Under the Big Top # 24: “Unfinished Business”

(Personal reflections inspired by Who songs)

Song: “Zelda”
Album: Scoop
Release Date: April, 1983

I’ve been listening all week to Pete Townshend’s Scoop compilations.  These albums are  but the tip of the iceberg in terms of a treasure trove of songs that were typically recorded in their rough-draft infancy, performed by Townshend alone in his home studio.  They consist of various released and unreleased music eventually taken on by The Who, as well as other demos.  These ‘Scoops’ are invaluable to the Who enthusiast, because they give us insight into the raw early visionary stages of what would become some of the best music of our time.  A number of the songs on these albums evolved further into their final pearl-like form after Pete Townshend presented them to the band. Others were rejected.  Still others never quite got to the point of presentation, as Townshend continued to grapple with the central concept of what he wanted them to be a part of. 

I have struggled myself this week to gel my thoughts in order to write-up a coherent blog entry, and it’s at least in part because of this all-over-the-map music world I’ve immersed myself into with the Scoops.  Alas, while hiking Mount Monadnock on Saturday I got an idea:  Intersperse bulleted comments of a handful of my favorite Scoop gems with personal thoughts that come to mind as I listen; in similar fashion to how Boston Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan’s would occasionally release his thoroughly enjoyable “Emptying out the desk drawer of the sports mind” columns throughout his career.   My thoughts have fallen in line with the Scoop aura in general and so they associate to notions of coalescing, persistence, loose ends, unpolished fragments, abandonment and sources of inspiration.  Without further ado, here is my own personal version of emptying out that desk drawer of my Scoop mind:

• “Zelda”(off of the original Scoop): This week’s Big Top entry (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PasD0SUd_1Q).  “Zelda” was written during the Face Dances period (the band’s first post Keith Moon album) but never recorded by the Who. In an interview years after Moon’s death, Pete Townshend broke down briefly and confessed that he had never properly mourned his friend/bandmates passing.  There’s a line in this song “Keith has joined the Navy” which tends to support this admission.  As for the music in “Zelda”, I particularly love the entry of the Townshend-performed bass guitar at the 45 second mark of the above link, which I simply cannot picture (I can’t picture him playing drums either, which Townshend also routinely played on his demos).
  

• I’ve always been impressed with colleagues at work who persistently put significant effort into writing up one idea proposal after another, knowing very well that many of them will never see the light of day.  Often these ideas are pie-in-the-sky, but still these workmates give it the old college try time after time.  Every once in a while, however, they get a nibble, and then before you know it, a funded project.  This approach works for them, but frankly, I don’t have it in me.  If a project has little chance to get funded, I struggle to put the time in to dreaming it up.  I need to see something developing before I immerse myself into it.  I suppose it’s why I never pursued baseball seriously as a kid: If the percentages are lower than average that a positive outcome is achievable, as is the case with batting average, I can almost feel the energy draining right out of me.  And yet persistence is not necessarily painted in this one light.  I can relate to it in other ways.  A hobby can be about persistence.  Creativity needs persistence.  Work ethic, exercise, endeavors in general; they are all about persistence. The endurance of love and friendship can at times rely on persistence.  Heck, sometimes this blog is purely about persistence.
  

• “Football Fugue” (from Another Scoop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpORsfK4Pn8).  I remember first hearing this and finding it odd that Pete Townshend had written a song about a soccer match.  The song uses hooliganism as an analogy to a Rock concert, with fantastic interplay between Townshend as the serious concert goer and Townshend as the fan who is just there to be a bit disruptive and have fun.  Pete Townshend recorded a number of songs with his father-in-law/composer Ted Astley and his orchestra, including this one.  A handful made it on to Townshend/Who albums (most notably “Street in the City” off the Rough Mix album and contributions to Who Are You).
  

• I’m sure everyone can reflect on loose ends in their lives.  What follows are several that come to mind for me.  There’s that elusive 1950 D (Detroit) vacant spot in my Jefferson Nickel coin collection.  After I visit Nevada in July, I’ll be three States shy of a fifty-state sweep, with Hawaii, Kansas and Nebraska the remaining holdouts (*side note: I’d always intended on the singular no-visit being Florida, but I was forced to go there for a conference several years back; so be it).  As for Canada, I’m down to one Province (Saskatchewan). One of these days I’m going to purchase my first Townes Van Zandt album.  Will I ever get serious about the “4,000 Footers Club”? (Instead of focusing on new mountains to climb, I tend to repeat those already conquered).  The funny thing is, the closer I get to complete a particular goal, the more I resist the urge to do so.  I guess I kind of like the loose ends and it may come down to the quest being more interesting to me than the achievement.
  

