Pete Townshend
Psychoderelict

The Who’s main songwriter, windmill ax-man, and all-around keeper-of-the-flame, Pete Townshend presented his Psychoderelict concept album to the world in 1993. To be honest, although I am a huge fan of Pete T.’s (in and out of The Who) and there are some smashing songs on this sprawling conundrum of a release, I never warmed all that much to the story interwoven here. We get dialogue exchanges between the tunes telling the story of ex-rock god Ray High, his manager, Rastus Knight, and pop reporter Ruth Streeting. Ray is contacted by a fan he gets deeper and deeper into philosophical/sexual/musical interplay with (a perfect opportunity for Townshend to mine concepts he first presented way back in his Lifehouse project…here he calls it all “Gridlife”) and extending his belief of guru Meher Baba’s teachings. The songs here, solid tunes like “I Want That Thing,” “Now and Then,” and the minor hit “English Boy” sound great in this remaster and there is plenty presented in this package from the original release, 2006 version of the demos and stuff Townshend created for this album. The last actual Townshend solo album, Psychoderelict, is a solid effort, but probably better just for the mix of tunes, even though this mix isn’t Pete’s best.