A morning show on a rock radio station here in Detroit interviewed Rabbit one day. They were giving him a hard time saying he didn’t really play on those songs. Haha. He played for them and they were blown away. It was funny.
The Who had a LOT going against em beaides Kenny Jones not being a fit. Entwistle kept going broke,.songwriting was all over the place, the mixes on Face Dances and It’s Hard were bad, Townshend’s horrible drug addiction...they “should” have hung it all up after Moon’s death but there’s been some amazing moments since ‘78. The show goes on
Not only was Kenny a great drummer he was a great guy and class act. It is impossible to replace Keith Moon. He was , for me , with apologies to John Bonham, the greatest rock drummer who ever lived. His style was one of a kind, a lead drummer. You can’t replicate The Who’s sound with anyone else. But Kenny did a great job stepping in and playing solid. The Who #1.
Disagree.. I'm a lifelong drummer and saw all the greats in the 80s, including Kenny with The Who. . Kenny was one of the weakest skilled drummer of the era. A bad fit this band. As Phil Collins said.. "He's Lame".
@@Barry101er funny you should say that. I saw the 89 Tommy tour and honestly believe that was the greatest live performance of my life.. and I saw all the greats throughout the 80s!
@lornestein7248 I love both Moon and Jones but Moon was hardly every recognized for his technical skills 😂. Jones was an incredible drummer especially life with who.
kenny trying to fill keiths shoes was like filling watts, or bonham,, or copeland,, he was given a huge pair if shoes,, and he walked pretty well if u ask me...
I agree! In particular, he killed it on live versions of The Quiet One. Nobody was going to satisfy Who fans when we lost Keith, but in hindsight, Kenny was great. Too bad he never got the love he deserved back then.
I love Kenny Jones with The Who. Especially performing with the group live like this. The guy is so solid, with a great feel. So glad to have seen them live.
I always loved Kenney Jones with the Who - they put out some great stuff in the early 80s when he was in the band. I never understood where all the hate was coming from. I felt bad for Kenney, in the sense that he had such big shoes to fill, and you're never going to get the love from the fans that Moon got. I don't understand why people can't like both guys.
It’s funny because I listen to the studio version and I always cringe and wonder why they didn’t cut that part out completely in the studio. He sounds flat and tired. But this version here he just nails it. This version also sounds like it’s a half step up in Key. Possibly the studio version is in a flatted key?
I said it before and I'll say it again I saw the who in 1980 with Kenney and it was an incredible show and nobody was thinking about Keith Moon that night.
The prevailing myth is that Moonie's decline began in 1974, but if you listen to his drumming on 1975's Who By The Numbers and watch him kick ass at the 1975 concert in Houston, that myth is immediately debunked. One could throw more dirt on that myth by listening to John Entwistle's opinion that Moon was at his best during The Who's 1976 tour. In terms of Kenny Jones, I thought he was a good addition to the band, especially his drumming on several tracks (e.g., Athena, Cry If You Want) from the criminally underrated It's Hard album.
Kenneth was put in a impossible situation trying to replace a legend Moon the Loon. Kenneth wasn’t the flamboyant showman Keith Moon was obviously. But Kenney was always solid and steady and sober on stage. He didn’t show up pissed all the time. The Who asked Kenney to join them and Roger always treated Kenney like he was a member of the leper colony. Kenney said sitting between Pete and John was like sitting between two lead guitarist s one and the high end and one at the low end. So he had to learn how to triple up on his bass drum. And when he did triple up John would nod towards him like your alright mate. In general Kenney was a really good bloke who stepped into a terribly difficult situation and always tried hard to do his best!!!!!!
I think I’m going to say that Kenny Jones was that during the 79 to 81. Touring he was on fire. He brings new life and to those songs that they had recorded post Quadrophenia. He actually had to make his kit bigger because of the fire power that he needed to use to cover what Moon did as a drummer.
Next to Dreaming from the Waste , this is Townshend's most disliked song to play . For John it was Magic Bus . Townshend's song writing is complex , yet melodic and lyrically pure genius at times . Probably the most underrated guitarist in Rock n Roll . What a catalog of songs he has written . Phenomenal .
Pete’s guitar-playing and songwriting are two different things. At his best, his songwriting flirted with creative/ musical genius. His rhythm guitar playing is exceptional, and it’s a crucial sound to the Who, all in all, his guitar playing wasn’t as fantastic as some of the best all-time guitarists
His songwriting almost seems like he is channeling and it just flows. Other times it just does not flow at all. He is absolutely a gifted songwriter. One of the very best in rock.
