AP on Endless Wire

[Brian Cady]

http://tinyurl.com/yx4vjp

Music Review: Who back after 24 years
By SOLVEJ SCHOU, Associated Press Writer 
Tue Oct 31, 5:03 PM ET
 
The Who, "Endless Wire" (Universal Republic): Almost 25 years since the Who's last studio album, 1982's "It's Hard," the legendary rock band behind such anthems as "My Generation" is back — older, not as invincible, but still rocking out, minus two members.

"Endless Wire" is an ambitious cauldron of 19 songs written by gifted guitarist Pete Townshend and funneled through singer Roger Daltrey's rough but capable pipes.

It's also the Who's first studio album without bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002 (wild-eyed drummer Keith Moon overdosed in 1978). And while "Endless Wire" certainly isn't vintage Who, there's enough '70s swagger and emotional grit on it to take notice.

"Fragments," which opens with the swirling synthesized intro of 1971's "Baba O'Riley," sets a retro tone.
Following in the footsteps of classic Who rock opera "Tommy," the album showcases a 10-song mini-opera, "Wire & Glass," originally composed by Townshend for his Web novella "The Boy Who Heard Music."

About a band of teens who rise to stardom as seen through the eyes of an aging '60s rocker in a sanatorium, the mini-opera's best songs range from the R&B stomper "Pick Up the Peace" to the harmony-laced "We Got a Hit."

Daltry's voice, like a joyously worn but worldly Billie Holiday, conveys time-seeped wisdom through Townshend's lyrics on fictional fame, love and tragedy.

The album's most compelling moment, however, isn't conceptual but personal.

On "You Stand By Me," a spare acoustic tune less than two minutes long, Townshend thanks his longtime girlfriend Rachel Fuller, and Daltry, telling them: "You take my side, give me back my pride."
With his arrest in 2003 as part of a crackdown on Internet child pornography — he said he was doing research and was eventually cleared of any charges — the song rings out as a refreshing sliver of vulnerability, frank words from a man whose career has lasted longer than most.

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


 
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