My top 99 of the 2000s (2000-2009)

99 for the 2000s (only rated things I actually own)

99. Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit (2006)

98. Toots & The Maytals – Light Your Light (2007)

97. Antipop Consortium – Arrhythmia (2002)

96. Echo & The Bunnymen – Siberia (2005)

95. Sleater-Kinney – The Woods (2005)

94. Mark Eitzel – Invisible Man (2001)

93. Ben Harper – Both Sides of the Gun (2006)

92. Ani DiFranco – So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter (2002)

91. Kings of Leon – Youth & Young Manhood (2003)

90. Mark Eitzel – Music for Courage and Confidence (2002)

89. Ani DiFranco – Evolve (2003)

88. Beck – Guero (2005)

87. Ryan Adams – Cardinology (2008)

86. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells (2001)

85. Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)

84. Franz Ferdinand (2004)

83. Cowboy Junkies – One Soul Now (2003)

82. Otis Taylor – Respect the Dead (2002)

81. Beck – Modern Guilt (2008)

80. Black Keys – Rubber Factory (2004)

79. Pearl Jam (2006)

78. Ben Harper – Diamonds on the Inside (2003)

77. Balkan Beat Box (2005)

76. Neil Young – Silver and Gold (2000)

75. Flaming Lips – At War With the Mystics (2004)

74. My Morning Jacket – iTunes Live at the Palms (2009)

73. White Stripes – Icky Thump (2007)

72. Bettie Serveert – Private Suit (2000)

71. Neko Case – The Tigers Have Spoken (2004)

70. Cowboy Junkies – Open Road (2001)

69. New Pornographers – iTunes Live from Soho (2008)

68. Frank Black – Dog In The Sand (2001)

67. Probot (2004)

66. U2 – No Line on the Horizon (2009)

65. Elliott Smith/Iain Matthews – La Terre Commune (2001)

64. Tarbox Ramblers (2000)

63. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone (2009)

62. Various – Down in the Promised Land: 5 Years of Bloodshot Records (2000)

61. Cowboy Junkies – At the End of Paths Taken (2007)

60. Dennis Brennan – Rule No. 1 (2001)

59. Neil Young – Are You Passionate? (2003)

58. Radiohead – Hail to the Thief (2003)

57. Ryan Adams - 29 (2005)

56. Fleet Foxes (2008)

55. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006)

54. Various – Reggae Gold 2003

53. Songs:Ohia – Magnolia Electric Co. (2002)

52. Queens of the Stone Age – Era Vulgaris (2007)

51. Circus Devils – Sgt. Disco (2007)

50. Nick Cave – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008)

49. Keller Williams – Laugh (2002)

48. Zero 7 – When It Falls (2004)

47. Kelly Joe Phelps – Sky Like A Broken Clock (2001)

46. Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals – Live from Mars (2001)

45. The Mars Volta – The Bedlam In Goliath (2008)

44. Various – Rooftop Roots II (2006)

43. Jon Rauhouse – Steel Guitar Heart Attack (2007)

42. Drive-By Truckers – Decoration Day (2003)

41. Ani DiFranco – Revelling/Reckoning (2001)

40. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abbattoir Blues Tour (2007)

39. Dave Matthews Band – Live at Piedmont Park (2007)

38. Pearl Jam – Binaural (2000)

37. Celebration – The Modern Tribe (2007)

36. David Gilmour – On An Island (2006)

35. Joss Stone – Mind, Body And Soul (2004)

34. Stephen Marley – Mind Control (2007)

33. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abbattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus (2004)

32. Pearl Jam – Live at Benaroya Hall (2004)

31. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker (2000)

30. Red Hot Chili Peppers – By The Way (2003)

29. Farmer Dave Scher – Fast Forward to the Good Times (2009)

28. Bob Dylan – Modern Times (2007)

27. Radiohead – I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings (2001)

26. My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges (2008)

25. Pearl Jam – 16-6-00 Krakowice, Poland (2000)

24. The White Stripes – Get Behind Me, Satan (2005)

23. Dr. Dog – Passed Away, Vol. 1 (2008)

22. Ryan Adams – Gold (2001)

21. Neko Case - Blacklisted (2002)

20. Eddie Vedder – Soundtrack to the Motion Picture “Into the Wild” (2007)

19. Cowboy Junkies - Open (2001)

18. Dr. Dog – Fate (2008)

17. Robert Plant/Alison Krauss – Raising Sand (2007)

16. Over the Rhine – Films for Radio (2001)

15. Drive-By Truckers – Southern Rock Opera (2002)

14. Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger (2007)

13. My Morning Jacket – At Dawn (2001)

12. The Cat Empire – Two Shoes (2006)

11. Ray LaMontagne – Gossip In The Grain (2008)

10. Conor Oberst (2008)

9. Bob Dylan – Love & Theft (2001)

“The Man Behind The Shades” has made some of the best music of his life after his 50^th birthday. He knows the whole idea of “song.” He is still a master to study and respect entering his sixth decade as a professional musician.