• “Lonely Words” (Scoop 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrNTjTrhvT4).  How this song did not get on a Townshend or Who studio album is beyond me.  It says something about an artist when they can leave such quality music on the cutting-room floor.  Pete Townshend’s ideas are so grandiose that some of them simply become insurmountable in terms of fleshing out, and so he’s left with great songs, originally meant for a grand concept that never came to fruition.  I believe this is a common trait in all those over-achievers among us, which leads me to believe that they need this debris, this flotsam and jetsam, to help round out the occasional pearl.
  

• Thinking a bit more about my travels, several of my most personally-satisfying journeys have been to Northern outposts, including Newfoundland, the Yukon Territories, and my one venture north of the Arctic Circle to Bodo, Norway.  There is something about the remoteness of these locales that fascinates me. They have proven to be significant sources of inspiration.  When I have visited these regions, I always felt as if I were on the edge of the Earth.  In Newfoundland, the icebergs rolling in from Greenland may as well have been arriving from the heavens.  In Yukon, the mighty river that the territory is named after flows northwest; for all intents and purposes into oblivion.  In Bodo, I happened to be there in late June, and the 24 hours of daylight was the one time I can say I experienced a day that never ended. 
  

• “Begin the Beguine” (From Another Scoop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjH5ThgKih4).  A beautiful Pete Townshend cover of this Cole Porter song.  There are a number of ways to delve into the soul of Messrs. Townshend, but if you want to take one of the easiest routes this is it.  
  

• Back in Big Top # 14 I wrote about visiting friend Bruce’s home in the early to mid-70s and being fascinated with the 3^rd floor 60s feel left behind by his older siblings.  Another great friend Pete’s home had its unique entertainment value too, this in the form of his older brother’s Beatles album collection.  Where I tend to leave loose ends, this was not the case with Pete’s brother Paul.  Paul’s Beatles collection was awe inspiring for anyone who even slightly knew this world.  He had the infamous “Butcher Cover” album, the “Two Virgins” album, and every picture sleeve 45 you could imagine.  Paul once took Pete, I and a few other friends to a Beatles Convention. He gave me great advice on a handful of 45 purchases, which I cherish to this day.
  

• “Brooklyn Kids” (Another Scoop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6oMGh8uGe0). I am seeing a trend here that when Pete Townshend writes a song based on observing people, it becomes orchestral.  Luckily he had his father-in-law to turn to in such times (see “Football Fugue” bullet above). 
  

• Last year at this time I was in Juneau, Alaska. The region felt so isolated, primarily because there are no roads in or out of this part of the State.  The only way to get a car there is by boat.  Every road is ultimately a dead end.  I loved it.  Anyhow, the first day I was there I took a long hike into one of the many temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, which was a first for me.  I ended up pushing myself a bit and was still deep in the woods as the sun began to set (I have this obsession with not backtracking on hikes if I can avoid it and although this loop trail was of considerable additional and isolated distance, I could not help myself).  There were bears in these woods: Grizzly Bears.  I let my mind race a bit but finally found my way to shore.  However these shores were still miles away from civilization.  Six hours in the woods already, I was somewhat drained and had lost my reading glasses which made it difficult to follow my maps.  There was driftwood all over the inlets and related beaches and the sun was way down by now.  For a while I felt like that driftwood, but eventually found my way.  In the end though an incredible experience, and hey, I think it’s the type of adventure that brings me closer to understanding these Scoop albums.
  

• “Eminence Front” (Scoop 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM87miKunCA).  I had to include a demo that ultimately became a Who song.  Most of Pete Townshend’s solo versions were improved upon by the band, but this one is a rare exception.  This version is ultra-intense in a very sad but extremely real way, and reflects so much of what society is dealing with today. 
  

• Persistence toward any goal can leave in its wake fragments and loose ends.  But like a manned raft that ultimately finds its way to civilization from a desert island after running a gauntlet of obstacles, there will be a core that survives this onslaught, giving the drifter a second chance on life.  When it works out this way, the story is all about overcoming hardship in the face of adversity.  Yet what is often overlooked is the debris; those fragments and loose ends left in the wake.  Sometimes these tell the real story, even more than the core story.  We are never really finished products, are we? In the end we are all going to have loose ends. 

