Non Keith Moon drummer on Who By Numbers?

Pete quoted on Wikipedia, source given as Grantley, S. & Parker, A.G. (2010). The Who by Numbers. Helter Skelter. pp. 138–150. ISBN 9781905139262.

The Who by Numbers - Wikipedia

"Recording the album seemed to take me nowhere. Roger [Daltrey] was angry with the world at the time. Keith [Moon] seemed as impetuous as ever, on the wagon one minute, off the next. John [Entwistle] was obviously gathering strength throughout the whole period; the great thing about it was he seemed to know we were going to need him more than ever before in the coming year"

An odd thing to say if Keith was not present.

Tim

 

I think if The Who needed a drummer for a specific session, that drummer would not been chosen by Keith Moon himself. I think that Pete or John maybe would have chosen a drummer.

 

This kinda stuff happens all the time. I mean, if the record is being recorded in London and the drummer is living in L.A. and the band decides they need one more drum fill to complete a song in final mixing... why fly the drummer back in from L.A. when someone local can do it?

 

Slip Kid, at least to my ears, does not sound like Keith Moon.

 

The looped percussion at the start doesn't, but that first proper cymbal crash and onwards is unmistakable Moon to me.

 

And the percussion of course is from the demo.

 

It's not denial to point out that the facts do not support Nigel Olsson's claims. There is no evidence that Moon was replaced on any part of the By Numbers album, and there are lots of reasons why this claim is implausible.

 

Gave a spin to my copy of ..By Numbers:
There's a lot of hi hat on this album,not the usual Crash/Ride cymbal moon stuff,some songs sound like two drummers sometimes,one keeping the beat on the snare and Hi hat and some typical moon tom rolls here and there,maybe there's a bit of that?
Could be Moon as well on the hi hat; sounds closed(no pedal used)like in Who Are You.
WHO knows?

 

Not to be a contrarian but I remember reading in a couple different Who biographies that Glyn Johns really discouraged Moon from (over)using his cymbals. I think Glyn may have actually limited Moon to just one crash cymbal and one ride cymbal when recording.

 

I agree,it could be Moon all the way.

 

Yeah, how bogus is that!

 

You know that's a great story. It would be even better if there was any truth to it.

An unnamed hardcore fan from 1979 is hardly a reliable source.

Now if you made up a similar story for Who Are You album from 1978, & added a sincere sounding detail like " Moon only played on 2 tracks" because ________(fill in blank)

Illness
Drugs
Passport
Arrested in Soviet Union
Bermuda Triangle
Really died in 1972

 

Autism maybe? I was reading an interview with Daltrey where he said that Moonie was "slightly autistic". Of course, Mr Daltrey is not a qualified psychiatrist, but perhaps it could explain why Moonie was not very capable of playing on demand in the studio.

 

I prefer anyone's drumming to Kenney Jones effort!

 

Well, now you gone and done it...breaking @Baba Oh Really 's heart like that...

 

....and the show was delayed by a day, due to Keith not feeling too well. I was there too. From where I was sitting I wouldn't have picked up on a pre-recorded drum part......