Comprehensively covering the full studio albums of The Who from their 1965 My Generation debut through to 2019’s Who, Dante Di Carlo’s book The Who: Album by Album: Listening To You is more than a slavish and dry analysis of each album. Instead, what we get here is a passionate and knowledgeable exploration of each release, soaked in an insight of what was happening within the dynamics of the band and the songwriting process.
The Who: Album by Album: Listening To You
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Very few people have the passion and insight about The Who to match Dante Di Carlo, a man who has lived and breathed one of Britain’s greatest rock bands practically since he could crawl, having joined leading tribute band Who’s Next as their Pete Townshend.
Whilst the story of the Who has been written in large neon letters over countless other tomes, arguably most comprehensively in the wonderful Keith Moon bio Dear Boy by Tony Fletcher, there is a real warmth here that comes across as respectful but never dips into any type of hagiography.
It is fascinating to see how the band grows with each release, the four individual musicians who made the core growing into their parts, stretching themselves professionally and personally as their rise to legendary status saw different pressures shaping them.
Capturing the zeitgeist, there is a real electricity in the writing that brings the spark of creativity happening with each chapter as we follow their journey from the pop charts of the ’60s to global stadiums. Throughout it all, there was a fire burning in everything they did, and despite the light and frothy early numbers like the buoyant Happy Jack, they were very much a rock band in the truest sense of the word.
Whilst The Rolling Stones had the central partnership of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, the creative tension between Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey seemed much more fervent, the guitarist always the creative genius behind the bulk of the band’s output.
Whilst Townshend always had his own distinct voice, it was Daltrey who brought the anger, pleasure and pain of the lyrics to life fully, his distinct roar so potent on any one of their biggest tracks.
Along with the untameable unpredictability of drummer Keith Moon (and later Kenney Jones and Zak Starkey) and the stunning quicksilver bass fretwork of John Entwistle, few, if any, could touch them, and whilst the albums themselves bristled with life, it was the incendiary Live At Leeds that arguably captured them at their best.
Doubtless one of the best live bands ever to be hewn out of the solid rock of the country, it was their confidence in their studio material that gave the band their power and Album By Album: Listening To You encapsulates each note written and played.
With class and verve, Di Carlo has managed to do what all great books on artists manage to achieve in making the reader immediately dig out the albums or go onto the internet to order the full set.
Covering the earlier raw recordings right through to the remixes and reissues, this is an exhaustive, but never exhausting, overview and like the brilliant Classic Album documentary series before it, helps you dive deeper as you hear more than ever before and get to understand the background of each song.
So much more than just a litany of album after album, track after track, we get a glimpse behind the curtain of what drove The Who to superstar status and their trajectory from the stuttering proto punk of My Generation, through the grand gestures of Tommy and Quadrophenia and onto the unassailable heights of Who’s Next and later career resurgence Who Are You before the band split.
Fractiously reunited for Live Aid, their set may have been plagued by technical issues but reminded the world of just how incredible they are and the slew of albums that followed may have met with mixed fortunes but showed a band never afraid of trying new things and moving forward.
Without doubt, one of the best books written about the band and a great exploration of the endless rush of loud music, Dante Di Carlo has truly poured his heart into something special, and it makes for vital reading.
Whilst all this music must fade, the overall sentiment is long live rock and this book carries the torch for this most incendiary of bands. Brilliant.
