[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: The Who Digest Vol 3 Num 127
>>From: marini@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Janice K. Marini)
>>Subject: NY Times review
>>Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 16:56:27 -0400 (EDT)
>>
>>Did anyone/everyone see the review of PT's 5/3 Supper Club show in
>>today's NY Times? I've read it 4 times, and I'm still not exactly sure
>>what the author means in some places --esp the comparison w/ Elton John.
>>Puh-leeeze. I'll post it if y'all haven't seen it.
>
>Please do.
Well, Alan, since you said please...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
reprinted w/o permission
New York Times, Monday, May 6, 1996 pg C13
Music Review: CHARM AND HONEST IN TOWNSHEND'S GREATEST HITS
by Peter Watrous
Charisma isn't always a good thing, even for pop stars. It lets
them get away with gaffs that mortals might have edited out. Pete
Townshend performed at the Supper Club on Friday night accompanied by
just a keyboardist, and the long show was made bearable by Mr. Townshend
and his persona, at times bitter and sarcastic, but fundamentally
honest. And charismatic: Mr. Townshend and Elton John are less distant
musically than one might think. But Mr. Townshend is worth getting to
know, and one excuses his occasional conceptual poverty for his charm.
Mr. Townshend spent much of the show performing material from a
new greatest-hits album taken from his solo career, called "The Best of
Pete Townshend Coolwalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking"
(Atlantic). At its best, the material did what the best pop music can do,
which is to turn the emotional depth of poetry into music. On "Slit
Skirts" Mr. Townshend combined themes of aging and attraction,
substituting his present age, 51, for the 34 of the original recording;
it's smart, moving writing. And after introducing "Shout" [sic] by
describing it as a song about leaving his wife for another woman, and the
peril of placing all of one's being in the hands of another, he sang, "I
want my love to cover mountains/I want my soul to gush like fountains."
That doesn't look particularly impressive in print, and Mr.
Townshend's writing, especially on his solo projects, doesn't always bear
scrutiny of that sort. One of the best tunes circled around the chorus
"Be friendly now," a platitude that he enriched with a simple but
gorgeous melody and the power of a flippant personality giving way to
honesty. It worked; Mr. Townshend can convert not much into something.
He threw a handful of tunes from his time as the leader of the
Who, including "A Legal Matter," "Magic Bus," "I'm a Boy," "Love Rain
Over Me," [sic] and an ill-advised Mose Allison medley of "Young Man's
Blues" and "If You Live," played at the piano. Mr. Townshend's genius as
a pop songwriter showed up in his sense of humor; playing guitar, he
turned "I'm a Boy" into a strange narrative about gender oppression, with
perfect phrasing and a melody that charged the words.
But genius material or not, the audience was there to worship.
On the better known songs -- "Sheraton Gibson," "Rough Boys" -- people
sang along. Even when Mr. Townshend put down the overt masculinity of
some of the audience members, they kept on cheering; their idol had
graced them with recognition.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I think the writer has such an awkward style that it's hard to grasp the
point of some of the sentences.
Jake