New Who!

I had something else in mind to write when I first sat down in front of the clutter this morning, but as I took a quick scroll through my inbox I discovered it contained the new single from The Who! So this takes precedence.

Unlike many of their contemporaries, The Who has resisted the urge to release new music to support the existence of their touring incarnation. I've found that refreshing, and it's helped to keep the nexus of the band's legacy intact, at least in my eyes.* 2006's Endless Wire was the band's first album since 1982, and it was a solid collection that didn't cause any huge shockwaves throughout the music world, but it still managed to feel like a suitable addition to the band's oeuvre.

The band's releasing their latest studio album, WHO, next month, and they just released another track from it, "I Don't Wanna Get Wise." In the accompanying press release, singer Roger Daltry says, “I think we’ve made our best album since Quadrophenia in 1973, Pete [Townsend] hasn’t lost it, he’s still a fabulous songwriter, and he’s still got that cutting edge”.

It's not unusual for a band to reference a previous high-water mark—I'm a huge Bowie fan but even I got tired of every new album of his being heralded as his "best since Scary Monsters"—and it usually elicits an eyebrow raise from me.** And, I'll be honest, my eyebrow is raised yet again by Daltry's claim. However listening to the music, I think what he might mean is that the band is leaning into that period's sound as the inspiration for the new work, and if that's the case then I agree. Either way, I'm looking forward to hearing the whole album!

Anyway, without further ado, "I Don't Wanna Get Wise."


*Their propensity for reissues and repackaging previously released material does a fine job of snagging disposable income from their fans. However you feel about that sort of behavior, it at least doesn't mean they're releasing dreck that taaints their back catalog, right?

**I would argue that The Who By Numbers was the last "great" Who album, but I wonder if Daltry perhaps views that as more a "Pete" album than a "Who" album since its subject matter is so personal? But if that's true, isn't the subject matter of most of The Who's greatest work intensely personal to Pete's worldview?***

***I wrote that before delving back into the press release and saw that Townsend is quoted as saying, "I wrote this in a mid-‘70s style, like a song from an album like 'WHO BY NUMBERS'" so I think I'm onto something there, even if Rog's own timeline's recollection seems a bit. off.