Album Reviews |

Keith Moon

Two Sides Of The Moon 4 ( 1975 )
Crazy Like A Fox / Solid Gold / Don't Worry Baby / One Night Stand / Kids Are Alright / Move Over Ms. L / Teenage Idol / Back Door Sally / In My Life / Together

What was going through the minds of record companies in the Seventies? It's hard to imagine a solo album by the drummer of Radiohead, for example. Still, it was different times and i'm sure the cost of 'Two Sides Of The Moon' got lost in the accounts for The Who. A solo album by Keith Moon, what can I say? Well, it's recently been reissued with a load of bonus tracks. Keith looks rather sad on the front cover, kind of lonely. The album consists of a mixture of medium-rock with a selection of cheesily performed pop tunes. Keith doesn't showcase his writing talents, so we're none the wiser in that respect. Considering what a huge character Keith was, bar some jokes in the closing 'Together' and some speech right before the opener, we get little sense of his real personality. Well, 'Solid Gold' is best described as eccentric and i'll leave it at that. It's a hideous listen, but it does do something. It reveals Keith to be a loony, but that's what we wanted, wasn't it? Elsewhere, Keith pays tribute to his musical heroes ( Beach Boys and.... errm.... The Who ), we get an indication of what was going through John Lennon's mind during his 'lost weekend' with 'Move Over Ms L'. We get a load of uninspired run throughs musically, little sense of creative inspiration or direction and very weak vocal performances. Indeed, the weak link in the entire 'Two Sides Of The Moon' chain is sadly, Keith himself. His vocals are placed in echo, they lack power and are disguised by the echo and production. Only a couple of times do they rise to anything approaching decent. For example, the opener 'Crazy Like A Fox' is enjoyable and Keith enthusiastically bellows his way through it.

I doubt Mr Moon's own commitment to the project, he wasn't in a good place at the time, going too far, living it up and wasting himself with Nilsson and Lennon. Hence, 'Move Over Ms L', actually one of the better tracks here, a brass assisted romp of a track, very messy, yet Keith gives all he probably could at the time. You know, ‘The Who Sell Out' approach of pop songs with linked concept would have better suited a Keith solo LP. I'm sure he could have at least thought of a concept. Perhaps a circus themed LP with Keith as the ringleader? And why wasn't the well produced lead track 'Crazy Like A Fox' picked as single rather than the dreadful, lack-lustre run through of The Beach Boys 'Don't Worry Baby'? Is the Keith Moon version of Lennon's 'In My Life' at all affecting? Well, I suppose so, given what happened it's affecting enough, but less so than other versions of the song i've heard. Ultimately, this is of course a vanity LP and I wasn't expecting anything from it, but even so, it still disappoints. Is it unfair on Keith to say this album could have been more than it is? He had some very talented friends of course, not all of whom were in The Who. That's all i've got to say, really. The album exists and when I get round to reviewing other Who related projects, it'll be interesting to see how this effort ranks against the others.

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Readers Comments John michael.dallaway@ncl.ac.uk John john.j.doyle@nuim.ie "Do Me Good" is irresistable. God bless you Keith me lad, we'll always love you :-)Probably better as a re-issue though, where at least you can get a lot of decent bonus tracks as well as some side splitting lunatic banter with Ringo.