narrator, even.
― bendy, Thursday, 3 May 2012 11:59 (twelve years ago) link
Was hoping maybe he'd be covering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd9zYKLepCw
― i love the large auns pictures! (Phil D.), Thursday, 3 May 2012 12:21 (twelve years ago) link
There is something irresistible about ole Pete.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 3 May 2012 12:47 (twelve years ago) link
Is it the way that no-one can hate him as much as he hates himself?
― 'scuse me, while I Rim the Sky... (snoball), Thursday, 3 May 2012 13:12 (twelve years ago) link
I dunno, I recently saw "The Kids Are Alright" for the first time and it gave me a whole new perspective on him up to that point in his life.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 3 May 2012 15:08 (twelve years ago) link
Definitely going to read this
Kind of half-pictured his bio being 'Well, my life...the whole thing...it was bollocks really, I don't know why you'd be interested. Go on, sod off why don't you."
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 3 May 2012 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
dunno, i feel like townshend might go into deep oversharing mode here -- dude has probably been in therapy for 30+ years.
― tylerw, Thursday, 3 May 2012 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
Horse's Neck was oversharingtastic. I expect much, much more of that. I also expect numerous errors. His memory tends to fail him (for instance, once claiming the Who had never heard one of his songs, when in fact not only had they heard it, but they recorded it).
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Thursday, 3 May 2012 16:07 (twelve years ago) link
ah, "Melancholia" indeed...
― Mark G, Thursday, 3 May 2012 16:14 (twelve years ago) link
Ha, that's exactly what I imagine Paul Weller's autobio to be. In its entirety.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Thursday, 3 May 2012 16:18 (twelve years ago) link
Ha! Probably more apt to tell the truth
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 3 May 2012 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
ABOUT BLOODY TIME, EH
― Morrissey & Clunes: The Severed Alliance (PaulTMA), Thursday, 3 May 2012 17:34 (twelve years ago) link
Funny, Gavin&Stacey was on last night, Ness was on her PTownshens tale "Where's the book then Pete?"
and herr it is...
― Mark G, Thursday, 3 May 2012 17:36 (twelve years ago) link
I have to read this. I have a feeling there will be some real car-crash moments, Townshend's a pretty brutally honest guy.
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Friday, 4 May 2012 15:05 (twelve years ago) link
Some tidbits from Rolling Stone. What was it we were saying upthread about oversharing?:
Mick is the only man I've ever seriously wanted to fuck. He was wearing loose pajama-style pants without underwear; as he leaned back I couldn't help noticing the outline of his ample cock lying against the inside of his leg. From then on, I encouraged the band to arrange our 'equipment' for maximum effect, especially onstage or in photographs.
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 28 September 2012 22:11 (eleven years ago) link
The Who: Maximum R&B Cock & Balls
― a great poke for Jet Set Willy (snoball), Friday, 28 September 2012 22:19 (eleven years ago) link
somehow, i doubt the rest of the lads needed much encouragement....
― m0stlyClean, Friday, 28 September 2012 22:55 (eleven years ago) link
I generally hate Zeppelin, but I gotta say they win the "arranging equipment" sweepstakes
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Friday, 28 September 2012 23:25 (eleven years ago) link
Spinal Tap More Realistic Than We Ever Imagined Part #147139314
― overglorified male ani difrancos i have pwned (some dude), Friday, 28 September 2012 23:27 (eleven years ago) link
Townshend wanting to fuck Jagger is as surprising as Jagger wanting to fuck himself.
― taking tiger mountain (up the butt) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 29 September 2012 02:42 (eleven years ago) link
I'd like to think that passage re:Mick's dick is a rebuff to same in Keef's autobio.
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 29 September 2012 02:43 (eleven years ago) link
Xpost re Mick's cock: There's a small section in Richard Neville's 60s memoir whose name I forget which mentions how he (or rather Oz magazine) ended up with some cutting room floor offcuts of the sex scene between Jagger and Anita in "Performance" and you could see Mick's cock was "as thick as a good salami".
― Rob M Revisited, Saturday, 29 September 2012 06:12 (eleven years ago) link
in other news I have preordered this on the amazon and am v excited for it show up on my doorstep in a week-ish or so's time
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 29 September 2012 06:37 (eleven years ago) link
didn't realize Mick's cock was on Amazon
― some dude, Saturday, 29 September 2012 11:10 (eleven years ago) link
It's part of the "Ultimate Collector's Edition" of the new hits collection, iirc.
