The Who By Numbers appreciation thread

I love WHO by numbers. My favorite of the latter day albums

I love Squeezebox !! & Blue Red & Grey & Slip Kid my 3 favorites off a terrific little album.

 

These 60s bands that survived into the mid and late 70s with their magic intact. We took it for granted at the time. But it is amazing how The Who, Stones, Floyd and others were putting out really great albums and doing iconic live performances. I mean even the Kinks with Soap Opera and Schoolboys, were stunner live shows!

Talent is something that does not fade at the same rate youth does anyway.

 

Pop? really?

 

Deleted since this is an appreciation thread.

 

I have to hear that.

 

Here it is, great transition from the acoustic version played for the show into The Who version...

 

Thank you for sharing. It just pisses me off that songs like this have been sadly neglected by the band.

 

This is a recording that I couldn't "get" when I was younger. I didn't hate it, but it didn't get pulled out too often. Probably because Pete was writing about stuff that I couldn't relate to as a younger guy.

As I got older, had kids, got divorced, became a better musician etc it became a revelation to me.

Pete' songwriting was always top notch and the band was incredible, but pete's writing on this one was probably his best, and the band, especially Hopkins, played with restraint, finesse and incredible support to the songs and the vocals. Glynn John's work was also superb.

Now, its one of my go to records for the end of an evening listening session with various friends. The usual comments are along the lines of "I forgot how good the record was" or, "wow" or "was that really the Who?"

It is also a record that kind of forced me to admit that The Beatles and The Who were neck in neck in being the best rock band out there. Stones fans, don't get twisted panties because they were the best rock n Roll band of the late 60's and early 70's, IME

 

I think the current version of the Who could do a very moving version of "They're All in Love." It would not at ALL sound like Rog's original vocal, but his current deep croak can be quite moving on the slow stuff. Lots of room for lilting keyboards, Simon holding down the chords on acoustic while Pete could add flavoring on electric, let Button be Button....it would be great.

But Pete might see someone fidgeting or going for a piss and forget it!

 

I even have a suggestion for where it should go: I get that they don't want to play the "encore" game but it leaves the end of the set this almost silly string of "huge iconic moments" that start to feel weird all in a row. I think there needs to be a light break between end of TOMMY and Baba, and while I used to think an early single like Substitute might work well, so would an obscure tender one like "They're All in Love."

And whatever happened to those "rehearsing Athena" rumors?

 

This is a very understated album sandwiched between Quadrophenia and Who Are You. I love it, though...some great stuff on here and a brief return to a stripped-down, synth-less sound after Who's Next and Quad before they'd return to it on Who Are You. My biggest gripe with the album is that only 2 songs became a mainstay in the live set ("Dreaming From the Waist" and "Squeeze Box") and only two others were attempted live in '75/'76 ("Slip Kid," which is one of the great lost Who classics, and "However Much I Booze"). In particular, "In a Hand or Face" could have been EPIC live during that era.

 

Indeed, though I'd been listening to The Who By Numbers for years by then, it wasn't until my girlfriend of eight years and I split up in 2002 that I "got it" as an album. Very cathartic to listen to after that...as "down" as I may have been at the time, I could take consolation in the fact that I couldn't possibly be as "down" as Pete was when he wrote those songs!

Precisely my wife's reaction when she heard the entire album for the first time- before that her only exposure to By Numbers was hearing "Squeeze Box" when we saw The Who last year.

 

IMHO, it's their last essential album. They never hit this peak with each subsequent release.

 

In my mind the 3 album run of Who's Next, Quadrophenia, and Who By Numbers might be the best ever. Definitely the most listened to 3 album run by me that stands up to repeated listening. The closest contender I can think of for me personally is The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge.

 

I'd go further than that and start at Sell Out, Tommy & Leeds (the Tommy performance on the Deluxe is beyond belief!).

 

Thanks for posting that.

 

Love By #s. Pete's multiple personalities come out. As a bipolar person, I can relate. Especially now being older. The highs and lows, the crashes and putting the pieces back together again.
I appreciate it for what it is, like Zep's Presence, Yes's Drama, Sabbath's Technical Ecstacy, Genesis's ATTWT.

 

Checkout my SBS for this if you're interested.
The Who By Numbers Song by Song Thread

 

Nice video but Jim James is waaaaay off key.

 

The Who album is better than these others you noted.

 

Yeah I agree, even as I like all of those others I mentioned. By #s is fantastic.

 

Roger did How Many Friends at one of his solo shows:


Daltrey performing “Who Are You” in Clearwater, Fla., October 30, 2017

Roger Daltrey began a brief tour of the U.S. and Canada last night (Oct. 30) with a 18-song set in Clearwater, Fla., billed as “A Quick Run (While Pete’s Away)” that features Who hits and rarities. While he did sing such Who war horses as “Baba O’Riley,” “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Pinball Wizard,” Daltrey also tackled such Who LP cuts as “How Many Friends,” from the band’s 1975 By Numbers album and “Getting in Tune” from 1971’s Who’s Next, as well as several songs from his various solo albums.

Daltrey’s back-up band features several of The Who’s longtime live band members: Jon Button, Loren Gold, Scott Devours and Simon Townshend, who sang his brother Pete’s lead vocal on “Going Mobile.” (Watch it below.)

Daltrey sounded great and closed the show with a new song, “Heading Home,” from his upcoming solo album. He’ll also be publishing his memoir in 2018.

Roger Daltrey, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, FL, Oct. 30 Setlist

Overture/It’s a Boy

Pinball Wizard

I Can See For Miles

Behind Blue Eyes

Another Tricky Day

Athena

Who Are You

Days of Light

Going Mobile

How Many Friends

It’s Not Enough

Getting in Tune

Giving it All Away

Without Your Love

Summertime Blues

Baba O’Riley

Young Man Blues

Heading Home

 

And "Dreaming from the Waist" was added to the set as well. Great additions!

 

Guitar And A Pen is my favorite, funny how so many Who fans just don't get the message.

 

This is very funny