The Who - White City: A Novel (1985)

Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, passed away in September 1978, at the age of 32. He overdosed on a pill prescribed by him to combat his alcohol withdrawal, as he was an alcoholic trying to kick his habit. His band had just released their Who Are You album, which Moon had recorded with some difficulty, only managing to get himself together enough to record his drum parts during the last two weeks of production. Considering his integral role in the band's sound, and the fact that the band was unsure about their future even before his untimely passing, it would be obvious to think the band would break up immediately after that, as Led Zeppelin did after their drummer suffered the same fate the next year. However, that wasn't the case with The Who. The band, convinced by bandleader and songwriter Pete Townshend to carry on (as his "completely irrational, bordering on insane" way of coping with Keith's death, in his own words), went on to tour again a couple of times and release two studio albums, before their first Farewell Tour and breakup in 1982.

However, that period of the band's history is pretty controversial between fans and critics alike, who felt the band simply couldn't live up to their past glories and wasn't the same anymore. Either due to replacement drummer Kenney Jones' inability to fill Moon's shoes, the rather lackluster quality of the two albums the band released with him, or the more "modern" direction they were heading on, many were dissatisfied with how things were going with the group. And that even includes band members, as singer Roger Daltrey felt Townshend was safeguarding his best songs for his solo career, and didn't feel Jones truly fit in with The Who, style-wise. All in all, those were strange times to be a Who fan, and even more to be a member, as Townshend battled with addiction and his ever-present personal demons, and horrible things such as the tragedy of Cincinnati happened. It's safe to say that all parts were satisfied, if not relieved, when the whole debacle finally ended in 1982, and they would come back a very different band, by the time they reunited again in 1989.

In retrospect, Daltrey, Townshend, and Entwistle all say it would have been best for the band's legacy and standing to simply break up after Moon's death, and reunite sometime later, as other bands did. And although the 1979/1982 period has some fans, myself included, we certainly wouldn't lose much had those tunes been released as a Pete Townshend solo album, would we? While it's certain that they would come back sometime (it is The Who we're talking about, they're on their seventh Farewell Tour right as we speak!), they certainly would benefit from a couple of years to sort their shit out, and let the dust settle on the fact that they'd just lost arguably their most important musician. One could easily see the band breaking up in 1978, with the band members pursuing their own interests and solo careers, and come back sometime in the mid-'80s, right when Pete's solo career was starting to die down a bit, and right on time for Live Aid. They'd return (relatively) sober, without the burden of replacing Moon, and free of any expectations or hype, making it easily the best of both worlds. I mean, if it has to happen sometime, why not then?

So that's what we will be discussing today: what if The Who had made a comeback in the mid-1980s? And to answer that question, we need to assemble an album that both sounds like them, and has some kind of conceptual togetherness, be it a proper opera or just a regular concept album. Luckily for us, we have exactly that. While both Face Dances and It's Hard were criticized for not sounding like The Who at all, Pete's 1985 solo album White City ironically has the most Who-like material he had written in those seven years since Moon's last stand. The songs are at the same time anthemic, have some adventurous production, and have an overarching concept that makes little to no sense, just like the good old Who we all love. That, allied to the fact that he gave one of its songs for Daltrey to sing, makes our job quite easy, actually. We just need to arrange all those little pieces into an actual record, and make the whole thing make sense, as well as throw in the obligatory Entwistle track in there. So, not to make this any longer than it needs to be, here we go:

Give Blood (White City: A Novel)
Brilliant Blues (White City: A Novel)
Face the Face (White City: A Novel)
Hiding Out (White City: A Novel)
Life to Life (Playing for Keeps)
Secondhand Love (White City: A Novel)
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After the Fire (Under a Raging Moon)
Crashing by Design (White City: A Novel)
I Am Secure  (White City: A Novel)
Love Doesn't Last (The Rock)
Come to Mama  (White City: A Novel)
All Shall Be Well (The Iron Man: The Musical)

Bonus track:
Night School (White City: A Novel)

Entwistle, Jones, Daltrey, and Townshend backstage at Live Aid, June 1985.

