Lifehouse Elements - Wall of Sound review

[Brian Cady <cadyb@home.com>]

Pete Townshend
Lifehouse Elements 
Label: Redline Entertainment 
Genre: Rock, Pop 
File Under: What's (rock) opera, doc? 
Rating: 67 
Lifehouse is the project that nearly drove Pete Townshend around the
bend. In fact, his attempt - and failure - to stage what was meant to be
a grand communal event between The Who, the audience, and the most
advanced technology the early '70s had to offer (quadraphonic sound,
tape loops, synthesizers, etc.) gave rock's most ambitious theoretician
his first nervous breakdown. 
The theme of Lifehouse was as incomprehensible in its own way as
Townshend's other conceptual pieces, Tommy and Quadrophenia. The plot
takes place in a bleak, technologically dominated and fascist-controlled
future in which people are jacked into "The Grid" (an idea interestingly
predictive of the Internet; take that, Al Gore!) for all their
informational and emotional needs. An underground concert is staged to
defeat the evil overlords, and in the process, a universal chord is
struck, causing the participants to mysteriously disappear. Or something
like that. 
Complex and overly ambitious as it was, Lifehouse sparked some of
Townshend's greatest writing. Songs such as "Won't Get Fooled Again,"
"Getting in Tune," "Baba O'Riley," "Pure and Easy," and "The Song Is
Over" were all part of the original score. The project eventually fell
apart after The Who abandoned Townshend's plan to stage and film a
six-month residency at a London theater, and many of the tracks were
cannibalized for The Who's single greatest album, Who's Next. 
Lifehouse was never made into a film, though a radio play was done for
the BBC in December 1999. That performance and the complete Lifehouse
demos, orchestrations, and additional material (six CDs in all) were
made available (appropriately) on the Internet at Townshend's official
Web site (www.eelpie.com) early in 2000. Lifehouse Elements is a
judicious sampling of the entire project. It contains the original
conceptions of "Won't Get Fooled Again," "Pure and Easy," and others,
plus an orchestral version of "Baba O'Riley" and a remix of the "Who Are
You" demo, featuring a newly inserted rap, which suggests that Townshend
continues to adapt the project to the times. 
Still, Lifehouse Elements doesn't really convey the entire concept any
better than Who's Next ever did. Granted, these are some of Townshend's
best songs - Who classics in the making - and they're rendered here in a
form that is remarkably complete. So while the record is satisfying on
that level, it's also true that a demo is a demo - these versions can't
really compete with their finished counterparts, which contain the mad
genius of drummer Keith Moon, the thunderous bass of John Entwistle, and
the mighty vocals of Roger Daltrey. 
So this one's for the hardcore Pete-o-philes who've already snapped up
the demo collections Scoop and Another Scoop. On the other hand, it's
hard to imagine that they would settle for anything less than the
complete set. Still, for those who just want a little taste of this
sprawling epic, Lifehouse Elements is definitely the place to start. -
Daniel Durchholz 

You can find the review at:
http://wallofsound.go.com/archive/reviews/stories/lighthouseelements_petetownshendIndex.html

                -Brian in Atlanta
                 The Who This Month!
                 http://members.home.net/cadyb/who.htm