The Who were my first favorite band. This was 1982 and I was 12. Sure, I'll admit that it was "Athena" and "Eminence Front" that lured me in at first (It’s Hard was the record in the stores at the time), but then I buttressed that crush with a Greatest Hits cassette and I was off and running. Subsititute, Tommy, Pictures of Lily, Who’s Next, Fuuuuck! Within a year I had bought all their albums, read all the books about them (which at that point consisted primarily of Barnes’ Maximum Rock-n-Roll and Marsh’s Before I Get Old), plastered my room with marquee and Quadrophenia posters, adorned my coat with buttons. Dreamt about purple hearts. Imagined I was some fucking mod.
Every time local radio station WLUP (sometimes WMET, too) had a call-in poll ("Vote for the better band! Who vs. Zeppelin", etc.), I was glued to the phone, redialing and redialing. Once I remember DJ Patti Hayes picking up the phone as I breathlessly intoned, "THE WHO!" She started laughing: "kid, is this you again?"
By the time I was habitually trolling Wax Trax Records in 1986, I was well past my Who infatuation and on to darker things. (though my HS band still threw down a fine garage punk version of Can’t Explain). I was on to Joy Division and the Minutemen and Black Flag and Husker Du. But when I saw that cut-out LP Track Records Label original vinyl of Pete’s first solo album, I just about jazzed my pants. I knew what it was and I wanted it bad. I still have that vinyl, albeit augmented by the 1992 RYKO CD reissue on offer here.
It’s a great first solo album. Pete, first-generation stadium rockstar, stands there in his trademark jumpsuit on an infinite field of eggs, awkward and fragile and pure and alone, and more than a little defiant with his arms akimbo. He recorded this in his home studio (30 years before that was all the rage), playing all the instruments all by himself (though with a little help from Ronnie Lane on the lovely little "Evolution"). Some of these tunes ("Pure And Easy", "Let’s See Action", "The Seeker") later made it onto Who albums, but I will aver that the versions here blow those later full-blown band versions right out of the holy water.
Half of this album is a tribute to Pete’s recently deceased spiritual mentor of the time, Meher Baba (who maintained a strict silence from 1925 until his death in 1969), and half of it are tracks he resurrected from his recently abandoned Lifehouse project (the legendary unrealized behemoth that led to his first, if not his last, nervous breakdown – Pete’s Smile). There’s a lot of love and infinity and good vibrations here, but don’t hold that against it. Because there’s a lot here to love.
By the time I was habitually trolling Wax Trax Records in 1986, I was well past my Who infatuation and on to darker things. (though my HS band still threw down a fine garage punk version of Can’t Explain). I was on to Joy Division and the Minutemen and Black Flag and Husker Du. But when I saw that cut-out LP Track Records Label original vinyl of Pete’s first solo album, I just about jazzed my pants. I knew what it was and I wanted it bad. I still have that vinyl, albeit augmented by the 1992 RYKO CD reissue on offer here.
It’s a great first solo album. Pete, first-generation stadium rockstar, stands there in his trademark jumpsuit on an infinite field of eggs, awkward and fragile and pure and alone, and more than a little defiant with his arms akimbo. He recorded this in his home studio (30 years before that was all the rage), playing all the instruments all by himself (though with a little help from Ronnie Lane on the lovely little "Evolution"). Some of these tunes ("Pure And Easy", "Let’s See Action", "The Seeker") later made it onto Who albums, but I will aver that the versions here blow those later full-blown band versions right out of the holy water.
Half of this album is a tribute to Pete’s recently deceased spiritual mentor of the time, Meher Baba (who maintained a strict silence from 1925 until his death in 1969), and half of it are tracks he resurrected from his recently abandoned Lifehouse project (the legendary unrealized behemoth that led to his first, if not his last, nervous breakdown – Pete’s Smile). There’s a lot of love and infinity and good vibrations here, but don’t hold that against it. Because there’s a lot here to love.
5 comments:
Going down perfectly with my Saturday morning coffee, thanks.
Very nice write-up. I wasn't a huge Who or Pete fan, but I totally get the effect they had on you.
thanks John and Danya!
I love this record (even more than as 'rough mix' and 'empty glass')! Glad there are some other Who fans out there that are not afraid to admit they like Pete's solo stuff.
That's 'even more than...' I wasn't sure if I loved it as much or more than RM and EG so I guess I said both.
Thanks for posting this. I am excited to have the extra tracks.
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