Who Remembered

by Michael Pelusi

The Who won’t go away. Seriously. They’ve just put out yet another greatest hits album, Then and Now (Geffen). What, pray tell, necessitated this? Why, two new songs, "Real Good Looking Boy" (about Elvis, there’s a new idea) and "Old Red Wine" -- turgid and rather forgettable numbers. As for the rest of the album, it is only the most predictable of track listings.

But in an odd way, The Who can’t go away. We won’t let them. For many rock fans, they remain the near-mythic four-piece that, fueled on crazy ambition, ego, anger, pills, etc., marshaled their forces and became the mightiest, fiercest, most dangerous lot around. And all the while playing songs that were mostly concerned with little misfits, freaks like us (and them). For that, all the bad albums, loathsome side projects, cynical cash-ins, senseless deaths, even Pete Townshend’s recent child-porn headache, can’t quite erase the sheer joy of their best music.

Thus, Burlington, N.J.’s Face Down Records has released Who’s Not Forgotten, a tribute album dominated by up-and-coming Philly and Jersey bands. It is my happy duty to report that Philly musicians contribute many of the best tracks. The Photon Band nails the Live at Leeds sound on "Heaven and Hell" with stunning accuracy. The Bigger Lovers hand in a warm reading of the obscure "Glow Girl," while Cordalene and "I’m a Boy" prove a perfect fit. And Nancy Falkow turns "1921" (from Tommy) into a sad lament, finding the broken heart in that overblown masterstroke in a few short minutes.

There are other highlights as well -- Pat DiNizio’s live acoustic "Behind Blue Eyes" and Glowfriends’ eerie "I Can’t Explain" -- although many tracks reveal that some bands simply don’t have the chops when it comes to the band’s most bombastic songs from the early ’70s. Even Who fanatics as experienced as Guided by Voices can’t quite get "Baba O’Riley" aloft.

All proceeds from Who’s Not Forgotten will go to HEAR, a hearing loss prevention organization that was founded with help from Townshend.

Who’s Not Forgotten Record Release Party, with The Dipsomaniacs, Cordalene, Taggart, Grandfabric, Steve Brown, Art Difuria and Tommy Conwell. Fri., April 9, 8 p.m., $8, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888.

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