it’s the late 80’s and my best mate is a Mod. While everyone else is wearing flared jeans and pink hoodies emblazoned with smiley faces, he saunters about in a sharp suit, fish-tail parka and polished shoes. He even had a Vespa which he called Keith after his hero, the clown-prince himself Keith Moon. Unfortunately he and about three others were the only real aficionados of mod culture in town so it never got very festive. Still, it felt good to be listening to music like Small Faces, The Kinks, The Jam and of course, The Who - our own little acid house back lash.
Then and Now is The Who’s latest compilation offering - not that collections from the pop rock meisters have ever been thin on the ground - they’ve released no less than 6 official ‘best of’ releases plus a 30 year retrospective box set.

Then & Now purortedly celebrates 40 years of The Who, the 2004 bit referring to two new songs penned by Roger Daltrey, with the other remaining Who member Pete Townsend on guitar - Real Good Looking Boy and Old Red Wine. The songs are not bad, but they function as no more than a marketing gimmick in order to sell what is essentially the same old Who catalogue.
You’ll find all the favourites here - from the tight two-tone vibe of songs like Can’t Explain, Substitute, My Generation and The Kids Are Alright to the seventies Rock Operatics of Pinball Wizard, Love Reign O’er Me and Who Are You.

For truly dedicated fans of The Who there isn’t much new here, but for the next generation fans of neo-Mod bands like The Hives or The Vines, just check out how it was done back in the day. Can’t Explain was The Who’s first single and without getting nostalgic (hell, i wasn’t even born then) when do you hear first singles like that in this day and age? And looking at the revivals that are going on in our endlessly referential post modern world, The Who’s defining statement remains relevant - 2004 and in many ways we still are their generation...JD