Editorial Review:Amazon.com:This 1975 collection excels in large part due to its modest goal. It's the Who's singer-songwriter record. Without the ostensible shield his 'rock operas' provided, Pete Townshend's personal demons strut about nakedly. Not a pretty sight, but an involving spectacle nevertheless. 'They Are All in Love' and 'How Many Friends' are forgotten Who songs, but they've aged beautifully. John Entwistle's 'Success Story' sequences nicely with the rest of the album. And 'However Much I Booze,' 'Dreaming from the Waist,' and 'In a Hand or a Face' are great decade-early exercises in mid-life self-pity. There are only three bonus tracks here--live versions of 'Squeeze Box,' 'Dreaming from the Waist,' and the earlier 'Behind Blue Eyes'--but
By Numbers is such a cohesive collection that they're less welcome extras than annoying distractions. Still,
By Numbers now stands as one of the linchpins in a great band's catalog.
--Steven Stolder
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Related Items:
Disc 1:- Slip Kid
- However Much I Booze
- Squeeze Box
- Dreaming From the Waist
- Imagine a Man
- Success Story - The Who, Entwistle, John
- They Are All in Love
- Blue, Red and Grey
- How Many Friends
- In a Hand or a Face
- Squeeze Box
- Behind Blue Eyes
- Dreaming From the Waist
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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Who's Underrated
This is the last Who album. Who Are You was a coda (albeit an alright one) and the albums with Kenney Jones were by a different band. You can't lose an energy like Moon and go on pretending you're The Who. You're not, you're the Who's Left. And that's okay, go be the best darn new Who you can be! But recognize the difference and act accordingly no matter what anyone says, because if you build it they will come. That's where I think The Who got it wrong post 1978, which is a shame because I really like Face Dances, it just could have been better.
But I'm not here to discuss all that now am I? No.
By Numbers...great album. No synthesizers, no Rock Opera. This is the return of the My Generation Who (or if you wish to acknowledge the self-referential pun of the album title, The High Numbers Who). Guitar, bass, drums, vocals and occasional keyboard. By Numbers is the perfect bookend to their career. My Generation was the frustrated young man, By Numbers the frustrated man ten years on. Since the collapse of Lifehouse Townshend seemed to become more reflective about the band and himself. The song Long Live Rock was the start of a period of looking back, of examining, celebrating, mythologizing and ultimately popping holes in and deflating The Who and his role and place in music and in life.
The dour mood of the album could have been balanced a bit with one or two of the more perky/tongue in cheek tunes Townshend had around at this time - something like My Baby Gives It Away or Misunderstood from his later Rough Mix album with Ronnie Lane for example. Squeeze Box fills this gap as best as its cheery little heart can though, and Entwistle's fantastic Success Story humorously encapsulates everything Townshend is going on about. Blue Red And Gray is rather sweet as well.
The Who still had fire in them at this point and it is well represented in the playing and performances.
AND The Who By NUmbers has one of the best damn album covers EVER! Cheers to The Ox!
The live bonus tracks are cool too. I mean, Dreaming From The Waist? Are you kidding?! Cheers to The Ox again!!!
Great Who album.
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An early mid-life crisis?
I recently rediscovered this album, along side with Quadrophenia, after an absence of over 20 years.
I always thought Quadrophenia was The Who's best album, and viewed The Who by Numbers as their worst.
I was wrong.
Quadrophenia is their best, IMHO. But The Who by Numbers has aged better, because The Who's fans of have aged. Whereas the one is a coming of age story, the other is a plaintive attempt to come to grasp with the consequences of decisions made, paths chosen, and success attained, only to find that it may not be success after all.
I remember that critics hated this album, with its self-loathing and self-pitying. "Success Story" explains the reaction before it even happened: they wanted to become rock stars, and they did, with all the good and the bad that comes along with it.
So "How Many Friends Have I Really Got?" seemed pathetic in 1975; in 2008 it rings somewhat more true.
This was The Who's (and Pete Townshend's) first really personal album. For the first time, he moved from high concept albums (Tommy, Who's Next which grew out of the never realized Lifehouse project, and Quadrophenia)to a collection of unrelated songs that nevertheless portrayed the songwriter's thoughts and attitudes at that point in his life, and where he stood in the world. Subsequent albums would continue to do the same.
From the perspective of performance, this is a brilliant collection. Daltrey's voice is superb, ranging from his famous growls to plaintive ballads. Townshend clearly has become, by this point, a brilliant orchestrator of a rock band, successfully getting more out of less, by eschewing the synthesizers of Who's Next and Quadrophenia, and reducing the band to guitar (and banjo etc.), bass, drums, voice, and some piano.
I think my favorite song has become "In a Hand or Face", as it displays typical Who anger versus humility. "Blue Red and Grey" is a very pretty song, as is "Imagine a Man".
This is not the first Who album someone should buy -- that is still either Who's Next or Live at Leeds (the original release), followed by Tommy & Quadrophenia. (Honorable mention must go to The Who Sell Out.) But it is a must own, especially for those of us who listened to this album 30 years ago.
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The Who - A Step Down From The Last Three
After the brilliance that was "Tommy", "Who's Next" and "Quadrophenia" there had to come a let down. That let down would be The Who's mid decade album "By Numbers". As a stand alone disc, this one is actually quite good, but compared to the band's previous catalogue it is not really in the same league. The album produced a hit single with "Squeeze Box" which I guess is ok for a novelty song, but pales in comparison to many of the band's other singles. The best songs on the album deal with Pete Townshend's realization that he is no longer a kid and having to deal with mid life events. "However Much I Booze", "Dreaming From The Waist", and "They Are All In Love" are good examples. The often underrated John Entwistle contributes one of the better tracks in "Success Story". Overall this is a good Who album, but it has the unfortunate task of following three all time classics, so in comparison the album is a slight step down.
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Great!!
I have this album in vinyl, so I bought it to keep my vinyl and to listen the Cd. The remastered Cd sounds great and in my opinion, "Squeeze Box" is a masterpiece. But this album is not a typical "one song album" because songs like "Blue, Red and Grey", "Imagine a Man", "Dreaming from the waist"... are very good songs too
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Another great Who album!
Far from the most renowned album by The Who, The Who by Numbers is perhaps the last great Who album. Lacking both the high-minded approaches of The Who's rock operas as well as the well known hits of other efforts, By Numbers still manages to be one of the most cohesive pieces of rock n' roll that The Who created. Solid from front to back, this album manages to hit on all cylinders, with great vocal and instrumental work across the album, and as one song centers on the vocals, another may be driven by the fantastic rhythm section, and yet another by stellar guitar work. This variety lends a sense of fullness to the album and is mark of yet another great effort from The Who. Good stuff!