ABC RadioPete Townshend has offered up another update from the recording sessions for The Who‘s upcoming studio album. In his latest blog, posted on TheWho.com, Townshend shares some details about the fifth day of the proceedings, which are taking place in London.
Townshend says that during the sessions, Zak Starkey and Pino Palladino have been, respectively “adding drums and bass…to the tracks I recorded last year to play to [singer] Roger [Daltrey] for a prospective new Who record.”
Pete explains, “My demos were fairly advanced, and technically good, but I didn’t try to play real drums, and adding drums always feels better if there is bass at the same time. Pino and Zak have a great vibe going, and all their work has enhanced my basic tracks.”
Townshend also notes that for one of the new tunes, called “Beads on One String,” Starkey “added some Keith Moon-style flourishes.” An accompanying YouTube video shows Zak working on the aforementioned percussion part.
Meanwhile, a second video captures Starkey, Palladino and producer Dave Sardy having fun recording hand claps for one of the songs.
Pete says Pino has to leave London and return to Los Angeles “for a prior engagement,” while Sardy and his assistant engineer, Jim Monti, will be taking part in the current sessions for two more days.
As for Starkey, Townshend says the drummer “will hang with me,” adding, “Zak’s been doing the most work this week. He’s been a stalwart.”
As Pete reported in a previous update, Daltrey is currently on vacation and is expected in the studio sometime around the middle of February.
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