A Glimpse of The Who By Numbers
Pete Townshend’s dark night of the soul ... and more
Pete Townshend’s songwriting is what shapes The Who. And Townshend has a complicated personality, a complex relationship with fame and the nature of rock ‘n’ roll, and a band not always happy at performing his latest internal dialogue.
The Who’s most famous albums: the run of Tommy, Who’s Next, and Quadrophenia - plus, of course, the great Live at Leeds - deal, in the main, with the big picture. Parts of Tommy are personal, Townshend working out some of the issues from his childhood, but doing so via metaphor and storytelling and keeping the personal stuff at arms length. Who’s Next is a distillation of a grand concept into a great rock album (musical vibrations keep us all connected, except more complex). Quadrophenia is a reflection on sixties mod culture, again developed through storytelling.
When the band reassembled after the difficulties of the Quadrophenia tour to record their next album, The Who By Numbers, there was a new mood. Townshend’s songs, this time, were directly personal. Forget the concept but, as ever with Townshend, at least have a theme. At this point, he was disillusioned, feeling his age, and questioning the role of rock ‘n’ roll as salvation.
Feeling his age? In 1975, when this album was released, Townshend was 30. How would he have reacted to the knowledge that, in 2024, The Who would be preparing for their next gig, and wondering what their future holds after that? It’s probably for the best he couldn’t foresee the future. Remember, in the mid-seventies, punk was stirring up rock culture. Three weeks after The Who released By Numbers, the Sex Pistols played their first gig. Punk didn’t fully get going until the following year; Townshend was aware of his potential status as a dinosaur.
The Who have never been a harmonious band, outside of the music itself. This time it was cacophonous. Tensions between Townshend and Daltrey were at their peak; at one stage, PT talked about The Who continuing as an instrumental three-piece, effectively (or actually) sacking Daltrey. All this served to fire up Roger to deliver some of his career's most angry, fiery vocals. For example, listen to In a Hand or a Face.1
However Much I Booze is sung by Townshend himself because (understandably) Townshend found the lyrics too personal for him to perform: “You at home can easily decide what's right / By glancing very briefly at the songs I write / But it don't help me that you know / This ain't no way out.” And, earlier in the song: “I lose so many nights of sleep worrying about my responsibilities / Are the problems that screw me up really down to him or me?”, in an oblique reference to Roger Daltrey.
None of this conflict affects the performances, because The Who’s energy source is conflict. Angry Rog, Moon continues to be the best Keith Moon-type drummer in the world, and John Entwistle, as ever, is an inventive, complicated, grounding bass player. And this is a back-to-basics Who sound - there are none of the synthesisers that made Who’s Next a new phase Who album or that added drama to Quadrophenia. There’s a little additional piano from Nicky Hopkins on Imagine a Man.
As with Imagine a Man, By Numbers is not all angry rock. The orchestral ballad They Are All In Love is followed by Townshend joining the rock ukulele club on the beautiful Blue, Red and Grey. Lyrically, though, these songs are equally bitter.
Slip Kid offers a false start to the dark night of the soul themes to follow, being a ‘character’ song - the review of a life, and not obviously Townshend’s life. It sounds rather like a continuation of Magic Bus. There’s a hit pop single, too, with the fun of Squeeze Box. JE gets his traditional single song to start side two, Success Story, but even he sounds jaded: “Take two-hundred-and-seventy-six / You know, this used to be fun.” (that line followed by a deep bass solo) along with other barbed comments about spirituality and guitar smashing.2 Entwistle’s songs are in the DNA of The Who, using a different tone pallet from Townshend, increasing the sonic punch of the albums, yet always remaining in the ‘Oo’s universe.
Glyn Johns’ production, as ever, captures the sound of the band as well as anyone could do in a studio. Johns has a reputation as a disciplinarian, expecting wild rockers to arrive at the studio punctually and prepared, which was exactly what the four-piece classic Who needed. Without such an approach it’s doubtful they would have produced an album at that point in their career. If these sessions had failed, Townshend’s instincts to break up the band might well have prevailed.
Instead, we have a fascinating insight into the effects of rock ‘n’ roll psychology, and - more importantly - a great rock album.
TRACKS
Side 1: Slip Kid / However Much I Booze / Squeeze Box / Dreaming from the Waist / Imagine a Man
Side 2: Success Story / They Are All In Love / Blue, Red and Grey / How Many Friends / In a Hand or a Face
All songs written by Pete Townshend, except Success Story by John Entwistle
MUSICIANS
Roger Daltrey – lead vocals
Pete Townshend – guitar, keyboards, banjo, accordion, ukulele, backing vocals, lead vocals on "However Much I Booze" and "Blue, Red And Grey"
John Entwistle – bass, French horn, trumpet, backing vocals, 2nd lead vocal on "Success Story"
Keith Moon – drums
Additional musicians
Nicky Hopkins – piano
Production
Glyn Johns – producer, engineer, mixing
Jon Astley – remixing (1996 reissue)
Chris Charlesworth – executive producer
Bill Curbishley – executive producer
Richard Evans – design of 1996 reissue
Doug Sax - mastering
Bob Ludwig – remastering
Robert Rosenberg – executive producer
John Entwistle – album cover art
John Swenson – liner notes
Chris Walter – photography
HOW TO BUY (Amazon aff. links)
Vinyl: The Who By Numbers is newly available as a half-speed master, cut at Abbey Road: https://amzn.to/48iGSmW
CD: Remastered with the addition of three live tracks - Squeeze Box, Behind Blue Eyes, and Dreaming from the Waist, (Live at the Vetch Field, Swansea, Wales on 12 June 1976) https://amzn.to/4bBzbuS
LP returns with another Gems playlist at the end of the week; a Glimpse of a classic album early next week, and a new Immersion and playlist for paid subscribers. I’m beginning to receive albums to review, too, so look out for additional posts over the next couple of weeks.
Included in my Gems playlist a couple of weeks ago.
Outside the scope of this post, but there’s a piece worth writing about how Townshend’s state of mind on By Numbers intersects with his spiritual beliefs.
Additional information sourced from
Marsh, Dave: Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who, Plexus, 2003 https://uk.bookshop.org/a/6309/9780859655637 (aff)
Townshend, Pete: Who I Am, HarperCollins, 2013 https://uk.bookshop.org/a/6309/9780007479160 (aff)