  - Pete

Under the Big Top # 23: “Music Is My Yoga”

(Personal reflections inspired by Who songs)

Song: “Won't Get Fooled Again”
Album: Who’s Next
Release Date: August, 1971

We spend significant chunks of our lives alone with our own thoughts and actions.  This applies to virtually everyone including the most socially networked extroverts among us as well as those with the closest of marriages.  Take Dad for example; up and out before the crack of dawn, his daily revitalization, which includes morning Mass and a greeting of the rising sun from any number of vantage points, most notably the Nobska Lighthouse in Falmouth on Cape Cod, is already half full with reflection and design before many of us have even cracked open our eyelids.  I know this is an invaluable start to Dad’s day, if for no other reason than seeing how he conducts himself when with all of us.  Dad is a testament to the notion that what we do with our time of solitude can fuel all those periods when we connect with others.  When you’re alone time is productive, so is you’re interaction time, the one a mirror image of the other. 

Pete Townshend’s approach to songwriting falls under the same logic.  Listen to his home-studio demo tapes of Who songs (released in a flurry of Scoop albums over the years, which I will review and do highly recommend) and you get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a brilliant mind at work, with vocals and multi-overdubbed layers of music; Townshend demoing just about every musical instrument that ends up on the final Who studio versions.  This inner-sanctum of creativity first became general public knowledge to Rock critics and fans upon the release of Who’s Next in 1971.  The big reason:  Synthesizer music, meticulously composed by Pete Townshend, which was used extensively on the album for the unmistakable backing-track melodies we hear in rock classics such as “Baba O’Riley”, “Bargain”, and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (** Side Note: On the surface, it can seem a bit absurd that these oh-so familiar of grooves in Rock history are from pre-recorded synthesizer, which supposedly goes against the grain of what this ‘spontaneous’ music genre is about.  But they were very well crafted, and done with only the best of intentions, so this train of thought has never really gained any traction).   Synthesizer was so distinct to the Who’s new live sound in the early 70s, that when it was being pumped in on backing tapes by sound-engineer Bobby Pridden, fans started asking how this music came to be.  The answers gave them deeper insight into the germinating steps that ultimately lead to the making of a Who record. 

It was not long into my own fascination with the Who’s music at the age of 18 that I discovered this factoid too.  And with that insight I began thinking more about how ones time spent in solitude effects his/her ability to inspire others.  Yes I had this concept tossed at me in one way or another from a handful of knowing adults before this time, including my parents, my Aunt Ginger (whom I promise to talk more about at some point), and a few great teachers.  I would learn to appreciate this wisdom much more as the years rolled on, but at that particular time, the music (and the occasional comment or action of close friends) percolated to the top of my sources of inspiration.  In this way music contributed brilliantly to my own personal rite of passage toward knowing the importance of alone-time and reflective thought.  Some people take Yoga or other forms of meditation to do this.  I never needed it.  Music was and continues to be my Yoga. 

Pete Townshend once stated “the day you open your mind to music you are halfway to opening your mind to life”.  I love this quote.  It emphasizes the potential of music without overemphasizing it.  Music is not the answer, but it is a means to the end (halfway is pretty significant though, is it not?)  Another thing this statement stirs in me is a reassurance that the concept of this blog series has a solid foundation.  I had not read this quote until recently, but when I started this blog back in 2008 I may have already channeled it.  Music got me halfway, yes, and I guess I have felt obliged to take it further.

How do you open your mind to music though?  Not everyone crosses that line, and there are surely other paths that point us to deliverance.  But still, this is a curiosity.  Does it take a certain mindset?  Are some of us born with this capability while others are not?  I can really only speak for myself, and even that’s difficult.  In fact, it’s taken 223 blog entries so far to try and explain.  Ok, that part is a dissertation.  But at the very least, is there a moment I can look back on and pinpoint when my mind opened up to music?  Maybe, and it just may be that nite at the Mohawk Theatre in North Adams in the winter of 1980 (see Big Top # 2 “The Awakening”).  There were earlier moments that I can certainly credit as waves:  A children’s record player that I used over and over to listen to “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore” and “Edelweiss”, along with other traditional songs.   There was Mom and Dad introducing the family to the Beatles with a purchase of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Red Album (“Michelle” and “Paperback Writer” being personal favorites).  There was a moment I documented already listening to Mick Taylor’s lead guitar in the instrumental portion of the Rolling Stones “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”, along with many other notable waves. But I believe the wave of all waves, the tidal wave, was that viewing of The Kids Are Alright for the first time. 

