Category Archives: Pete Townshend

Endless Wire (The Who) – Album Review

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The circumstances surrounding the final Who album of 1982 (It’s Hard) were so bitter that it took the band 24 years to finally summon the resolve to issue a new album of original compositions. Unfortunately, John Entwistle was to pass away in Las Vegas on the eve of a Who tour before their new record (“Endless Wire”) could materialize, casting a question mark on the true validity of this new work as a Who piece, which (quite aptly) finds Roger singing “will there be music/or there will be war” at its conceptual climax.

Personally, I’m not going to entangle myself into the “this is not The Who any longer” debate, simply because there is no such debate to be had.

The Who did not have four members; The Who had four leaders. All three instrumentalists were revolutionary. Now the rhythm section is gone, and we have Pino Palladino on bass – a superb musician, but not someone who aims to replicate Entwistle’s thunder (nor should he, in the same way no-one really expected Kenny Jones to ape Keith Moon’s sound). Yet, the current incarnation of the band does feature Zak Starkey, who is incontestably the most skillful drummer The Who has ever had on Moon’s stead.

Which brings me to my one principal problem regarding “Endless Wire” – Zak does not make an appearance, as he was occupied touring and recording with Oasis. He does drum on namely one track, and it’s easily one of the standouts: “Black Widow’s Eyes” – a song about Stockholm Syndrome which evinces suspense and impending fatality, conjuring back the kind of tension that always defined The Who’s most characteristic numbers.

The album was released in October 2006, and it is divided in two parts. The first is an unconnected collection of vignettes and songs. The second is a mini-opera entitled “Wire & Glass” (which was also the name of an EP the band released ahead of the album).

Old friends abound – Pete’s brother Simon, keyboardist John “Rabbit” Bundrick (the unofficial “fifth” member of The Who for as much as 30 years now) and also Billy Nichols, a Baba lover whose name will be instantly familiar to fans of Pete Townshend’s solo oeuvre (IE, Who enthusiasts everywhere).

The first nine tracks find Roger and Pete trading vocals throughout, and the songs themselves have a marked acoustic air, which is even reminiscent of The Who By Numbers in places.

Roger is in fine form throughout – give the man his due, he was on his seventies when he recorded this. His delivery is nuanced, and has a theatrical sheen of its own that somehow compensates for the missing roar of yore.

Nostalgia sets the tone from the very commencement with “Fragments” nodding to “Baba O’ Riley”, and (depending on your stance on The Who’s actual framework) you’ll either find it really endearing or the most conformist thing they ever set to tape (to be fair, Pete didn’t even write it all by himself – British multimedia composer Lawrence Ball receives a co-credit). 

Elsewhere, we have a song inspired by “The Passion of The Christ” (“Man In A Purple Dress”), and Pete might as well have the most touching moment of the whole album when he sings “God Speaks Of Marty Robbins” (a song which was actually made available on demo form during his “Scoop” series in 2001).

Conversely, it’s Pete who sings the one and only nadir of the album – “In The Ether”. I find it ludicrous to believe that he did actually record and listen to that and opted to include it on the finished album.

“You Stand By Me” closes the first side of the record. The song is certainly not without charm, but it is too brief, and the motif would be taken up again on the closing number of the album, and addressed more satisfactorily at that (although I do concede the two songs work well in tandem, offering Pete and Roger’s individual reflections on their fifty-year strong relationship).

The “Wire & Glass” mini opera is the most Who-like part of the album. It obviously helps that the subject matter hits home – it tells the story of some childhood friends that form a band, effectively replicating the story of The Who in more aspects than one (“we found a dream to dream/we were the carriers”, Roger sings on “We Got a Hit”, before retorting “we talked a lot of crap/they wanted more!”). Townshend’s aunt Trilby (the person who encouraged him as a musician when he was a boy) gets a name check, and the concept of a transcendental concert (IE, the one that fueled the “Lifehouse” project) shines through again on “Mirror Door” – a song which was actually released as the album’s first single, and that did acquit itself well on the charts. And “Tea & Theatre” ends the album on the most suitable of notes, featuring just Pete and Roger, who provides a vocal which manages to be both powerful and fragile. And the live versions just punctuates everything all the better.

