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The Who by Numbers

The Who - The Who by Numbers Audio CD

A fair review of the The Who "The Who by Numbers" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Who reviews here, or go back to the The Who tabs.

Band: The Who
Title: The Who by Numbers
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-11-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Slip Kid 2: However Much I Booze 3: Squeeze Box 4: Dreaming From the Waist 5: Imagine a Man 6: Success Story 7: They Are All in Love 8: Blue, Red and Grey 9: How Many Friends 10: In a Hand or a Face 11: Squeeze Box [Live][#][*] 12: Behind Blue Eyes [Live][#][*] 13: Dreaming From the Waist [Live][*]

Who by Numbers cd
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Follow Up To Quadrophenia
The songs are poppy, and lack the angst that Townsend exhibited earlier. Although this is the followup to "Quadrophenia" it lacks a lot of the power of the earlier disk. "Slip Kid" is a good opener, "However Much I Booze" is a Townsend autobiographical piece that he sings well. The single, "Squeeze Box" showcases Townsend on banjo during the middle break as well as the comic wit of the lyrics. "Dreaming From the Waist" is an often overlooked tune that the band performed frequently live that showcases some of their better playing. Daltrey's vocals in "Imagine a Man" are beautiful. The second side begins with "Success Story" an Entwhistle tale about making it as a band, that also pays homage to a few older Who songs in the middle break. The cover was also penned by John, to provide a humerous view of the boys in a connect the dots format. In all, a good release, but quite a tail off from before, perhaps due to the band's drinking and binging at the time.

Who's Underrated
Who Are You was a coda (albeit an alright one) and the albums with Kenney Jones were by a different band. This is the last Who album. You can't lose an energy like Moon and go on pretending you're The Who. You're not, you're the Who's Left. And that's okay; go be the best darn "new Who" you can be, but recognize the difference and act accordingly no matter what anyone says, because if you build it they will come. That's where I think The Who got it wrong post 1978, which is a shame because I really like Face Dances, it just could have been better (you bet! =P).
But I'm not here to discuss all that now am I? No.
By Numbers. . . great album. No synthesizers, no Rock Opera. This is the return of the My Generation Who (or if you wish to acknowledge the self-referential pun of the album title, The High Numbers Who). Guitar, bass, drums, vocals and occasional keyboard. By Numbers is the perfect bookend to their career. My Generation was the frustrated young man, By Numbers the frustrated man ten years on. Since the collapse of Lifehouse Townshend seemed to become more reflective about the band and himself. The song Long Live Rock was the start of a period of looking back, of examining, celebrating, mythologizing and ultimately popping holes in and deflating The Who and his role and place in music and in life.
The dour mood of the album could have been balanced a bit with one or two of the more perky/tongue in cheek tunes Townshend had around at this time - something like My Baby Gives It Away or Misunderstood from his later Rough Mix album with Ronnie Lane for example. Squeeze Box fills this gap as best as its cheery little heart can though, and Entwistle's fantastic Success Story humorously encapsulates everything Townshend is going on about. Blue Red And Gray is rather sweet as well.
The Who still had fire in them at this point and it is well represented in the playing and performances.
AND The Who By NUmbers has one of the best damn album covers EVER! Cheers to The Ox!
The live bonus tracks are cool too. I mean, Dreaming From The Waist? Are you kidding?! Cheers to The Ox again!!!
Great Who album.
.

An early mid-life crisis?

I always thought Quadrophenia was The Who's best album, and viewed The Who by Numbers as their worst. I recently rediscovered this album, along side with Quadrophenia, after an absence of over 20 years.

I was wrong.

Quadrophenia is their best, IMHO. But The Who by Numbers has aged better, because The Who's fans of have aged. Whereas the one is a coming of age story, the other is a plaintive attempt to come to grasp with the consequences of decisions made, paths chosen, and success attained, only to find that it may not be success after all.

I remember that critics hated this album, with its self-loathing and self-pitying. "Success Story" explains the reaction before it even happened: they wanted to become rock stars, and they did, with all the good and the bad that comes along with it.

So "How Many Friends Have I Really Got?" seemed pathetic in 1975; in 2008 it rings somewhat more true.

This was The Who's (and Pete Townshend's) first really personal album. For the first time, he moved from high concept albums (Tommy, Who's Next which grew out of the never realized Lifehouse project, and Quadrophenia)to a collection of unrelated songs that nevertheless portrayed the songwriter's thoughts and attitudes at that point in his life, and where he stood in the world. Subsequent albums would continue to do the same.

From the perspective of performance, this is a brilliant collection. Daltrey's voice is superb, ranging from his famous growls to plaintive ballads. Townshend clearly has become, by this point, a brilliant orchestrator of a rock band, successfully getting more out of less, by eschewing the synthesizers of Who's Next and Quadrophenia, and reducing the band to guitar (and banjo etc. ), bass, drums, voice, and some piano.

I think my favorite song has become "In a Hand or Face", as it displays typical Who anger versus humility. "Blue Red and Grey" is a very pretty song, as is "Imagine a Man".

This is not the first Who album someone should buy -- that is still either Who's Next or Live at Leeds (the original release), followed by Tommy & Quadrophenia. (Honorable mention must go to The Who Sell Out. ) But it is a must own, especially for those of us who listened to this album 30 years ago.

You can see a complete list of all The Who discography, or go back to the The Who tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.