Released Today: The Who's "Endless Wire"
Every Sunday in your St. Pete Times, you'll find not only a picture of my fat head, but a new music column in our Latitudes section. The point of this weekly feature is to recommend three or four new albums in a breezy, easy-to-read format (unlike my normal labyrinthine prose). I've been trying to theme columns: Last week was country; the inaugural was Brit-rockers. As hard-core criticism goes, this is more cotton-candy than usual. But in the future, I'll recommend obscure, under-the-radar releases, which might make more sense. Anyway, here's quickies of the Who and Sting...
The Who
Album: Endless Wire (Universal Republic)
In stores: Oct. 31
Why we care: Father Time has whittled the quartet down to frontman Roger Daltrey and guitar god Pete Townshend -- but on the band's first studio album since '82, the Who still sound BIG.
Why we like it: At 60-plus years old, the rock pugilists summon brains and brawn, poetry and punch. The themes are heavy-duty (love, loss), and Townshend even throws in a mini rock opera, Wire & Glass, which might be about rock stardom. Or maybe it's about insanity? I was too busy air-guitaring and marveling at Daltrey's vocal gusto to follow nutty plot lines.
Reminds us of: Extended remixes of Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again -- Townshend, who wrote all of the 19 tracks, uses patches of previous greatness to illustrate the passage of time.
Download these: Mike Post Theme, Pick Up the Peace
Sting
Album: Songs From the Labyrinth (Deutsche Grammophon)
In stores: Now
Why we care: Rock's pedagogical hunk "discovers the music of Elizabethan songwriter John Dowland." Sounds like a 16th century snooze? Hold on . . .
Why we like it: What could have turned into a Monty Python skit is quietly powerful, as the former Policeman turns Dowland's prose into hymnal glory.
Reminds us of: Midnight Mass
Download these: Flow My Tears, Have You Seen the Bright Lily Grow
Sean Daly is the pop music critic for the St. Petersburg Times. His CD collection -- from Journey to Dylan, Prince to U2, Public Enemy to Stan Getz -- is much bigger and better than yours.
Uh.... my head is even fatter, brother.
CUTER, granted. But fatter.
I'm in total agreement on the Who disc. Grew up under the tutelage of the Townshend. One of the greatest rock composers of all time.
Haven't checked out the Sting yet, but I must admit he's had a rather sedative effect on me the past, oh, 10 years or so. Still, I'll give it a run.
Oh, and, um, finally...
Baba Booey!
Posted by: The ILL Literate | October 31, 2006 at 01:32 PM
I was hoping that Sting just went away. The man is like Cicadia, comes out of the ground and makes horrific sounds every couple of years.
Posted by: sparky | October 31, 2006 at 01:32 PM
Guess you ain't an entomologist, Sparky. The insect is a cicada.
As for Sting, he appears to be in a Clapton-like descent into Adult Contemporary he**. Reunite the Police already.
Posted by: Life of Quiet Desparation | October 31, 2006 at 02:49 PM
Call me unhip but I thought it was refreshing to not see the usual negative, kneejerk reaction to a Sting project. I'm the first to admit that he went a bit on auto pilot for a while, but even his more workmanlike efforts have a way of growing on you. It's good to see him trying something "new" even if new in this case is a few centuries old.
Posted by: GlennS. | October 31, 2006 at 03:10 PM