Music is a state of mind.  It can quiet a room of chatter.  It can pull you out of the doldrums, transporting us into an entirely different mental place.  It has its roots in every civilization in the history of mankind.  However, music can be very difficult to define, which only adds to its aura. WIKI for example starts with the sentence that music is “an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence”.  Hmmm; ok.  One thing Pete Townshend tried to convey through synthesizer was that music is very personal, and that we all have our own musical portrait that can be captured through computerized biographical data.  Much of the synthesizer sound on Who’s Next was developed through this very personal experimentation, with input from all four members of the Who and many of their audience.  At the very least, what I get out of this is that Townshend takes his profession very seriously.

The following video recording is of the Who performing “Won’t Get Fooled Again” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgubG-MOPT4 ) which was done for The Kid’s Are Alright movie.  It was Keith Moon’s last live performance, and since this song was the final encore, it is the last of the last.   We get to see the Who in all their glory here.  John Entwistle’s stoic bass playing, Pete Townshend’s masterful stage presence, a laser-light synthesizer bridge to die for,  Keith Moon’s drum solo immediately following, and Roger Daltrey’s famous blood-curdling howl following Moon.  You get the windmills and microphone twirls and treble-rich sound and Thunderfingers and acrobatics (including Townshend’s knee slide across the stage during Daltrey’s howl) and signature Who lead tradeoffs between bass, guitar and drums and equipment smashing and camaraderie. This is powerful stuff.  It’s a perfect example of why I call this series “Under the Big Top”. 

“Won’t Get Fooled Again” was originally meant for a movie, Lifehouse, which never came to light (see Big Top # 7: “A Change of Plans”).  The song is a cynical take on politics and power:  “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”.  Pete Townshend has embraced the sentiment at times and tried to distance himself from it at others.  Personally, I don’t read into the lyrics all that much.  The music stands on its own, pretty much explaining the sentiment in ways the words can’t hope to match.

- Pete

Under the Big Top # 22: “Learning the Hard Way”

(Personal reflections inspired by Who songs)

Song: “Slip Kid”
Album: The Who by Numbers
Release Date: October, 1975

I’d like to think I’m a pretty easy going, fun, interesting ‘adult figure’ and that when I talk with anyone from the younger crowd they sense this and in turn feel comfortable in my presence (I believe much of what allows you to connect with younger generations relates to whether or not you have the capacity to channel back in time and put yourself in those “Young Man Blues” shoes).  However, there’s one thing I like to nail down pretty quickly with the kids I meet, which is how I am addressed.  I actually give it a little time to work its way out naturally, but after a few meet-and-greets if they still toss me nothing but a grunt or a “Hey” or “What’s up” or “How we doin”, I tell them that this does not cut it for me.  They can choose between Pete and Mr. Steeves, but addressing me as nothing is not going to work.  Occasionally I’ve embarrassed Charlotte and Peter, repeating to a few of their forgetful friends my mantra, but it matters not to me:  Address me as something and all is well, otherwise we will circle these wagons again and again until we get it right.  We all have our pet peeves. I guess that’s one of mine (and by the way, I do this not just for me but for all of us!). 

And yet there are always those outliers; the kids who tend to dig in their heels.  I’m not talking about the shy types; I can usually break them in.  No, these are the kids with a chip on their shoulder.  Somewhere along the line they got an attitude and so they almost look to such ‘confrontations’ as a challenge.  After a while I can recognize this, partly due to having connected with kids on a fairly regular basis over the years (as a coach, teacher, Dad, etc.), partly due to that ‘confrontational’ address mantra, and there comes a point where I see the need to take a different tact, including the likelihood of laying off some.  There’s only so much you can do without a considerable amount of time to work through such a stubborn stance as refusing to address someone properly.  

Anyhow, when I come to this conclusion that I am up against a kid-with-attitude my knee-jack thinking is that these are the ones who are going to make some big mistakes in life, which actually begged the question for me this week:  Is this necessarily a bad thing?  I say this because as an adult I can look back on the most rebellious of my peers way back when and see how that attitude worked out for them.  And, more often than not, in spite of the minefields these kids chose to walk through, it all appears to have worked out just fine for a fair number of them.