I do also have the “expanded” version of the album, which includes an elongated version of “We Got a Hit” which outright vexes me – while the original is dizzying, this alternate take just plods along. What’s the added value in something like that?

This expanded version also comes with a DVD which is quite fun to watch but all too succinct (only one song from the new album?), and the person who thought that mimicking the “Leeds” cover was a good idea needs his head examined.

On the whole, “Endless Wire” is a solid album. Pete is very focused. Even his chord progressions (one of the main points of contention for people who tend to dismiss the band) are subjected to some very peculiar twists of their own.

And as of the time of writing this, the band is recording a new album. It will feature Zak on the majority of its track, and (in quite a bit of a stunner) Roger will also pen original material alongside Pete (who, by the way, is going to release his first novel, which will most likely set the scene for a new solo album). Actually, Roger did write some songs for “Endless Wire” – a much-cited composition titled “Certified Rose” did not make the cut. And neither did a song by John named “Sabotage”, for which it was heavily-rumored that a usable soundcheck bassline was available. 

Like everybody else, I had strong reservations when I learned The Who were issuing an album after John Entwistle’s passing. I actually took a long time to buy it. But as you can tell by this review, I was gratefully surprised.

However, I did not attend the band’s one show in Argentina in 2016; it was their first time playing South America. I do regret it now, specially after having listened to their “Live At Hyde Park” album. I hope I’ll be able to make up for that one big mistake if they tour their upcoming album. Now I know what I will find on stage.

Most of everything, I know Who I will find.

Music makes me, makes me strong
Strong vibrations, make me long
Long for a place where I belong
You will find me in this song

– Mirror Door

Psychoderelict (Pete Townshend) – Album Review

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One Of The Two Covers Of "Psychoderelict" (1993)

One Of The Two Covers Of "Psychoderelict" (1993)

Pete Townshend’s relationship with the music industry was always defined by a sort of unresolved tension. His one dream project (Lifehouse) clearly spelt that he wanted something from music and from listeners that was not to be. And that tension began pouring into songs by the point “The Who By Numbers” was issued. The jabs were to become full body blows in solo songs like “Jools & Jim”. And the final solo album that he was to release examined the way artists were at the mercy of unscrupulous managers and press agents as thoroughly as only a lifelong insider could.

Named “Psychoderelict”, the disc came out in 1993 and many experts touted it as one of the comebacks of the decade. But it was to perform ingloriously in the charts, and if we leave aside the “Lifehouse Chronicles” boxed set and some compilations (including a “Best Of” package and another title in the “Scoop” series), Pete was to issue no more original material ever again.

Psychoderelict was a conceptual work that took the shape of a CD drama. The story revolved around a ‘60s s musician named Ray High who ended up cocooning himself as the years went by, much to the chagrin of his ruthless manager Rastus Knight. He was desperate to spur Ray into action, and a music journalist named Ruth Streeting devised a way to revive Ray’s career. This involved the creation of a sex scandal that effectively put the name of Ray in everybody’s lips again.

The CD is made up of songs interspersed with dialogue, and the story is completely understandable (and even funny). Ray High (whose name was a direct homage to Ray Davies and Nick Lowe) is entirely convincing as he rallies against the industry and the press, but the true stars are Ruth and Rastus. They are truly two villains you will love to hate. They are hardnosed and truly mercenary. They are also entirely tangible, and the words they speak to each other must have been spoken a billion times over the fates of artists everywhere. At around the time the disc was issued, Pete told Keith Moon’s biographer Tony Fletcher that the music industry “feeds on the corpses of artists”. By that yardstick, Ruth and Rastus come across as the most accomplished undertakers you are liable to ever come across. Continue reading →

The Iron Man (Pete Townshend) – Album Review (Part 2)

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Don’t forget to read the introduction to this review.

Pete wrote 20 songs for this musical, 11 of which are included on this album. Some were released as B-sides, too. The singles from the CD were going to be “A Friend Is A Friend” (a song that does not sound like a Townshend composition at all – maybe that was the reason why it was a single) and the excellent set opener, “I Won’t Run Anymore”. Sung by Pete (as Hogarth) and Deborah Conway, the song details the protagonist’s initial encounter with the lumbering giant, and his determination to be as courageous as an adult would be and face the situation instead of fleeing.

