Video Du Jour: The Who

Lest we forget – The Who may be the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Here’s “So Sad About Us,” from 1967’s A Quick One (or for Americans, Happy Jack). Keith Moon and John Entwistle, R.I.P.

Your Sister’s (Record) Rack: Ron Wood & Ronnie Lane

My big sister’s bedroom is still locked tight – you think she’s on to me? Well, since we can’t riffle through her record collection I might as well share an LP from mine. Today we’re spinning Mahoney’s Last Stand, a 1976 soundtrack album by Ron Wood and Ronnie Lane, both members of the Faces.

The soundtrack music – mostly instrumentals – was recorded for the 1972 Canadian movie Mahoney’s Estate, which starred Sam Waterston and Maud Adams. The soundtrack was originally supposed to be released in North America but some kind of legal hassles delayed the movie for almost two years and the soundtrack for more than three years. So the album was finally released about a year after the Faces broke up.

Lane was of course the Faces’ bass player and Wood the guitar player. And Mahoney’s Last Stand features an all-star cast of sidemen including Faces bandmates Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones, Pete Townshend on guitar, Ric Grech (Blind Faith) and Benny Gallagher (Gallagher and Lyle) on bass, Ian Stewart (Rolling Stones) on keyboards, Bobby Keys and Jim Price on horns, Mickey Waller (Rod Stewart) on drums and producer Glyn Johns on backing vocals!

If you like the Faces’ bloozy, boozy-woozy good-time music, you’ll like the numbers here. “Car Radio” puts the pedal to the metal, and “Tonight’s Number” (with Jones, McLagan and Townshend) kicks out like Rod Stewart is going to jump out of the shadows and start wailin’ at any moment. But who needs him: Wood and Lane ably share vocals on the steppin’ “Chicken Wired,” and Wood’s Dylanesque voice is perfect for “‘Mona’ The Blues.” And “Just For A Moment,” an unmistakably Lane contribution, is supplied in two doses: an instrumental and a version with Lane’s sweet vocals.

While the album was being delayed due the legal wrangles, Lane re-cut “Chicken Wired” for his first solo LP, and he often played the song in his live appearances. In 1998 the Mahoney’s Last Stand soundtrack emerged on CD with a bunch of bonus tracks – some rejects from the original recording and a couple of tunes that were early versions of songs that would eventually appear on Ooh La La, the final Faces studio album (1973).

Wood would of course join the Rolling Stones in 1975, and Lane would quit Faces shortly after Ooh La La. He had some brilliant moments after that before succumbing to complications from multiple sclerosis in 1997. Ian McLagan, now a proud resident of Austin and the genius behind the World’s Greatest Free Happy Hour, often pays tribute to his dear friend Ronnie Lane. It’s fitting, because “Plonk” was a genius.

MP3: “Car Radio”

MP3: “Tonight’s Number”

MP3: “Just For A Moment”

Who’s going to play at the Super Bowl? Right!

According to published reports, the Who will perform at Super Bowl XLIV, marking the British band’s first performance in North America since 2008.  According to the Sports Illustrated website, the veteran band will take the stage during halftime of the 2010 National Football League championship game, scheduled for Feb. 7 in Miami.

The NFL has yet to officially confirm the report, saying, “When we have something to announce, we’ll announce it.”

During a recent stop on his “Use It or Lose It” solo tour, frontman Roger Daltrey told Billboard.com that he and bandmate/composer Pete Townshend were working on new material for the Who’s followup to 2006’s Endless Wire.  “Hopefully if this tour has done its job, I’ll be in really good form as a vocalist,” said Daltrey. “And who knows, we might make our best work.”

Townshend has acknowledged working on two projects — a new musical called “Floss” and the Who’s next album, which he has said will include some pieces from the “Floss” project.

The Who – Or Not?

Confusing reports are coming out of The Who’s camp: apparently Pete Townshend has called off the Who’s planned new album and fall tour.   On April 26 he apparently posted a long explanation on the band’s website, explaining that he has reached a creative crossroads and doesn’t know if he wants the Who to continue.  Just a few weeks ago, the announcement was made that the band would record an album of R&B covers that would be produced by T-Bone Burnett.

This information comes from a couple of news sources because, almost as unexpectedly as the announcement was posted online, it just as quickly disappeared.  The Who’s new website has all kinds of stuff (most of which you have to join and pay for) but not Townshend’s little screed.  OK, Pete, take the rest of the year off … and drop us a line every now and then.

MP3: Mirror Door (from Endless Wire)

MP3: Won’t Get Fooled Again (live 2006)

The Who official website