The Who By Numbers appreciation thread

Huh? The Who have a song called "Guitar and Pen" (not "Guitar And a Pen") but it is not on the By Numbers album. It is on the Who Are you album.

I confess to not getting whatever message is in the song though. I mainly do not listen to lyrics in music and thus have no idea what most songs are supposed to be about!

 

Sorry, my bad.

 

I always took the message of Guitar and Pen as being "songwriting is difficult and maddening but important and if it's in you, you should keep working on getting it out." Not sure what part of that Who fans don't get....except maybe we are too hard on Pete for mostly ceasing to use his guitar and pen to write great things over past few decades?

 

My twopenn'orth about WBN: I bought it as a young kid at a second hand market for £1. The cover was joined up but the record was in great nick. At that point I'd been subjected to endless plays of Tommy by my music teacher ( it was the 70s it was better than her playing Josephs technicolor anorak or whatever) so my knowledge of the Who was limited. I liked Squeeze Box which I knew from the radio so I treated it as if I was buying a single at that price. What a great buy! I instantly loved Blue Red and Grey cos it was so different. The rest just grew on me and this has become my third favourite Who album after Who's Next & Live at Leeds.
Very underrated album I love the down to earth nature of the collection of songs. No synths? I never gave that a thought! What a miss the Ox is, Success Story wow! Great thread.

 

I want to like this record and I do like some of it but it'll never be my go to Who album. Better than what came after it, not as good as what preceded it.

 

I thought their last essential album was Quadrophenia but I'm considering buying this one..

 

For some, this is their last essential album. An album that is a bridge between The Who and Pete Townshends Empty Glass.

 

Well there weren't that many! I quite like Who Are You and even if I seem to be in a minority, I like Endless Wire. Don't care for the other two. Think By Numbers is pretty solid though.

 

I really find Empty Glass a big disappointment.
I just don't get Quadraphenia either. I find it overblown but WBN sounds like a collection of songs rather than a big concept and they sound like they're played by a band who like what they are doing.

 

In an interview, John stated his dislike for WBNs

 

i LIKE the who almost love 'em but they are not one of my faves.
great singles in the 60's really great singles
sat them live twice with moon first time doing quad lynyrd sknyrd opened! show was good but dragged a bit
saw them again a year or two later on the by numbers tour.they featured by numbers but also did a bunch of
"greatest hits" etc. one of the most awe inspiring shows i ever saw.
the who of course in their stride was a great band.
i also like townshend's solo work a lot,maybe on the same level as i like the who and rough mix is one of my all time faves(by anyone).
i kind of put by numbers in the rough mix zone. great songs and great playing. not hard rock if that makes sense.and sort of sounding like a pete solo record.
bottom line i dig by numbers a lot!

 

oh how i wish i had not of done that.also wish i hadn't colored in the inside picture on donavan's "cosmic wheels"

 

I love this album. This album is tied with Quadrophenia as my most played Who record, aside from Who's Next.

 

"Slip Kid" is easily in my Top Ten 'Oo songs.

 

It's The Who song I listen to the most

 

Some great Pete guitar in that song -

 

I bought my Who CDs in the mid 90s, due to what everyone said, I never went further than Who By Numbers for over 10 years, finally completing the collection about 12 years ago. I was sad that I left it so long to complete as I found out I missed a lot of great stuff by listening to the opinions of others.

 

You know I wonder if sometimes for me the sequencing throws me off some. 2 of the more Rocking songs are sort of left dangling at the end of the record, after the listener has to get through "Imagine A Man through "Blue Red and Grey" (I like all those songs too, especially BR&G) and the latter always seemed like it could also close an album or side out also. I know "Success Story" gets a lot of love but I'm just sayin' for me I feel like by the time I get to How Many Friends and In A Hand Or Face, I feel like I've waited too long for them

 

I'm so used to the album flow I never thought of it like that, waiting for the harder edge songs.

 

The older one gets, the better "Who By Numbers" ages. It's become my favorite go-to Who.

 

I just bought it.
I think this band gets interesting with Live at Leeds. The early albums aren't strong enough. The first one, My generation, is derivative British r&b with a thin sound (the fact that I dislike everything "mod" related doesn't help) . A quick one is loaded with weak songs and I find Sell out somewhat overrated though it's the best of their 60s output. Buy Meaty beaty big and bouncy and you have all you need of the 60s Who.

 

Interesting post - some of which I agree with - but it seems to have zip to do with the topic at hand. ??

 

Sorry.

 

Not trying to shame you - it just seems an intelligent, thoughtful post such as yours might address the actual topic of the thread as stated in the subject. Seemed odd to me but I guess most Internet forums are more like crowded kitchens at cocktail parties than classrooms. I shouldn’t have said anything. Accept my apology.

 

Really curious if they attempted any additional Pete songs during the sessions, Girl In A Suitcase for example, or if the full band Blue, Red and Grey exists. As it stands Numbers is the sole Who album we do not have any unreleased material from.