Yeah, I remember being a kid.  One of the great debates in life is what is it that shapes a person’s character:  Is it nature or nurture?  But based on those memories of my younger self, I would throw in a third element: Peer influence.  I remember the heavy bonds that come with a young friendship.  I also know that these kinds of bonds can block out potential sage advice of parental figures in your life, which for many kids fades to background noise.  I also recall the aftereffects of all this, that period of transition, typically in your early 20s, when most of us come to the realization that nothing good in life comes easy.  It can be a restless period because this is a reality that does not settle in without a fight with your ego.  As such it takes a little time. 

I recall this period of my life very well, and this week I reconnected with a song that helped get me through it, “Slip Kid” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4xjr9v5ehk), which is a Who-aficionado favorite.  “Slip Kid” is a concept filled with operatic drama but done in just 4:29.  The crux of the song is back and forth banter between an adult, one presumably filled with wisdom, and a young upstart ignoring the elder’s advice (all of this sung by Roger Daltrey making it a bit hard to decipher the back and forth between characters).  With all that is going on in this fantastic song, I would like to spend the remainder of this entry dissecting it. 

“Slip Kid” starts out with a drum beat (also a cowbell, as well as another rhythmic ‘instrument’; clapping, which continues throughout the song).  The beat connotes a military exercise, which is reaffirmed a few moments later with a 1 to 8 count, giving you a sense of boot-camp, and soldiers scurrying out of their cots for their gear. Immediately after, the Who’s version of Reveille kicks in, followed by Roger Daltrey as the young upstart:

I've got my clipboard, text books
Lead me to the station
Yeah, I'm off to the civil war
I've got my kit bag, my heavy boots
I'm runnin' in the rain
Gonna run till my feet are raw

Slip kid, slip kid, second generation
And I'm a soldier at thirteen
Slip kid, slip kid, realization
There's no easy way to be free
No easy way to be free

After Pete Townshend interjects his only lead vocal “It’s a hard hard world”, the adult character, believing that he himself and the upstart are soul mates at this point, takes over narration:

I left my doctor's prescription bungalow behind me
I left the door ajar
I left my vacuum flask
Full of hot tea and sugar
Left the keys right in my car

Slip kid, slip kid, second generation
Only half way up the tree
Slip kid, slip kid, I'm a relation
I'm a soldier at sixty-three
No easy way to be free

The backing vocal of the title words “Slip Kid”, repeated often, leads the listener to a sense that the older character has made some mistakes in life and wants the younger character to learn from them.  Following a brief fluttering-keyboard interlude (and ‘more cowbell’), perhaps done to ponder this notion of a bond, it soon becomes abundantly clear when Daltrey kicks in again as the young upstart, with a vocal delivery full of righteous indignation, that this character has no intention of a solidarity with the elder:

Keep away old man, you won't fool me
You and your history won't rule me
You might have been a fighter, but admit you failed
I'm not affected by your blackmail
You won't blackmail me

What follows is the best part of the song, the instrumental bridge.  Great bands can build off powerful lyrics, and that is what is happening here.  It starts with John Entwistle’s 16-note descending bass lines.  This is our introduction to the new Slip Kid, this upstart not willing to learn from the past and now “slidin’ down the hill like me”.  ** Side Note: I have tried to repeat these descending notes on my bass guitar.  Perhaps a few thousand more attempts and I’ll nail it.  Then Pete Townshend’s masterful guitar work takes over: Never in your face, with each and every note a vital contribution, allowing the listener to think of all that just transpired. You can almost picture the young upstart ‘waist deep in the big muddy’.  In terms of the music, “Slip Kid” is another example of an impeccable sense of timing by each of the band members.  The song closes with similar back-and-forth banter and a repeating of the line “No easy way to be free”.  Hear Hear.

“Slip Kid” is a futuristic song (originally written by Pete Townshend for Lifehouse > see Big Top # 22).  But Townshend has also stated that it’s about trying to talk a kid out of getting into the music business. And of course it could be interpreted in a myriad of other ways, including subplot in a revolution, and a generational rebellion (the 60s, Punks, etc.).  Pete Townshend wrote a string of songs about generational conflict, starting with “My Generation”, and on thru “The Punk Meets the Godfather” “Slip Kid” and “Who Are You”.  With this week’s entry I’ve now covered all four of them. 

There is tragedy in “Slip Kid”; the younger man thinking he is doing something different and the older man knowing this is not the case and that all the kid will be doing will be repeating the same mistakes he did.  But there is also hope in the independence of this kid.  We all need to make mistakes to get better, which goes right thru your entire life.

