The Who: Wire & Glass - Six Songs from a Mini-Opera [Single, EP, Import]

Pete Townshend (Composer), The Who (Performer), Pete Townshend (Performer), Roger Daltrey (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: The Who, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey
• Composer: Pete Townshend
• Audio CD (August 7, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Single, EP, Import
• Label: Universal Import
• ASIN: B000GG493C
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,951 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sound Round/Pick Up The Peace/Endless Wire/We Got A Hit/They Made My Dreams Come True/Mirror Door

Editorial Reviews

THE WHO Wire & Glass (2006 UK CD single featuring a 11-minute 6-track epic taken from their long-awaited 1st album in over 20 years and is itself part of the longer mini-opera The Boy Who Heard Music; it is as you might expect a record that is unmistakably The Who and yet at the same time sounds amazingly contemporary!)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Returning to Form, August 29, 2006

By 

DPK (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Who: Wire & Glass - Six Songs from a Mini-Opera (Audio CD)

First thing's first, this new material from the Who probably isn't going to make me dump my copies of Quadrophenia (my favorite Who album) and Who's Next (the best Who album). That said, Wire & Glass is pretty damn good. The musical approach echoes the classic Who sound (see Quadrophenia), but it never comes off as a re-hash. Consequently, I haven't been able to get it out of my head.

Townshend's songs have a kick to them that I haven't felt much since his 1985 album White City (1989's Who reunion song "Dig" from the Iron Man being a rare exception), and then there's Daltrey. I remember a critic commenting on how much better Daltrey is when singing Townshend's songs. It's not just that the songs are better, he himself just sounds more engaged.

Wire & Glass is identified as being songs from a "mini opera", with most if the songs being under two-minutes each leading up to the longer closing piece "Mirror Door," another Townshend tribute to the power of music.

Typically I dislike songs that name check singer after singer, but somehow this one works. I'm sure some of it has to do with the appreciation of the miracle of Townshend's and Daltrey's survival after so many years, but there's more to it than that. Again, it comes back to energy and engagement. "Mirror Door" has drive and kick and something harder to define.

I suppose emotion is the closest description I can manage. You can feel Townshend's love of what he's doing coming through in Daltrey's delivery, and the end result is so much more than the sum of its parts. And that, despite the absence of Keith Moon and John Entwistle, is how I know that this is truly the Who. Welcome back.

97 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Honest Opinion, August 3, 2006

By 

Peterack (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Who: Wire & Glass - Six Songs from a Mini-Opera (Audio CD)

I love The Who...seen them in many incarnations...including "The Two" that they are now. That being said, I will give this review based on what I hear on this cd...not how much I love this band.

The cd single announcement at amazon basically said that this single is snippets from songs from an upcoming cd. I believe that is incorrect...as these short tunes are part of one complete short rock opera. The idea that this was song samples at first stopped me from wanting this, but then I decided to go for it (I'm a fan...I just had to).

Now as to realities...I cannot pinpoint it, but my best observation is to take the best of Face Dances and mix that with the worst of Quadrophenia, mixed with the basic Townsend solo demos..and this is the sound you get. Not bad...not always "the Who" but when it is, it works.

Instrumentations are well, but I do miss the distinctive bass of John "The Ox" Entwistle...Palladino does a fine job as any pro could here, but does not add or make any reminder of the traditional Who sound (to this cd's detriment).

Finally...Roger's voice. Like me, Roger is getting older...his voice sounds of the strain of toomany "yeaaaaah's" during "Wont' Get Fooled Again." Not only is Roger's voice raspy/hoarse, but the deep gravely bass is at a point where the listener will recognize the heights to which it will not go again.

As a Who fan, I gave this a 4, if I was not this would be a2.5-3.0. The Who is awesome, and we should enjoy them how they are today, but for the uninitiated...beware this is not the classic band from the top 40.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Return of The 'Orrible 'Oo!, August 3, 2006

By 

Richard Pachter "http://www.wordsonwords.com" (South Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Who: Wire & Glass - Six Songs from a Mini-Opera (Audio CD)

I must have listened to these songs a couple of dozen times by now (8/3/06) and I'm truly astonished how well they hold up. Pete's production is spot-on and Roger sounds terific, too. Nice to hear a more typical Pino Palladino sound here; he's just the right bassist for The Who in the absence of The Ox. Pete's guitar playing is energetic, as always, and the acoustic-electric mix is quite effective. I'm really looking forward to hearing the rest of this when the complete album is available. BRAVO!!!