The Who Album: “Face Dances [1997 Remaster]”

I love this album. That may have something to do with the fact that it was the first Who album I ever bought (I was 14). But I also think the songs are great. They remind me a bit of the mid-sixties "Pop Who" as they bounce, snip and snipe. Kenney Jones does a fine job, and it's unfortunate that he's gotten so much flack for accepting the bands offer to join. Of course he's not Keith Moon! No one is.

The only issue I have with this album is in the production. If they'd taken off even just a bit of the gloss it would have made a vast improvement I think. There's something a bit flat about the production. Though Bill Symczek (or however you spell his name) shouldn't necessarily take the blame either. The Who must have been familiar with his work - and for California rock such as The Eagles his production worked - but for The Who not so much. The band chose him though, so it's on their shoulders. Still though, I consider this a very underrated album. Songs like Don't Let Go The Coat, Another Tricky Day, You Better You Bet, and Entwistle's The Quiet One. There's a lot of humor to much of the material as well. It's the Who getting back to the more Pop approach they'd had early in their career. If the production hadn't taken the balls away from the sound then I think fans would have been more forgiving. Anyway, great album cover too! Enjoy!

It's kind of hard to realize sometimes this album came along a decade after one of The Who's classic albums

. The interesting thing about this album to me is I've often used it as an example of an album that's been issued a lot when a lot of other albums that are truly lost classics remain just that-lost. Now that doesn't exactly change my opinion of this album within it's place in The Who's catalog. It's hard not to hear this album and realize that the last time they hit the studio and the record racks with

Keith Moon was still alive and still with the band. Well by now he was gone and Kenney Jones,who'd been working with the band live for the past three years or so finally joined them on their first studio outing since Moon's passing. More than a member of the band had passed;an era had too. In the early 80's any pop music form perceived as extravagent in any way,from disco to progressive rock were more or less being frozen out of the mainstream in favor of new wave and other,more sussinct styles of music. Weather or not one chooses to look at The Who as a prog rock or hard rock band is beside the point;this just wasn't really the time for any of that. One thing in their favor was both Pete Townsand and John Enstwistle's abilities at crafting great pop songs and coming up with musical ideas that rocked with a sense of genuine emotion,intelligence and creativity. What's interesting here is that while their are some harder edged guitar rockers here such as "The Quiet One","Don't Let Go The Coat","How Can You Do It Alone" and "You" (Pete has to have something to smash guitars to,right?) actually have just the amount of emotion to make their link to their 70's sound a little easier to take for more "keep it real" 80's underground rockers who were looking to laugh The Who off the planet by this time as a dinasaur band. Pete Townsand provides two excellent pop/rock tunes in "You Better You Bet" and "Another Tricky Day" and other songs such as "Did You Steal My Money","Daily Records" and "Cache Cache",via musical references to people like Todd Rundgren and Hall & Oates such as tight vocal harmonies and stop/start rhythms actually owe something to a kind of modernized version of The Who's R&B roots. For a band that once proudly covered Motown hits in their early years the disco freeze out made anything that smacked of R&B dance music as "unhip",even if rock stars were doing it. Well at least The Who had the balls enough not to forget where they came from on those songs. The bonus tracks feature the likeminded "I Like Nightmares",the more dramatic "It's In You" and the strong,Stonesy rocker "Somebody Saved Me". All these songs were unreleased from these sessions and all written by Pete Townsand. The bonuses round off with hard rock live versions of "How Can You Do It Alone" and "The Quiet One",both edgier and more guitar solo oriented than the studio versions. This is definately not The Who's greatest album but it's certainly a very strong and actually pretty inventive album for something from a re-imagined group lineup making a comeback album in an entirely new decade.

The Who, especially Pete Townshend, had been unhealthy in dwelling on the fact that they were getting older ("older" being your 30s in rock and roll) since the mid 1970s on albums like "The Who By Numbers" and "Who Are You." In 1978, legendary madcap drummer Keith Moon died, an event that forever shattered the band, and two years later, "Face Dances" reveals a group in a state of uncomfortable maturity and a yearning for wisdom.

Other albums, such as "Who's Next" allowed for The Who's growing maturity to be seen, but in those days, it was still with youthful arrogance. This is what makes "Face Dances" so unique. The Who are found in a frantic daze of disillusionment, unleashing track after track of enthralling energy.

The sound within packs a solid punch, in a vaguely pop-oriented feel, such as that of 'Cache Cache' and the excellent Top 10 single 'You Better You Bet,' as the mood is generated in a much more frenetic fashion in 'Daily Records,' 'You,' and 'Another Tricky Day.' Other songs like bassist John Entwistle's ironic self-portrait 'The Quiet One' and 'Somebody Saved Me' are minor Who classics. Kenney Jones, Keith Moon's replacement, proves himself to be a competent drummer, while Roger Daltrey's angry cries punctuate the album with essence.

Though it is without the pinnacles of other albums, "Face Dances" is definitely a worthy set. This album was the next-to-last studio album for The Who however, revealing the band's loss of desire, a fact which bitterly attaches itself to the songs here.

With a return to the 1960s pop sound, the band delivered a classic - You Better You Bet - while working within a framework to allow drummer Kenney Jones to shine.

Daily Records, Don't Let Go the Coat and Another Tricky Day have very appealing hooks, with Cache Cache paced by a bouncy beat. The all-out rocker is John Entwistle's The Quiet One, with How Can You Do It Alone delivering an edginess through Roger Daltrey's lyrical interpretation.

Peaking at #4 on the U.S. album chart, this March 1981 release is bolstered by five bonus tracks. The album demonstrates the art in crafting quality pop music and is an oftentimes overlooked gem in the band's amazing catalog.

Not a Who classic by any means but still has worthwhile music. Pete should not have divided time between the Who and his solo career at this point because it diluted his output. Nonetheless, there are some good songs on here as well as bonus tracks. Keith has been gone almost 20 years now and we still miss him.