There’s a balance in being a parent figure.  You want to tell the younger generation what to avoid, but you can’t pile it on.  You have to know when to hold em’, when to show em’ and when to let it all go.  The opposite extreme of the “Slip Kid” is the child who can’t move on.  Not long after my siblings and I had all broken thru that transition from youth to adulthood and succeeded on our own, Mom told me about some words of wisdom she received from a close family friend, Ray Ward, who was a counselor in his professional life.  Mom and Ray had been discussing a family in town whose kids kept coming back home when Ray stated “well, they keep coming back till you do it right”.  So yes; there is a balance when dealing with young upstart types portrayed so effectively by Pete Townshend and the Who in “Slip Kid”.  And there are no easy ways to be free.

- Pete

Under the Big Top # 21: “Filling the Glass”

(Personal reflections inspired by Who songs)

Song: “Empty Glass”
Album: Empty Glass
Release Date: April, 1980

One thing I did not anticipate with this Who series was how impelled I would be to include full or partial album reviews in my musings, which has been the case for a majority of the 20 entries thus far, and which will continue here with Pete Townshend’s best solo album, Empty Glass. I did the same in prior Rolling Stones and Neil Young series, but not to the degree I have this time around.  Reflecting this week I realize it has to do with the fact that by limiting all of these series to 50 headliner songs, there’s a lament of having to leave the dissection of so many great tunes on the shelf, which is especially the case here with the Who.  And so I feel compelled to include at least some discussion of the “support acts” as I loop through the band’s discography.  Also, Pete Townshend’s and the Who’s music is so very album oriented, that to write about these songs individually feels incomplete, at least on this first pass. 

All in all, this has left me less room than usual for the personal-reflection angle (which will likely be even more difficult with Bob Dylan when I tackle his music, given the sheer volume and quality of his output).  Fortunately, that first pass is near an end (I say this in relation to spreading myself too thin).  I’ve got a few more as-yet-uncovered albums on the docket, which I hope to sprinkle in from time to time between other entries, but looking ahead, there’s a bit more freedom to branch out.  For those of you with marginal Who interest who have hung in there so far, thanks:  The personal-reflection part of all this should ramp up shortly (although not without a fair amount of Who-centric thoughts to help inspire).  In the meantime, I still need to get this comprehensive album-oriented summarizing out of my system, which again includes this week.

The album Empty Glass is a perfect example of my quandary.  There are so many great songs here, with most having spiritual undertones in the penance-seeking vein.  With this abundance of quality tracks in mind, I’ve decided to do a bit of stream of consciousness with the headphones on, writing about each song as I listen loudly.  I’ll also be viewing videos of a number of the tracks and linking the urls for your own viewing pleasure, seeing as the visual effect adds a stunning wrinkle to the mindset of Pete Townshend in 1980 (a moment in time that was just on the cusp of the MTV era, Townshend realizing this more than most).  Oddly enough, I don’t have any particular affinity for the track order on Empty Glass, so I’ll do this in a preferential order instead, from the truly masterful on top to the simply above average further down (I realize most preferential listings are in the opposite direction, but I’ll save everyone the suspense).

1. “Empty Glass”:  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR9vESiIDms).  Such a heartbreaking and yet strangely exhilarating song about feeling empty inside and searching for spiritual fulfillment. “Oh, what a thrill for ya” Townshend wearily interjects near the beginning after a line about fans getting to see him on TV.  I love the interplay in the video between Pete and his much younger brother, Simon (who plays rhythm guitar and sings occasional backing vocals into a shared microphone).  The Townshend brothers were respectively 35 and 20 at the time, and there is such amazing contrast in their demeanors.  Simon is so happy to be there that he ricochets joyfully all over the place; almost in spite of the dour seriousness of the tune (I particularly like how he fake preens after the final use of the lyric “all I need’s a mirror and I’m a star” about half way thru).  Pete seems to put up with him well enough, never cracking a smile though, and completely immersed in the song’s meaning.  The most poignant lyrics to me are “My life’s a mess I wait for you to pass. I stand here at the bar I hold an empty glass”:  I imagine a man so down on himself at a bar that he doesn’t even want a passing friend to spot him.  Roger Daltrey (and Kenny Jones, the Who’s new drummer at the time) lamented that Pete Townshend was saving some of his best material for his solo albums in the years after Keith Moon’s death, including Empty Glass.  The real issue may have been something Daltrey was trying to ignore, which was that Pete Townshend was slowly drifting from the band, realizing he did not need the Who anymore (or more accurately, Townshend had lost the sense for what the band meant to him).  No tune reveals this independence more than “Empty Glass”, particularly in the singing department, which Daltrey honestly could not have done as superbly because Townshend optimizes on his vocals to match the song’s personal significance.

