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And The Who, as they entered their thirties, seemed unbelievably old. Where is the Pete Townshend of Lifehouse? Where the architect of Quadrophenia? In 1975 it was a baffling disappointment. However Much I Booze swathes the guitarist’s ongoing descent into alcoholism in an inappropriately jolly arrangement, while the seemingly inescapable contemporary jukebox staple Squeeze Box is little more than throwaway, end-of-the-pier fluff. Kicking off in impressive style with Slip Kid, things rapidly freewheel downhill as Townshend takes his Dr Marten-ed foot way too far off the gas. After the high concepts that dominated the band’s output for the previous trilogy of albums, The Who By Numbers’ unpretentious straightforwardness arrived into the directionless pre-punk doldrums as something of a relief. He takes umbrage at all the Who fans that felt as though he hoarded his best material for himself, rather than give to the Who: SOUNDCUE (:30 OC. Pete Townshend's early-'80s work - created while writing, recording, and touring the globe with the Who - admittedly left him physically and emotionally fried. He feels that had his drums been mixed properly, the album might not have gotten such a slagging from fans for being quite so tame sounding - which he blames on the Who tapping Eagles producer Bill Szymczyk (pronounced: SIMM-zick) to man the boards: SOUNDCUE (:27 OC. Kenney Jones told us that looking back today, 1981's Face Dances feels like a pulled punch. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, to enlist the services of numerous artists to contribute paintings of the four band members - with such high-end names as Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, and Patrick Caulfield, among those featured on the cover.Īt the time of Face Dance's release, Roger Daltrey spoke about hearing Pete Townshend's demos prior to hitting the studio: SOUNDCUE (:17 OC. The album is best remembered for the success of "You Better You Bet" and the two other tracks - "Don't Let Go The Coat" and "Another Tricky Day" - which became MTV mainstays that earned the band a whole new generation of fans.įor the album cover, the Who commissioned Peter Blake, who designed the cover for Sgt. In Britain, Face Dances peaked at Number Two. "You Better You Bet" was the fourth video played on MTV the day the newtork was launched on August 1st, 1981. The album's lead single, "You Better You Bet," hit Number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the magazine's Mainstream Rock list.

The album peaked at Number Four on the Billboard 200 - spending eight weeks in the Top 10. The collection, which was part of the band's new multimillion dollar deal with Warner Bros., was instantly compared poorly to Pete Townshend's 1980 solo set Empty Glass, which was deemed both a critical and commercial triumph. It was 40 years ago today (March 16th, 1981) that the Who released Face Dances - the group's first studio album since the 1978 death of drummer Keith Moon and first of two with Kenney Jones behind the kit.