8. Dr. Dog – We All Belong (2007)

Those weirdos from Philadelphia come at you with a wistful two-singer attack with a mindful mix of the old and the new. And, boy, do they know how to have fun. “My Old Ways,” “Alaska” and the title track are titles I could never get tired of.

7. Neko Case & Her Boyfriends – Furnace Room Lullaby (2000)

My introduction to my favorite female (and favorite overall solo) artist of the decade hit me like a brick thrown directly in my face from point-blank range, and it left the sweetest aftertaste imaginable. I’ve heard her voice so many times, it’s tough to remember what I remember thinking the first time I heard this album, the product of a random search while looking for new music.

6. The Drive-By Truckers – The Dirty South (2004)

A band that truly hit their peak right damn here. Their next album was a fall-off, but it was unfair to even judge any album of theirs after this pretty much perfect suite of sweaty, muddy and symphonically beauteous paeans to the lower half of our country. Each of the three singer/songwriters documented their masterworks – Mike Cooley with “Cottonseed” and “Daddy’s Cup,” Jason Isbell with “Danko/Manuel” and “Goddamn Lonely Love” and Patterson Hood with “The Sands of Iwo Jima” and “Puttin People On The Moon.”

5. My Morning Jacket – It Still Moves (2003)

There aren’t too many songs on this album that aren’t still concert classics. “Run Thru” whips the audience into a frenzy every time. “Steam Engine” is in a dark, sultry space all its own. “Dancehalls” playfully tricks with an introduction that seems to start a different song than it ends up as. “Mahgeetah” is up there with the ultimate My Morning Jacket song, “One Big Holiday” as true anthems of the 2000s. But nothing gets us Jackheads going like screaming out “Waking up feeling/Good and Limber/When The Telephone it rings…” until our lungs bleed.

4. Beachwood Sparks (2000)

This one was a hidden gem. I bought it in 2000, and was happy (not yet blown away) by their nods to Gram Parsons (before I even really knew who that psychedelic country innovator was, and before I really knew there was such a thing as psychedelic country). These songs were of a world I knew no longer existed. They were well-written, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready. It turns out, when you read No. 1, that this was just a warm-up. A hell of a warm-up. “Desert Skies,” “Canyon Ride” “Old Sea Miner” are as ingrained now in the soundtrack of my life as, say, “Stairway to Heaven” or “Pinball Wizard.”

I know every dazed, sunsplashed word and note like my own name.

3. Neko Case – Live in Austin, Texas (2007)

Who knew, that with all of her recorded output and hard work (which all paid off) in studios around the country, a one-night show for a national television audience with two string players and a golden harmony singer (hello, Kelly Hogan!) would speak to me the most?

The outright purity of her songs gets to shine. Tom Ray holds the fort on stand-up bass, while Jon Rauhouse tries his damnedest not to upstage Neko Case. Still, he’s not holding back, whether it be on banjo, lap steel or hard-strung electric (“Knock Loud”).

Oh, as for Neko herself - You’ve never heard her so on the mark as on that night, Aug. 8, 2003, in that TV studio in Austin. The power of the night, hurt, pride, girl power, vulnerability and romantic hypnosis all were packed up and then released one by one, in no particular order, sometimes one, two, three or all of these in one song, while still gliding confidently through a Texan night watched over by the spirits of Hank, Patsy and so many other angels of rising and falling notes.

2. My Morning Jacket – Z (2005)

How the hell are they going to follow up “It Still Moves”? Actually, before I heard this album, My Morning Jacket was a band I simply liked. They could write a damned good song, but I’m sure some other musical act was holding my attention in 2005 (well, that or getting married). Yeah, it was a busy 2005 and to tell you the truth, it wasn’t until 2006 that I heard this album! Then, it all made sense.

