used in countless TV spots as a lead-in or fade-out; even though the song was never released as a single (it was scheduled to be, but never was), it's easily the most recognizable of the songs here. It does something The Who is great at, it plays with the general structure of a song and does something entirely unique.
Reviews of this album at the time were, in places, ridiculously high; Rolling Stone gave it five stars, calling it their most relevant record in ten years. The lens of time should temper this a bit; the album tracks are not all that memorable, and don't hold up to repeat listens. The two songs I mentioned are the two worth having here; if you are looking for some different material from The Who than what's in their Greatest Hits collections, there are better places to look. This is really for completists only.
And you can see that downward trend here. Songs like "Why Did I Fall For That", "One Life's Enough" and "I've Known No War" are okay...you have a great guitarist in Pete Townshend, top notch vocalist in Roger Daltry, all-time great bassist in John Entwhistle, so you are going to have a degree of quality. But earlier, The Who declared "The Music Must Change", and it had...leaving much of the music here behind, and largely irrelevant to the musical landscape of the time.
But that's not to say there is nothing here to like. There are, in fact, two excellent songs. The first kicks off the album, "Athena". It was originally to be called "Theresa", after the actual woman Pete Townshend wrote it for, but he decided it was too personal, and the name was changed. The song hit number 28 in US, actually making it to number five in Canada; it's a fun, unique song. The band was not so high on it, however; it was played live only a handful of times during this tour, and never since. They thought it was too "hard" to pull off, and they never liked how it came off.
The other song that really lasted from this album is "Eminence Front". The song opens with a series of repeated tones, reminiscent of "Baba O'Riley"; it's been used in countless TV spots as a lead-in or fade-out; even though the song was never released as a single (it was scheduled to be, but never was), it's easily the most recognizable of the songs here. It does something The Who is great at, it plays with the general structure of a song and does something entirely unique.
Reviews of this album at the time were, in places, ridiculously high; Rolling Stone gave it five stars, calling it their most relevant record in ten years. The lens of time should temper this a bit; the album tracks are not all that memorable, and don't hold up to repeat listens. The two songs I mentioned are the two worth having here; if you are looking for some different material from The Who than what's in their Greatest Hits collections, there are better places to look. This is really for completists only.