Listen To The Who’s New ‘Who’ Album Preview, ‘I Don’t Wanna Get Wise’
The reflective but uplifting song shows Pete Townshend’s sense of melody and riveting lyricism at the height of their powers, and Roger Daltrey in the vocal form of his career.
The Who have shared the next focus track from their upcoming, much-anticipated Who album, which follows on 6 December. ‘I Don’t Wanna Get Wise’ is a new Pete Townshend composition and is available on all digital platforms from today (22).
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The track forms part of the powerful introduction to the new album, which will open with the previously-released tracks ‘All This Music Must Fade’ and ‘Ball and Chain.’ The equally stirring ‘I Don’t Wanna Get Wise’ shows Townshend’s sense of melody and riveting lyricism at the height of their powers, on a reflective but uplifting song that again confirms Roger Daltrey to be in the vocal form of his career. The album has already gained a pre-release 9/10 review in Uncut magazine, who call it “their best since Quadrophenia” and “spellbinding, shiver-down-the-spine stuff.”
The new track has Townshend reflecting on his and The Who’s climb to fame and fortune, as he writes with endearing candour and lack of self-regard: “I was a runt, we told lies, but to our great surprise/All the shit that we did, brought us money, I guess/And those snotty young kids were a standing success.”
The title line of ‘I Don’t Wanna Get Wise’ is embellished with a vocoder effect that adds to the impact even more, and is somewhat reminiscent of similar contemporary details on ‘Be Lucky,’ the band’s new song that was featured on The Who Hits 50! compilation of 2014.
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In the lead-up to the release of Who, the band have also released videos of two unforgettable performances from 1978, remastered in 4k. The first, filmed at their Rampart Studios in Battersea, London, is the promo clip of their hit single of the era, ‘Who Are You,’ but now featured in a longer version than the single edit. It features further footage of the original line-up, also featuring John Entwistle and Keith Moon, having fun in the studio.
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The second clip is The Who’s definitive performance of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again,’ captured on the B-stage at Shepperton Studios by Jeff Stein, for the closing sequence of the film The Kids Are Alright. This was filmed on 25 May 1978 and sadly proved to be Moon’s last live performance before his death on 7 September that year.
Who is released on 6 December. Pre-order it here.
Listen to the best of The Who on Apple Music and Spotify.
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