Thought you were chasing a destiny calling
Impossible as it seems now, in the 60’s the Who were not exactly doing well in the US. They were what you’d call ‘an acquired taste’. Tommy was not out yet, and Who’s Next was years away.
Steve tells me this band has what it takes, but they only do singles. But their singles were sometimes amazing. “You haven’t heard something like this before.”
Well, yea…….right as usual. Listen to this intro–it grabs you in a visceral way.
The chords are low, ominous. The drums are up front, loud and brash. The bass is an overheated heartbeat. You know something really wild is coming. That guitar is going to blast, and that drummer is a wild wolf trying to break loose. About 15 seconds in, Roger enters, singing politely. But his vocal is way up front. There is something nasty in ‘magic in my eyes’. (Listen how he draws out the words)
24 seconds in, the record explodes! The chorus/hook dances out, drums and guitars get louder and crazier. Roger comes back a snide “oh, yeaaaah”–not shouted; why bother, the music is the emotional core.
But wait–where’s the guitar solo? There really isn’t one! That wild drummer is soloing, slamming off the beat, then suddenly crashing the snare like gunshots.
The ‘Eiffel tower’ bridge comes near the end, not the middle! The tension is palatable. Roger is a sneering confident guy, delivering the news to his sneaky gf. The instruments convey anger boiling below his polite phrasing. 4 minutes of adrenaline ablaze to reach the sky.
I was hooked. Who the hell are these guys ? (no pun intended) Why haven’t I heard of them?? This song was made for teenage boys to do air guitar in front of their mirror.
Years later, I was reminded of those feelings when this song surfaced from the vaults. Pete’s guitar here is so angry you taste it on the roof of your mouth. My God, what did he inflict on that guitar at the end?