The great solo debate

["Mark R. Leaman" <mleaman@sccoast.net>]

> Yeah, it's easy to imagine the Who doing "Give Blood."

Bill:

Another "could have/should have been."

> Brilliant Blues seems pretty obviously about the breakup, especially when
> one reads the notes on the back of the album jacket.  But couldn't this
be
> just as easily an argument for why he did NOT want the Who to do the
song?

Granted, it's just ironic that the song which describes the feelings Pete
had about the breakup would have been a great band song.

> Really?  I've always thought EG would finish ahead of WC in any poll,
> whether of Who fans or otherwise.

Certainly otherwise. It was very successful. And don't get me wrong, it's
very good and I like it a lot and I'm happy PT was acknowledged by the
general public as an artist worthy of note on his own. But personally I
find it rather less than the others. Less, even, than a lot of unreleased
songs which ended up on the SCOOPs. IMHO. Which is worth only what it's
worth.

> WC is pretty commercial too.  Face the Face and Give Blood were both
minor
> hits, weren't they?

Well, you hit it on the head! "Minor." LMLOTD and ALIS were both HIT
singles.

> That Raleigh show was a good one wasn't it?  I was lucky enough to be
> there.

I usually don't see a band more than once per tour (guess I'm the ultimate
anti-Deadhead) and since I'd seen one of the MSG shows I almost didn't
go....but it was a day I'm closed and within driving distance, so I went.
And IMHO they were FAR better than at MSG. And the encore was fabulous.

> Imagine it. I've been a Who fan for about 24 years. I think EG is Pete's
> best solo album (followed by Psychoderelict (Music Only)), superior to
WC,
> and easily superior to Chinese Eyes.

Jim:

If you say so. I just find that even as The Who were never really a
commercial band, PT's albums generally weren't either. Doesn't mean they
weren't good.
ATBCHCE is a wealth of wonderful music. The best version of North Country
Girl I've heard, Uniforms, Exquisitly Bored...actually, the only songs I
don't particularly care for are the two poetry ones.

> Although I don't dismiss the whole
> album as Dave Marsh does ("Almost sounds like he's learned to completely
> stop enjoying himself." (quoted by Bill)), songs like "The Sea Refuses No
> River," "Somebody Saved Me," and "Slit Skirts" help make Marsh's point.

I don't agree. I think Marsh was out of his league on this one...his book
seems to indicate while he loves The Who as a Rock band...much as Daltrey
sees them...he never really understood the Townshend element. As soon as it
rose to the top, his opinion went down. Starting with QUAD. It's almost
like what PT was saying went over Marsh's head. He OBVIOUSLY didn't
understand the album. 
Unlike most people, I do like Before I Get Old BUT find it flawed in this
respect. Marsh, apparently, would have been happier with endless ICE's and
SELL OUTs. Me, I'd rather have more QUADs, WCs, and PYSCHOs (but only if
they don't wear black trenchcoats).
I think the three songs you cite are emotional, powerful, and moving.

> "Somebody Saved Me" and
> "Slit Skirts" both suffer from a self-importance exemplified by cramming
> too many syllables in a line.

Dylan did the same, for years. It's a Folk Music quality, and doesn't work
as well here mainly because Pete's songs are too tightly structured for it.
Bob would just stretch out the part as needed.

> not hard enough. The experimental "Stop Hurting People" and
> "Communication," while mildly interesting, belong on Scoop albums.

I agree with you completely here.

>The
> songs that I like --"Face Dances Part Two," "Stardom In Acton," and
> "Uniforms"- ought to be average tracks on a better Townshend album,
instead
> of standing out in comparison to the weightier songs previously
mentioned.

With the exception of FD, I love the other two and would rank them among
his best. SIA, for instance, is a great "picture" of the desire for fame,
coming from someone who is well versed. Seeing it from the other side of
the hill, one might say.

> sells successfully has to be slammed as "blantantly commercial."

Since I said it, I'll respond. You aren't reading me (probably because I
wasn't clear enough). I agree with you that simply because something sells,
it's not always commercial. Pearl Jam and Nirvana, for instance, were not
commercial yet had hits and brought "commercial" over to them (you could
say).
However, I do think these particular songs were meant by PT to be
commercial. They were written in an established commercial style, and not
very much like his own material...even on the same album.

> that Pete can say "My life's a mess" without setting to inferior music,
> which is what he does on Chinese Eyes.

I don't agree that CE has inferior music.

> Obviously this is all MHO, based on living with this music for over17
> years.

Me too; bought it all the day it was released...as I did everything from WN
till today.

> is much better. Maybe later we can discuss why Parting Should Be Painless
> is better than Under A Raging Moon.

See, I don't agree with you there either. The songwriting is definitely
stronger on UARM, not to mention the performance.

> I assumed he was writing about the Brixton riots.  CF: The Clash's "Guns
Of
> Brixton"

Brian:

I'm sure he was.

> wars, what do you do with me now?" song.  However, Pete has said several
times
> that the song was about apartheid (which also crops up in "I Am Secure").
 I
> really have no idea what he means by that except in some really universal
"we're
> all living under apartheid" meaning.

It wouldn't be the first time there have been multiple meanings/levels to a
Pete Townshend song.

> How about a "worst Pete lyric" thread?

Sure...

> Two that twinge the grammarian in me is "All at once a tall stranger I
suddenly
> see" (from the Department of Redundancy Department) and "I was asked to
see what
> I could really learn you" from "Relay."

Maybe, but I still love "tall stranger." Wonderful line, that. The entire
song, in fact.



                      Cheers                                  ML

Yet another stupid lyric, from the Archives of my mind:

"In the middle of my room/I did not hear from you..."
                                                             Stevie Nicks