''Too Late the Hero'' is the fifth solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English rock musician

John Entwistle John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician who was the bassist for the rock band The Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band's only member ...

, released on 23 November 1981 by ATCO Records in the US, and by WEA in the UK. This was his only solo studio album of the 1980s and his last album to chart. The album peaked at No. 71 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, making it his best-selling album and his only album to reach the Top 100. " Talk Dirty" was the first single released from the album and it received some airplay in the US on album-oriented rock radio, peaking at No. 41 on the US

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart. " Too Late the Hero" was the second single to be released from the album and it would be his only single to chart on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 76. It also peaked at No. 101 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, making it his best-selling single all round. "Too Late the Hero" was the only single from the album that had a music video filmed for it. The album was recorded as a core trio of musicians that were Entwistle on bass guitar with Joe Walsh of the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

providing all guitar work and Walsh's former Barnstorm bandmate Joe Vitale on drums.

Billy Nicholls William Morris Nicholls Jr (born 15 February 1949) is an English singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and musical director. He was born into a musical family, his father Billy Nicholls (Sr.) being a double bassist and big band singer, ...

also sang backing vocals on most of the tracks.

Cover

The album cover is an assemblage of photographs taken by Gered Mankowitz. It depicts Entwistle with an

Alembic An alembic (from ar, الإنبيق, al-inbīq, originating from grc, ἄμβιξ, ambix, 'cup, beaker') is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, used for distillation of liquids. Description The complete disti ...

Explorer bass guitar over grainy photos of him dressed as various heroes. The red suit and ankle boots worn by Entwistle were later sold at auction.

Composition

The album was Entwistle's first solo studio album in six years. "I had stopped writing because I thought I was going in the wrong direction with the 'shoo-bop, shoo-bop,' old rock & roll stuff on ''

Rigor Mortis Sets In ''Rigor Mortis Sets In'' is the third solo studio album by English rock musician John Entwistle, who was the bassist for the Who at that time. Distributed by Track Records, the album was named ''John Entwistle's Rigor Mortis Sets In'' in the US ...

'' and '' Mad Dog''. When I started writing again, I went back to the kind of material I was writing before those albums." "Until about two years ago, I tried to stay away from certain subjects. I was getting a feeling from everyone – from the fans right through my wife and family – that if you write about hookers, you must go to hookers, and if you write about drugs, you must take drugs. I got this reputation for sinister black humour after things like ''

Whistle Rymes ''Whistle Rymes'' is the second solo studio album by English rock musician John Entwistle, released on 3 November 1972 by Track Records in the UK and on 4 November 1972 by Decca Records in the US. Entwistle co-produced the album with John Alcock, ...

'', when I was getting up at six in the morning to feed my son, Christopher, and then sitting down at the piano at seven to write songs about peeping Toms and suicide cases."

Recording

The album was recorded over a couple of years, during those infrequent months when both Entwistle and long-time friend Joe Walsh were free (Walsh's James Gang toured extensively with the Who in the early seventies, and the two had planned to collaborate for years).

Critical reception

In the AllMusic review by Ben Davies, he praises the contributions of Joe Walsh on lead guitar and Joe Vitale on drums, but says that they were unable to save the album from being boring. The reviewer concedes that the combination of these musicians would have seemed, "Like something of a dream proposition back in the 1970s," making the album an even bigger disappointment. '' MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide'' awarded the album zero stars, calling it "a misguided, overblown collaboration with the severely unwitty Joe Walsh." '' The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' conceded that it "rocks capably."

Track listing

Non-album track

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the ''Too Late the Hero'' liner notes. Musicians *

— vocals; bass guitar; eight-string bass guitar; piano;

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s * Joe Walsh — acoustic and electric guitars; piano; cabassa; waste container; tambourine; limps; synthesizer * Joe Vitale —

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

; percussion; piano;

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

;

clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

; timpani; metronome *

— backing vocals (1, 3–6, 9) Production and artwork * John Entwistle —

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

* Dave "Cyrano" Langston — producer * Joe Walsh —

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

* Joe Vitale — executive producer * Dave "Cyrano" Langston — engineering * Neil Hornby — assistant engineer * Jim Hill — assistant engineer * Jeff Eccles — assistant engineer * Mike Reese — mastering * Gered Mankowitz — album cover design, concept, cover photo, photography

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1981 albums John Entwistle albums Atco Records albums New wave albums by English artists