2. “A Little Is Enough”: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBRG-KI_UWk). Pete Townshend did not focus his creative output on love songs on a regular basis, but this one, a plea to his wife Karen Astley (who he dedicates the entire album too), proves that he was quite able to articulate himself in this department.  As with many of his love songs, however, there is a spiritual duality to this one, which adds wonderful depth.  The video link is from his ‘Deep End’ mini-tour of the mid-80s (a cousin-Becca favorite).  It can be hard to describe to the casual observer how sublime it was for those of us who marveled over all things Pete Townshend at the height of his genius to witness, if only via video, a solo show of primarily solo material.  Townshend was a family man, and in turn intensely valued his home life.  Who tours were the reality of his career.  When he got home, it was hard to pull Pete Townshend away (he was often the last member of the band to commit to a tour).   These are the thoughts I have when I watch this video. Observant eyes will no doubt recognize David Gilmour on lead guitar. The buildup in the bridge to the line “just like a sailor heading into the seas, there’s a gale blowing in my face; the high winds scare me but I need the breeze and I can’t head for any other place” is exquisite.  Townshend adds emphasis to the words “any other place” on this live clip; a nice little twist from the studio version (he does the same near the end of the song at “so keep an eye open; my spirit ain’t broken” on the words ‘open’ and ‘broken’). Oh to be in that crowd that day at the Brixton Academy, London, in 1985.  But in 1998 at Harborlights in Boston, many of us, Becca, Dave, Nancy, Bouv, and Mac included, finally got to see “A Little Is Enough” live.  It was worth the wait.

3. “I Am an Animal”: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha600FUzGTk). During this blog series, I often mentally compare my younger-thinking self to who I am now:  There’s quite a bit of a gap there now in terms of years.  Empty Glass fits well into this comparison, seeing as, mesmerizingly, I do not believe I had listened to this album in its entirety for 20 years until this week (kinda like losing touch with a good friend).  And so, I really got to compare/contrast my earlier reflections of this album to my current ones (I recommend this to anyone:  Dredge up an old album you used to love, put a solid week into it, and see what it stirs in you now).  As a young man I simply loved the mystery of “I Am an Animal”, and I let that mystery be.  Now in my 50s, I found I needed to do a bit more research (it must have something to do with working for a science agency).  Anyhow, what is the meaning to this song?  Well first off, the title is misleading (which I always instinctively knew):  It’s selective of an early verse in the song, and should have probably been thought through some (but then again Pete Townshend may have been trying to throw us all off in the first place).  Frankly, this is a beautiful song (quite a feat, considering the F-bomb hurled in the lyrics), which on its own makes “I Am an Animal” extremely relevant.  Beauty is almost impossible to describe in writing though, so I will leave this train of thought be and leave you all to debate that description by listening yourself (Side Note: This is my singular use of the word beautiful in this entry to describe a song, and there are two tracks ahead of this one in the pecking order, which hopefully give you a sense for how top heavy this album is with quality music). Back to the meaning:  Townshend loops through a series of characterizations: I am an animal, a vegetable, a human being, an angel, and so on.  He’s imagining God imagining Creation.  The last versus appear to connect to the modern day (after all doesn’t Creation continue ad infinitum?) and the ‘creation’ of the Pete himself.  There are some songs that brilliant writers produce and then set aside for inspiration, which I believe was the case here, seeing as Townshend has rarely resurrected “I Am an Animal” (although I got to see it performed).

4. “Rough Boys”: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkT8W6u81Ks).  The Who were forever performing in front of rows and rows of tough-minded Who-liggans (including yours truly, though some of those close to me would dispute this rough characterization).  A taste of what I mean by this is that their concerts (and related solo efforts) were notorious for backup bands getting booed off stage, no matter how good they were: Joe Jackson, Big Country, Bob Mould, even the Clash got booed.  My first times seeing this was a bit disconcerting (which may go to the root of why my defenders would dispute my ‘tough’ claims, since I never partook in the mudslinging), but after a few times witnessing this I started finding it a little bit funny.  Anyhow, “Rough Boys’ is a shout-out to all of us in those rows, and Pete Townshend insists he’s going to get inside our “bitter minds”.  His intent here is to soften hearts in an “I can play that bad boy role too, and it’s easy…. the hard thing to do is the antithesis” sorta way, which the video brilliantly portrays.   In general, this is a fantastic video; a soothsaying MTV primer.  Pete Townshend’s authenticity shines through, as it does in most everything he does.  You don’t even have to know the guy personally to recognize it.  On the album sleeve, “Rough Boys” is dedicated to Pete Townshend’s daughters as well as the Sex Pistols.

