The Who: By Numbers

The Who By Numbers

Best song: Slip Kid

Worst song: Squeeze Box

Overall grade: 5

From what I understand, the general consensus surrounding this album has worsened over the years. It was originally released to great acclaim (although considering how huge The Who were around the time, people may have just not wanted to rock the boat) but since then most people have expressed a distaste for its more introspective and self-conscious style.

But I heard most of the Who albums before I had any idea what other people thoughts of them. And while, in some cases (see: ‘Face Dances’) I later discovered that my opinion was basically identical to everyone else’s, with ‘By Numbers’ I was quite shocked by all the criticism, because I’d always really liked the album.

Thing is, Pete Townshend had tried three times to make a perfect rock opera, and with ‘Quadrophenia’ he’d basically succeeded. He was hardly going to go back into the studio and make another one, knowing that it could never live up to the standard he’d set himself. Clearly, his only option was to make an album so completely different that people would never compare it to its predecessor.

Yet here I am, comparing them. ‘Quadrophenia’ was a wonderful story, but it’s only here that I feel like I’m getting to know Pete Townshend as a person. ‘Imagine a Man’, ‘However Much I Booze’ and particularly ‘How Many Friends’ are painfully intimate and confessional: ‘How many friends have I really got/That love me, that want me, that'll take me as I am?’ The rest of the band are constantly giving these highly personal compositions the respect they deserve, even when, like on ‘However Much I Booze’, the uptempo music doesn’t seem to quite fit with the mood of the song. But maybe that’s just to give Pete’s vocal performance (one of his best; move over, Daltrey) even more gravity.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Those who call the album ‘Pete Townshend’s suicide note’ obviously have copies that omit side two’s ‘Blue Red & Grey’, a stunning ballad about enjoying all parts of life rather than always waiting for one thing in particular. It doesn’t really have any traditional rock instruments, it’s just ukulele (and a few horns) which again makes it sound different to the rest of the album, but the gentle, quiet instrument is perfect – it puts the focus on the lyrics and complements the simplicity of the message perfectly.

My pick for best track here is the opener ‘Slip Kid’, a great demonstration of Townshend’s talent for combining an infectious melody with a serious message and something a bit unconventional thrown in there too. It really plays out like ‘here’s the same band that made ‘My Generation’, only with 10 years more experience’. It’s very dynamic and guest Nicky Hopkins plays a neat bit of piano, playing off Keith Moon in a great, idiosyncratic way. It has the same feel of a classic that ‘Baba O’Riley’ and ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ do, but, perhaps unfairly, never got the same recognition.

Still, I guess hating on this album is justified if you’re only talking about ‘Squeeze Box’, a song with an incredibly annoying and generic melody that’s far too immature for someone who’s just turned 30. It really disrupts the flow of the album with its cringey, over-sexualised lyrics and the repulsive ‘in and out and in and out’ part. Disappointing, because without this I'd be able to play on one of the album's lyrics and say 'I like every minute of this record'.

Good news to counteract that terrible song is that Entwhistle hasn’t been forgotten. He gets a word in edgeways with side two opener ‘Success Story’, and in true Pink Floyd style, it’s a sarcastic criticism of the music business that shows off his talent and versatility as a musician and contrasts the quieter acoustic numbers on the album with some glam rock and space rock influences. Lastly, final track 'In A Hand Or A Face', while nowhere near as climactic as some closers they've done, is definitely work noting for its distinctive riff and almost gospel-like chorus.

 Personally, I’d be the first to mention this album in a conversation about ‘overlooked gems’ or whatever, and I’d really encourage anyone who’s dismissed it before to have another listen – it’s obvious that it can be easily overshadowed by the massive scale (both commercially and musically) of their previous efforts, but, though it’s making a very different statement, it’s one that’s just as valid – and enjoyable.