GUESS WHO’S BACK?
. . . withonly their second album in 37 years for Pete’s sake!
THE WHO: Who (Polydor) Verdict: Talkin’ ’bout regeneration ★★★★✩ CAMILA CABELLO: Romance (Syco) Verdict: Pop with poise ★★★✩✩
The Who have always been willing to challenge their fans. A brilliant singles band when they emerged with the 1960s mod anthems I Can’t explain and Substitute, they went on to pioneer the rock opera with Tommy and Quadrophenia. They made grand statements, asked questions and toyed with expectations.
They’re at it again on their curtly titled 12th album Who, their first since 2006’s endless Wire and only their second in 37 years.
‘I don’t care, I know you’re going to hate this song,’ rails singer roger Daltrey on opening track All This Music Must Fade — suggesting that listeners are in for another bumpy ride from the pen of songwriter and guitarist Pete Townshend.
With the latter’s power chords bolstered by guest Benmont Tench’s shimmering keyboards, the song strikes a perfect balance between those brash early hits and the more complex melodies of the rock operas.
Daltrey, 75, and Townshend, 74, don’t always see eye to eye, but there’s no doubting a common sense of purpose here.
There’s additional fury, too, on I Don’t Wanna Get Wise — with Townshend using the song title to tone down the famous ‘I hope I die before I get old’ sentiments of 1965’s My Generation — and Street Song, an expression of solidarity for the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. ELSEWHERE, there are tracks addressing spirituality, reincarnation, the power of memory and ‘an old rock star who has lost his marbles’.
The theatrical rockin’ In rage finds Daltrey singing of ‘denying the curtain, wasting no time’. You can’t accuse them of singing anything age- inappropriate, that’s for sure.
In some ways, it’s a miracle The Who are even here. The band survived the deaths of madcap drummer Keith Moon in 1978 and multi- instrumentalist John entwistle in 2002, and now operate around a nucleus of Daltrey and Townshend. With help from Tench, drummer Zak Starkey and others, though, they still bristle with creative intent.
There are plenty of classic Who ingredients here. Detour sounds like a Motown-influenced mod single. Street Song employs Baba O’riley-style atmospherics. Ball And Chain and hero Ground Zero feature thrusting orchestral arrangements.
There’s even a pop-art album sleeve by Sir Peter Blake, the man who devised the celebrated Sgt. Pepper montage for The Beatles alongside American artist Jann haworth.
Amid this musical turbulence — at moments you can practically see Townshend’s arms flailing and Daltrey swinging his microphone — there are softer interludes that give Who its balance.
The nostalgic I’ll Be Back, sung by Pete, is an acoustic love song that wouldn’t sound out of place
on a Paul McCartney album. Daltrey is at his most tender on Beads On One String.
Having seen his band enjoy a live reboot since they performed at the 2012 Olympics and headlined Glastonbury in 2015, Townshend is playing down the significance of Who. ‘There is no theme, no concept, just a set of songs,’ he says.
But these rock legends aren’t just thriving on the stage. They have taken their renaissance in to the recording studio, too. song Havana was last year’s bestselling digital single, and her first album Camila offered a rich mix of sultry pop and Latin tunes that reflected her CubanAmerican roots.
Second effort Romance sticks to similar styles and will only enhance her status, especially as it’s being supported by a 2020 arena tour.
Its mid-tempo electronics and hip-hop leanings are occasionally generic, but there’s also enough of the quirkiness that first helped Cabello, 22, stand out from the crowd. ‘I never liked my crooked teeth,’ she admits on Easy, a rare slur on American dentistry. ROMANCE features writing collaborations with Ryan Tedder on Cry For Me, and Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas on Used To This. The latter is stripped- down, subtle and wholly in keeping with the woozy sounds dominating mainstream pop in 2019. The Latin leanings are less pronounced than on her debut, although they do surface with plenty of swagger on Senorita, a duet with boyfriend Shawn Mendes, and Liar. In their place is the soulful poise of tracks such as This Love, co-written by Ilsey Juber: an assurance that suggests Camila is here to stay.
BOTH albums are out today. The Who start a tour at Manchester Arena on March 16. Camila Cabello’s UK tour starts on June 1 at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham. You can buy tickets for both at livenation.co.uk.