Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Education is important, knowing your own mind and being driven to rebel against the system that only wants to tie you down to the mundane and dreary is imperative.
It can be argued that many of the finest creative minds that the world has produced has at some point defied the slog of the near industrial machine which is designed in part to generate more cogs, more constructed consumers and instead found ways to bring happiness into the lives of the general population. A song encouraging a heart to beat faster, a piece of art which brings sweat and fear to the brows of the so called elite of the world; anybody who can do this deserves to have a story told, the blueprint of their life brought to the attention of the autobiographical section of any bookshop.
For The Who’s Roger Daltrey the chance to lay down an account of some of the more demanding times with arguably one of the finest British bands to ever come along, his up and down relationships with John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Pete Townshend, the fights, the concerts, the foundations of two of the most physically interesting albums of the period being laid down in Tommy and Quadrophenia, the humble beginnings, the combat with authority and the opening up on his opinion on some of the more unsavoury allegations against the group, are not only cathartic but without doubt pure, as he has said himself in interviews, “When you’re in a band with those three, one of you has to remain sober.
It is in that sense of sobriety that you understand that you can trust the reflections of the man and the musician, that the battle against conformity is one that is in us all, tradition is all well and good, obedience to the system is the antipathies of what makes us unique and in the end education may well be a way out of poverty but it is not in the same league as determination and drive, for that it is no wonder that Roger Daltrey expresses at what seems in sarcastic fervour in the title, but is soon replaced in the reader’s mind to be an recognised gratitude, Thanks A Lot Mr Kibblewhite.
The problem with the system is that it always seems shocked that someone as intelligent and driven as Roger Daltrey can break the mould, a product of the generation that were born in the closing stages, or just after, of World War Two, that were denied in many cases a father figure, and when there were such men around, they were deeply scarred by their experiences to the point that they would either lash out, or do their best to keep their feeling hidden. People like Roger Daltrey, such as the other three members of The Who and countless women and men who strove to attain something different than the return to ways of thinking before the war, it is to this generation that we owe the greatest thanks.
If there was an autobiography that showcased that all you need is image to survive, then Thanks A Lot Mr Kibblewhite would surely be the one to embrace. The front shown, the will to not only survive but to succeed, it is all about the image you wish to portray and whilst the book only touches with great sincerity upon the emotions felt at the loss of Keith Moon and John Entwistle, it is to the face that you show the world which makes you iconic, a representation of all that you deep down want to be.
One of the most genuine of rock performers from the 1960s period, Roger Daltrey’s autobiography holds the aura of invincibility and vulnerability in equal measure, it is to Mr Kibblewhite that fans of the man should thank, for by attempting to take him down and perhaps humiliate him, he set the foundation for the beauty of The Who to last a lifetime. Passionate, considered, indomitable, no need to ask who are you? For this is a true legend’s story.
Ian D. Hall