This new album by The Who is their 12th album and their first in thirteen years of new material. Like with previous albums Roger Daltrey and Peter Townshend recorded their parts separately and are the main musicians on all the tracks. The main thing about this album is at least six of the eleven songs really rock and a few really do sound like older songs of theirs that are hits. Pretty much every album they ever recorded is all considered old material for someone like me, who was born in the 1990s. Some people who grew up with them might consider their two 1980s album as new material like their hit “Eminence front” and of course their 2006 album “Endless wire” as new as well. This is truly my first “new” “Who” album.
They start you off right away with a song that rocks in “All this music must fade” which is one of their singles. It has an odd opening with a catchy chorus but it’s the fact that Townshend’s guitar work that makes it rock. Another song that has the same feeling of it rocking out is “Rockin in rage”. The songs “I don’t want to get wise” and “Detour” are catchy but sound like old school Who. The thing about “I don’t want to get wise” is besides it being the best song on the album is that has a very impactful message and has a sound to it that reminds me that they are still good at making great songs.
The song “Ball & chain” has good piano work with interesting sounds but it’s how upset Daltrey sounds in his vocals that stands out. That it can rock out but also that the vocals matter too. It was their first single released and is about the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. The song is also a re-recording of a Townshend solo song called “Guantanamo”, which was released on his 2015.
The songs that come off very emotional in the way Daltrey sings them are “Beads on one string”, “Street song”, “She rocked my world”, and “Break the news”, which is their most beautiful song on the album. In “Beads on the string” it has good synthesizer work and “Street song” is super catchy as well. In the song “I’ll be back” it sung by Townshend and he plays harmonica on it. Now Daltrey isn’t the same singer he used to be but he is the voice of the band so I would rather hear him sing because Townshend never was the singer he was. He also is singing the blues which we do not want to hear as it’s not the sound you look for from them.
The remaining song “Zero ground zero” was one that was one the songs from this new album that played during their tour last summer so we all got a taste of how it should really sound. It has a rock-opera sound to it with a whole symphony behind it as they rock out like their famous rock-opera albums. Overall, this is an average to above average edition to their catalog of music with a good amount of songs that rock out, that are catchy and you hear their style resonate in the vocals and the music. As long as you have Rodger & Peter it will always be the Who you’re listening too.
