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Re: Friday A.M. WHO thoughts



I wrote:
>   The music itself on
> > PsychoDerelict is boring (I NEVER thought I'd say that about Pete Townshend).
> > There isn't ONE great tune on that album.


Alan replies:

> "English Boy."  Manages to convey the desperation, the observations,
> the inner state of Ray High brilliantly.  Restating it at the end of
> the album drives these home all the more forcefullly.

Musically, it's OK.  I think he's done several similar songs that were
better, though (Empty Glass and Slit Skirts, to name two).  Lyrically, it's
quite good.

I'm not really arguing that Pete's run out of interesting ideas, just that
musically (not lyrically) Psychoderelict is weak.

> > and pales in comparison with something like Empty Glass.
> 
> Arguably.  But EG didn't attempt an overarching narrative, something
> that serves to tie the individual songs on PsyD together into a
> stronger whole.

I don't think I would agree that the whole of PsyD is stronger than the summ
of its parts.  How does being a part of a larger context make bland songs
like Outlive The Dinosaur any better?  The songs ARE more listenable when
interspersed with the story, but if you separate them (as in the music-only
CD) the result is less than impressive, IMO.  Iron Man and White City both
are collections of songs which are part of a larger context, and are both
better than PsyD.

> > I liked it better when it was done in the context of the story on the PPV (I
> > found the CD version a little hard to listen to, though), but presented in
> > that way the music is secondary to the story.
> 
> ??  The story is as much on the CD as on the PPV, you just don't have
> the actors to look at.

I guess I just found the construction of the CD annoying.  I wouldn't mind
listening to the story a few times, but there was no way to program the
story out and just listen to the music.  And I certainly didn't want to
listen to the story as much as I would normally listen to a CD of music over
the course of time.


Dave Elliott