POP MUSIC REVIEW : Pete Townshend at MTV Speed : *** PETE TOWNSHEND “PsychoDerelict,” Atlantic.
Townshend has bitten off more than he can chew in this hourlong morality play, but it’s fun listening to him chomp away. He keeps the songs and dialogue that make up his improbable but diverting potboiler moving at a speed suited to the MTV generation, spinning off metaphoric implications, sci-fi speculation and pop psychology without getting bogged down by them.
Allusions to his own musical and personal past abound as he traces the progress of an alter ego through the star-making machinery. The protagonist, a far more developed character than Tommy or the kid in “Quadrophenia,” is an appealingly complex amalgam of fame-lusting opportunism and gullibility, artistic honesty, expedient self-deception and idealistic intentions ultimately confounded.
The music recalls the sophisticated but dynamic sound of Townshend’s strong, early-’80s solo work, and signals a partial return to form after too many uncertain, forgettable years.
*
New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).
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