My one criticism of this cut. When I play this through the big Hi-Fi setup at home, I always tweek the bass on the equalizer. John's crisp and clean high end harmonics are wonderful as ever, but... On a phone or laptop, he's muted here.
Kenny Jones did a great job. Had an impossible task and remained himself and kept that juggernaut rolling. He's a great drummer and every preformance I see with him he is on it. Comparison can be stimulating but can also take away from the preformance. When I was young and just discovering the Who Kenny was the drummer. Then I found out about the Moon guy.
Same here. The first Who song I ever heard as Athena, and the second was Another Tricky Day. Because of that, when I discovered the Keith Moon years, my reaction to his playing was more "What the hell is this guy's problem?".
It's great that Kenney played Keith's parts here....he's more than a good enough drummer (fantastic, in fact) to have discarded everything and for him to have rewritten the drum score.
Moon and Jones are so totally different. Both are excellent drummers. No real controversy as far as I see. Ultimately it always comes down to the songs. Townsend is the one who is in a class by himself. As close to true genius as it gets. Page, McCartney, May, Hendrix. It is the songs.
The Who had little choice but to carry on after Keith's passing. They were employing a small city. Mouths to feed. People to look after. Debt obligations. And I really like the "Face Dances" record.
Face Dances was great. If you took the best half dozen songs from Empty Glass and the best 5-6 songs from Face Dances, you might have the best Who album ever. So long as Townshend sings "A Little is Enough," "I am an Animal," and "Let my Love Open the Door."
Well, you may be onto something there. I mean, I was a kid when Face Dances came out and didn't know enough about the Who to think that it might be different from or even inferior to "classic" Who. I just thought it was a great record. So what if Kenny Jones isn't Keith Moon? NOBODY could be Keith Moon!
Some fans and people I knew became instant haters because Kenny Jones wasn't anything like Keith Moon as a drummer. Well, few drummers are. I too looked at Face Dances as another chapter in the history of a group of great musicians. I think the songs are particularly good. It's an album I tend to listen to all the way through, which I can't say for every Who album.
People act like Jones was just some bum they picked up, he had already been an accomplished drummer with the Small Faces and the Faces. Keith Moon was arguably the best rock drummer ever, but, a strong case can be made that Jones was a much better technical drummer. Hmmm... How many people did that just piss off?
Roger has said Kenney was a great drummer - he just wasn't the right drummer for The Who, much like Keith wouldn't have been the right drummer for The Faces.
I've never heard anyone say Jones was a bum, I've seen plenty of people say he wasn't right for the Who. I think he's fine.....but fine is kind of a problem with a band as legendary as the Who. He's just not Keith Moon, he's more a straight forward drummer. And the Who's music wasn't built around that.
I agree . Moon was a great player and showman, Jones was a great player and technically a bit more solid than moon. Had moon left the drugs and drink alone he would have been simply amazing but sadly it’s also what made him such a strong showman!
Kenny Jones did a great job with The Who... for an example check out the footage from his time on tour with the band... he stepped into one hell of a mess, for sure...
babbleon12 Ever since I heard the boys harmonizing on the album, ‘The Who Sellout’ (I hope I’m recalling the proper album. I am. I must be; it was the one that shot directly into my mind when I read this harmonizing comment. Someone will correct me if I’m wrong, lol), I looked for them to utilize harmonies again and again. I mean, they were So Great at it, they were certainly going to grace us with more, right? Wrong! Instead, I can’t remember ever hearing them sing like that again (save for this video); waaah! Indeed, it’s difficult to listen to the end of this version of Sister Disco because it makes me think of ‘loss’...(but simultaneously I’m delighted to hear them as such; it brings joy and smiles to my face and ears for miles) and what we’ve missed. If I’m sounding greedy, it’s because when it comes to The Who, I cannot get enough! Just cannot happen...
Any drummer who can get through a Who show without having a heart attack is alright in my book. Moon was "The One" no doubt, but if you watch Kenny Jones in the many full concerts now on you tube, he really did a great job. Rodger blamed him at the end for shows not being as good, but I just don't see the proof. Too me, it was more about Pete wanting the who to end as soon as possible as wanted out of it at that time. He was almost dead himself and then after he got cleaned up it just wasn't the same anymore, I don't think his heart was in it. (at that time) They still managed to put on some great shows from 79 to 81... I think the 82 shows are kind of lackluster.Eminence Front my ass, give me a bucket.
