Word: townshend
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Dances" into his archetypal "Top of the Pops;" the musical moment between "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Honky Tonk Women," which signified the end of mainstream Sgt. Pepper experimentation; "Lola." Pithy moments that, like good imagist poetry, are form, substance and implication in the instant they are heard. Take Peter Townshend's "My Generation." The singer's stutter says as much as the lyrics and says it better...
...there's The Who's new Quadrophenia. It's too soon to grant it Great Moment status, but it certainly extends Townshend's credentials as an innovator, and it sure beats Tommy all hollow as an opera. The album's advantage is that it retains its committment to its music. Tommy's failure was due partially to the absurdity of its scenario and also to its author's over-committment to operatic form--to the detriment of the music. The resulting confusion produced a remarkably uneven work. It had little depth and it was moralistic, even melodramatic...
...symbolism may have destroyed its viability, Quadrophenia's Jimmy is accessible thematically and physically, as far as two dimensions will carry him. The picture book insert not only fleshes out the scenario, but gives the listener an almost tangible hero. At the same time there is that hint of Townshend mysticism. The idea of fusing the band's personality into one character serves as anchor and springboard...
...Orchestra (Ode, 2 LPs, $11.96). To record and package this LP extravaganza, Ode President Lou Adler spent more than $400,000, then quickly earned it all back in sales that last week zoomed past the $1,000,000 mark. Sad to say, symphonic treatment dulls the edges of Pete Townshend's now classic, some times pretentious "rock opera." Stick to the original version...
...just can't stand on its own anymore. Gimmickry abounds. Theatrics have been a part of rock every since Presley didn't show any pelvis on the Sullivan Show. But for our purposes, the final push started at Monterey, when Jimi Hendrix first burned a guitar, or with Peter Townshend's first windmill chord. The notion of theatrics has expanded to the point where the average Jethro Tull show is half music and half theater. Something seems necessary to augment the music which for a lot of reasons has stopped undergoing radical changes in directions...