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Published: 2007
Category: Rock
Forget that they invented the rock opera and could drop from full-bore arena band to acoustic grace. Remember all the times you cranked up the volume on one of their records to mega-decibel rock level and let the power surge through you. Maybe you even did the windmill during a guitar solo like Pete, or fantasized kicking your drums apart like Keith, or standing, open shirt like Roger, making 80,000 people care what happens behind blue eyes.
I never saw The Who live. My loss. And although I wrote a fair share of music pieces back in the day, I never went out of my way to interview them. Scared, I guess. Because they were bad boys. Right up there with Led Zep when it came to destroyed hotel rooms and public drunkenness and the whole nine yards of lewd behavior. Eventually, two of the foursome kept the promise of “My Generation” and died before they got old. Only their mothers could have been surprised.
There was another side of Pete Townshend, and you probably know about it ever so slightly --- he's quite the Seeker. “Baba O'Reilly,” the song that begins Who's Next with an addictive synthesizer riff, is inspired by Townshend's guru, Meher Baba (1894-1969), a delightful-looking man with a big smile and a bushy moustache. Baba's best-known idea: “Don't worry, be happy.” And then there's this curious fact: Baba did not speak for the last 40 years of his life.
This side of Townshend was very private during The Who's heyday. But journalist Nik Cohn traveled with the band, and, in 1968, he witnessed a remarkable event --- while on tour, Townshend got to spend time in Baba's former house. He hoped to be bathed in his Master's love. But Baba's spirit was brutal: He “ravaged Townshend, obliterated him, left him so smashed that, when the other followers opened the door again, they found him prostrate, unable to speak or move, scarcely able to breathe.” It took him days to recover.
In 1972, Townshend released “Who Came First,” an album of songs about and for the recently departed Meher Baba. It's exactly what a love letter should be --- personal. Townshend wrote all the songs (except one, Baba's favorite, a country tune called “There's a Heartache Following Me”). He played all the instruments. He did the engineering and mixing. It was, he noted, “one gynormous ego trip.”
Except it's not. It's...sweet. Gossamer. Under-produced. And yet --- and this is the strangest thing --- it rocks. By holding the power back, Townshend shows you the power in the songs. And, especially, in the lyrics:
There once was a note, pure and easy,
Playing so free like a breath rippling by.
The note is eternal, I hear it, it sees me,
Forever we blend it, forever we die.
I listened and I heard music in a word,
And words when you played your guitar.
The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering,
And a child flew past me riding in a star.
Just reading that, you can imagine The Who putting that through giant amps --- and appreciate why it's more successful here. But I don't want to make this sound like James Taylor-finds-a-guru. With just syncopated hand-clapping, Townshend delivers an anthem that's as pointed now as it was then:
Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's see freedom up in the air,
Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's be free, let's see who cares.
His politics? Oh, that's where it gets tricky. That song ends with a loop of chanting: “Nothing is everything, everything is nothing. Nothing is....everything. Everything is nothing is.” Meditate on that.
Townshend would go on to make two more solo records. There are great songs on both, but neither is as satisfying as “Who Came First.” It's recently been remastered. Its nine songs have six bonus tracks to keep them company. And the price couldn't be better.
I've been listening to “Who Came First,” on and off, for four decades. What's the charm? I've often wondered. My answers are usually merely fashionable; right now, everybody's hungry for authenticity, so I cite that.
But beyond all that is a mystery: Take a musician of infinite gifts. Give him time alone. Have him write love songs to a silent, smiling guru. Magic? Hey, there's a sparkle, a shine --- something --- in those grooves.
To buy “Who Came First” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Rough Mix" from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Empty Glass” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “The Who: The Ultimate Collection" from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Who's Next” from Amazon.com, click here.