They weren’t following up shit. They were starting over, as they would three years later with “Evil Urges.” They go in whichever direction the wind of their inventiveness will take them. But this album, with the current lineup solidified, stands tall above all their other fine works of the 2000s because of its great value of “What the hell are they thinking?”

I challenge anyone to find another song like “Wordless Chorus” – who writes these songs? I know, Jim James, but where is he getting these ideas? Like the best of The Who, Zeppelin, The Band and Dylan, they’re creating a new style every time they lay down a track. The lovelorn thunder of “It Beats 4 U” threads its way through the middle of the night like a horny heartbeat. “Lay Low” is a mini-opera that takes off with all the grace of a pterodactyl. “Off the Record” gets you wondering “Hey, what’s this popish break?” but before the song ends, you’re lodged somewhere between Radiohead and Pink Floyd wondering “How the hell did I get here?” as in your weirdest and favorite dreams.

“Dondante” was a Pandora’s Box made for the concert stage. It’s back into the blacklight velvet world here for James & Co., and they ride out the journey on a crooning sax …

Again, where the hell am I and how did I get here?

No. 1:

Beachwood Sparks – Once We Were Trees (2001)

OK, people – let ‘er rip! “Not White Stripes?” “Not Radiohead?” “Not Coldplay?” (OK, the Coldplay guy should just bury himself right now – I’ll buy the shovel).

While Jack White and Thom Yorke’s cohorts certainly are artistes that the masses will remember and keep loving, rightfully, I exist in my own little world. I make my own musical rules, which I alone care to follow, and those rules have a hell of a lot to do with paying heed to those who came before. Beachwood Sparks were unashamedly retro, and I am a sucker for that approach. “This sounds like something out of the 60s or 70s” – “yeah, yeah, it sure does, man, it suuuure does.”

I first heard this album in a Newbury Comics, actually. I had bought their first record, but didn’t even put two and two together. It might as well have been a different band – they had risen, simply put. They found a crack in the ceiling of a sunlit sky and followed it into a space filled with rainbows, lava lamps, tumbleweeds, and a special light that can’t even be given a name.

On the surface, some may say “it’s country” or “it’s hippy.” Well, yes, it’s both those things like a cheeseburger is cheese and burger, but billions of those have sold, right?

Follow the crests and troughs of Farmer Dave Scher’s steel guitar, Chris Gunst’s “dude, like, just relaaaaaaax” vocal delivery, and Brent Rademaker’s and Aaron Sperske’s crisp rhythm moving things along like some golden, enchanted axle on an otherwise creaky VW bus.

I can’t lie – I do love the anti-city, pro-nature undercurrent to the lyrics on this oh so worshiped album (by myself, alone, probably). I’d much rather be driving down an open valley following a river than going to another store or restaurant in New York City. These guys understand me, and that’s why I love this album. "You take the gold and I'll take the forest." Amen.

And they know that sometimes, the consciousness of this world can get tedious. Were these guys on drugs when they made this album? It’s perfectly fine if they were, but I’m a clean-living man (a beer or two if I’m out with friends, but mostly I’m toxication-free by choice). Still, I have more than a tolerance, I’d call it a hankering, for the whole idea of psychedelia – mess with the listener’s head as much as possible. Sign me up.

Oh, and not one of the 1970s greatest can match the title track for sheer fucking awesomeness – they step on Pink Floyd’s head, stomp on Zep’s feet and raise a fist in the air. Then they end it all with destruction. A punk sneer just peeks through the calico at the end before it all gets swallowed up in an electric storm of feedback, like a masochistic artist reaching back and destroying everything he’s just spent hours, days, years to create.

Ladies and gentlemen, I love this album because I love a blue sky and a clear night. Because I pay attention to sunsets. Because I love the smell of salt in the air when you’re by the ocean. Because I love this world.

First music interview in more than 10 years

Well, it's been a while since I last talked to a professional recording/touring musician for an article, but I feel like I picked right up where I left off.

I talked with Michael Timmins earlier today. For those of you who've never heard of him, he has written some of our generation's greatest quiet (and some outright loud) songs with the Cowboy Junkies. You can read the interview in about a month in the Newburyport Current - and I'll add a link when it goes live about a week before their show in Newburyport, Mass., on April 3.

I've been a big fan of the Junkies ever since first hearing their take on Robert Johnson's "Me And The Devil Blues" on the soundtrack to "Pump Up The Volume." They had something that I, as about a 15-year-old, probably couldn't define at the time but later came to know as "atmosphere." They use the space between notes better than most other bands fill measures.

