I’m not the world’s biggest Who fan, but I dare argue that I’m at least in the top thousand. I’ll give anything Who-related a chance, no matter how ill-conceived. That awful tour they did back in 1989 with roughly four hundred backing musicians? Heck, give me enough beer and I’ll try to defend it. The two albums the band did after the death of Keith Moon? I’ve wriitten essays on why they’re better than the public remembers. I’ve cheered on Who tribute bands when they’ve forgotten how to play simple stuff like “Magic Bus”. When the world wanted Pete Townshend’s head on a platter due to that wacky child pornography mix-up, I still proudly blared incriminating tunes like “I’m A Boy” out of the car window. I’m pretty damn unflappable when it comes to the group. Does that make me into a bad candidate for reviewing their first album in twenty-four years? No, and I’ll tell you why: If you’re an obsessive fanboy of any rock group and you don’t seriously reasses your fandom every once in a while, you could find yourself acting terribly silly or just waving the banner for a group that really, really doesn’t deserve it. I mean, imagine if all of those folks that bought Starland Vocal Band’s “Afternoon Delight” single just never gave up hope that one day the group would rise again… fucking scary, right?

Well, a few months ago, I figured with so much Who activity going on - literally the most that’d occured since I was six years old and discovered the group - it was time for me to take a good hard look at this particular rock band. Did they deserve all the money I’d thrown at them for crappy concert seats over the years? Have I just been flat-out wrong in all of those Who Vs. Zeppelin / Who Vs. Stones / Who Vs. Joan Jett arguments that other people had goaded me into over the years? No, I wouldn’t say any of it was wasted, as I got a lot of enjoyment out of those things. I did discover one tasty personal revelation in the process, though. You ready? Here goes… Roger Daltrey annoys the piss out of me sometimes. The guy’s voice has been shot for years, and if you believe everything you read, there’s a good chance that he’s to blame for nearly every bad decision under the Who moniker for at least the last twenty years. Specifically, I’ve disliked his interpretations of Townshend’s writing since 1978’s Who Are You album. One listen to Pete’s original piss-and-vinegar reading of the title track’s demo compared to Daltrey’s dude-my-dick-is-so-big vocals on the theme to CSI and it gets pretty hard to argue otherwise. I also disliked all of the awful things he said in the late eighties about It’s Hard in the press… because homeslice used to think it was pretty spiffy, he just let public opinion get in the way. He’s also done tours utilizing almost nothing but Pete’s tunes while Townshend sat them out, thinking it was best to put the Who brand name to bed. I’ll even go as far as saying that he’s been next to awful at many of the Who shows in 2006. After a shoulder-injury he’s been unable to do his *one* stage move properly: the microphone twirl. Considering he’s been forgetting lyrics left and right this year, and that listening to him trying to reach notes on the quieter parts of “Behind Blue Eyes” have been more painful that placing your genitals in a boiling tub of hot vegetable oil… I think I’m justified. In his favor though, he *does* still interpret many of the elder classics quite well: “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “Baba O’Riley” and “Amazing Journey” still sound as fresh as ever, for example.

This revelation is problematic when it comes to reviewing the first new album under the Who nomenclature in twenty-four years, Endless Wire. See, the greatest rhythm section in the entire history of rock is dead. No Keith Moon? Well, okay… even if he was still alive, he’d probably be useless anyhow, right? But doing it without John Entwistle, man, that’s just reaching. While Townshend certainly had the job of choosing the Who’s direction down pat, it’s fair to say that Entwistle was the band’s sound. He wasn’t just a bassist, he was an undeniably revolutionary architect of sound and dynamics. His main aim was to play so melodically and trebly as to make any other stringed instrument sharing the stage with him superfluous. So yeah… calling this group of musicians ‘The Who’ is tough, but really… what the hell else would you call a project led by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend? Judging by the amount of work Daltrey’s actually done on the finished product, you could rightly call it a Townshend solo album that Roger lent his vocals to. I say this because out of the album’s 19 songs, Daltrey takes lead vocals on two-thirds of the material… and I’m being generous with that estimate. I’m not even taking into account that the acoustic “Two Thousand Years” and the oddball electronic interlude “Fragments Of Fragments” are most accurately described as duets between the two men. It’s not like Daltrey had a ton to do with the writing or recording sessions, so showing up to sing 66% of the material on your bands new record - and you are one of two living members of said band - you might want to be a bit more hands-on. But, seriously… I don’t want to bore you before I’ve gotten into the meat of the review, so let’s just look into a few key tracks before we delve into the overall dissertation, shall we?

“Man In A Purple Dress”
I tell you what, look no further for a great example of what Townshend’s capable of in the writing department. Just a simple, bitter acoustic song delivered with just the right amount of vocal angst by Daltrey. It may be mellow, but it’s seething under the surface.

“Mike Post Theme”
Why this song isn’t being serviced to classic rock radio is beyond me. It’s got all the dynamic shifts one could hope for in a Who tune, Roger’s in great form, there’s a great arpeggio in the bridge, and there’s this amazing Townshend couplet:

“There comes a time in every little punks life / When he has to write a song for his commonlaw wife”.

Well, if that line doesn’t just explain every single rocker that grew old before our eyes. One of the strongest on the album.

“In The Ether”
Pete’s first lead vocal on the record, and he’s doing his best to sound like a cross between Tom Waits, Louis Armstrong and the muppet known as Sam The Eagle. Backed by minimal piano and guitar, “Ether” is a tune that I like well enough, but will probably polarize fans. Which is good. Who freaks can never have too much message board fodder, right?

“You Stand By Me”
A really simple and gorgeous song of appreciation sung again by Pete. Moves by so quickly that it’s sure to be an underappreciated gem.

“We’ve Got A Hit”
While it’s a key track for the Wire & Glass mini-opera, this tune - reminiscent of “You Better You Bet” in delivery - may be among the best pop hooks Pete’s dreamed up in the last 30 years.

“It’s Not Enough”
I haven’t got enough time in the day to go on about my issues with this, the first single from Endless Wire. If I could only boil it down to two issues, they would be as follows:

a): The late eighties beer commercial sound of the song

b): Roger doesn’t sound believable in his bitch-done-me-wrong reading of the lyrics. All brawn, no brains.

“Tea & Theatre”
If the Who were to never record another note, there simply wouldn’t be a better song to bow out on. A simple and heartfelt look back on all that the band has done, only thinly masked by its placement in the Wire & Glass story. Everything clicks here, and I couldn’t be happier if this track ends up as the band’s swan song.

On the whole, the makeshift studio band sounds a bit more anemic than your father’s Who, but they’re not doing a bad job. Besides, they have a lot to live up to, so if they aren’t as immediately striking as the Live At Leeds-era Who… cut ‘em some slack. Upon further inspection, Roger doesn’t annoy me as much as I expected him to either.

Endless Wire is a lot more mellow than you may be expecting a Who record to be, but for two guys in their early sixties, they’ve still made a better and more adventurous album than any number of toast-of-the-town indie groups and fly-by-night freak-folk side projects could ever hope for. While it may not be ‘record of the year’, it’s the best damn Who record since 1975’s By Numbers. It’s a slightly uneven, yet wildly worthy addition to their catalog.

Me likey, but I’m hoping for a straight-up solo Townshend album. Just sayin’.

Stream the entire Endless Wire album here.
Read up on your Who history on ye olde Wikipedia.
Pete Townshend’s official website. Includes diary entries and free music.