The song is immediately followed by “Over The Top”, my personal favorite of the two songs in which John Lee Hooker takes the lead. The other is “I Eat Heavy Metal”, and I am certain most of you will actually like it best than “Over The Top” as it treads bluesier territory, hence Hooker is more at home. In any case, John Lee Hooker as the Iron Man was the best casting decision of the whole disc.

For its part, Simon Townshend tackles “Man Machines”, a brief passage that deals with the same theory that movies like “Terminator” have popularized – we come up with machines to fight our wars for us, and in the end they will nab us.

The song leads into the first Who tune, “Dig”. Roger fills in as Hogarth’s father (no doubt he got an added thrill for lecturing Pete on the song), and the song gave everybody renewed faith on the Who. But the band was not going to record any new tracks after a lackluster cover of Elton John’s “Saturday’s Night Alright For Fighting”. The next recordings would already take place after Entwistle had passed away. Continue reading →

The Iron Man (Pete Townshend) – Album Review (Part 1)

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"The Iron Man" (1989) Was A Musical That Ended Reuniting Pete Townshend With The Who

"The Iron Man" (1989) Was A Musical That Ended Reuniting Pete Townshend With The Who

When Tommy was being recorded, there was a big issue: whether or not to use outside musicians to fill in all the different roles. The Who finally decided not to, and it was the right choice – the whole opera would have escalated otherwise, and replicating it onstage would have been impossible without dazzling logistics. The legendary performances that we can listen to today in albums like Live At The Isle of Wight and the Woodstock soundtrack would never have been. And the sanitized performances that we have as part of boxed sets like Join Together just put a fine point on it all.

However, knowing that Tommy was once considered as a multitudinous project is vital, as it shows that big conceptual schemes in terms of participants had been lodged on Pete’s brain for a long time. He finally had a chance to let that come to fruition in 1989 with the musical “The Iron Man”.

The CD marked the first time Pete had adapted somebody else’s work, as the opera was based on the child’s tale by poet laureate Ted Hughes. Townshend invited musicians from all over the specter to lend their talents, and these ranged from blues legend John Lee Hooker and jazz stalwart Nina Simone to vocalists like Chyna and Australian rocker Deborah Conway. Likewise, he drafted his younger brother Simon and old-time associate Billy Nicholls to sing backup. But most importantly (and tellingly in the long run) was that the Who guested on two tracks, the excellent “Dig” and the ineffective cover of “Fire” by the Crazy World Of Arthur Brown (a song Pete had produced in the 60s and taken all the way to number one).

The reunion with the Who was most tellingly because Pete (who had resisted touring with his former compadres for so long) was to finally abdicate and agree to a massive tour of arenas backed by a large ensemble band including percussionists, vocalists and someone else playing electric guitar – Pete was to play mostly acoustic on the “quiet” side of the stage, shielded from the wall of sound. These performances were to result on the live “Join Together” boxed set, a much-reviled collection of live songs. In a certain sense, Pete and the guys had the right to try something different. They had never toured with such a band before, so they had a good excuse. Money also factored heavily at that time, but I already discussed that here. Continue reading →

All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (Pete Townshend) – Album Review (Part 2)

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This is the second part of the review. Learn about the context the album is circumscribed in and the first four tracks here.

“Exquisitely Bored” is the fifth song on the album. It is one of the two direct analyses on fame and stardom, the other being (obviously enough) “Stardom In Acton”. “Exquisitely Bored” is Pete’s lyrical take on a theme assayed by The Eagles not long before: life in the “Hotel California”. The message is basically the same, although in “Hotel California” it is implied that no-one can get out, whereas Pete’s song seems to be saying that the ennui is a true choice, that it is comforting, and that “there are good times walking in Laguna…” before finishing the excellent chorus with the line “but it rains in my heart”. One is tempted to ask the question first posed by Creedence Clearwater Revival there and then, namely “Who will stop the rain?”.

