Re: White City

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>I guess I should revisit this thing...some day.
>
>What I meant about it not being my cup of tea is that, while I liked the 
>music, the themes and story were just too muddled to wade through.

The album is interesting.  On the surface it's a concept album that has to 
do with the neighborhood.  The songs could be interpreted generally (as 
usual), but since we know the history, they seem to be about Pete's 
experience in quitting The Who.  He says things about giving blood but it's 
not enough, crashing by design, and hiding out, etc.  There are some more 
positive images, too, about his cell being connected to starlight.  He says 
all these things in a completely reasonable tone, and the music is 
gorgeous--an effect somewhat similar to Psychoderelict, actually.

But, from the look of the script, he has a double image here, himself and 
Keith Moon seen from the same viewpoint.  Like he identifies himself in 
Keith and the way Keith behaved and coped with life, etc.


>As I understand the stuff I've read and heard, here's the basic sketch of 
>how Pete dealt with Keith's death and subsequent near death and recovery:
>
>- Pete parties hard with The Who and has fun doing so for many years.
>- Keith dies.
>- Pete parties harder, in a fit of denial and stubborness.
>- Pete nearly dies.
>- Pete gets sober, scapegoats The Who for his spiral into substance abuse.
>- Pete breaks up The Who.
>- Pete revisits The Who periodically, but maintains his distance as he 
>continues to blame The Who for his self-destructive behavior.

Good synopsis.  :)  But, of course, there are some mitigating factors.  I'll 
bet Pete has always blamed The Who for subverting his life.  It's not 
something he'd really planned on--just this little temporary band that 
became a huge monster that ate all his time and energy, and where eventually 
he couldn't seem to please anybody.

There were a lot of things going on with The Who in the late Seventies and 
early Eighties, and they were starting to feel that the monster was eating 
people up (band members, fans).  Moon couldn't do it any more; he wanted 
out, and Pete did, too.  Pete's partying after Moon died was a case of 
Russian roulette, I think, just played with drugs instead of guns--"I'll 
combine a few of these and see if they kill me..."  So the cartridge fired, 
but Pete woke up in the hospital, still alive.  He gave The Who another try, 
but things went from bad to worse, so he just quit.

The Who is such a vital creature, though, that it's hard to give it up 
completely.  It'll be cool if they can really nail a meaningful album this 
fall.


>- The Who plays The Royal Albert Hall in front of me :-)
>
>Does that sound about right?

Well this last part sounds great.  :)


keets