Perhaps it's just the songs, the arrangements, or whatever, but. Ironically, these later recordings, though "better" sounding, IMO lack the power of the earlier Moon. I am not an audiophile or a sound professional, so I may be talking out of my rear end however, I have always found the sound of "By Numbers" and "Who are You" to be completely different than any other Moon on record - much more bottom-oriented and less crisp.Įntwistle once complained that Moon's drumming always sounded like "biscuit tins," but I do not think he was referring to the later recordings. Is it also possible that the recorded sound of the later years affected our hearing of his work? That, somehow, the more lo-fi work of earlier years, by virtue of the actual sound, may have had some kind of effect on our listening experience that lent itself to the Moon Magic? Someone referred the lower tuning of Keith's drums in the later years, implying that it may have created a more lumbering, "slower" sound in the listener's ears. I'm not saying the drumming on Quad is bad by any means, but to my ears it's not up to the standard of the Tommy years. I'm also not a drummer so I can't describe exactly what I hear, but he seems more plodding (relative to his earlier work, mind you) and less inventive and energetic.
All the things Cheepnik describes are there, just not to the extent they were on By Numbers and Who are You. I myself hear a decline as early as Quadrophenia. Same thing before Who Are You, except that he was never able to fully get his skills up to speed for that one.
I've read that when sessions for By Numbers started, Moon essentially had to relearn how to play the drums because it had been a year since he'd drummed. It was only in the 70's that they started taking extended breaks from touring and recording, resulting in Moon taking extended breaks from touching a drumstick. From 1965 to 71 or so the Who were touring pretty much nonstop. Click to expand.I'm not sure how much he practiced in the early days, but the Who was constantly gigging so that kept his skills up even if he didn't practice outside band rehearsals.