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Endless Wire (The Who album)
Endless Wire is the eleventh album by the English rock band The Who. It was their first new album of original material in twenty-four years following the release of It's Hard in 1982. The album was originally to be released in Spring 2005 under the working title WHO2. Endless Wire debuted at #7 on the Billboard album chart and #9 in the UK. Portions of it have been featured on The Who Tour 2006-2007. Most of the songs from this album were used in the rock musical adaptation of The Boy Who Heard Music which debuted in July 2007 as part of Vassar College's Powerhouse Summer Theater workshop series.
Track listingAll songs written by Pete Townshend, except where noted.
Wire & Glass: A Mini-Opera
Bonus tracks on some editions
Bonus CD: The Who Live at LyonRecorded at the Vienne Amphitheatre, Vienne, France on 17 July 2006. Included as an extra in Europe, Asia, and at Best Buy stores in the United States.
Bonus DVD: The Who Live at LyonRecorded at the Vienne Amphitheatre, Vienne, France on 17 July 2006.
SinglesThe songs "Tea & Theatre" and "It's Not Enough" were released separately as singles on Universal in 2006, and "Black Widow's Eyes"/"It's Not Enough" on Polydor, also in 2006. "It's Not Enough" reached #37 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock charts. Personnel
Design and Art Direction by Richard Evans utilising elements created with the Visual Harmony software designed by Dave Snowdon and Lawrence Ball The only remaining original members of the band are Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey. Keith Moon died in 1978, and John Entwistle died in 2002. Kenney Jones, the Who's second drummer, hasn't played with the group since 1988. Entwistle's place is currently being filled by Pino Palladino. Zak Starkey (son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr), Peter Huntington, and Pete Townshend play drums on the album. Starkey, the longest-term fill-in for Keith Moon, has played with The Who since 1996. Additionally Simon Townshend (Pete Townshend's brother) and Billy Nicholls (who has played with both Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend on solo albums and tours, and provided backing vocals during The Who's 1989 reunion tour) are providing some backing vocals for the album, with John "Rabbit" Bundrick playing some of the keyboards. Palladino has worked on some of Pete Townshend's solo projects. When Entwistle died unexpectedly on the eve of the Who's 2002 tour of the United States, Palladino was called in, and the new group were performing within days. Palladino has remained with the Who since, and played on the 2004 track "Old Red Wine". History of the albumMost of what is known about the development of the album has come from Pete Townshend's website. On 21 March 2005, Pete Townshend officially announced the postponement of the new Who albumhttp://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=103&zone=diary. On 24 December 2005, Townshend announced that manager Bill Curbishley had introduced a "great scheme" to allow the band to tour in Summer 2006 in support of new material, even if Townshend did not have "a full thirty tracks ready to go." http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=227&zone=diary On 20 March 2006, Daltrey announced that he and Townshend were making progress with the album and that Townshend had written a song about Stockholm Syndrome, entitled "Black Widow's Eyes". Daltrey also said that Townshend is playing some bass on the album http://www.nme.com/news/who/22536. On 28 March 2006, Townshend announced through the diary portion of his website that a mini-opera, entitled "The Glass Household" now forms the core of the album. It is based on his novella "The Boy Who Heard Music". He also announced plans to have a shortened version of the opera released this summer, prior to the release of the full album. http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=257&zone=diary This diary entry also confirmed the current lineup of the band: Pino Palladino on bass, Pete Townshend on guitars, his brother Simon Townshend is helping on backing vocals, and John "Rabbit" Bundrick is tackling keyboards. Peter Huntington, from Rachel Fuller's band, is on drums because Zak Starkey was still on tour with Oasis. On 9 April 2006, Townshend announced that the shortened version of "The Glass Household" has been played to executives at Polydor, and a release date has been set for June, with a tour of Europe following, and the album in September http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=260&zone=diary. On 3 May 2006, Pete Townshend posted on his diary page that the mastering for the new EP, titled Wire & Glass, is complete and that the tracks will soon be sent to Polydor. Townshend anticipated a mid-June release for the EP, and