Face Dances [Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

The Who | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 3, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered, Extra tracks
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B000002P6R
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,504 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered Japanese reissue of The Who's 1981 album in a miniaturized LP sleeve with the original packaging intact. Limited to the initial pressing only, it also features all five of the bonus tracks included on MCA's U.S. reissue in the '90s! T --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No, the Five Star Rating is not a Typo, October 17, 2001

By 

Eric (NC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Face Dances (Audio CD)

Some of the people below can complain all they want and slag the band for carrying on without Keith. They can also tell you how dreadful they think this album is because everyone has an opinion, but the truth is they are wrong. If Face Dances doesn't agree with your musical taste, then fine, but the problem doesn't lie in the quality of the songs or musicianship.

As along time Who fan, I'm not going to try and convince anyone that this album is as good or better than Tommy or Who's Next,but it is as good or better than some of their work. Despite what other's may say, all the songs here, both Pete and John's, are great songs. You Better You Bet, Cache Cache, Don't Let Go The Coat, and Another Tricky Day are as catchey and well contructed as anything Pete has done and the Quiet One and You are definitely two of the best songs Entwistle has ever written. The Quiet One and You are also as abrasive and raw as any studio tracks the Who ever did. Those songs come as close to the claasic Who live sound as anything.

I would also like to say that I was as sad as any other true fan when Keith Moon died,but I don't feel the rest of the band betrayed his memmory by carrying on. I also think that trashing Kenny Jones is pretty childish as well. I don't know if any of the other critics below are musicians or not, but I am and I thought Kenny's playing on both Face Dances and It's Hard was very impressive. He may not have had the frenzied , almost out of control style that made Keith so great, but his inventive use of varied rhythms and beats had alot of impact on the songs here.

The bottom line here is, Face Dances may not be the best Who album, but it is a very good one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unfairly Maligned, July 1, 2008

By 

Paul Phipps (Western Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Face Dances (Audio CD)

I love this album. That may have something to do with the fact that it was the first Who album I ever bought (I was 14). But I also think the songs are great. They remind me a bit of the mid-sixties "Pop Who" as they bounce, snip and snipe. Kenney Jones does a fine job, and it's unfortunate that he's gotten so much flack for accepting the bands offer to join. Of course he's not Keith Moon! No one is.
The only issue I have with this album is in the production. If they'd taken off even just a bit of the gloss it would have made a vast improvement I think. There's something a bit flat about the production. Though Bill Symczek (or however you spell his name) shouldn't necessarily take the blame either. The Who must have been familiar with his work - and for California rock such as The Eagles his production worked - but for The Who not so much. The band chose him though, so it's on their shoulders. Still though, I consider this a very underrated album. Songs like Don't Let Go The Coat, Another Tricky Day, You Better You Bet, and Entwistle's The Quiet One. There's a lot of humor to much of the material as well. It's the Who getting back to the more Pop approach they'd had early in their career. If the production hadn't taken the balls away from the sound then I think fans would have been more forgiving. Anyway, great album cover too! Enjoy!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Who Enters Another Uncomfortable Maturity, November 21, 2003

By 

Bud (Seminole, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Face Dances (Audio CD)

The Who, especially Pete Townshend, had been unhealthy in dwelling on the fact that they were getting older ("older" being your 30s in rock and roll) since the mid 1970s on albums like "The Who By Numbers" and "Who Are You." In 1978, legendary madcap drummer Keith Moon died, an event that forever shattered the band, and two years later, "Face Dances" reveals a group in a state of uncomfortable maturity and a yearning for wisdom.
Other albums, such as "Who's Next" allowed for The Who's growing maturity to be seen, but in those days, it was still with youthful arrogance. This is what makes "Face Dances" so unique. The Who are found in a frantic daze of disillusionment, unleashing track after track of enthralling energy.
The sound within packs a solid punch, in a vaguely pop-oriented feel, such as that of 'Cache Cache' and the excellent Top 10 single 'You Better You Bet,' as the mood is generated in a much more frenetic fashion in 'Daily Records,' 'You,' and 'Another Tricky Day.' Other songs like bassist John Entwistle's ironic self-portrait 'The Quiet One' and 'Somebody Saved Me' are minor Who classics. Kenney Jones, Keith Moon's replacement, proves himself to be a competent drummer, while Roger Daltrey's angry cries punctuate the album with essence.
Though it is without the pinnacles of other albums, "Face Dances" is definitely a worthy set. This album was the next-to-last studio album for The Who however, revealing the band's loss of desire, a fact which bitterly attaches itself to the songs here.