John Entwistle's solo albums - unfairly ignored?

my fav by him

 

Except for the whole album.

 

I love those 5 lps from SYHATW to TLTH, but my fav is Whistle Rymes.

Apron Strings is for me the standout track on that brilliant album, with that incredible Frampton solo (one of my top 5 favorite guitar solos).

 

what albums do you like?

 

That is one of the most insane "Skunk" live solos I have ever heard. God I miss that guy! What an amazing guitar player!

 

I love Entwistle's work with The Who, but feel like only his first two solo albums were maybe strong enough to have been released if he hadn't been a member of a major band.

 

I just heard the song Try Me from Too Late The Hero for the first time (I think, the chorus sounded familiar). I can't believe it wasn't a single. It's got that written all over it. Would've been a killer Who single on Face Dances.

 

Sorry, I missed you post originally. I quite like "Trick of the Light" as well as Entwistle's other songs from Who Are You.

Overall I feel Entwistle had stronger material on both Who Are You and especially Face Dances. Of course if Pete had included some of the songs from his Empty Glass solo album that came around the same time as Face Dances, such as the title track and "Rough Boys", then Face Dances I might not be as confident in that statement as I am.

 

I would be thrilled if the CDs would get a rerelease.

 

Smash Your Head Against The Wall for me was a great album. I still listen to it sometimes.
I really loved "What are we doing here"

 

Great posts! I own about two dozen LPs by the Who (mostly comps) and several UK 45s. I also have Townshend's Empty Glass & Rough Mix (with Ronnie Lane), Daltrey's Ride A Rock Horse & Entwistle's Whistle Rymes - specifically because of "Apron Strings" - my favorite song of his.

 

That WAS a brilliant solo! Yes, Baxter is indeed far too MIA. I saw him playing with a band years ago, and he wouldn't play a note of six-string, but stuck to playing pedal steel throughout the set. Nice, but disappointing at the same time.

 

Why in the world would he name a song ‘jungle bunny’? Please tell me there is some British meaning of this phrase that means something different than the meaning I’ve always heard

 

Always wondered the same thing. Kind of afraid to know the truth, really.

 

yah same

 

The first two are rather good,
i've not heard RMSI or MD in
ages.

 

with the great Memphis guitarist Robert Johnson

 

I own original copies of the five 'main' solo releases. I would too agree that Smash Your Head... and Whistle Rymes are both classics (the former moreso in my opinion, much stronger tunes that would fit more closely with the Who during that time; a bit of a shame they didn't use "My Size" but it's excellent the way it is). Rigor Mortis Sets In and Mad Dog both have their moments but I always felt it was strange he was leaning more into the 50s doo-wop thing at the time (although "Drowning" from the latter is one of his best solo tracks). Too Late The Hero is pretty great, too, especially with the inclusion of Joe Walsh. The live '75 set that's been reissued many times under many titles in different orientations is kinda meh though. The drummer in particular just doesn't have what it takes to take on the classic Who tracks.

 

Smash Your Head is one of my favorite albums, ever.

Purchased new when it was first released in 1971, I was very surprised to find different mix/version of "What Are We Doing Here" on both the expanded (2005 Sanctuary) CD release and the "Anthology" from Repertoire 1996 release.

I Like all of his solo albums, however "The Rock" is my least favorite.

 

My theory on Entwistle is that his best albums/songs came after extended periods in which he was able to stockpile material ("Smash Your Hear Against The Wall", "Too Late The Hero", and "Music from Van-Pires"), indicating not so much a lack of songwriting talent, but a lack of songwriting prolificness. "Whistle Rymes", "Rigor Mortis Sets In" and "Mad Dog" are IMO progressively worse, with "Mad Dog" being flat-out horrible (I enjoyed your podcast series on the Who Discography, Marc, and although I enjoyed your analysis of Entwistle's solo work, I also noted you refused to speak out loud the name of track #2 on side two.)

Unfairly ignored? Sure. Frankly, given that there are Who fans who openly hate Pete Townshend's solo albums, I would submit that the solo careers of Entwistle, Townshend and Daltrey are each unfairly ignored. (As for Keith Moon...while I like "Two Sides Of The Moon", as it was expanded into a 2-disc, 50-track expanded edition a few years back, I can accept that it has received just about as much recognition as it merits.)

On the other hand, I also don't envy the record promoters that had to figure out a way to market Entwistle's albums to a mass audience.

 

I agree that his 70s albums get progressively worse, but Whistle Rymes is still a very good album, much better than anything he did subsequently. And I've never found Too Late the Hero to be much of a comeback. It's stiff and ponderous in sound, and the lyrics are lacking in much of his characteristic humor. A really bland attempt at AOR to my ears. It was surprisingly disappointing, because I really liked his songs on WAY and Face Dances, but the stuff on TLTH is notably weaker.

 

I think 905 is a great song, and it predicted test tube babies!

 

Actually "Success Story" is just Rog and John. Pete doesn't sing any lead vox on that one.

 

I think the best song he did (at least on Who records) is Had Enough.