The Who Album: “Who by Numbers”

Again, some of the greatest works of art are misunderstood. I think Pete Townshend even told us that when he said: "You at home can easily decide what's right/ by glancing at the songs I write/ but it don't help me that you know ...."

I don't think this album was made to be gobbled up by the masses. It is a lot like Alice Cooper's 1978 masterpiece "From the Inside." You are ALLOWED to enter into a world that one wouldn't normally understand.

As far as the record goes, it contains some of Tonshend's finest melodies. I don't think it is easy to argue with jams like "However Much I Booze" or melodies such as "Imagine a Man" or "Blue Red and Grey". It even affords Entwistle an erstwhile place to soap-box in "Success Story." Such a record!

Sometimes it is good that people don't "understand" a record. Those who need it or want it seek it out, and it strikes a chord as resonant as the last chord of "A Day in the Life". Only for those that know .... And isn't art made for those that take it in?

Unlike The Who's three previous albums, Tommy, Who's Next and Quadrophenia, Who By Numbers is stripped down, back-to-the-basics rock and roll. There are no themes, no operettas, no stories running through multiple songs. Instrumentally, it's comparatively bare-bones; most of the songs are just guitar, bass and drums, played to perfection. Lyrically, the album as a whole is as good as anything Pete Townshend has written, though much more understated, thematically. Even the album cover, John Entwhistle's connect-the-dots drawing, is almost child-like in its simplicity. It's as if the band intended a 180 degree turn from high-art aspirations of their previous three albums (of original material), not unlike the Beatles' original approach to Let it Be.

Whether the simplicity of Who By Numbers was accidental or intentional, it produced The Who's best album. Tommy is great as a concept album, but if you're just interested in hearing good rock and roll tunes, the story line, and the extra songs needed to round out the "opera," get in the way. The same is true, to a lesser extent, with Quadrophenia. Who By Numbers, short and to the point, has no such faults.

"Dreaming From the Waist" is brilliant, a clever but mature description of the effects of raging male hormones and uncontrollable lust. "Blue Red and Grey," a celebration of life, just Pete and a banjo, is maybe Townshend's most beautiful song ever. "They're All in Love" is an open letter to the band's recently departed managers, a rather caustic parting shot. "However Much I Booze" is an admission of Pete's - and maybe Keith Moon's as well - struggles with alcohol (and whatever other substances.) Oddly enough, the album's weakest tracks are its biggest hits, "Squeezebox" and "Slip Kid". Both are fine songs, but they're eclipsed by their sisters on this album.

The 1996 re-issued CD has three bonus tracks, "Dreaming From the Waist," "Behind Blue Eyes," and "Squeeze Box," all live. They're nice freebies but the album stands up well on its own without any bonus material.

Most Who fans would recommend one of the big three, Tommy, Who's Next or Quadrophenia, as essential Who albums. In my view, Who By Numbers beats them all. Not only is it a great rock album, it's more honest, more autobiographical and real than those three. While Townshend, no doubt, showed bits and pieces of himself in those previous albums, he hid behind characters or concepts. Who By Numbers is his soul laid bare, but without the bellyaching or self-pity of people like Cobain. Not until Empty Glass, his first major solo release, would Pete be so transparent with his audience.

If you love straight-forward rock with intelligent lyrics, this album - whether you're a Who fan or not - is an essential work.

This is a more down-to-earth collection of songs for The Who, in view of their recent ambitious projects, and a fine album. Pete Townshend is more focused on mid-life than teenage glory, and uses sparsity instead of embellishment in doing so in a collection of consistently good songs. The acoustic (OK, Banjo), jaunty "Squeeze Box" is a highlight, along with the opener, "Slip Kid." In this latter song and others, such as the pretty "Imagine a Man," "How Many Friends Have I Really Got," and "However Much I Booze," Townshend looks inward (well, perhaps at other band members too). "They Are All in Love" seems to be an underrated gem.

Not just synthesizers, but electric guitar, are less prominent as the acoustic sound and straight keyboards flow in their place. "Who by Numbers" is more low-key for this dynamic group, but still a fine album. Note also that the good lyrics play their part in maintaining quality. For another side of The Who, get this one.

Although The Who bravely, and perhaps unwisely, soldiered on after the untimely and senseless death of drum genius Keith Moon in 1978, it was painfully obvious by the release of "The Who By Numbers" in 1975 that the band's glory years were sadly drawing to a conclusion. Although one of the biggest influences, along with Iggy and The Ramones, on England's burgeoning punk movement, Peter Townshend's lyrics on this album sound like part of a suicide note, as he implores the punks to "stay young and stay high," while at the same time confessing that "however much I booze, there ain't no way out." "Squeeze Box," the closest the band has ever come to a novelty song, lightens the mood a bit, as does John Entwistle's hilarious "Success Story," but the morosity of Townshend's words is what the listener will ultimately take away with him. On the plus side, Moon, never the most conventional of timekeepers, shows why he was the greatest drummer in rock and roll history, filling every empty moment with thunderous rolls and fills, almost as if attempting to prop up the sinking Townshend. Fascinating and riveting...

The Who is not my favorite band but this is my favorite album(by any band). Pete is old enough and experienced enough to write with sophistication, yet young enough to tap into his angst. And tap he does...deeply!