We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago….
Inside every bass player in a rock & roll band is a front man waiting to come out. Some, like Sting, Phil Lynott, Geddy Lee and Paul McCartney have that natural charisma or the voice to be out front. Others are destined to be in the background laying down the groove that is so important but sometimes overlooked. So it was for John Entwistle of The Who. He would get a song on a Who album once in awhile…who can forget this classic…
But he was sometimes so averse to attention he would stand with his back to the audience. So, in 1971 he decided to take some of the songs he’d written and do a solo record…the first solo record done by a member of The Who. He called it “Smash Your Head Against The Wall” and it was filled with takes on religion, re-incarnation and other spiritual and meta-physical topics.
It included a re-make of his Who song “Heaven & Hell”featuring the band’s roadie Dave “Cyrano” Langston on some stinging guitar. Here is the version you might be familiar with from “Live at Leeds”…
The album didn’t do much commercially but it did allow Entwistle to spread his wings a bit as the band headed toward one of their major accomplishments later in the year. Enjoy!
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