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 29 September 2012 19:12 (eleven years ago) link
Grrr indeed.
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 29 September 2012 19:43 (eleven years ago) link
:D
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 29 September 2012 21:23 (eleven years ago) link
More like Grrrth, amirite?
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 29 September 2012 21:31 (eleven years ago) link
hahaha
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 29 September 2012 21:45 (eleven years ago) link
Good piece in the Times (UK). Love this part especially:
"When I was working on Tommy I was trying to present it to the guys in the band and the only one that got it, that understood it was about the teachings of [the Indian spiritual guru] Meher Baba, was Keith. The other two, both intelligent men, weren’t interested."
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 29 September 2012 21:46 (eleven years ago) link
There were so many better titles for this book, like "Who Are You", "Behind Blue Eyes", or "Boris the Spider"
― Poliopolice, Saturday, 29 September 2012 22:38 (eleven years ago) link
gargle? :)
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 29 September 2012 23:04 (eleven years ago) link
another version of the Jagger story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegN2T-JdN8
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 29 September 2012 23:46 (eleven years ago) link
xp irl lol
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 30 September 2012 02:17 (eleven years ago) link
hee hee
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 30 September 2012 02:26 (eleven years ago) link
The Times' serialisation had it called "I Can Explain"
which is also a better title
― Mark G, Sunday, 30 September 2012 23:12 (eleven years ago) link
The working title was Pete Townshend: Who He?
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 1 October 2012 01:21 (eleven years ago) link
"Behind Who Eyes"
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 October 2012 01:22 (eleven years ago) link
There's actually an awful, awful Townshend bio called Behind Blue Eyes, most of which concerns itself with the author's theft of Townshend's Tommy demos. The rest is made up of factual inaccuracies, so it strikes a nice balance.
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 1 October 2012 01:24 (eleven years ago) link
Listened to most of the 19-hour audiobook -- read by Pete himself -- on a recent 13-hour drive. Really fun. He chuckles at a few things, is consistently engaged/engaging, and his run-in/rapprochement with Roland Kirk is hilarious.
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 19 October 2012 03:12 (eleven years ago) link
I've started it & enjoy it immensely. Love the way he writes, he's so open.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 19 October 2012 04:22 (eleven years ago) link
I dunno, the story seems to me so often told, the bits I've read in the paper or on a cursory glance in Tesco.
I guess the audiobook might be the way to go, is there a link? (plz)
― Mark G, Friday, 19 October 2012 08:44 (eleven years ago) link
I got it via iTunes; if you search for "Who I Am Townshend," it should pop right up. And you're right, parts of it for me were "Oh yes, THIS story again." Sometimes, though, there were interesting variations (e.g., he just nudged Abbie Hoffman, rather than hit him full-force with his guitar). And his enthusiasm and energy never flag, so even the most familiar stories are fun to hear.
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 19 October 2012 14:06 (eleven years ago) link
someone whose opinion i trust told me they felt that while it seems candid at first glance, that it actually leaves the impression that he stops short of going deeper, skirts some things...anyone else notice this? regardless, i am so looking forward to it, but i am engulfing the oral history of mtv--total guilty pleasure
― Iago Galdston, Friday, 19 October 2012 14:10 (eleven years ago) link
Supposedly, he submitted over 1000 pages to the publisher, who cut it down to 500. A few things are curiously missing, notably, no mention of the writing/recording process for My Generation. I didn't get the sense that he's skirting anything, though, at least not in any sense of "better not say too much."
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 19 October 2012 14:18 (eleven years ago) link
Countdown until the Complete Audiobook Sessions are released/bootlegged.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 19 October 2012 14:20 (eleven years ago) link
I'm still in the very early chapters, he's only just met Rog & Ox -- I'm just impressed that he could put together so much information about his childhood and make it so detailed and engaging.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 19 October 2012 18:13 (eleven years ago) link
Christgau's review: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/books/review/who-i-am-pete-townshends-memoir.html?_r=2
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 October 2012 17:11 (eleven years ago) link
He's spot-on about the bio (seriously, enough with the fucking boats), less so about the work, but I always took Christgau's Whopinions with a grain of salt (as he recommends we do in this review). But if events zip by in chapter 23 without much reflection, it's because there's not much to reflect on: Townshend's work was now about "studios, yachts, and enticing beauties" rather than the intense engagement with the audience that enabled/inspired the bulk of the Who's work.