a mid-September release for the full album. He has also announced that in 2 weeks The Who would begin rehearsing for their tour, during which time Townshend would finish recording the rest of the album with Roger Daltrey http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=262&zone=diary. On 13 May 2006, Pete Townshend reported that his daughter is helping find a video director, but there may be some problems with releasing the mini-opera in North America at the same time as the rest of the world. However, he said he was certain "the Who have a new record in the can - almost finished, and it will be a good one," http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=265&zone=diary. On 10 June 2006, Pete Townshend revealed that songs rehearsed for the upcoming tour would include "Cry If You Want" (last heard in 1982 and apparently requested by Roger Daltrey), "I Don't Even Know Myself", "Relay", "Getting In Tune", "The Seeker", "Another Tricky Day", "Naked Eye", "Bargain", "Pure and Easy", "I'm a Boy", "Tattoo", and "Let's See Action", while the North American shows will also get Roger Daltrey's second self-penned song, "Here for More", and The Who by Numbers track "Blue, Red and Grey", to be performed by Townshend on ukulele. He also mentioned the truncated rock opera, Wire & Glass, will be rehearsed and includes the following titles: "Sound Round", "Pick Up the Peace", "Endless Wire", "We Got a Hit", "They Made My Dreams Come True", and "Mirror Door" (the latter which has been getting radio play in the UK). A version of "It's Not Enough" was released online at artistdirect.com. "It's Not Enough" has tentatively been announced as the first single off the album, to be released simultaneously. On 3 October 2006, "It's Not Enough" was made available on iTunes. "Tea & Theatre" was also made available. Then on 14 October 2006, Polydor built a website for the album. It was announced from Pete Townshend's website. On the website endlesswire.co.uk samples of the songs "We Got a Hit" "Endless Wire" "It's Not Enough" "Black Widow's Eyes" "Mike Post Theme" and "Man in a Purple Dress" are available to listen to, but not to download. As of 23 October 2006, the entire album is available to stream on music.aol.com. Endless Wire debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200, selling about 81,000 units in its first week of release.[1] Song breakdownOn 6 September 2006, the track listing for the album was released on Pete Townshend's personal website http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=391&zone=pr. On 27 September 2006, a press release was issued which featured track-by-track commentary by Pete http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=397&zone=pr. All songs written by Pete Townshend except as noted.
This song was performed live throughout the 2006 US tour.
Another song performed throughout the 2006 US tour, Pete and Roger also appeared on the David Letterman Show on 14 September 2006, to perform the song, though it was reduced by two verses.
In addition to the mini-opera, "Mike Post Theme" was debuted live at their Leeds University gig on 17 June 2006. When announcing the song, Roger said that it hadn't been recorded yet, leading fans to believe that it wouldn't appear on the album despite being a favourite among those who had heard it. It appears that a version was recorded during a brief break in the tour.
Debuted live by Pete at a solo gig for the Poetry Olympics at the Royal Albert Hall on 25 September 2005. The song was later released as a download on Pete's website, but fans were put off by Pete's strange vocals, reminiscent of Tom Waits, and Roger reportedly passed over singing the song for the album.
Roger talked about this song in an interview in the spring of 2006, saying it was written about Stockholm syndrome and quoting it as one of his favourite tracks on the album. The song was performed infrequently on the 2006 US tour.
Pete debuted this song on the In the Attic programme in 2005.
Pete had recorded an instrumental demo simply titled "Marty Robbins" in June 1984, which was released on his 2001 Scoop 3 album. He later debuted the song at an Internet-only streaming concert titled the Basement Jam on 4 December 2005.
"It's Not Enough" started off as a Rachel Fuller track, but Pete liked the music and asked her if he could use it for the new album. The song was released as an Internet download single in October 2006, where it reached #37 in the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.
Reportedly, this track, the following track ("Pick Up the Peace"), and an unreleased track titled "Ambition" (see below) were written in 1971. The character of Ray High also appeared as the protagonist of Townshend's solo album Psychoderelict.
To date, this was only performed on three occasions throughout the US 2006 tour (Philadelphia, Wantagh, and Calgary).
