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Re: Lifehouse failure



> I think this (LH failure) might be discussed in the reissued WN liner
> notes, but I don't have that here at work. Maybe someone else on the
> list will help us out. (Brian?)

Well, I'll chime in on a few notes. First off Pete was heavily into booze
but nothing else from 1968 through the beginning of 1980.  Roger was also
fairly clean (probably more pot than anything else). John and Keith were
another story, doing just about anything they could get their hands on.

Pete's problem with Lifehouse was his inability to get his ideas out in even
a slightly coherent manner.  He really did say things at the time that
sounded like he believed Lifehouse was for real and he and The Who were
actually going to make it happen; that is, hold a concert at the Young Vic
for months, feed the audience's "life charts" into a computer to make music,
have everyone really vanish at the end, etc. All he really had to say, even
if only to the band, was, "look, it's all part of a film script and we're
rehearsing here for a film shoot and these invited audiences are just to see
what form this experimental film will take." If he had, The Who would have
been behind him all the way. Pete just couldn't separate his utopian
theories from his screen treatment or express it in a realistic way. This
has a lot to do with the way Pete's brain works. He thinks by the process of
expressing himself rather than by thinking to himself, weighing what he
should say based on his audience and his own past statements, then
expressing a well-considered response (you may have noticed this in his
interviews and diary entries).  He may have hoped that by having The Who try
to do Lifehouse for real, he could be inspired to find the correct form for
the finished work. Fortunately he didn't try this with Tommy! "Now during
the concert everyone will wear these earplugs and eyeshades..."

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