Yeh, Roger was talking bollocks. As incredible as Moon was, he really wasn't capable of holding a song down by the time they got to Shepperton in 78, hence Kenny dubbing some of the drums. You can't blame Kenny for not being Keith, nobody could be Keith.
You talk about lackluster; all those live Who shows I've watched it's Pete's guitar that is lackluster. It seems like he is going through the motions and it's not even turned up to a proper volume and his tone sucks. Kenny seemed to be the consummate professional who always held his end up. Face Dances and Its Hard are to me, great albums, but live Pete and Roger were terrible.
Raw as they were even their rehersals were better than most bands live shows, i've always said that Who Are You was the last great rock album of the 1970's and The Who their true last stand as a band that had nothing to prove
And the comments carry on, Kenny Jones filled in, no mistakes. I did miss Moon's mini solo during the buildup to the end of Sister Disco but I guess that Kenny didn't want to touch it or maybe was told to leave it alone because it was Keith's. They could only fill in for Keith Moon but he could not be replaced.
People like to hate on Kenney Jones' time with the Who, but by the mid to late 70's, there is no doubt that he was a superior technical drummer to Keith Moon. Moon reached his pinnacle during the Quadrophenia era, when he was the best rock drummer on Earth. Drugs, alcohol, and mental health problems really took their toll on him towards the end of his life. Compare Moon's "The Kids are Alright" live performance from '78 versus this video. Moon looks like an amateur and Jones looks every bit the professional. Keith Moon had sadly become a shell of himself.
+Jason Dotson Actually, yes. Moon, awesome as he was, had but a few tricks in his bag that he used over and over. On nearly all Who tracks with Moon, the drumming sounds the same. Jones had a wider range of technical tricks, conventional though they may have been. Moon was an innovator and a driving force of their signature sound, but this video is a great example of how Jones used what he knew to compliment this song without duplicating Moon. I think it's a great drum track.
I agree. Keith had become a shell of himself by the time Who Are You? was recorded. Up until 1976 he was far the better drummer. After that the drink and pills and lifestyle had caught up to him at long last.
He's talking about at the very end, and he's right, sadly. I was there and remember. The first time I played Who Are You? it was "what's wrong with Keith?"
Sister Disco, Music Must Change, Trick of the Light, Who Are You, Had Enough and 905 were the only Who songs that were recorded with Keith Moon in the studio and released publicly on the Who Are You album in 1978, but performed live with Kenney Jones (and John Entwistle solo in the cases of Had Enough and 905 since those were his compositions).
If you haven't read "Who Am I" Pete's autobiography you need to. I has inspired me as an artist. Gives one a whole new perspective and appreciation of his music.
Why did Roger resent Kenney Jones? True story is that he lost the battle with Pete to pay KJ as a sideman. Pete insisted on making him a full-quarter equity owner in the band. As for Jones' playing, meh. A straight ahead timekeeper with endless work on the snare and non of Moonie's inventive fills within the gaps of the music or leading into chorus or middle eights. Of course Keith wasn't capable of this himself the last couple of years. But Moon at his best was interpreting every part of the song in an electrifying manner making for a band full of soloists vying for attention. Long Live Rock.
If you read Townshend’s autobiography it put somethings into perspective, he was looking to write songs that didnt roam in The Who’s normal dwelling, Jones fit townshends vision, but Daltrey couldn’t get behind it. Love Daltrey but he’s a bit of a diva
What? People are critical of Kenny Jones? WTF? Why? Because he's not Keith Moon? OK, I'm gonna pull my imaginary rank as a musician on ya all and say anyone critical of KJ simply has no idea what the fuck they're talking about. If you don't believe me - I don't know, go ask Pete.
"Jones recorded two albums with the Who, 1981's "Face Dances" and 1982's "It's Hard," as well as the 1983 "Who's Last" live album. Daltrey has long been critical of Jones' tenure in the band, but the drummer says he didn't take it personally."
I saw Phill Collins in an interview saying that after Keith Moon died, that he stepped up and said he would want to replace Moon if they needed him, but they said they already had a replacement. Imagine Phill Collins with THE WHO!!!!