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 26 October 2012 17:58 (eleven years ago) link
nearly bought it today, but looks like its going to be in the HMV sale all the way through Xmas period. Definitely want to read it, they were one of the first bands I got into. I had most of at least the 60s stuff in my early teens back in my moddy boy days. Well until some a-hole nicked a lot of it.
― Stevolende, Friday, 26 October 2012 18:31 (eleven years ago) link
wait as in rahsaan?
― set the controls for the heart of the congos (thomp), Friday, 26 October 2012 18:35 (eleven years ago) link
The very same. He opened for the Who in 1969, and thanked Pete for "giving us blind folks our own opera". He recognized Townshend, by voice, as someone who had good-naturedly heckled Kirk a year earlier in London (Townshend was/is a huge Kirk fan, though).
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 26 October 2012 18:54 (eleven years ago) link
well huh
― set the controls for the heart of the congos (thomp), Friday, 26 October 2012 19:14 (eleven years ago) link
Got this for Christmas, was a good read. Very engaging, if repetetive--it is a book about one person's behavior after all.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 2 January 2013 17:29 (eleven years ago) link
i am not a particular fan of the who but my father-in-law got this for me and i thought it was pretty awful. combo of generic rock bio tendencies with townshend just being an unlikeable pretentious guy.
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 2 January 2013 20:00 (eleven years ago) link
I agree it would be a pretty pointless read if you're not a fan.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 2 January 2013 20:13 (eleven years ago) link
I have been trying to like it more, but Townshend does a lot of self-flagellating and I find myself wishing for more delight
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 2 January 2013 23:20 (eleven years ago) link
Well he does seem to get more giddy whenever boats and expensive mixing consoles come into the picture.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 2 January 2013 23:30 (eleven years ago) link
haha
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 3 January 2013 00:34 (eleven years ago) link
Pete's always been kind of a gleeful curmudgeon though, I can't imagine a *non* self-flagellating Townsend. that'd be kinda weird?
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 3 January 2013 00:35 (eleven years ago) link
Weirdly didn't mention Who Came First at all...otoh did imply that he invented the idea of the internet
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 4 January 2013 17:54 (eleven years ago) link
I thought the Who Came First omission was odd at first, but it was really just his usual demos compiled into an album at Decca's suggestion (he'd been selling some of the same demos on private-press devotional Meher Baba LPs, which Decca took to be bootlegs). The process of making that record was, for the most part, the process of making the demos for Lifehouse, so in a sense it was already covered in the book.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Friday, 4 January 2013 18:18 (eleven years ago) link
OK that makes sense, guess I gathered that but didn't know it was at the label's prompting. One thing is for sure is that Pete makes some ace demos. The Lifehouse chronicles stuff sounds so good.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 4 January 2013 20:36 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, his demos sound amazing. I can't think of another artist -- certainly none of Pete's contemporaries -- who could release an album of demos that no one would suspect are demos.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Friday, 4 January 2013 20:51 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah its kind of insane to hear the Tommy demos and it's pretty much the entire finished album.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 5 January 2013 00:50 (eleven years ago) link
yeah but when you have the rhythm section he had, nothing sounds like a finished record til you've got them on it
― some dude, Saturday, 5 January 2013 00:53 (eleven years ago) link
After reading the book, I watched Classic Records: Who's Next on netflix--it was great, in the way that whole series is, for all the isolated elements of the songs. Entwistle was just amazing on everything he played.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Saturday, 5 January 2013 00:58 (eleven years ago) link
love that episode
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 5 January 2013 01:01 (eleven years ago) link
made me want to go back and listen to the whole thing again right away
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 5 January 2013 01:02 (eleven years ago) link
I kind of wish Roger would write a bio, just for balance. My guess is it would be good-natured, mildly funny, and about 120 pages long.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Saturday, 5 January 2013 01:04 (eleven years ago) link
I love the little aside about Roger always prattling on about various conspiracy theories....LOL
― Iago Galdston, Saturday, 5 January 2013 01:14 (eleven years ago) link
Dunno about the book but I find I can't watch Townshend talking about almost anything on TV in the same way I can't with Geldof...he just sounds like such a tosser
― Master of Treacle, Saturday, 5 January 2013 05:13 (eleven years ago) link
like everything has says needs to be digested slowly and accurately for those at the back of the class..just fuck off
― Master of Treacle, Saturday, 5 January 2013 05:15 (eleven years ago) link
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, January 4, 2013 7:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
The version of "Tommy's Holiday Camp" that ended up on the finished album is actually Townshend's demo.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Saturday, 5 January 2013 15:13 (eleven years ago) link