Rock Monsters Romania

RM Awards: Album Of The Month (December 2019)

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Stefania Marinescu

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The RM Award for The Album Of The Month (December 2019) goes to “Who” from The Who.

The 22 squares depict some of the band’s influences and symbols of their career and culture.

Nobody can actually forget The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes” or “Baba O’Riley”, right? The Who is an English rock band formed in London in 1964, whose line-up eventually changed as years passed by, but Peter Townshend, the main songwriter, guitarist and vocalist is still on stage.

Their new album, “Who”, was released on December 6th after they had confirmed in January 2019 that they were working on their first album in 13 years. This album recalls bits and pieces of the band’s classic years. It is a pleasure to listen to. If you pay attention to the songs, you can obviously see that Townshend knows that it’s an uphill battle, straight from the first line of the opening song on “Who”.

The meanings on the album cover:

  • The Union Jack flag.
  • A red Routemaster bus (referring to both their 1968 single “Magic Bus” and its accompanying compilation album Magic Bus: The Who on Tour).
  • A Royal Air Force roundel.
  • Baked beans (a reminiscence of the band’s own 1967 The Who Sell Out album cover).
  • A pinball machine (a reminiscence of the band’s own 1969 track “Pinball Wizard”).
  • The band’s 1979 The Kids Are Alright release advertisement poster featuring lead guitarist Pete Townshend on stage about to smash his Gibson Les Paul guitar, with the classic caption “This guitar has seconds to live.”
  • A scooter (a nod to the mod culture and therefore, a reminiscence of the band’s own 1973 Quadrophenia album cover showing a mod scooter).
  • The band’s 1981 Face Dances cassette edition album cover.
  • Comic book characters Batman and Robin (the band covered Neal Hefti’s Batman theme on their first E.P. Ready Steady Who released in 1966).
  • Cultural figures such as musician Chuck Berry and boxer Muhammad Ali .
  • A traffic sign reading “Detour”, which is the fourth track on the album and a reference to the band’s earlier name, The Detours.

Listen to The Who’s 12th album on Spotify and YouTube.

Article by Stefania Marinescu

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