True to form, surviving Who members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend haven’t seen each other during the pandemic. During a chat with BBC Radio, the Who frontman explained, “We have completely different lives, but y’know, who knows where it will go…? I don’t know where it will go in the future. All I know is we won’t see each other now probably until spring. I haven’t seen him for two years. Do I miss seeing him? No. I know what he looks like.”
He went on to say, “”I’ll see him when I see him, that space between us doesn’t exist because our brains are somewhere else. And when we get together, it’s that creative thing that will still be there, I’m confident that it will be. People don’t quite understand our relationship. There’s creative friction, which is healthy, you’ve got to have that. . . friction is necessary, it’s good.”
Daltrey, who first met Townshend in their adolescence, explained, “There’s a deep connection between the two of us, but we’re not in-our-pocket friends, y’know? It’s not like that, but the creative process that we can conjure up between us is incredibly healthy, and there’s an awful lot of love in the relationship, that’s all I can say.”
SIDE NOTES
- Out now is the “Super-Deluxe Edition” of The Who Sell Out in a massive box set, with a total of 112 tracks over five discs. The collection includes never-before-heard outtakes and Pete Townshend demos — along with a heaping dose of replica memorabilia from the era.
- The Who Sell Out, which was originally released on December 15th, 1967, was the pinnacle of the group’s pop art period and featured tracks interspersed with original radio spots, commercials and public service announcements in an effort to ape England’s then pirate radio stations.
- The album included the band’s sole Top 10 hit — “I Can See For Miles” — along as the instant concert staple, “Tattoo,” along with such fan favorites as “I Can’t Reach You,” “Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand,” “Sunrise,” “Relax,” and “Our Love Was.”
CHECK IT OUT: The Who on July 2nd, 1989 performing “Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand” live at New Jersey’s Giants Stadium: