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BINAURAL Pearl Jam;
LIFEHOUSE: ELEMENTS Pete Townshend

The WHO was one of the best rock bands of the past century;
LIFEHOUSE: ELEMENTS, a solo effort from Townshend, The
WHO's guitarist & driving force, offers a peek behind the curtain.
The album is an abbreviated version of LIFEHOUSE, a TOMMY-
like multi-media project Townshend hatched in 1970.  The show
was never mounted in its entirety, but Townshend continued to
work on it, & several of its songs - including "Won't Get Fooled
Again" - wound up on The WHO's 1971 masterpiece, WHO'S
NEXT.  ELEMENTS features less-polished variations that expose
the rough edges of Townshend's soul.

Pearl Jam was one of the best bands of the past decade;
BINAURAL shows that it's still a force to be reckoned with (the
album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts).  The songs -
such as the muted but passionate "Light Years" - are less im-
patient & rage filled than much of Pearl Jam's earlier work.
Lead singer Eddie Vedder, married & mature, seems more fo-
cused on emotional detail than moshing.  If you're looking for
the answer to WHO'S NEXT, Pearl Jam, rather quietly, is build-
ing a long-term career to rival the rock legends of the past.

by Christopher John Farley


- SCHRADE in Akron