Boston Herald on Endless Wire

[Brian Cady]

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/discReviews/view.bg?articleid=164734

Who Cares?
Monday, October 30, 2006
“Endless Wire”
Interscope | Critic: C  
 
If you bought the “Wire & Glass” EP two months ago, you already have everything good on The Who’s first album in 24 years. A slightly longer version of Pete Townshend’s latest miniopera covers the second half of this album, and it gets within spitting distance of the old “Quadrophenia” spirit. There are strong riffs and melodies and its tale of a youthful garage band draws some vintage Who energy - but it still feels less like a finished piece than a bunch of short sections spliced together. That’s still an improvement on the album’s dreary, mostly acoustic first half, which finds Townshend bitter and preachy. His and Roger Daltrey’s voices are so shot they’re barely recognizable; and the long intro, directly reprising “Baba O’Riley,” sounds like pure desperation. Townshend should have fleshed out the opera and thrown the rest out.

BRETT MILANO 
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com