The Junkies are one of the more "mature" bands I suppose you can say. As I pointed out to Michael, they're one of the most well-behaved bands I've known - no drug busts, no obscenity-laced tirades in the press. "We put all our energy and passion in the music," he said. Wow - a musician who cares about what they do so much that drugs, drink and screwing around just don't register with them. For some, they might say 'What fun is that? Where's the rock'n'roll?' I say 'Fine, go stick with your Amy Winehouse or Pete Doherty and leave those of us who just like a certain string of notes and rhythm together alone.'"

It's probably their well-behaved nature that's kept them out of the mainstream press for all these 25 years they've really considered themselves a band. They were the right band in the wrong time - in the 1970s, or 1960s, these guys were touring with the Band or Clapton or one of Timmins' favorites, Lou Reed and were well-respected - but alas, they were born in an age where synthesizers (something that's never polluted a Cowboy Junkies record) ruled the airwaves.

In 1993, they came out with their album Pale Sun Crescent Moon, one of my all-time favorites. "Hunted" is a rocker about the disturbing subject of rape and sexual abuse - the tension in the music is apt. "Hard to Explain" is one of my favorite bluesier tunes, and there are tons to choose from - the blues lined their first album Whites Off Earth Now! and still is a welcome security blanket for their sound. "Anniversary Song" has some of my favorite Timmins lyrics - "Have you ever satisfied a gut feeling to follow a dry dirt road that's beckoning you to the heart of a shimmering summer's day?" Yes - yes, I have.

The opener "Crescent Moon" brings that classic atmosphere - the bass walking by, spouting out elder wisdom, echoing guitars, Pete Timmins playing his set quietly with mallets (I'm guessing), letting his toms sound like daunting footsteps from the floor above. And that voice - Margo Timmins' voice, to anyone whose heard it, is instantly recognizable. It sneaks under your skin, and you almost hear it before it comes - throaty, experienced but never raspy - honey-smooth but dark as a Guinness.

And, they end it with a paean to their southern blues gods - "Floorboard Blues." Michael's acoustic guitar sounding more omnipresent and authoritative with just a couple notes than most metal bands with whole verses. Margo in the character of the young, wisened girl who's just learned how sleazy some guys can definitely be - "I don't like the way his pinky ring picks up the dashboard light, or the short little pig fingers or the way his belt is cinched too tight." Then, like a cry of the moon comes Jeff Bird's late-night howling harmonica.

So, yeah, it's like a good album and stuff. Seriously, though, Michael and I had a great little musical conversation about what goes into the Cowboy Junkies. OK - some sneak peaks:

The Junkies unique sound: "It's a very natural and organic sound. From playing in our garage and figuring out how we wanted to approach things, that sound started to develop. No matter what we do, there's always an underlying feel of the Cowboy Junkies. It's not like we say 'We can't do that because it doesn't sound like Cowboy Junkies,' but there's a certain vibe that we all enjoy playing and we sound really good when we play."

About writing songs, especially in a woman's point of view: "If the song is honest enough and stripped down to the emotional bare essentials, which is what I think a song should be, whether it's a woman's or a man's point of view, it should be basically the same. When you get right down to the bare bones of things, it's a human emotion as opposed to a male or female."

About bringing back some old songs from Whites Off Earth Now! to play in concert: "We've been opening most shows with 'Crossroads,' which we hadn't played in 15, 20 years. And 'Shining Moon' comes back into the set. I think we played that in 2005, maybe. But it's a fun song to play."

For the rest, you'll just have to wait. Enough for tonight - I'm out.

Hey folks, just helping my "old friend" Neko Case (i.e. she doesn't know who the hell I am) by posting her song for a free download - "People Got a Lotta Nerve." For every blog post of the song, $5 will go to the Best Friends Animal Society, which seeks to find homes for abandoned animals. Good work, Neko, and can't wait for the new album in March!

http://www.anti.com/media/download/708

Happy New Year!

Yes, it was a very happy new year, for me and maybe 15,000 of my closest friends at Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve night. Many of the attendees for My Morning Jacket's "Black Tie Blowout" got the memo to dress to the nines for the night. The band played their part, wearing suits early on, or at least shirts and ties, before breaking out the white tuxes as 2009 dawned on the New York City part of the world.

Click on the photo seen here for a slideshow of shots from my wife, Nicole Goodhue Boyd (Canon G9 from maybe a football field and a half away).

