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Yahoo!The Who Endless Wire (Republic; October 2006)
Pete Townshend asks his loyal followers not to expect a Who comeback from Endless Wire, The Who’s first studio album in 25 years, but instead promises something entirely different from “the Two,” as the surviving original band members (Townshend and Roger Daltrey) have come to be known.
But in fact, watered down Who classics are exactly what we get. The spirituality of Townshend’s lyrics comes off as weak and dispassionate, perhaps because singer Daltry’s heart is just not it. Or maybe it’s the lack of Keith Moon’s cacophony and John Entwistle’s sophisticated bass lines that makes these songs such thin ballads, defined by that depressing tendency for classic rock bands to hang on too long.
That said, the album gets continuously better as it goes, as if
the Two needed to warm up to this new arrangement, but then didn’t
have the heart to scrap the practice songs. And on the second half
of the album—which consists of songs from Townshend’s new rock
opera "Wire and Glass"—the music is powerful and interesting,
sounding like, well, the Who came out with a new album.
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It all depends what kind of a day The Who are having.
I heard Pete and Roger perform "Man in a Purple Dress" on one of the late night talk shows recently and it was just the two and them and they sounded great. Roger sang with the drive of someone 40 years younger. On the other hand, I heard clips of one of their recent concerts and I cringed at hearing how out of tune Roger was.
All in all, I think we'll be hearing from these guys for years to come. -Bill Clausen-
Bill Clausen
December 19, 2006 at 8:16 p.m.