Pete performed this song solo at Joe's Pub on 14 September 2006. The Who had also performed it live in full in Berlin on 12 July 2006, separate from the mini-opera, which wasn't performed that night. On both occasions, when not performed with the mini-opera, the full version with a reprise of the first verse and an additional chorus was played; Pete has said this variation is one of two bonus tracks that will feature on special editions of the album.
Another song that was "extended" for a special edition of the album, with an additional verse not heard on the mini-opera version.
This song was released to the radio stations ahead of the mini-opera in June 2006, but was remixed for the Wire & Glass release later in July.
Fans have interpreted this song as being about the death of John Entwistle and Pete's and Roger's decision to carry on as The Who, though Pete refuted this in interviews, saying that it was the concluding track of The Glass Household, but that he was pleased that people interpreted it differently. "Tea & Theatre" was the final performance of The Who's concerts throughout the US 2006 tour, with just Pete (on acoustic guitar) and Roger at the front of the stage; the studio version utilizes a drum machine and bass guitar. An asterisk (*) denotes songs included on the Wire & Glass EP. There are two special edition versions: One contains a Bonus DVD with 5 live songs: "Mike Post Theme", "Baba O'Riley", "Who Are You", "Behind Blue Eyes", and "Won't Get Fooled Again". The second version contains a Live CD from Lyon 2006: "The Seeker", "Who Are You", "Mike Post Theme", "Relay", "Greyhound Girl", "Naked Eye", and "Won't Get Fooled Again". Additional songsIn addition to the nineteen tracks listed above, three songs were either considered for inclusion on the album or reportedly recorded for the album but were left off:
Reportedly written in 1971 for the Lifehouse concept, Pete debuted this song on In the Attic in 2006.
Another song that was debuted by Townshend on In the Attic in 2006. It was recorded in the studio with Zak on drums, and Roger on vocals, but Pete expressed doubt on whether it would make it on the album or not when he first played it on In The Attic, and it wasn't included. However, it did make an appearance in the Vassar College workshop performance of the rock musical The Boy Who Heard Music.
On 18 December 2005, Pete Townshend posted a diary entry that chronicled the recording of this track: The song was not included on the album, but fans were approving of the track anyway. The video can be found here http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/media/strangeweatherbb.mov
A Roger Daltrey-penned song, rehearsed with John Entwistle on bass, was rumoured to be recorded for the album. It was also supposed to include a bass line from Entwistle that had been recorded at a soundcheck or a rehearsal, though this has not yet surfaced. At least three other songs were demoed, rehearsed, or recorded for the album. According to a Mojo article by Dave Marsh, the titles were "Cinderella" (about a friend of Townshend's who was abused as a child), "He Said, She Said" (about a relationship told through the views of both the man and woman), and "There's No Doubt" (based on something said to Townshend by The Who's manager Bill Curbishley when asked if his new wife was "the one"). Poems were posted on Pete's site throughout the spring of 2006 leading up to his 61st birthday, which fans thought could turn into song lyrics; indeed, Pete had posted an entry which gave lyrics to a song titled "You're Useless, but You're Mine" (about Townshend's dog) which were later removed. Fans thought Pete removed the lyrics because it was going to be recorded as a Who song but it's likely the song wasn't recorded; no explanation for the removal was ever given. Adaptation as a rock musicalPete Townshend is also working the songs from this album into a full-length rock musical, a rough version of which debuted 13 July 2007 as part of Vassar College's Powerhouse Summer Theater workshop series. The production was adapted and directed by Ethan Silverman and presented as a staged concert reading with minimal dialogue. The cast included John Hickok as Ray High, Jon Patrick Walker as Josh, Matt McGrath as Gabriel, and Bree Sharp as Leila. Songs in this adaptation included: Act I
Act II
The song "Real Good Looking Boy" was previously issued on The Who's compilation album Then and Now. The song "I Can Fly" was previously issued on Fuller's EP Shine. Miscellanea
ReferencesExternal links
es:Endless Wire fr:Endless Wire it:Endless Wire nl:Endless Wire pt:Endless Wire ru:Endless Wire sv:Endless Wire 
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