The show was terrific, lived up to its billing. Never thought I'd find myself clapping at a cover of "Islands in the Stream," so that was a surprise - I was introduced to Nicole Atkins, a Jersey girl who dueted with Jim James on that song in the second set and on Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "You're All I Need to Get By," a song that this world is barely good enough for.

The covers, which also included "Express Yourself" (the original by Charles Wright, later sampled to great effect for the "cover" by NWA), Dion's "The Wanderer" (with horns) and the midnight tune, Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" were really the only surprises.

Their originals setlist really didn't carry any surprises - I expected a "greatest hits" of sorts to basically seal up their first 10 years of existence and that's what they gave (though none came from their debut The Tennessee Fire).

Some of the bests that I've heard: "Dondante," "Phone Went West," "Dancehalls" (with horns), "Thank You Too."

All in all, a great night. I'll be back later this week, once I dig myself out of some work, with my top picks of 2008.

Happy listening to the show on archive.org! Thanks to Scott Bernstein, the taper of this show, and all tapers everywhere, and all bands that allow the taping of their shows! Support them by buying their studio stuff and making sure no one's selling the concert taped stuff.

Again, Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve plans set!

Me and my wife and her friend Miss J will be heading to her first My Morning Jacket show this New Year's Eve, one that will be my first show at Madison Square Garden (say, maybe the Rangers will have a game the night before?). Anyways, in order to indoctrinate her into the band that is just moving full speed ahead with new converts, even with a very risky new album that combines doo-wop, Prince funk and straight ahead, almost (gasp) Aerosmith-ish rock (the good, 70s Aerosmith, now, hear?), I made this mix, with the help of Archive.org:
1) One Big Holiday (from It Still Moves)
2) The Dark (1-29-2000, Antwerp, Belgium)
3) The Way That He Sings (from At Dawn)
4) I'm Amazed (from Evil Urges)
5) Bermuda highway (from At Dawn demo disc)
6) Off The Record (from 7-4-2006, Philadelphia)
7) Heartbreakin' Man (from 12-14-2000, Louisville)
8) What a Wonderful Man (from Z)
9) Cobra - my personal favorite (from 3-10-2007, Langerado Festival)
10) O Is the One That Is Real (5-28-2004)
11) Lay Low - another big favorite, as you can see in my first-ever entry (from Z)
12) Highly Suspicious (from Evil Urges)
13) Lowdown (from 12-1-2006, Philadelphia)
14) Golden (from It Still Moves)
15) Run Thru (from 9-26-2003)
16) They Ran (from 12-1-2006)

So, there it is, and I call it "MMJ for Beginners," giving a good cross-section of their nearly 10-year career through both live and studio recordings. You can make this mix, too, if you have their albums (or I-tunes, where you can get the studio stuff song-by-song), along with the great treasure trove on Archive.org's Live Music Archive. I was just listening to their 2008 Bonnaroo set the other day there - great stuff, especially "Steam Engine" (16 minutes long, including a drum solo by Pat Hallahan), and their second set-opening cover of James Brown's "Cold Sweat."

Cool new studio series on Pandora

Hey, you've read me harping on Pandora and what a great service to music they've done these last couple years or so. And, of course, a Pandora employee is the only person so far to have left a comment for me, so I guess I'm fishing for comments here, but anyways, you have GOT TO check out their new video series on recording studios. So far, I've just seen the Record Plant in Sausalito, Ca docuvideo. You can find it here at http://blog.pandora.com/show/. I hope to see them do more of these as they go on, but I'm not holding out hope that they'll do one on the little Fairhaven College studio where I learned my recording chops. Watching these videos - MAN, how I want to get back into a studio and get a refresher course.
I'll never forget waking up at 5 a.m. on a Monday morning, getting the keys from the college security office and going over and setting up for a good six hours of studio time to mix a project for class. I'd end up spending sometimes up to two hours just mixing down the drums, then usually an hour for every other instrument, including vocals. Then, there'd be time to combine it all together and put it on a DAT. I assure you it's all very different now with computers - I was probably one of the last few classes before computers started to take over studios. I was in that little window between analog and fully computerized - the simply digital era, I guess you can call it, I don't know.

I got an A on that Audio Recording 2 class from my wise instructor Kevin Bressler (who's apparently now working for Seventh Heaven Studios in Everson, Wash.), but I could never find an avenue after my time at Western/Fairhaven to keep up with it and to this day, the long hours spent in the first floor studio out in Fairhaven College is my only time behind a mixing board. Shoulda woulda coulda, right? I have no regrets with my life right now, but I do miss studio time some days. That is all, for now.

