Re: Mastering and slavery

[John Hughes <john@pureneasy.fsnet.co.uk>]

Lela, re

> >> writing music for The Who.  I don't get it.  He seemed completly
> >> comfortable with cutting loose on stage last year.  We've not seem
> >> him that inspired in years.
> >
> >  Maybe because Pete considered the 200 tour as Pete Townshend and 
> >  the Who, rather than the Who?
>
>    The Who was his security blanket? Or do you mean that he only 
>    considered them a back-up band this time around?  They seemed 
>    pretty well integrated to me.

I only threw this out as a thought, but while you're right, they were
the tightest I've seen them together since 1979, I think that the days
when they were a "band" are long gone - in Pete's eyes.

I've had the impression since Keith died that Pete no longer saw the Who
as the Who, but a springboard for the freedom to do what he had wanted
to do for a long time. Call me crazy if you will, but I do think that
this freedom energised Pete; we got Empty Glass, Chinese Eyes, Deep end
band/material, White City and two solo albums in the guise of "Who"
albums, as well as 4 extensive "Who" tours between 1979 and 1985.

Without the "constriction" of the Who, Pete must have and still does
feel liberated, and if you look at how closely now parallels then, since
1996 we've had Lifehouse, a Lifehouse oriented tour, Quad, Quad tours,
and a raft of one off solo/band charity performances, and a blizzard of
Pete's recorded work.

Has Pete used the Who since 1996 to give his own work support in the
same way as he did in 1979-1985?

> > Maybe Pete thinks if he writes songs for the "Who" he will be 
> > admitting that he just can't do it as a artiste, except by writing 
> > for the Who, and above all he desperately wants to prove he is a 
> > serious composer outside of the Who?
>
>   Pete does very well as as solo artist.  

Hmmm.........

>   His solo albums are quite good

Agreed

>   and if he's suffered from low sales, then I think it's a failure of 
>   marketing strategy more than anything else.  

Again, but - and here's the but - even with crap marketing, the Who
outsell his solo work. What does that do to a fragile ego, always
seeking approval? (hint; who's the seeker?)

> > There's a difference in what he's produced for himself, though, and 
> > what he's produced with The Who.  His solo work tends to be more 
> > introspective, but when he's out with The Who, he seems to get in 
> > different fans, or feels something different from the audience, so 
> > he ends up with different ideas on how to work.  

I think it's even more simple than that, Lela. Out with the Who is a
good time. We all commented, those of us who saw the shows, on how they
seemed to be having fun! It was an opportunity to shake the rust off the
guitar, perhaps even prove to themselves that yeah, we can still do it,
but crucially, the tour still ended up marketing LIFEHOUSE!!

>  Also, I think the other band members serve as a sounding board 
>  for his compositions.  There's a little more fire in work he does 
>  with The Who.

Why has he had writer's block since Iron Man and Pyschoderelict? 

Don't you think Pete is Ray High, "the clapped out '60's hell raiser"?

And unlike Ray, the story's happy ending hasn't happened yet, has it?
Pete is not writing anymore, not for himself, and "NO NEW WHO MATERIAL -
EVER" (while desperately hoping I'm wrong, of course) because Pete does
not want to write new material for the Who. He wants to do it for
himself.

Cheers,

John