The fact is that things don’t look too sunny either when we talk about the London scene. As described by the song “Stardom In Acton”, local success seems every bit as vitiated, and also more transfiguring in the long run. The one song that describes all the vices you can imagine is this one, not “Exquisitely Bored” – “want my stash, want my cash, want omnipotence”, “the long cigarette full of hash”, “don’t admire anonymity”… It seems that making it in your hometown is the most dizzying event that could ever occur. It probably has to do with the fact you can then look down your nose at those who put down your aspirations all your life, and snort “I made it!” in their very faces. Continue reading →

All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (Pete Townshend) – Album Review (Part 1)

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"All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" Is My Favorite Solo Record By Pete Townshend. The Album Was Released In 1982, After The Acclaimed "Empty Glass" Had Ignited Townshend's Career.

"All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" Is My Favorite Solo Record By Pete Townshend. The Album Was Released In 1982, After The Acclaimed "Empty Glass" Had Ignited Townshend's Career.

“All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes” was issued in the aftermath of Pete’s near-fatal depression of 1980-81. Keith Moon was dead, Kit Lambert was gone, and Pete was not reaching out to the public the way he once did. The faith on his band was broken, he had already launched a promising solo career. His marriage was in shambles (he was living away from his wife and children), and he was a million pounds in debt.

You must understand that Pete was never a strong person. He always had enormous difficulty coming to grips with who he was, and the way others saw him was instrumental to Townshend. When others perceived there was a problem, when they could see behind his blue eyes, that was the time he also noticed that he had a problem. And like most people who face alcoholic issues, he used to go to extremes all the time. He once remarked he even used to get suicidal about people he didn’t know at all if rebuffed.

During this time, virtually everybody scolded him. Roger Daltrey almost had it with Pete one night on stage, and even his best friend Richard Barnes (he who had suggested the name of the band all those years ago) cornered Townshend and called him “pathetic”. Pete’s response? “It’s alright. Why should Keith have all the glory?”

Finally, during a night out at the Club For Heroes he took heroin, overdosed and had to be rushed to ER. It transpired his heart had stopped beating for a while. A mere second later would have been fatal.

The turning point came shortly afterwards when wife Karen asked him “Why don’t you come over again and we try to work it out?”. That gave him the resolve to start pushing once more.

His 1982 record captures all of the above, and it shows that sometimes there is not a difference between being shattered, being broken and being fragmented. The only valid difference lies in being there or not being there at all.

“All The Best Cowboys…” is experimental in every sense. The first track has Pete reciting instead of singing. “Stop Hurting People” is actually an open letter for reconciliation he had written to Karen. The song, dealing with a love that died and had to be born again was the one way to start the record. “People, stop hurting people”, he pleads. And we all can picture him looking into the eyes of his wife as he does so, his gaunt reflection in her eyes, the words “without your love there is no flame” hammering and hammering until they are unleashed into song. Continue reading →

Empty Glass (Pete Townshend) – Album Review

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The Album That Proved Pete Townshend Could Do It His Own Way And Succeed- It Was Named "Empty Glass" And It Came Out In 1980.

The Album That Proved Pete Townshend Could Do It His Own Way And Succeed - It Was Named "Empty Glass" And It Came Out In 1980.

After the critical acclaim of the discs “Who Came First” and “Rough Mix” and the state The Who was in following the death of Keith Moon, the way was paved for Pete to launch his solo career in earnest. He was to finally do so in 1980, with an album for which he saved the first ten good songs he had written (instead of keeping them for The Who as he would have done before). The record was to receive excellent reviews and sell in good enough numbers as to prove that the brain of The Who also had a lot of muscle.

The one hit of the record was “Let My Love Open The Door”, yet another “love” song that was actually inspired by Meher Baba and his teachings. There were many musicians throughout history renowned for being Baba lovers, but Pete might as well be the most popular to the public at large. It was the same love that inspired the whole “Tommy” album, and on “Empty Glass” it also resulted in the sardonic “Keep On Working”. Pete has always had an eye for touching what he loves from another angle without actually tarnishing it. He knows how to throw shadows at something without hiding it all from sight, but rather emphasizing the bits that remain uncovered until they also tell you about what was darkened. In other words: Pete knows how to suggest and insinuate a lot. Continue reading →

Rough Mix (Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane) – Album Review (Part 2)

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(Read the introduction to this album here.)

