Tweet

Album Details

• Artist: The Who
• Album: Endless Wire
• Label: Universal Republic
• Year of Release: 2006
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2006-11-14

The last Who studio record was perhaps the most inappropriately titled record of all time. 1982’s It’s Hard was for the most part a lame, limp phone-in from a band whose members were sick of each other and saving their best material for other projects. Since then they have had a few “Farewell” tours, reunited with guest-filled orchestras to perform their rock operas, and slowly dwindled down to two original members. So it is a shock, and this from a huge fan, to note that their live shows of the past few years have had fire and rocked hard, and that Endless Wire, their first studio record in 24 years, is not that bad. In fact, it is even inspired at times. Those times are more often than not the acoustic, Who By Numbers type tracks like “A Man in A Purple Dress”, “You Stand By Me” and the directly spiritual “Two Thousand Years.” Rockers like “It’s Not Enough” and “Fragments” are good, but, like the Stones, sound like they are covering themselves in order to remember how to rock. The mini-opera, “Wire & Glass” is a bit disjointed, and apparently you need to read Pete’s online novella to get the story straight. Your choice. The more intimate tracks, like those on recent Stones records, show the band willing to drop the legendary poses in order to show off more heart than icon. This is a much more serious, inspired and generous collection than even diehards were willing to expect.

User Reviews and Comments

Log In or Register to Rate Albums