Too Late the Hero (album)

Too Late the Hero is the fifth solo studio album by English singer-songwriter John Entwistle, bassist for The Who. It was released on ATCO Records (his first and last album that was to be released on that label) in the United States, and his own pressing company WEA in the United Kingdom and other releases in different countries. The album was his only solo album of the 1980s and his last album to chart, (although he had tried to release The Rock in 1986)

The album stalled at number #71 on the Billboard 200, which later proved to be Entwistle's highest charting solo release since Smash Your Head Against the Wall and the last album to chart before his death in 2002.

The album features well known musicians Joe Walsh on lead guitar, Billy Nicholls singing backing vocals, and lesser-known Joe Vitale behind the drums.

Cover Photography

The album cover was photographed by Gered Mankowitz. The cover depicts Entwistle with an Alembic bass guitar over grainy photos of Entwistle dressed as various heroes.

Album success

The album found marginal success in the US. It had charted in the Billboard album charts reaching and stalling at #71.^[1] That made it his highest charting album that Entwistle had achieved before his death in 2002.

"Talk Dirty" received quite a lot of airplay in the US on the album-oriented rock radio, along with "Fallen Angel". "Too Late the Hero" was released in Italy on Jukeboxes where he also performed the song live.

Composition

The album was Entwistle's first solo 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 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, 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."^[2]

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 planned to collaborate for years).

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[3]

Upon its release the album itself was generally poorly received by many critics, although Chris Welch praised the album.

Although being musically "impressive", the album has been described as lyrically "weak", and "a rather unspectacular listen." On the Allmusic review by Ben Davies, he praises the contributions of Joe Walsh on lead guitar and Joe Vitale on drums, but he 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.^[4]

Track listing

All songs were written by John Entwistle.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Try Me"	3:55
2.	"Talk Dirty"	4:06
3.	"Lovebird"	4:51
4.	"Sleeping Man"	3:55
5.	"I'm Coming Back"	4:01
6.	"Dancing Master"	4:23
7.	"Fallen Angel"	4:40
8.	"Love Is a Heart Attack"	5:13
9.	"Too Late the Hero"	7:25

Non-album track

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Too Late the Hero" (Single edit)	3:16

Personnel

John Entwistle - vocals, bass guitar, Eight-string bass, keyboards, piano, synthesiser
Joe Walsh - lead and electric guitars, acoustic guitars, piano, cabassa, waste bin, tambourine, limps, synthesiser
Joe Vitale - drums, percussion, piano, flutes, clavinet, clarinet, timpani, metronome
Billy Nicholls - backing vocals on tracks 1, 3-6, 9)

Production

John Entwistle - producer
Dave "Cyrano" Langston - producer
Joe Walsh - executive producer
Joe Vitale - executive producer

Engineering

Dave "Cyrano" Langston - engineering
Neil Hornby - Assistant engineer
Jim Hill - Assistant engineer
Jeff Eccles - Assistant engineer
Mike Reese - mastering

Album artwork

Gered Mankowitz - album cover design, concept, cover photo, photography

Sales chart performance

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1981	Billboard Hot 100 (US)	71
1981	Billboard's Rock Albums Chart (US)^[5]	17

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1981	"Too Late the Hero"	NME Charts (UK)	76
		Billboard Charts (US)	101

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1981	"Talk Dirty"	Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts (US)	41

External links

References

John Entwistle

Studio albums	Smash Your Head Against the Wall Whistle Rymes Rigor Mortis Sets In Mad Dog Too Late the Hero The Rock Music from Van-Pires Edge of the World

Live albums	King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents in Concert Ringo Starr and His Third All-Starr Band-Volume 1 Left for Live

Compilations	Thunderfingers: The Best of John Entwistle So Who's the Bass Player? The Ox Anthology

Collaborations	One of the Boys Fabulous Poodles Rough Mix McVicar Un autre monde You'll Never Walk Alone The Iron Man When You're a Boy A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who Baptizm of Fire The Deep End, Volume 1

Songs	"I Believe in Everything" "My Size" "Do the Dangle" "Talk Dirty" "Too Late the Hero" "The Ox" "Boris the Spider" "Whiskey Man" "In the City" "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" "Heaven and Hell "Cousin Kevin" "Fiddle About" "My Wife" "Success Story" "Had Enough" "Trick of the Light" "905" "The Quiet One" "You" "It's Your Turn" "Dangerous" "One at a Time" "Twist and Shout" "The Real Me"

Related articles	The Who Quarwood

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