Doing a quick recap, Ronnie Lane handled the folksy bits on this record whereas the Birdman doled out the rock numbers. It is Pete the one to start it all with the delirious sketch “My Baby Gives It Away”. He knows he is singing utter piffle, and he sings it so brazenly and the accompaniment is so joyous and upbeat that it is not as Dave Marsh says: Pete is not sounding as if he were having fun. He is having the time of his life in a studio in a long, long time. The song goes from silliness to silliness set to the steady beat of Charlie Watts and acoustic guitars that are strummed as if they were the cue for the listener to smile.

Ronnie takes the lead and supplies “Nowhere To Run” and “Annie”, with the instrumental title track sandwiched in between. I do like “Nowhere To Run” – its melody is good, but the lyrics are a bit hazy and it is tricky relating to them. “Annie”, on the other hand, is one of these songs about lost love that are impinged with so much sensibility that the melody (and words) paint concrete images into just anybody, young or old. Continue reading →

Rough Mix (Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane) – Album Review (Part 1)

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Rough Mix (Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane's Collaboration) Stole The Accolade Of Best Album Released In 1977. Pistols, Clash & Costello Eat Your Hearts Out!

Rough Mix (A Collaboration Between Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane) Stole The Accolade Of Best Album Released In 1977. Pistols, Clash & Costello Eat Your Hearts Out!

Produced by Glyn Johns and issued in 1977, this collaboration between Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane was voted album by the year by Rolling Stone. Wenner’s gang were not the only ones dazzled by it. Pete’s record company gave the album little promotion, certain that he was to leave and form a supergroup with Lane. The Who had just signed a new contract, and the album did nothing but highlight how much Pete needed a change of scene.

Rough Mix is blistering in terms of sidemen: Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts, Boz Burrell, Ian Stewart… Pete could have snapped his fingers and have a new band within seconds. And it would have been a more fulfilling band than The Who to him at that point for certain.

The album itself is not really a collaboration in the sense of the two former mod champions sitting down and writing an album. (“What?! And split the royalties?!” Pete joked to Ronnie at the time). Rather, Ronnie had some songs, Pete had some songs and together they came up with “Rough Mix”. They only sing together in the penultimate track, “Heart To Hang On To”. They also shared a writing credit for the title track, an instrumental were Clapton and Rabbit Bundrick have their way.

There are no videos of Pete and Ronnie playing together. There is, however, this one of Eddie Vedder singing with Pete in 1999. They mix up the lyrics, and Vedder is a bit off. But it is the best that I could find for you:

Continue reading →

Who Came First (Pete Townshend) – Album Review (Part 2)

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Read the first part of this review here.

I haven’t talked a lot about the tracks that were contributed by fellow musicians yet. “Evolution” is Ronnie Lane’s all-acoustic take on a Small Faces track named “The Stone”, with him playing rhythm and Pete leading the way. For its part, “Forever’s Not Time At All” comprises mostly Billy Nicholls’ vocals and Caleb Quaye’s instrumentation – he handles bass, drums and guitars. “Forever’s Not Time At All”, incidentally, was a phrase inspired by Meher Baba. And the same applies to the coda of “Let’s See Action”, as “The Nothing & The Everything” was one of Baba’s teachings.

As far as Pete’s original compositions go, we have “Time Is Passing”, yet another song from the aborted Lifehouse project and one that did not surface as a Who recording until the remastered “Odds & Sods” saw release in 1999. A note on the Who’s version on that disc: what you listen to is only half the song. The other half (including a French horn and the full bass part) are missing, although the exactly opposite version of the song does exist, featuring the missing instruments and lacking the other ones. Some bootlegger even managed to combine the two mixes and come up with the “definitive” version of “Time Is Passing” by the Shepherd Bush’s combo.

The other original track is “Sheraton Gibson” a small ditty about hitting the road. Whether Pete alludes to touring or striking down the pathway of spiritual enlightenment is up to each listener… Continue reading →