The Who: A Quick One

A Quick One

Best song: Whiskey Man

Worst song: See My Way

Overall grade: 4

It certainly is a quick one. A far cry from the expanded double albums the band would be putting out in a few short years, here they decide to make their point in 31 minutes and 48 seconds, precisely. In addition, this album sticks out in the Who’s catalogue as being the only real opportunity to assess the songwriting talents of all four members. Aaaand the winner is… John Entwhistle! Pete was of course more prolific, but John was already writing really great songs while Pete wasn’t quite there yet. John pens two of the tunes on this album, the first being ‘Boris the Spider’, the sillier one. But never have I been so invested in the fate of an arachnid! It works as well as it can for what it is, maybe more. But ‘Whiskey Man’ is his true big moment, a simple, sad song with a nostalgic feel to it.

Unexpectedly, Keith Moon also writes good songs! ‘Cobwebs and Strange’ is mostly an excuse for him to do some drum soloing, but it’s kept to a reasonable length and I do get into the way it gets faster and crazier as it goes on, and ‘I Need You’ is quirky pop, not a whole lot to it, but enjoyable nevertheless. Add in the energetic, Beatles-influenced ‘Run Run Run’ and try not to spend too much time thinking about the pointless cover of ‘Heat Wave’ and you have yourself a pretty good novelty of a first side.

I can take or leave Side 2. It’s dragged down a lot by Roger Daltrey’s ‘See My Way’. Anyone who wonders why the guy didn’t write that many songs needs to look no further than here. Almost as bad is ‘Don’t Look Away’ when Pete tries – unsuccessfully – to go country. In fact, the only track on this side that I can honestly say I’d choose to listen to is the hard rocking ‘So Sad About Us’, because it’s heavy and very guitar-driven and kind of makes me understand why kids in the 60s listened to this music and wanted to get out and start their own bands.

The most significant song here is the title track, on which Pete Townshend tries to create a mini rock opera in 9 minutes. The story of a cheating girlfriend certainly makes much more sense than most rock operas, but the music doesn’t – it’s very disjointed, and the different musical ideas don’t flow well into a complete song. Even if they did, I still wouldn’t think it was awesome, as some of the parts are really annoying, particularly ‘Soon Be Home’, which I get no enjoyment out of. The entire song, much like the whole of ‘My Generation’, is more influential than it is good.

This album is an improvement over the last one, and thinking about it, it’s enough to make me raise its grade, even if this is still nothing spectacular. Townshend is putting effort in, though, and before too long it’ll pay off.