As you can probably tell by the fact that we borrowed its title for this comeback Who album, we will follow the White City concept and format rather faithfully in here, as in this case Pete would have almost total control over the songwriting, theme, and production of the album. We only end up removing one track, and adding four others. The track we end up deleting is "White City Fighting", which despite being a semi-title track, was almost entirely written by David Gilmour, with only lyrics by Townshend. As it was rejected for the former's About Face album, it ended up being included the latter's, something I doubt would happen here. The additions are of course "After the Fire", which according to Pete's original 1984 White City script was a part of the concept all along, as well as "All Shall Be Well" from the Iron Man musical, "Life to Life", from the Playing for Keeps soundtrack, both also meant for WC but left unfinished. And JE's "Love Doesn't Last", of course. With that, we end up with a 12-track album, that is honestly pretty close to what we would end up with.

You might also be wondering who would end up being the drummer for the band, as Kenney Jones would never have landed the gig if the band had ended way back in 1978. Well, considering he played in John Entwistle's The Rock album, recorded in 1985, and has been the only constant alongside Daltrey and Townshend in the band since 1996, one could easily see Zak Starkey behind the drumkit. If we're being honest, he's the only true heir to the position, all things considered, and it would certainly be nice to see him in direct succession from Keith. It would also certainly be the least controversial solution. As for the keyboards, "Rabbit" Bundrick is also the obvious candidate, as he held the spot from '79 to 2009, and is probably Pete's keyboardist of choice. All you need to do is add the ever-present Simon Townshend on backing vocals and rhythm guitar, and you've got yourself a touring lineup, far from the bare bones of '76, and still a far cry from the overproduced and overstaffed 1989 tour. A sort of halfway point between those two extremes, really.

How would that affect the sound of the album, then? Not much, I reckon. Seen as Townshend would still be the producer and mastermind behind it, the only real changes would be different basslines by Thunderfingers, and Roger's powerhouse vocals instead of Pete's often reedy singing. He would still sing lead in "Brilliant Blues" and "I Am Secure", the two more intimate songs that really fit his style of singing. And I sincerely think that the bombastic, synthy production fits the material well, and the songs still sound much more like the 'Oo than most of Face Dances. But other than that, songs like "Give Blood" and "Hiding Out" would largely benefit from Daltrey's voice, and the only two songs that would see some change in arrangement are "Face the Face" and "Love Doesn't Last". The first because I honestly doubt they'd succeed in tackling Big Band, with their take on it being faster paced and more guitar-driven (and at least a minute shorter), and the second would sound more in line with the rest of the album, production-wise, and be sung by Entwistle.

Impressively enough, "Love Doesn't Last" fits in rather well alongside something like "Secondhand Love", exploring the theme of failed relationships. The three unfinished songs we added are also very useful in fleshing out the White City concept of urban and social issues, giving the record a lot more depth than before. The cover is just a little something I made to go along with this post, and I thought it fit in well with the album's vibe. "After the Fire" would obviously be the single, and bonus track "Night School" would be its b-side, as it doesn't make it due to time constraints, seen as this LP is almost 49 minutes long. One would imagine this would sell at least half a fuck ton, and considering Pete's version of it was already well-received, the Who's take of it would get some positive reviews, I reckon. Is this better than Face Dances or It's Hard? I honestly think it sounds more like them than those two, but better is too strong of a word. But being perfectly honest, no matter how much things could have been different, it's just great to still have them with us, getting old before they die.

Sources:
- Pete Townshend - White City: A Novel
- Roger Daltrey - Under a Raging Moon
- John Entwistle - The Rock
- Pete Townshend - The Iron Man: The Musical
- Various Artists - Playing for Keeps [Soundtrack]