A while back I had a post about how so much music from the 1970s is drek. So, today we have a song from the 1970s that isn't drek. A song from The Who.
The sad thing about this song, is that when it got radio time - it never hit the Top 40, but still - the piano intro, with the rain was cut. Not Rock & Roll enough, or something. It is one of the best parts of the song. Though Roger Daltry's singing was amazing, and of course Keith Moon was still playing drums.
It has everything you are not likely to get from songs today. The tempo varies as the melody progresses to let Daltry emphasize certain phrases, or parts of phrases. In other words, they aren't playing to a click. There is room for some instrumental work, and there seems to have been actual songwriting.
This song is "Love, Reign O'er Me" by The Who from the 1973 album Quadrophenia.
"Tommy" (Album, original tours, movie) got far more accolades than Quadrophenia, but this is peak Who and is the genius of Pete Townshend. On whatever "mix tape" I have for my mp3 player, it always has several Qaudrophenia songs on it.
ReplyDeleteBy far, my "If I only had one album for the rest of my life...."