The Who: Moving On- 2019 North American Tour / New Album

Pete did a version post-9/11 that lent the song an entirely new layer. I wasn’t suggesting (and wouldn’t suggest) that BBE is “about” ONE thing.

 

Empty Glass is a monster. Townshend clearly needed to breathe away from The Who. The band should have ended or at least taken a long hiatus after Moon’s death. Townshend’s strong songwriting and inspired performances on Empty Glass sound like an artist unshackled. A solo tour behind this album would have been one for the books.

The Who may have had a chance to reinvent themselves after Townshend got his solo career up and running and/or out of his system. Either way, the Face Dances/It’s Hard albums and tours were of a dinosaur band adrift and going through the motions.

 

Seems like if he had toured Empty Glass he would have wound up dead? That's how I remember the story...

 

Neither Daltrey, Entwistle, or Bill Curbishley would have put up with anymore delays by Pete Townshend to get back on the road with The Who in 1979. Plus, The Who had two movies with double lp soundtracks to promote at that time. Remember, The Who had not toured since October 1976. As Townshend said, they owed it to Keith Moon to continue after he died.

 

I remember Pete referring to BBE being about rape.

 

So he had contractual obligations to them? (Thanks in advance )

 

In my dreams, they did a 1979 "Farewell" tour with Rabbit on the keys, Andy Fairweather Low on rhythm guitar and backing vocals and Simon Phillips on the drums, disbanded after some kind of final concert (with live album and all!) and let Pete do his thing on his own, as he should by then

 

As a main member of The Who Group Ltd, he certainly had obligations to help promote both TKAA & Quadrophenia soundtracks & movies in 1979, as well as McVicar in 1980.

 

One thing is for sure, they were already rehearsing with Rabbit before Keith died.

 

"There once was a note, listen"

 

Were they? I know they were performing in the studio with him already, but that's news to me

 

I believe it was in Mark Wilkerson’s biography on Pete that I read that, but it could have been another book. I remember being surprised when I read it.

 

Pete had wanted to add a keyboard player since ~1971. Apparently he offered it to Nicky Hopkins, but either Hopkins refused or Daltrey vetoed it.
They were going to add Chris Stainton as a touring member in 1973. Pete wanted to add Ian McLagen in 1978, but he was just with The Rolling Stones, if I recall correctly.

They were rehearsing with Rabbit in 1978 till Moon got Rabbit drunk and he fell out of a taxi and broke his wrist.

 

That's how I felt at the time. Empty Glass was my favorite album in the early '80s. The closest we got time wise was the Brixton show in '81. I remember waiting for the cassette to show up in a trade and what a crushing disappointment it was despite having "A Little Is Enough" played twice to start it (or maybe that's a sign). That damn harmonica, which would return a few years later in his live gigs. Sure that was '81 and not '80, but I think Pete would have screwed it up in '80 (or died). As a solo live performer my favorite is still his first at the Roundhouse in '74. Horns and harmonica arrangements pollute too much of the little solo stuff that we have.

 

It’s not about a single thing in my view. I have a bootleg from the 96 Quadrophenia tour where Pete talks about it being connected with World War 2 and what happened in Europe after the war and the guilt felt “behind blue eyes” of the “aryan” races.

 

That’s an interesting interpretation, albeit one that strikes me as having been thought up by Pete decades after the song was written. Doesn’t mean it’s invalid, but, after a lifetime of listening to Pete’s music, I think the unresolved wound of the Tommy songs that he assigned to John to write because he couldn’t go there pops up over and over in his writing, and does so in particular on Behind Blue Eyes.

 

And this relates to the post-9/11 version as well - the same people being perceived as villains in certain parts of the world ("Don't feel like Satan but I am to them" is how Neil Young put it).

 

Aug.23 : Keith Moon was born on this date in 1946 .

 

No, he wrote in the liners to the effect it was a lyric or song he felt was good for The Who but iirc maybe too light or perhaps the latter I am confusing with something else, but yes, blow-up doll. I see I was always thinking of it in the song as a lifesize lol and wondering how it would fit even deflated in this suitcase in the song lol! Maybe actual doll-size makes more sense lol but I like the idea of it being a picture as you speculated but he says its a blow-up...

 

dee, after I read Pete’s autobiography, I figured ‘Girl In A Suitcase’ was probably about that girl/groupie that he let travel along with him on part of the ‘75 U.S. tour.

 

That's a different girl than the one that stole Pete's box office draw money from a gym bag in his hotel room ?

Which inspired the song, "Did You Steal My Money"

I think I just answered my own question......lol.....

 

Interview with Zak

From Recording Reggae in Jamaica to Working on the Who's New Album: Q&A with Zak Starkey - RockCellarMagazine

 

They definitely would have had three potential hit singles with that confuguration. I can see Gonna Get You becoming a classic rock staple.

 

Just about perfect except I think Townshend would do the lead on Keep On Working. I think he' d insist on at least two vocals

 

He didn’t do any leads on any songs on Who Are You or Face Dances though! I mean, he sings a bridge here or there but doesn’t tackle an entire song. But it does seem like a song he’d want to sing, however, I could also see Daltrey doing it in his “Dogs” voice. He kind of uses this voice on “How Can You Do It Alone” too, but with less of a Cockney accent.