Musical beginnings

Hey there -

I know, it's been a while again. Almost a month. Life gets in the way. I'm a working stiff, what can I say?
Anyways, in my CD player in my car lately has been The Who's 'Tommy.' This is really what I consider to be my introduction to rock and roll, period. My parents owned the album. Mostly, my parents are soft/schlock-rock fans - they always kept the radio on easy listening stations, prompting me to know all the words to 'Summer Breeze' by the time I was 10. But for some reason, they hooked on to 'Tommy' and I had it around to look at. Now, that's a fairly mystical album right off the bat. The sounds seem to come from some parallel earth - they're just guitars, drums and a few other odds and ends (kettle drums, tambourines, 12-string acoustics, The Ox's french horn). It's the production - well, and the songwriting - that makes it come from some place where sound is meant to be touched. And where feeling is as obtuse as the odd angles of faces of ancient Egyptian statues. You know it's still a face, but the way it's viewed is through an exaggerated sense of curves and perception.
Growing up in the late 1970s and 1980s, even as a kid less than 10 years removed from Tommy's release, it seemed like some ancient artifact. The music at the time of the late 70s-early 80s was some of the worst mankind has produced over one era. Overproduced, oversweet and aimless. Not that there wasn't some bad music in the 60s (hello, Sonny and Cher). But it takes a lot to imagine 'Tommy' as being a 1969 album.
There's not a hint of 'psychedelia' - well, maybe 'I'm Free' can be waved as a flag by the LSD crowd. But otherwise, it's a Pete Townshend album - that's the only way to describe it. A who's who of obscure chords and voicings. Listening to 'Underture' today, I love the layering - the studio was definitely the fifth member here - you've got that 12-string going, the regular 6-string acoustic and a syrup-thick electric guitar without much distortion.
A note must be made of the art in the sleeve. A near Daliist surrealism pervades every painting by Mike McInnerney - and it isn't just fanciful. It's stark, it's empty, it's unnervingly similar to Frank Kelly Freas' killer robot on the cover of Queen's 'News of the World' (another album my parents happened to have around the house in the late 70s).
Take the art for 'Sally Simpson' for example - those two hands in front of these ghostly hypnotized faces sitting like stoned mannequins - that type of hollow, lifeless image (and that's a compliment to the artist, by the way) sticks with a 4-year-old. The Star Wars-ish dome in the 'Tommy's Holiday Camp' drawing - that just had to be some future Martian-Earth civilization/cult. Then, you've of course got the calliope organ and the toothless, mentally sick, menacing Uncle Ernie (a very different vocal sound for Pete) character chanting in his thick cockney accent. That all adds up to an unsettling alternate reality - a genius mixture on Townshend and McInnerney's parts.
I couldn't find many links to McInnerney's interior art, except for this one that shows the art for 'Christmas' and 'The Acid Queen.' And, of course, his iconic cover. It reminds me of a rose trellice, but with the space in between the trellis being nothingness and the trellis itself being the world at large, possibly fractured, possibly frozen in place like an ice sculpture - the theme being 'nothing is entirely together' - the least of all, Townshend.
You almost feel guilty for taking joy in his music. From all I've read (which, to say, isn't a ton) about the man, 'Fiddle About' is more than just an upbeat, silly song about a weird old man - it's an altogether too true reflection on child sexual abuse. As some of you well know, Townshend was arrested some years ago on charges of child pornography - he did have a charge on his credit card from a site that sold child pornography (how do they live with themselves?), and said that he was researching the matter for the autobiography which he has not yet written. He was cleared from any charges of downloading images, as he never got that far - not surprising for someone who had been there - why would he ever want to go back to that hell?
'Tommy' has been seen as many things, but I see a writer creating a character who has just had too much to deal with as a child and shuts down, and when he emerges from his 'darkness' - which he sees more like a light to escape to, a sensation magnified by mirrors - he is all of a sudden a celebrity.
A celebrity like a young Pete Townshend, who came out of a personal hell as a youngster to emerge as a much-followed musical figure and 'rock god' who was looked up to for his musical, writing and other creative talents. I see it as an autobiographical fantasy on Townshend's part.

Okay, there's my spiel for today - what do you think Tommy is about, and what are your thoughts on McInnerney's haunting, frigid art?