Endless Wire

On October 30th Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend released their first album under The Who banner in 24 years, the magnificent "Endless Wire". Produced by Townshend and mainly recorded at his home studio, the album is divided into two parts. The first half is more of a standard collection of songs, whereas the second half is comprised of the "Wire and Glass" mini-opera, which was released in an abridged format earlier this summer. More on that later....

The album starts off with a grand synthesizer motif that many reviewers have compared to "Baba O' Riley". Before long the band enters and we're off and running. The song is called "Fragments" and like much of "Endless Wire" it is well and truly reminscent of "classic Who". The next track is the much written about "A Man In A Purple Dress". It's Townshend's angry diatribe against hypocritical religious leaders and it's one of three acoustic cuts (the others being the gorgeous Townshend-sung "God Speaks Of Marty Robbins" and "You Stand By Me"). After "A Man In A Purple Dress" comes one of the record's highlights, a rousing song built around a characteristically stirring Daltrey vocal entitled "The Mike Post Theme". Like many of the "Endless Wire" tracks this song just keeps growing on me with repeated listens. Driven by an unstoppable chorus "The Mike Post Theme" can sit comfortably alongside anything in The Who's canon! "In The Ether" falters a bit under the weight of Townshend's strange Tom Waits vocal impression, but it's an interesting song nonetheless and it's followed by another one of the album's highlights, the bittersweet "Black Widow's Eyes", which tells a bizarre but affecting tale of falling in love with a suicide bomber of some sort! This is a song only Pete Townshend could deliver and it's capped off by some impassioned singing by Mr. Daltrey. Townshend's layered vocals on the chorus seem to pick up right where 1982's "It's Hard" left off. The end result is nothing short of stellar. "Two Thousand Years", "God Speaks Of Marty Robbins" and "It's Not Enough" follow. "It's Not Enough" was penned by Townshend and his longtime girlfriend Rachel Fuller, a charming and talented singer/songwriter in her own right. The brief and folksy "You Stand By Me" completes the first half of the album. The arrangement is almost Paul Simonesque, but the lyrics are pure Townshend. Almost as soon as the final notes decay a thunderous homage to the late, great Keith Moon announces the beginning of the "Wire and Glass" mini-opera.....

"Wire and Glass" is based on Townshend's recent online novella "The Boy Who Heard Music". As I've yet to read the online novella I'm not entirely clear on the plot, but from what I do gather it tells the story of a young rock band and it traces their rise to fame, as well as their imminent fall. The story is mainly told through the perspective of the band members and I think it's safe to say many of the lyrics are far more autobiographical than Townshend would ever admit. One of my favorite moments in the mini-opera comes about midway through in the form of "We Got A Hit". An undeniably catchy track propelled by Daltrey's majestic lead vocals and Townshend's Beach Boys inspired harmonies, it's classic Who through and through! Daltrey's reading of the line "We got our folks together, we broke down barriers, we found a dream to dream, we were the carriers" gets me going every time! I was quite pleased to see an extended version of this song included as a bonus track along with the Townshend-sung title track. "We Got A Hit" segues into "They Made My Dream Come True". Townshend's earnest reading of the bittersweet chorus line is surely one of the album's most affecting moments. A sampled burst of applause provides the bridge into "Mirror Door", in many ways the centerpiece of the mini-opera. Daltrey goes through a litany of dead musical icons presumably gathered in heaven. Everybody from Howlin' Wolf, Link Wray, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Cash, Johnnie Ray, "Amadeus and Ludvig Van, Henry, Johann and the Doo-Dah Band" are mentioned. The song is basically a tribute to the healing power of music, a common theme in Townshend's work. The understated "Tea and Theatre" provides a bookend to the mini-opera and the album ends with the afformentioned extended versions of "We Got A Hit" and "Endless Wire".

One thing that struck me immediately upon first listening to "Endless Wire" is what a wonderful SOUNDING album it is. The layers of acoustic guitars are so rich, the rhythm section so dynamic, the vocals so crystal clear. It's a remarkable piece of production and Townshend goes into pretty extensive detail about the recording sessions in his liner notes. He eschews the electric guitars for acoustics for much of the album, but the end result is so solid you hardly even notice. "Black Widow's Eyes" is the only track to feature the drumming of the much loved Zak Starkey (son of Ringo), as he was on tour with Oasis during much of the recording sessions, but Peter Huntington does a great job of channeling the spirit of Keith Moon. Session whiz Pino Palladino does the same with his channeling of the late, great John Entwistle on bass. It is true that Daltrey's vocals aren't what they once were. This becomes especially clear when viewing the five song bonus DVD that comes with the CD. But even if his voice has become a bit rough around the edges as of late, it's still immensly powerful.

"Endless Wire" is surely one of the best albums of 2006 and a more than worthy addition to The Who's catalogue. Congratulations Pete! You've done it again. God bless ya!