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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