Personally I haven't seen any. Fellow member WhoTapes1 is an authority on this type of stuff and might be able to help you.
With the possible exception of Roger, they were ALL in decline by 77-78. Pete himself said he could have just as easily croaked around that time. Moon was in a category by himself. His drumming often sounded like a full scale avalanche. One of most brilliant, inspired and powerful drummers who ever lived. And one hell of a character. As Joe Walsh said "one of the most terrifying experiences of my life was when Keith Moon decided he liked me".
To me, his so-called "decline" happened in two distinctive periods. Keep in mind that Keith never practised the drums outside the band, so if the band was in an inactive period, so was his drumming. The first period was most of 1974. The only playing Keith did that year was on the first three months of the year, on tour with the 'Oo, but other than that the band was too busy with recording the Tommy movie to play live or record stuff. Even on the soundtrack album for it, Keith barely did any recording for it. He did manage to recover some 80% to record By Numbers, but everyone could see he was a bit rusty by then. The second period was mid-1976 to mid-1977. Then again, another "gap" year for the band, only this time theybwere pursuing solo projects and taking a rest from the band, after the Who By Numbers tour ended in mid '76. Once more, Keith played almost nothing during this time, but instead of regaining his stamina and habilities as he did in 1975, this time he was too caught up with the booze and his divorce to manage to get back. And so, Who Are You happened, with his playing being only a shadow of his past recordings with them, the same applying to their two 77-78 gigs.
Not sure if anyone else here has heard this, but here are Moon's isolated drums from "Won't Get Fooled Again." I know this song inside and out and consider it one of his defining performances. Listening to these isolated drums is just epic. He pushes the beat and swings in spots and some of those fills are just unreal. He really did play the drums almost like he was singing, very lyrical.
friends of mine in the Miami area often relate this story, Moon winding up in a Ft Lauderdale area hospital for a week in about 1976 - THEY claim he was never the same afterwards and began a slow slide downhill. Keith Moon Shows His Dark Side In A Moment Of Lunacy - August 11, 1976
I could listen to that drum track all day long. Always liked the almost humanly impossible fill Moonie plays underneath the "I'll move myself and my family aside..." lines. I've also always loved the drum sound on "Won't Get Fooled Again".
The whole group declined after Quadrophenia, Moon's drumming included. I think there is a general consensus on this.
Who By Numbers is a very good album and Moonie's drumming on here can still kick ass. Plus they were still a great live act. But there is no denying a decline set in after Quadrophenia, it's just the fall started from such a high position it took a while before it materially impacted on their output, at least to the outside world anyway.
I'm 100% with you, I do listen to this drum track all the time...it's just amazing. I love the way he pushes the beat on the hi-hat during the verses and the incredibly creative and inventive fills he uses throughout. It's been said he mirrored his drum parts more aligned with Roger's vocals than whatever John or Pete were doing and you can really hear that in this isolated track. And you're right, his sound on this track and that entire album is just incredible. Punchy and crisp, but deep and powerful.
Hmm...rereading this discussion earlier... September 9, 2017: August 2, 2018: It's deja vu all over again!
I'd say something about Who Are You but as the 40th anniversary is coming up, I'll save my thoughts for when I do my usual retrospective thread.
For me Who's Next contains some of the finest rock drumming ever put down on record. Ever. Anything after this was bound to be a bit of an anti-climax because I think it was impossible to do anything better.
Quadrophenia is just as good, IMO. Those two albums are Moon at his absolute peak (and that's saying something because his drumming up to and including Tommy and Live at Leeds was spectacular)
Good point. Also Pete's writing was evolving all the time and starting to move away from the typical 'Who' sound. Given he had pretty much on this own written Tommy, the aborted Lifehouse (but still managing to create one of the greatest rock albums of all time in Who's Next) and also Quadropehia all in a row he was probably a little burnt out creatively speaking. So a decline can be understood.
The musicianship in general on Quadrophenia is outstanding and I'm not sure it gets the recognition it should. From Pete's stellar guitar and synth work, the Ox's amazing bass work and also the incredible horn arrangements he did through to of course Moon's awesome drumming. They were all at the top of their game in that period from Tommy thru to Quadrophenia. I just wish at that point they had chosen to add a keyboard player to the live show so they could replicate Quadrophenia without the backing tapes. For me Quadrophenia has always been unfairly overshadowed by Tommy and I think part of that is because they struggled to perform Quadrophenia live back then as the technology just wasn't ready yet.
Great points. Don't overlook Roger on Quad...might just be his greatest vocal performances in terms of quality but also the range of styles and inflections he uses. I do wish it had stayed in their live act longer than just '73 and '74 because in my mind it's their masterpiece and the greatest album they ever made.
Yes, Roger was in fine fettle here too. In fact, arguably, it was Roger on thru the rest of the decade that maintained his high standard when the rest of the band started to slowly decline. I think his singing on both 'by numbers' and 'Who are You' is superb.
Without scrolling through 20 pages: the peak was 1970 with a slow decline for though out the decade ultimately becoming a degraded facsimile of himself by his last show in 1978.
In my not so 'umble opinion Quadrophenia is The Who's masterpiece, not Who's Next, and certainly not Tommy...