Mention the band Traffic and songs like "Dear Mr. Fantasy," "Paper Sun," "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys," "John Barleycorn" and "Glad" naturally get thrown about. All brilliant tunes. But no Traffic song hits me as hard as the haunting, Capaldi/Winwood penned, "No Face, No Name, No Number." Here's what Matthew Greenwald had to say about it on All Music:
One of the most touching and emotionally charged songs of the period, "No Face, No Name, No Number" is a true classic. Built around some very simple folk chord changes, the melody is positively aching with the longing of love, as well as a slight tinge of regret and resignation. Pete Townshend did the song justice at several Secret Policeman's Ball benefits in the '80s.
Somehow I missed Townshend's Policeman's Ball versions. It was only recently that I heard Pete Townshend sing this song. It was a beautiful take on the 2007 tribute album, "Dear Mr. Fantasy: A Tribute To Jim Capaldi." I did find a video of this performance on You Tube, but it's some shakey fan cam, and it is mostly focused on some guy's neck.
Just listen HERE. It works much better without the neck.
4 comments:
Just FYI - Townshend didn't perform the song at the Secret Policeman's Ball. He did just one of those shows for Amnesty - the first one in 1979. He performed Pinball Wizard, Drowned and "WGF Again as a duet with classical guitarist John Williams. There's a new DVD coming out with those performances on it. Not sure when/where he first did "No Face"
Just FYI - Townshend didn't perform the song at the Secret Policeman's Ball. He did just one of those shows for Amnesty - the first one in 1979. He performed Pinball Wizard, Drowned and "WGF Again as a duet with classical guitarist John Williams. There's a new DVD coming out with those performances on it. Not sure when/where he first did "No Face"
In the video I was going to post, Townshend says he performed it. Maybe it never made any of the records or videos, or maybe he just thinks he performed it. I know I never heard it.
In 1974 (I think on April 14th), Pete played his first solo concert ever. This was at the Roundhouse. He played a number of songs which have never seen the light of day--songs he'd written for The Who to play, which they'd never gotten around to, some covers, etc. One of the covers he played "No Face, No Name, No Number." While he was playing, a drunken heckler said: "Get on with it" in the middle of the song. Coincidentally, this happened during the tribute concert as well. The unedited film of the 2007 performance (featuring Pete calling the heckler some naughty words) can be seen on Youtube.
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