Fact #160259
When:
Short story:
Face Dances, the first album by The Who to feature Kenney Jones on drums, enters the UK chart where it will peak at No2.Full article:
Bill Szymczyk (producer) : With the Who, Pete Townshend and I have known each other socially for about ten years, and when it came time for them to do a new album, the first with Kenney Jones, and on a new label, it was like a new beginning. Everything was new, so they wanted a new producer, and Pete and I had hinted to each other over the years that we would like to make a record together.
One of his favourite albums is Hotel California, and really, that's what got me the job with them, that album. Your reputation goes before you, and it's like, "You hear the way that sounds? Do that to me,’ But with the Who, it was very difficult sometimes to maintain my objectivity - I found that I had crawled into the forest and couldn't see the trees, which was difficult, because it was such a big shot for me. It took almost a year to make Face Dances, but it wasn't constant work - they toured three or four times, and in actual studio time, it took about five months.
John Entwistle (bassist, The Who) : We'd do the backing tracks in groups of three. We'd do three and then take a break and then do three more of the same thing. I think that the backing tracks took us ages for that album. Then he'd take a group of three of the best ones and cut them to little pieces and stick them back together again.
I mean, the tape would go 'round and it would be stripped, editing bits out. It was kind of a strange way of doing it for the Who. It was Kenney's first album with us as well. And we were doing stuff like, "I prefer that bit because of the bass and there's a good drum break there. I want that bit." It just seemed an incomplete way of recording. Those are the only ones that took any length of time. We were usually real fast. Most of the time, with the exception of when we were doing stuff like Won't Get Fooled Again or Baba O'Riley, we were playing to tapes then. Usually when we went in we'd hear the song for the first time the day we recorded it.
Bill Szymczyk : The songs that Pete Townshend wrote are just amazing, and when I can stand back from it and listen to it as a whole, the album is brilliant, and as a writer, Pete has grown by leaps and bounds. I think that Kenny Jones has been a great addition to the band, and I really love the record, but it was such a big deal to me that I can't be certain that I'm being completely objective about it.
Roger Daltrey (vocals, The Who) : I love Face Dances. I love all the songs on Face Dances. Imagine if they had been played with a great drummer, as they are when we play live now with a drummer like Simon Phillips or whoever I take on the road with me on my tour, you can hear what the potential of that album could have been. Listen to the drums on that album and you tell me if they’re any fucking good. As a fan yourself and someone who is writing this article, do you think they’re any fucking good?
Kenney Jones (drummer, The Who) : On that record, I liked the songs, but I just thought the chemistry of the band and producer wasn’t right. The sound was too laid back, like rubber. It simply wasn’t right.
Bill Szymczyk : Apart from the fact that I had never worked with them before, Face Dances was the first album that I had made outside the United States. I went to England to do it, and the first few weeks were petrifying, because it was like history repeating itself. Here I am again with another legend, and it has to be handled in a totally different way from somebody like (Joe) Walsh. The act has to trust you - you have to have mutual confidence in each other, and gaining that confidence can be done in an innumerable number of ways.
(Source : not known)
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One of his favourite albums is Hotel California, and really, that's what got me the job with them, that album. Your reputation goes before you, and it's like, "You hear the way that sounds? Do that to me,’ But with the Who, it was very difficult sometimes to maintain my objectivity - I found that I had crawled into the forest and couldn't see the trees, which was difficult, because it was such a big shot for me. It took almost a year to make Face Dances, but it wasn't constant work - they toured three or four times, and in actual studio time, it took about five months.
John Entwistle (bassist, The Who) : We'd do the backing tracks in groups of three. We'd do three and then take a break and then do three more of the same thing. I think that the backing tracks took us ages for that album. Then he'd take a group of three of the best ones and cut them to little pieces and stick them back together again.
I mean, the tape would go 'round and it would be stripped, editing bits out. It was kind of a strange way of doing it for the Who. It was Kenney's first album with us as well. And we were doing stuff like, "I prefer that bit because of the bass and there's a good drum break there. I want that bit." It just seemed an incomplete way of recording. Those are the only ones that took any length of time. We were usually real fast. Most of the time, with the exception of when we were doing stuff like Won't Get Fooled Again or Baba O'Riley, we were playing to tapes then. Usually when we went in we'd hear the song for the first time the day we recorded it.
Bill Szymczyk : The songs that Pete Townshend wrote are just amazing, and when I can stand back from it and listen to it as a whole, the album is brilliant, and as a writer, Pete has grown by leaps and bounds. I think that Kenny Jones has been a great addition to the band, and I really love the record, but it was such a big deal to me that I can't be certain that I'm being completely objective about it.
Roger Daltrey (vocals, The Who) : I love Face Dances. I love all the songs on Face Dances. Imagine if they had been played with a great drummer, as they are when we play live now with a drummer like Simon Phillips or whoever I take on the road with me on my tour, you can hear what the potential of that album could have been. Listen to the drums on that album and you tell me if they’re any fucking good. As a fan yourself and someone who is writing this article, do you think they’re any fucking good?
Kenney Jones (drummer, The Who) : On that record, I liked the songs, but I just thought the chemistry of the band and producer wasn’t right. The sound was too laid back, like rubber. It simply wasn’t right.
Bill Szymczyk : Apart from the fact that I had never worked with them before, Face Dances was the first album that I had made outside the United States. I went to England to do it, and the first few weeks were petrifying, because it was like history repeating itself. Here I am again with another legend, and it has to be handled in a totally different way from somebody like (Joe) Walsh. The act has to trust you - you have to have mutual confidence in each other, and gaining that confidence can be done in an innumerable number of ways.
(Source : not known)