5. “Gonna Get Ya”: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKyBt6b2IUU).  Unfortunately, no true video exists, and I’m wondering if this song has ever been performed live.  “Gonna Get Ya” climbed way up the ladder of relevance for me this week: A song about relentless pursuit toward reconciliation; confident and patient in the process.  Tony Butler, a fellow Shepherd’s Bush, Londoner of Pete’s plays a tremendous bass, particularly during the hypnotic extended instrumental bridge (I love how Butler seems to coax Pete Townshend into duplicating the bass notes on guitar, which finally happens at the 4 minute mark – Got Ya).  Like most of the tracks on Empty Glass, I can get completely lost in this song.  Volume, volume, more volume! It’s a tremendous six-plus minute closer to the album.

6: “Jools and Jim” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4POBe1L8BcI).  Another incredible tune that has no video support, and also like “Gonna Get Ya”, may never have been performed live. Despite the fast pace of this song, the lyrics are crisp and clear.  At face value, “Jools and Jim” lashes out at Punk rock critics in particular and all journalists in general.  One verse goes “they don’t give a shit Keith Moon is dead.  Is that exactly what I thought I read?” (later Townshend adds “morality isn’t measured in a room he wrecked.”).  Every song bridge on this album is moving, and the “Jools and Jim” bridge is no exception. The lyrics in the bridge are an olive branch extension to those critics: “But I know for sure if we met up eye to eye.  A little wine would bring us closer, you and I”, sung in Townshend’s angelic high falsetto.  There is more going on here however.  Pete Townshend turns the criticism on himself (“Cos you’re right hypocrisy will be the death of me”).  This is the attraction of Pete Townshend to those of us who are fortunate enough to see though the haze: He never excludes himself from criticism; on the contrary he emphasizes this.  Although this url link here is simply a fans snapshots, I cannot get over the still-shot photo during the last two minutes.  This is Townshend encapsulated in all his earnest seriousness. The end of “Jools and Jim” is a three-peat shout of the word “Oklahoma”.  I may just go to my grave trying to figure that part out (“the farmer and the cowman should be friends”…. that’s all I got).

7: “Keep on Working”: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ54CefyLfc). This out of the vaults video is so brutally real and as such should have been required viewing for all who were to follow in making their own MTV videos.  Pete Townshend is at home with one of his daughters, bathrobe on, disheveled, jotting the lyrics to “Keep on Working” on a blackboard and erasing them.  This to me is the sister song to “Gonna Get Ya”:  A continuation of a relentless pursuit to some type of reconciliation (although at one moment there appears a kink in the armor, as Townshend jots “why don’t you ever take any notice of me”, which are not lyrics in the song).   Pete Townshend has stated that he tried to write and record this song in the style of Ray Davies.

8: “And I Moved” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucl0MKkYVaQ). Here I am at number 8 of 10 and the quality of the music is still top drawer.  Pete Townshend offered this song, which is sung from a woman’s perspective, to Bette Midler, but she never took him up on it.  This live version was performed at Carnegie Hall in 1994 and includes full orchestration.  It’s fantastic, but I’ll take the studio version any day, with its up-tempo piano and Townshend’s ethereal vocals.

9: “Let My Love Open the Door” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JtYgQxetek). This is the ‘hit’ of the album, charting as high as number 9 on Billboard.  According to one Townshend interview I recall, it’s sung from Jesus perspective.  Most Pete Townshend fans find it’s a bit out of their comfort level for how a Townshend song should sound; a wee bit too smooth and jaunty (kinda like “Face the Face”). 

10: “Cat’s in the Cupboard”.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7rh0f1WFms). Bringing up the rear, but I would not call this a throwaway.  It’s too good for that.  I actually enjoyed listening to it this week, more so than way back when.  The highlight of the song is the great harmonica work by Peter Hope Evans.

That’s a wrap.

- Pete